Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, and it's pretty hot this morning, too. It's more the humidity than anything. It's supposed to be pretty hot the next few days for us, too, though. 90s, ugh. I hope my girls get through it okay. :/


Unfortunately, Skua still has more of them on her this morning. I don't know where they're coming from. We're going to go into town AGAIN to get this ointment called SWAT, which supposedly kills flies and larvae on contact. Here's hoping that does it! I wish I had read about it before we got home yesterday, maybe we could have gotten her taken care of then.


The Silkies are doing well in the big flock! Marka is spending more time with the big girls than with her siblings, and Winter and Indigo stick together pretty well, more because Winter follows Indi around like a lost duckling. Ben's still a butthead and in his own pen, though. He gets aggressive with the Silkie girls if he's in the flock, so he's going to have to sit it out until he decides to cool his heels. And following suit, Umru has turned into a butthead and had to be separated from his flock, too. I think I can say beyond doubt now that he's a rooster. He beat the tar out of Don last night so badly that Don was mouth breathing and has bite marks all over his face, comb, and wattles. Donnie hasn't crowed yet this morning, either, and is mostly just sitting around. I hope he's okay.


And if that's not enough, Skua's sister, Sora, has gone a bit dusky in the face and is breathing hard. It reminds me of when my Bielefelder, Violet, died of heart failure. I am literally out of pens to bring her in at this point, though, so I set her up under the nest boxes where she's out of the way of chicken traffic and can rest.



So I'm just wondering if there's anywhere where one might be able to buy a break, because I sure as heck am not having luck catching one on my own...

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Yeah, and it's pretty hot this morning, too. It's more the humidity than anything. It's supposed to be pretty hot the next few days for us, too, though. 90s, ugh. I hope my girls get through it okay. :/


Unfortunately, Skua still has more of them on her this morning. I don't know where they're coming from. We're going to go into town AGAIN to get this ointment called SWAT, which supposedly kills flies and larvae on contact. Here's hoping that does it! I wish I had read about it before we got home yesterday, maybe we could have gotten her taken care of then.


The Silkies are doing well in the big flock! Marka is spending more time with the big girls than with her siblings, and Winter and Indigo stick together pretty well, more because Winter follows Indi around like a lost duckling. Ben's still a butthead and in his own pen, though. He gets aggressive with the Silkie girls if he's in the flock, so he's going to have to sit it out until he decides to cool his heels. And following suit, Umru has turned into a butthead and had to be separated from his flock, too. I think I can say beyond doubt now that he's a rooster. He beat the tar out of Don last night so badly that Don was mouth breathing and has bite marks all over his face, comb, and wattles. Donnie hasn't crowed yet this morning, either, and is mostly just sitting around. I hope he's okay.


And if that's not enough, Skua's sister, Sora, has gone a bit dusky in the face and is breathing hard. It reminds me of when my Bielefelder, Violet, died of heart failure. I am literally out of pens to bring her in at this point, though, so I set her up under the nest boxes where she's out of the way of chicken traffic and can rest.



So I'm just wondering if there's anywhere where one might be able to buy a break, because I sure as heck am not having luck catching one on my own...

.why won't somebody give you a break!!!!geez.im praying that your sick chickens will be ok!

Poor Donnie boy, to him.

Urmu,I'm sorry that she,is a he.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, lost my cool a bit this morning, but I'm okay now. Thanks for the thoughts, Cluckcluck.



We got the SWAT stuff and slathered it on Skua's fly strike, and it seems to be doing the trick. Here's hoping, anyway! She's been a trouper through it all, so I think she'll pull out of it just fine once we get rid of the remaining fly strike so the wound can heal.

I'm still a bit worried about Don, but he seems to be perking up as the day wears on. I have Umru in a dog crate in the coop, so I'm a bit concerned that Don is afraid to go in there where their food and water is. I'm just going to have to keep checking in and make sure he gets plenty to eat and drink.


Unfortunately, Sora's prognosis isn't good. I explained her symptoms to my mom, who is a hospital pharmacist and sees a lot of ailments, so I trust her judgement on diagnoses. Based on her symptoms, it does look like Sora's heart is failing. Her comb is dusky, she's breathing hard, and her abdomen feels squishy like fluid is building up in it. We're keeping her comfortable, but it's likely she will pass away in the next few days. Still, she did live a much longer life than most red sexlinks do, and she's never known anything but being loved and spoiled. I think I'm at peace with it at this point.


The unfortunate thing about having so many chickens at once is that things happen, and often not one at a time. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but sometimes it is stressful. At least for now, everyone else seems to be doing good. I think Elly's going to be working overtime giving cuddles, though!

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Your very welcome.im always here to help.


Good.i hope she'll be ok,

Poor,poor,Donnie.gee,I guess urmu is mean.

