Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

We need to have a wake when each chicken crosses the bridge.

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great da!

 

[Shadrach]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

We need to have a wake when each chicken crosses the bridge.

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great da!

We would spend our whole lives drunk!

 

[TropicalChickies]

Goldie, my naked neck hen injured her leg. It healed but not perfectly. She can walk but with a distinct limp. I have her in a chicken tractor with a young rooster that took up with her after his mom went back to her tribe. Goldie eats, drinks, lays eggs, chases bugs and my young pups. She has more heart than most people I know. There's no way I could put her down. Even before her injury she was a great hen with an easy going personality. She will range most of the fenced acre and a half when she free ranges. Here she is learning to walk again.View attachment 3555989

She looks fiercely determined.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I completely agree. Our Angus had metastatic bone cancer, one of the bones in his leg was barely connected. Our vet euthanized him, but I sat, holding him and talking to him through the process and for hours after he was gone. I could not let him suffer and almost 4 years, 3 dogs and 40 chickens later, I still mourn him. He was cremated and for now, his ashes are by my bedside table. I couldn't bear the thought of burying his ashes here, because, at the time, it looked like we would be moving to England (hubby was homesick.) Doing what is right, is seldom easy.

I don't think my heart will every actually heal, and I love all of the feathered and furry babies that we now care for and I know that eventually, it will lead to more pain, but that is the price we pay for loving.

I understand. With Suki, our pup, there was no chance for recovery. The infection was highly antibiotic resistant and had reached her nervous system. Her temperature was 108 F when she seizured, all of her body systems had collapsed. We mourn her every day.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I would gladly spend 30 min every day cleaning up Skeksis if she were still alive.

Yeah, I wasn't serious about the royal pain in the ass part. Thirty minutes a day isn't very much at all -- and it's worth it. Butchie has come back from death's door 3 times since she fell ill. Her digestive system is slow because of the pressure on her organs I think. I don't have a vet to take her to, but I can feel a hard mass in her abdomen that releases gas when I massage it. So probably ovarian tumors since she doesn't lay eggs anymore either. The key to keeping her alive and able to enjoy life is mainly her diet -- less carbs, no soy (which backs her up right away), and small amounts of food throughout the day. A few weeks ago she got into the compost bucket and gorged herself and I spent a few lovely mornings getting her to vomit it all out and flushing her with Epsom salt. But she bounced back -- again. I'll keep helping her as long as she can be helped.

 

[TropicalChickies]

My Littles:
View attachment 3555835

Tax?

What are the ankle bracelets for? To tell them apart?

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I understand. With Suki, our pup, there was no chance for recovery. The infection was highly antibiotic resistant and had reached her nervous system. Her temperature was 108 F when she seizured, all of her body systems had collapsed. We mourn her every day. View attachment 3556129

I had my Doxie put to sleep the day she had five seizures.

I miss her every day.

 

[RoyalChick]

That the keeper may be suffering badly is obvious from so many posts about dead and dying chickens on BYC. We here all know it, and I think we shouldn't ignore it when making these decisions.

It is just very, very hard. One has to put oneself in the shoes of someone else. That is almost impossible within the same species, but across species is even worse.
My attitude to these things has changed a lot as I cared for each of my parents until they died and as I myself get older.
My Dad in particular taught me a lot about the mindset of someone approaching death and how joy can be found in small things.
I observe the same in the hens I have lost and a couple of the cats too.
I have stopped thinking in terms of 'a deficit from normal' and more in terms of absolute suffering - which is mainly pain.

 

[Nomadicus]

I've been busy filling out Tax Forms. Getting them checked over now.

 

[Molpet]

I usually wait too long for dogs going to the vet to be put down. A a kid we shot the dogs and horses instead of the vet. The first dog I took to the vet as an adult I had to carry him in a sling and harness since he could no longer walk. He was 190lbs and the tech helped when I got him to the door. I just couldn't shoot him and I thought it would be easier on me. It wasn't , I was a blubbery hot mess, I waited 10 years until my next dog. Again I waited too long and had to get help getting him in. He was only 120lbs. I was a hot mess again.
BTW it was $350 and $400 for the vet to dispatch and cremate. I can understand why parents dispatched for the price of a bullet. We raised, showed and shipped champion St Bernards in the 60s and early 70s. Ever time I try to dig in an out of the way spot, I find its occupied. 4 generations of my family burring cow, horses and pets.