- May 14, 2012
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Hi I'm Gordie. I'm brand new to chickens.
I am a guitarist in a band. About a month ago we were playing a show in a relatively large venue in Tampa, Florida called The Orpheum. The Orpheum sits in front of a railroad track and several houses with very large, open yards. There must have been several hundred wild chickens. Every tree was filled with chickens and every bush had baby chicks underneath it. After my band finished our set we went out back to stand around and have a few beers. In the distance I heard the bells of a train approaching. Right in the middle of the tracks were 6 itty bitty chicken babies. I assume they had been hatched there because they were too small to hop over the tracks. So in a daring and selfless feat of heroism I ran to their aide and managed to get them to safety before the train turned them into chicken nuggets. What can say, that's just the kind of guy I am. I scooped them up one by one and put them into my guitar case. By this point we had bonded, I felt the connection. I couldn't abandoned them like their mother did in the face of certain death. So I decided I would take them home and "give them" to my 4 year old daughter, Echo. I figured it would be a good way to teach her responsibility, and she would eventually be rewarded with a delicious omelette.
This is going somewhere, I promise. Just bare with me.
Anyway, I live in the city and don't know a thing about chickens. Luckily my bassist who lives a few miles north of me on a chicken farm gave me a few tips. Told me what to feed them, etc. The chicks were thriving in the city. I bought a large dog house and let them roam around on my screened patio. They like to waddle around in circles and chirp along to the music every time we have band practice. They decided they were going to be rock stars.
Everything was going great until about a week ago when Eddie Van Chicklen started growing some kind chicken eyeball cancer on his right eye. At this point it almost looks like his eye is falling out. Alex, my bassist, suggested it might be Avian Pox but I did a Google image search and didn't find anything that looks quite like this. I'm concerned that Eddie might have something that could get me or my daughter sick. It would be mildly unpleasant if my eyeballs began to fall out. Just sayin.
At this point Eddie has been quarantined in a small cat carrier which I had cleaned out with bleach. I let him waddle around in a few inches of warm water in the bathtub and cleaned his eye tumor the best I could using only water and then put a little Neosporin on it hoping it would stop the pussing underneath the tumor. He also has small scabs on the right side of his beak. It seems as though Eddie is very itchy. I've noticed he pecks at his feet a lot and even caught him trying to scratch his neck with his foot in very much the same way a dog scratches with their hind legs.
Please tell me what might be wrong with Eddie, what I should do about it and if I should be concerned for my own health. Thank you kindly in advance for any help you can offer. At the moment my phone is low on battery and will not let me take a picture but I will post one before the night is out.
I am a guitarist in a band. About a month ago we were playing a show in a relatively large venue in Tampa, Florida called The Orpheum. The Orpheum sits in front of a railroad track and several houses with very large, open yards. There must have been several hundred wild chickens. Every tree was filled with chickens and every bush had baby chicks underneath it. After my band finished our set we went out back to stand around and have a few beers. In the distance I heard the bells of a train approaching. Right in the middle of the tracks were 6 itty bitty chicken babies. I assume they had been hatched there because they were too small to hop over the tracks. So in a daring and selfless feat of heroism I ran to their aide and managed to get them to safety before the train turned them into chicken nuggets. What can say, that's just the kind of guy I am. I scooped them up one by one and put them into my guitar case. By this point we had bonded, I felt the connection. I couldn't abandoned them like their mother did in the face of certain death. So I decided I would take them home and "give them" to my 4 year old daughter, Echo. I figured it would be a good way to teach her responsibility, and she would eventually be rewarded with a delicious omelette.
This is going somewhere, I promise. Just bare with me.
Anyway, I live in the city and don't know a thing about chickens. Luckily my bassist who lives a few miles north of me on a chicken farm gave me a few tips. Told me what to feed them, etc. The chicks were thriving in the city. I bought a large dog house and let them roam around on my screened patio. They like to waddle around in circles and chirp along to the music every time we have band practice. They decided they were going to be rock stars.
Everything was going great until about a week ago when Eddie Van Chicklen started growing some kind chicken eyeball cancer on his right eye. At this point it almost looks like his eye is falling out. Alex, my bassist, suggested it might be Avian Pox but I did a Google image search and didn't find anything that looks quite like this. I'm concerned that Eddie might have something that could get me or my daughter sick. It would be mildly unpleasant if my eyeballs began to fall out. Just sayin.
At this point Eddie has been quarantined in a small cat carrier which I had cleaned out with bleach. I let him waddle around in a few inches of warm water in the bathtub and cleaned his eye tumor the best I could using only water and then put a little Neosporin on it hoping it would stop the pussing underneath the tumor. He also has small scabs on the right side of his beak. It seems as though Eddie is very itchy. I've noticed he pecks at his feet a lot and even caught him trying to scratch his neck with his foot in very much the same way a dog scratches with their hind legs.
Please tell me what might be wrong with Eddie, what I should do about it and if I should be concerned for my own health. Thank you kindly in advance for any help you can offer. At the moment my phone is low on battery and will not let me take a picture but I will post one before the night is out.