Aww!i really really really hope sora will be ok!
I know,it's hard to lose them.im losing my cat right now,he had a seizure,and he's not good.:cry

Yup,it's hard,and stressful.good thing Elle is there.oh,and Lydia and cattlite!(I hope a spelled that right.lol)

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, Donnie is okay now. It finally occurred to me that he was acting like he was overheating, so I--yep, you guessed it--brought him inside, too. However, he's not going to stay in, he's just in until it cools off this evening. He was practically limp and lying on the ground with his neck stretched out and eyes closed, and when he would get up he would stumble around a bit and then just plop down again. I brought him in to the coldest room of the house. Within a few minutes, he was on his feet again, tail up, looking around curiously. PHEW! I'm collecting milk jugs and 2-liters to freeze overnight, and I already have a cord out there for the baby monitor so I guess I'll see if we have any old fans I can put out in the coop for air flow. Hoping my little guy is okay and I can get him through the next few days outside. My last 'pen' is a cat carrier that is too small for a full time pen, so I really can't have him come inside for more than a cool off like today.



Phew, lots of posts today! It's been a bit of a rollercoaster type of day.

 

[pattyhen]

I'm sending you lots of hugs and I'm so sorry for all that's going on with you. Praying that things calm down and the sick get better.

I am so surprised at Umru hurting Donnie like that. All that you have going on you don't need a bully hurting little Donnie.

I know that Sora has had plenty of love and good care. There is always hope.

I wish I could buy you a break I would do it. Take care of yourself and hold Elly for a couple of hours.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, we're in for another long day. Sorry I've been venting so much about it, seems like all I have to post about is bad stuff!


I did end up having to keep Don in overnight. He may or may not be dying right now, I'm not sure. He's completely limp and struggling for each breath. I tubed vitamin/electrolyte water into him at the rate of 30ml / kg body weight because he is too weak and limp for me to drip it in his beak like I can do with Poggy and Rosie. If he keeps fighting, I'm going to tube in some egg yolk throughout the day for some nutrients in a bit, once his crop has gone down a bit. I cried it out last night, when it became evident that I couldn't put Donnie back out with the rest of the babies like I had planned. Now, I'm ready to fight if he is. I was sure he would be gone by this morning, so he's already doing better than I expected.

To be clear, I don't think Umru was any more aggressive to Don than any other young cockerel would be. The sheer size difference between the two is probably what did it more than anything. I don't know if Don has some kind of internal injury that I can't detect or if he's severely dehydrated because Umru had him afraid to go inside and get anything to drink. He has no abnormal lung sounds and his heartbeat sounds normal based on what the other chickens sound like. No broken bones, and the only obvious injuries are the bite marks on his face. All I can do is push fluids and hope he pulls through.


Sora made it through the night, but is pretty weak this morning, too. Still feeling squishy in her abdomen, still dusky and now droopy in the comb, still breathing hard. She drank for a while, and then sat down pressed against the water bucket. It's cool there and she can reach the water, so I left her. If I had anything left to do so, I would bring her in out of the heat... Guess that's something else to look into--more pens for times like this!

On the positive side, that SWAT stuff took care of Skua's fly strike. All that's left is one or two dead maggots stuck in it. This stuff is amazing! So Skua is on the road to recovery. We just have to make sure her wound heals over good and she'll be ready to go back outside!

As for Poggy and Rosie, there hasn't been a whole lot of change there, but it does look like Pog has gained just a little weight. With everything else going on, I've not been getting as much water in them as I should, though. Gotta remedy that.


Thanks for sticking around in spite of the negativity. We'll get through this eventually. I hope.

 

[pattyhen]

Don't be sorry about venting that's what these posts are for, to express your feelings. I'm in tears here praying that Donnie pulls threw this. Bless his heart I can't help but be so mad at Umru and he was my favorite. Not anymore that's for sure.

If you lived closer I would help you take care of all these sick ones. I've been checking all morning to see when you would give us an update.

Donnie, Pog, Rosie and Sora you all are in my prayers.

My favorite saying is And this to shall pass. You will get threw this, bless your heart for giving them all a fighting chance.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Donnie passed away in my arms while I was searching on my phone for any other ideas to help him. I believe from what I was finding that his dehydration and the heat of the day yesterday had caused him to have a heat stroke. He was likely already dying by the time I tubed water into him this morning, and there was nothing more I could have done for him. I'm crushed. My little man. He was getting to be so handsome...

This was the last video I took of him crowing. I couldn't stand to listen to it, so sorry if it didn't turn out right. It's very short because I managed to hit record just as he crowed.




[VIDEO]

 

[pattyhen]

Oh no I am so sorry you lost him. Life is just not fair. He had a wonderful life with you even tho it was way to short. I wish there was some words I could say that would take away the pain of losing him.