I know how you feel.She seems to be doing a bit better now after resting all morning. It may have been something she ate because she had a bad yellow diarrhea? And now she passed two normal poops. I have to learn to wait at least 24 hours before thinking they are dying otherwise I'll get an ulcer.
In the meantime however Nougat tore off a nail and she has been bleeding tremendously. Even after compression for ten minutes and putting corn starch it was still bleeding. I dressed it up like I could. It's only midday, I'm covered in blood and I'm already tired. How do you full time working people manage to keep chickens, I wonder ?
But then I saw this and I felt better
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As you may have guessed I have some medical experience, and from that I know that close observation, deliberation in diagnosis, and conservative action are key.
There are true emergencies, but they are few - blocked airway, stopped heart, exsanguination. Pretty much anything else warrants a bit of a wait and see.
I am excellent at that on myself; pretty good at that with other humans; good at that for the cats; and lousy at that with the chickens.
I think the problem is that chickens seem more frail, I understand less about their biology, and there is limited access to trained back-up.
That, combined with them not being able to tell me where it hurts, makes them like premature babies for me medically: totally terrifying!
So I too tend to jump the gun and think the worst the minute anyone has an off moment.
Just saying, don’t be too hard on yourself and try and think about how it all might be better in the morning.
Sorry for the long post. It was on my mind because I am very worried about Eli right now so I am really just reminding myself that maybe she will just get better on her own.