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[Dave C]

Laminitis & colic are a constant worry, we have pony which lives in a starvation paddock & 2 others with muzzles on already, !!

 

[Dave C]

Rudie, I feel your pain with the fox

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Sorry to hear about your fox attack and egg bound hen @Rudies Roost

It's a heart breaking thing to happen. I hate foxes I know hate is a strong word but they are on my hate list!!
I wouldn't mind if they just killed one and ate but killing everything they can and leaving them really gets my goat!

Glad to hear your marek hen is well again

 

[rebrascora]

Well. I got Rebel home at lunchtime although I was concerned that he wasn't quite right when I left the clinic, but thought maybe he was just sulking... the morning before he had been full of himself but he had no overnight companions last night and he was really anxious when I left last night, so I thought maybe that had taken the edge off him. Anyway, he travelled ok and was a bit grumpy when I reintroduced him to his siblings who were overjoyed to see him. I put some haylage down for them all and he just sniffed it and pawed at it. Again, I thought maybe he was sulking because he kept looking over the gate at the grass in the field (vet gave me strict instructions, no grass for a week and then very limited). Anyway, then he started spasming again, so I rang the clinic and said we were on our way back.
Turns out he now has a dorsally displaced spleen, where the colon floats outside the spleen and then up over it possibly even hooking over the top between the spleen and kidney. It can sometimes be rectified with exercise (lunging) or rolling the horse under anaesthetic but may need surgery if they are unable to resolve it by those means. This is not the cause of his original colic but more likely a resultant complication.
He was thankfully much calmer when I went back tonight but the first session of lunging has not realigned things, so he may need a scan tomorrow and if it shows it's hooked over the top, then he may need surgery which will be very expensive and I'm already into this for over £1000, but from the research I've done so far, it's one of the easier and most successful colic surgeries, so I will fork out for it if necessary. Keeping fingers crossed he manages to flip it back into place himself tonight.
Thankfully the clinic is just about 10 miles away, so I can pop across twice a day to see him and the trailer journey is not long although it is a very winding country road from here. My vet#s preferred option was to take him to Edinburgh but I couldn't put him through a journey that long and the local clinic have been very good but are renowned for being expensive. Colic surgery is minimum £5000.

@Rudies Roost

So very sorry to hear of your losses but delighted that you too have experienced a Marek's miracle recovery. From what I have read, they are few and far between, so we have both been lucky to experience them. I can only sympathise regarding the fox attacks. At this time of year they are feeding young and become particularly bold because they are desperate. My first flock was slowly wiped out by foxes coming through the day and nabbing them, sometimes even when I was there. At the moment I'm keeping them in until lunchtime as morning has historically been the problem time here. I think it seems to help having my horses out with the chickens. I have certainly seen Rebel chase a dog out of the field before, although obviously he's not there to act as security at the moment. Anyway, I hope you manage to eliminate your fox problem and find some silkies to replace some of your losses. I only had one silkie and she had health problems and died but I now have pekins and I can highly recommend them as extremely cute, moderate egg laying, potential broody pets.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

OMG Barbara!! What a time you are having, many many hugs

I hope he gets it back in place soon and does not require surgery. This is such a worrisome thing. If they think it's back in the right place do they do a scan to double check? Big money there for you Barbara But as they say in for a penny in for a pound. Would this be classed as full blown colic surgery at the whopping £5,000? Is the recovery rate good for this kind?

I do hope it does not come to this

 

[Rudies Roost]

Sorry to hear about your fox attack and egg bound hen @Rudies Roost

It's a heart breaking thing to happen. I hate foxes I know hate is a strong word but they are on my hate list!!
I wouldn't mind if they just killed one and ate but killing everything they can and leaving them really gets my goat!

We hate the foxes too....i appreciate its only nature and they have young to feed but the annihilation i experienced was awful. My other half shot the fox the following morning when it came back for its breakfast so for now.....the dog fox is dealt with but im sure more will take its place. Nature is cruel and i wish it didnt have to happen. For mow my bids are stuck, incarcerated, behind a load of heras fencing, rubbish but at least they're safe. I love the birds dearly and hope they can be safe ......fingers crossed. Thank you fo your kind wishes xxx

Glad to hear your marek hen is well again

 

[rebrascora]

I think there is a long rehab from colic surgery because it takes time for the gut to settle and accept food again, so quite a bit of the cost quoted is the lengthy rehab required rather than just the surgery... I was told in the region of 3 months.. I was advised on Mon night that I had to be prepared for £5000 minimum, but I would hope that this particular surgery would be the least complicated and intrusive from the bit of research I have done this afternoon and he is not an acute case, so hopefully it would be less, but best to prepare for the worst. And yes, from what I have learned via Google the prognosis after surgery is about the best for this particular ailment, than any other type of colic surgery but of course anaesthetics alone come with risks particularly for large flighty animals. Just really hope it resolves without the need to risk the odds, regardless of how good they are.

