Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[RoyalChick]

What makes you think it is time to euthanize Brune?
As someone who, as you know, has lost a lot of chickens, your pictures of her do not look like it is time.
These are difficult decisions of course and I am just looking at a still photo.
The most difficult is sorting through your own feelings versus the suffering of the animal.
Impossible to do of course. But we must try.
It cannot be ‘if it were me, I would want someone to do this’. Because you are not the chicken. And you don’t know how you will feel.
She is not holding herself like she is in great pain. She is standing and is outside enjoying the air. That may be enough for her to prefer life.
Tomorrow may be different.

 

[ManueB]

What makes you think it is time to euthanize Brune?
As someone who, as you know, has lost a lot of chickens, your pictures of her do not look like it is time.
These are difficult decisions of course and I am just looking at a still photo.
The most difficult is sorting through your own feelings versus the suffering of the animal.
Impossible to do of course. But we must try.
It cannot be ‘if it were me, I would want someone to do this’. Because you are not the chicken. And you don’t know how you will feel.
She is not holding herself like she is in great pain. She is standing and is outside enjoying the air. That may be enough for her to prefer life.
Tomorrow may be different.

Thank you as well. I have a lot to learn from all of you !
You certainly have a point that I could be taking my view for the chicken's, I'm a very strong supporter of volontary assisted end of life which is under debate in our country now and it could be influencing my views.

What my partner sees is that she comes out five or six times a day from under the laurel tree, she sometimes follow her friends around, she still climbs on the roost, she eats corn, sunflower seeds, and today bread and rice. Off course she does perk up whenever he goes to see her- the ex-batts all think my partner is prince charming .

What I see is that she spends 90% of the day lying or standing unwell under the laurel tree, and then she does look to be in pain. She doesn't eat layer feed and since yesterday she is not eating sardines, eggs or mash. She drinks heaps of water, so her crop is hanging out. I think that there is no issue to what she has, but that she could go on suffering for days.

It does seem the little dust she ate of acetaminophen made her feel less worse today.

 

[RoyalChick]

I learned a lot about end of life from caring for both my parents.
The main thing I learned is that towards end of life - with illness or not - one’s perspectives change.
For my mother, the half hour a day she got to be relatively pain free and sitting quietly with me or my Dad was enough. She didn’t actually do anything in that half hour. But just being with us brought contentment.
My Dad had no pain but as he aged had mobility issues. He explained once to me that his outlook was contracting over time and so the limitations from mobility didn’t really distress him as he might have expected.
I don’t know how chickens think, but if I commit the sin of translating from my parents I can imagine that she is content with her life as it is. And if you are able to reduce pain (though she doesn’t look in pain) she might be totally content.
I had a euthanasia plan for Maggie but she seemed content in her last few days. She never left her nest box but would chat a bit to me when I sat with her. I don’t regret letting her die on her own timetable.

 

[fuentemoon]

If you still have any wet cat food try that. Chickens usually love it and its a good protein boost. Wounds require lots of protein to heal.

 

[ManueB]

I learned a lot about end of life from caring for both my parents.
The main thing I learned is that towards end of life - with illness or not - one’s perspectives change.
For my mother, the half hour a day she got to be relatively pain free and sitting quietly with me or my Dad was enough. She didn’t actually do anything in that half hour. But just being with us brought contentment.
My Dad had no pain but as he aged had mobility issues. He explained once to me that his outlook was contracting over time and so the limitations from mobility didn’t really distress him as he might have expected.
I don’t know how chickens think, but if I commit the sin of translating from my parents I can imagine that she is content with her life as it is. And if you are able to reduce pain (though she doesn’t look in pain) she might be totally content.
I had a euthanasia plan for Maggie but she seemed content in her last few days. She never left her nest box but would chat a bit to me when I sat with her. I don’t regret letting her die on her own timetable.

Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts about your parents, it really helps. It is also an eye opener to how much our own experience tends to shape the way we handle these things. And I agree that chickens excel at living in the present moment and making the most of it. I was the first to think Maggie was waiting for the right time.
I'm still questioning how adequately I am able to care for sickness and end of life, but I realize this is a question that I need more time and distance to deal with.

If you still have any wet cat food try that. Chickens usually love it and its a good protein boost. Wounds require lots of protein to heal.

Yes, we do, thank you for the tip ! I was hesitant because it's cheap stuff that my partner grabbed on short notice, but I will give it a try. We also have chicken ham (meant for humans) to give the cat medicine, that both Piou-piou and Brune would certainly eat.

That's a beautiful tune by the way; I have no idea what the lyrics mean, but I enjoyed it anyway.

