A recent thread has prompted me to write this. Most of us are more than willing to help someone with an emergency but sometimes I wonder if that ends up doing more harm than good.
"Give her this antibiotic, give her that, worm her, inject her."
The owner just starts following advice, sometimes doing things that probably shouldn't have been done.
In a perfect world we would all have avian vets around and be able to afford using them. It's not perfect, and in some cases, all we can do is help each other.
I decided to see just what we did have on the site - no need to reinvent the wheel. I discovered that we do have some files to help when problems like this comes up, but once they state their problem, everyone jumps in with advice -some good, some bad - some too much. The good advice already on the site falls to the wayside.
PLEASE don't take this wrong - I know everyone was just trying t help but the advice flying during the most recent BIG EMERGENCY might have done more harm than good. That poor chicken was getting wormed, given more than one antibiotic, force fed, etc. All could have been too much for the weakened bird.
Anyway, afterwards I started to wonder if we should have a few members train to be emergency specialists of sort, (like an EMT) who can help owners create a plan of action.
Using the chicken health books and other vet books out there, we could make up lessons for interested parties to do and once they've completed the course become a BYC EDI Specialist - much like the courses I took to become an herbalist or those taken to be a Master Gardener. We would not exist to replace the vet but to help each other with health problems "until the vet" is needed or available.
When a person with an emergency contacts the forum, the specialists will be notified and one will either volunteer to help or be assigned (it can be according to specialty - whatever we decide). Once a person with a sick chicken is assigned a "specialist" they will work with them for the duration of the problem. The owner might still be getting advice from everywhere (we are a friendly group of people who want to help) but they will know to only follow what their specialist tells them.
It will help the person with a sick chicken from being overwhelmed by all the advice. The specialist could always confer with the other specialists behind the scenes and make a plan - but would still be the main contact person to avoid over medication or stress on the chicken.
If you think this might be a good idea, we could start discussing how we'd like to see it develop. Between those interested we could base it on the chicken vet/maintenance books many of us have available. We could eventually end up with what I think would be good, organized, online help.
"Give her this antibiotic, give her that, worm her, inject her."
The owner just starts following advice, sometimes doing things that probably shouldn't have been done.
In a perfect world we would all have avian vets around and be able to afford using them. It's not perfect, and in some cases, all we can do is help each other.
I decided to see just what we did have on the site - no need to reinvent the wheel. I discovered that we do have some files to help when problems like this comes up, but once they state their problem, everyone jumps in with advice -some good, some bad - some too much. The good advice already on the site falls to the wayside.
PLEASE don't take this wrong - I know everyone was just trying t help but the advice flying during the most recent BIG EMERGENCY might have done more harm than good. That poor chicken was getting wormed, given more than one antibiotic, force fed, etc. All could have been too much for the weakened bird.
Anyway, afterwards I started to wonder if we should have a few members train to be emergency specialists of sort, (like an EMT) who can help owners create a plan of action.
Using the chicken health books and other vet books out there, we could make up lessons for interested parties to do and once they've completed the course become a BYC EDI Specialist - much like the courses I took to become an herbalist or those taken to be a Master Gardener. We would not exist to replace the vet but to help each other with health problems "until the vet" is needed or available.
When a person with an emergency contacts the forum, the specialists will be notified and one will either volunteer to help or be assigned (it can be according to specialty - whatever we decide). Once a person with a sick chicken is assigned a "specialist" they will work with them for the duration of the problem. The owner might still be getting advice from everywhere (we are a friendly group of people who want to help) but they will know to only follow what their specialist tells them.
It will help the person with a sick chicken from being overwhelmed by all the advice. The specialist could always confer with the other specialists behind the scenes and make a plan - but would still be the main contact person to avoid over medication or stress on the chicken.
If you think this might be a good idea, we could start discussing how we'd like to see it develop. Between those interested we could base it on the chicken vet/maintenance books many of us have available. We could eventually end up with what I think would be good, organized, online help.
