Questions for those of you with "special needs" chickens

[Happy Chooks]

Amazingly, my little guy seems to be holding his own today.

I've found him outside in the run twice today and the hens are leaving him alone. (he's at the opposite end of the run from them) I guess they are deciding he's not a threat after all.

I put him back in the coop with his hatch mates the first time. I'm still not sure he can get back up into the coop yet. I'm watching him though to see how it goes. The rest of the babies are still hiding in the coop.

 

[fiberart57]

That's great news! I'm rooting for him and you both.

Mary

 

[bibliophile birds]

i'm having the same kind of conundrum. one of my GLW pullets dislocated her knee about 1.5 months ago and has needed a lot of extra care. she was in the house for several weeks while i tried to fix it, but it just wouldn't get back to normal. she can use the bad leg, but her foot is slightly turned in, so she's not super stable on it.

i finally had to move her back out to the coop because i wasn't seeing improvement having her in here and she needed to be a chicken. luckily, my coop has a divided section on the back where she can be alone but she can see what's going on with the others (when they are inside at least) and they can get used to her again. i think i'm going to pop the 2 silkies in with her tomorrow and see how that works out.

my main worries are that she doesn't seem to be able (or inclined) to get up on the roost. maybe it's just that she doesn't understand it, but i'm pretty sure it's that she can't manage it. since the silkies won't roost either, i'm thinking of adding a special low roost under the nest boxes to see if they will use those.

this weekend or early next week i plan on turning her out in the yard with the rest of the flock to see how things go. i seriously doubt she'll be able to get up the ramp on her own, so i don't know what to do about that. i'm determined that if she can't get along as a relatively normal chicken, she'll have to be culled, but i hate to loose a sweet little pullet and perfectly decent layer (well, she hasn't started laying yet, but will soon) over something so annoying as a bum leg.

 

[dianer29]

I am sorry I read this blog as I could never take an animals life unless I had to protect my family and or self. Just could not cull/kill/put down whatever. I am so glad I am not an animal lower than where I am on food chain.Just my thoughts................

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
If you had known my Charlie Girl (a dog) and seen how bad she suffered in the end stages of her kidney cancer, you might have a different take on things.
Sometimes the greatest gift we can give our feathered and furry friends is release from their pain and suffering. Charlie is waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge and when we meet again I will once again tell her what a wonderful dog she is.

 

[LyonFuzz]

You are so right Gritsar....we are blessed to be able to end our animal companion's suffering if need be. No animal or person for that matter should have to suffer in the end and helping them over the bridge is the final "thank you".

 

[Chickenaddict]

I have 2 hens and a pullet that are special needs birds. The first hen is a japanese I bought at a swap not realizing her toes were falling off from severe scaly leg mites and what I think was severe frostbite. She didn't have any problems getting along with the other birds the first year. The second winter I had her she had gotten the crap beat out of her sooo bad she dug a hole in the bedding and buried herself in it while I was at work. I went out to the coop to check on everyone when I got home and had the hardest time finding her but when I did both her eyes were swollen shut and she was covered in blood. They were trying to pick off the weak one. I brought her in and nursed her back to health. Now she lives with the seramas, she doesn't lay eggs and spends most of her time sitting in the nest because it is hard for her to walk around due to her bad feet. I cured the leg mites but the damage from the frostbite she had gotten before I got her left her with only one toe on each foot. She had been so neglected where she was before I wanted to make sure to give her the best possible life I could and when she decides she can't walk anymore I will build her wodden legs. The seramas don't bother her at all and the roosters leave her alone. Her best buddy is a tiny serama hen with a neurological disorder and a mild crossbeak who is also left alone by the other seramas. When smudge the serama hen was hatched she didn't display any symptoms of being sickly but she did get pasty butt ALOT and still does to this day. When she was a few months old I noticed she had a crossbeak, shortly after that the shakes started. She spent months in a fleece blankey at night because she liked it that way. In the morning she would emerge from her wooby and join the flock. Most people would have culled her as soon as they saw she had brain damage but not me, she showed an incredible will to live and her disability doesn't prevent her from living a normal life. She requires weekly butt soaks and regular car rides on my lap (at her request) She has been such a trooper and a sweetheart I couldn't bare the thought of putting her down. She and the other japanese girl have each other and a devoted owner/mama to ensure they stay safe and warm for the rest of their lives whether it be short or long. If there comes a time when either of them begin to suffer I will make the decision to put them down but until then they are both happy and thriving IMO. The pullet is smudges daughter (one of smudges eggs got mixed up with the other serama eggs when collecting for hatching, altho never intended to hatch any of her eggs it happened) lil bit is 8 oz and over 5 months old now. She will live out her life here as well with smudge and pumpkin. I am partial to the special chickens, it makes me happy to see them happy.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Cull doesn't only mean kill.

We eat meat, so an animal has to die either way. It was still an animal before it showed up in the grocery store. It's just whether we do it, or somebody else does it. I prefer to have an animal that has had a good life roaming outdoors and not have lived it's life in a cage. Is is going to be easy......of course not.

And I have never proposed killing Mr. Snuggles. First off, my husband won't eat him, because he has "problems". I will either find a way to keep him, or find another home for him. With all his struggles to live, he has earned the chance at a good life.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Cull doesn't only mean kill.

We eat meat, so an animal has to die either way. It was still an animal before it showed up in the grocery store. It's just whether we do it, or somebody else does it. I prefer to have an animal that has had a good life roaming outdoors and not have lived it's life in a cage. Is is going to be easy......of course not.

And I have never proposed killing Mr. Snuggles. First off, my husband won't eat him, because he has "problems". I will either find a way to keep him, or find another home for him. With all his struggles to live, he has earned the chance at a good life.

Sorry chooks, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I'm just not very tolerant of folks telling me how to provide for the animals that I have loved and cared for their whole lives.
You are very correct that the word "cull" doesn't always mean kill. From dictionary.com:

cull  /kʌl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kuhl] Show IPA
Use cull in a Sentence
See images of cull
Search cull on the Web
–verb (used with object) 1. to choose; select; pick.
2. to gather the choice things or parts from.
3. to collect; gather; pluck.

–noun 4. act of culling.
5. something culled, esp. something picked out and put aside as inferior.

 

[dianer29]

Like I mentioned in my thread, I could not do it and nothing anyone can say would change my thoughts or feelings. We all have feelings and express them ,not always what others want or need to hear but the right to feel and voice regardless.My chooks will live out their lives and I will be there for them. I do not eat meat and even if I did it would be my choice to use poultry in that manner. Mine are pets and egglayers by nature ,if they do not lay eggs it will not be the end of their natural life . Their lives will go on and there will not be any culling/killing for them.Chicken addict , I admire your strength and compassion.Gritstar, you are possibly stronger than Ias I mentioned earlier I could not do the deed.