I really like it too. It's supposed to be allegorical about the end of a relationship, or about loss, but I seem to recall that in an interview he said it was literally about a childhood memory of a farm that burnt.
*******

The day ended on a more positive note than it had begun. Piou-piou's behaviour and wound didn't seem as awful. She perked up as soon as we took her outside in the crate and Gaston and the girls spent an hour around her. Anyway now we will see what the vet thinks, her appointment is at 9 tomorrow morning.

Brune showed that my partner and RC were right, it's not her time today yet. She had several small helpings of rice mixed with grains, she walked around a bit. There was a bad moment when I went in the house to get some rice and Gastounet broke inside the netting and jumped on her, for the first time ever. I thought she would be traumatized but she wasn't ; she actually followed her team to the field on the other side, dug around a bit, and even scratched once or twice.
So yep one day at a time, I was probably a bit too quick to sharpen the axe. I wonder if it's the acetaminophen or the fact that she ate a little that helped.

Gastounet, Léa and Piou-piou stuck all afternoon to my partner who was tilling. And Théo gave a hard time to the ex-batts, he attacks them whenever he has to retreat from Gaston. Poor Chipie was bullied all day by Nougat, and even attacked by Théo. She sleeps next to Léa now.

Can you spot the second chicken in the iris ?

It's her of course.

Brune serie

The sleeper

The tiller

 

[ManueB]

Update from Piou-piou's visit to the vet : good news!
She says the wound is healing correctly. The problem that made it worse the last two or three days, comes from the feathers beginning to grow over it, that are hindering healing and itching the hen, so she trimmed those.
She still gave her antibiotics (my partner couldn't tell me which but my bet is on amoxicillin) for a week, but she thinks Piou-piou is healthy. She says we have to keep her off the ground until we receive the apron as she must not dustbath until everything is properly healed. So the poor hen will have to stay crated for a while, as she tries to dustbathe as soon as she's on the ground.
My partner says she wasn't too afraid at the vet but that she hasn't drunk or eaten anything yet. It's a long ride there and back.

 

[MaryJanet]

Update from Piou-piou's visit to the vet : good news!
She says the wound is healing correctly. The problem that made it worse the last two or three days, comes from the feathers beginning to grow over it, that are hindering healing and itching the hen, so she trimmed those.
She still gave her antibiotics (my partner couldn't tell me which but my bet is on amoxicillin) for a week, but she thinks Piou-piou is healthy. She says we have to keep her off the ground until we receive the apron as she must not dustbath until everything is properly healed. So the poor hen will have to stay crated for a while, as she tries to dustbathe as soon as she's on the ground.
My partner says she wasn't too afraid at the vet but that she hasn't drunk or eaten anything yet. It's a long ride there and back.
View attachment 3464462

Hooray!! That's great news!

 

[ManueB]

Piou-piou was so happy to be back ! Gaston came running to her and did flapping wing things around her crate. She ate and drank and my partner gave her treats from our lunch .
For reference, the antibiotic prescribed is one I never heard of : azithromycin (40mg/kg every 2 day for 10 days).

Brune was incredibly well in the morning. She ate a cup of rice, grains, sunflower seeds egg and ham, her comb had straightened and gone back to red, and she even attempted dustbathing. However in the afternoon she was again very unwell. She perked up a bit in the evening and foraged a bit, and asked for treats, but only pecked at the crushed corn.

Théo and Gaston had several short fights ; Théo's comb was hurt and so was Gaston's leg. Théo is being really horrible to the hens, he acts like a jealous thug and pecks and chases them every time they go a bit too near Gaston. He's not winning any credit and they all run away from him now.

We had six eggs today, even Piou-piou laid just before leaving for the vet. Blanche's egg was back to normal for her, that is small with a very fragile shell.

Hail to the thief

Broody fashion : puffed hair and bare belly.

Brune sometimes well and others not

I found a really good place to lay.

Blanche may be half-blind but she spots an intruder.

 

[Shadrach]

Piou-piou has began continuously pecking at her wound and I don't know if it's the cause or the consequence, but it's getting worse.

In what way is the wound getting worse?
Wounds like that are either infected or they are not. There isn't really any half way point. The hens I've known with similar wounds don't peck at it while the wound is still sore, or infected. They do peck at it when it starts to heal mainly to clean it and the surrounding feathers.

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks Perris, your words are wise.

I am ready to end it for Brune myself if needed. Though my aiming skills splitting wood are terrible. But it's not really something I feel able to do against my partner's will.

You don't have to end her life. If she's dying then let her die.