 

[Rudies Roost]

Well. I got Rebel home at lunchtime although I was concerned that he wasn't quite right when I left the clinic, but thought maybe he was just sulking... the morning before he had been full of himself but he had no overnight companions last night and he was really anxious when I left last night, so I thought maybe that had taken the edge off him. Anyway, he travelled ok and was a bit grumpy when I reintroduced him to his siblings who were overjoyed to see him. I put some haylage down for them all and he just sniffed it and pawed at it. Again, I thought maybe he was sulking because he kept looking over the gate at the grass in the field (vet gave me strict instructions, no grass for a week and then very limited). Anyway, then he started spasming again, so I rang the clinic and said we were on our way back.
Turns out he now has a dorsally displaced spleen, where the colon floats outside the spleen and then up over it possibly even hooking over the top between the spleen and kidney. It can sometimes be rectified with exercise (lunging) or rolling the horse under anaesthetic but may need surgery if they are unable to resolve it by those means. This is not the cause of his original colic but more likely a resultant complication.
He was thankfully much calmer when I went back tonight but the first session of lunging has not realigned things, so he may need a scan tomorrow and if it shows it's hooked over the top, then he may need surgery which will be very expensive and I'm already into this for over £1000, but from the research I've done so far, it's one of the easier and most successful colic surgeries, so I will fork out for it if necessary. Keeping fingers crossed he manages to flip it back into place himself tonight.
Thankfully the clinic is just about 10 miles away, so I can pop across twice a day to see him and the trailer journey is not long although it is a very winding country road from here. My vet#s preferred option was to take him to Edinburgh but I couldn't put him through a journey that long and the local clinic have been very good but are renowned for being expensive. Colic surgery is minimum £5000.

@Rudies Roost
 

So very sorry to hear of your losses but delighted that you too have experienced a Marek's miracle recovery. From what I have read, they are few and far between, so we have both been lucky to experience them. I can only sympathise regarding the fox attacks. At this time of year they are feeding young and become particularly bold because they are desperate. My first flock was slowly wiped out by foxes coming through the day and nabbing them, sometimes even when I was there. At the moment I'm keeping them in until lunchtime as morning has historically been the problem time here. I think it seems to help having my horses out with the chickens. I have certainly seen Rebel chase a dog out of the field before, although obviously he's not there to act as security at the moment. Anyway, I hope you manage to eliminate your fox problem and find some silkies to replace some of your losses. I only had one silkie and she had health problems and died but I now have pekins and I can highly recommend them as extremely cute, moderate egg laying, potential broody pets.

OMG @rebrascora so sorry for all the stress, that all sounds very technical to me, i wish you all the best and hope your boy pulls through well. I'm thinking of installing some alpacas, i hear they are a good fox guard but money may prevail. Thanks for all the support xx

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

@rebrascora

Any news Barbara on Rebel? Been thinking of you both today

 

[rebrascora]

@Yorkshire coop

Hi Kim

Good news on Rebel.... The displacement has sorted itself with a bit of time and exercise and he was bright eyed and sharp yesterday and desperate to charm me into giving him any treats that I may or may not have in my possession..... much more his old self! They are a bit concerned that he is not drinking enough and he is still only on small sloppy feeds, so they haven't reintroduced a haynet yet, but hoping that I will get him back tomorrow.

Unfortunately it seems that my horses are determined to bankrupt me at the moment and I had to have the vet out to Rebel's Dad yesterday, who was coughing and had thick green snot coming down his left nostril....the field next to theirs is being sublet (contrary to their contract....so I may become a snitch as I'm getting sick of the aggravation this is causing me) to all and sundry and some new horses have been put in there that are skin and bone and have most likely come through an auction....so I'm very worried that it may be strangles. Of course, I'm having to be very careful about biosecurity both between my horses down in the village and their Mam and Dad up the road in this field, but also particularly the equine clinic. And I have no facilities up at that field so I have to go back and forth between my yard and the field quite a bit, which is making things a rather complicated, remembering to change coats etc between sites..
Vet thinks it may just be a sinus infection as it is just one nostril at the moment and it's not worth getting a blood test for strangles done as they don't have contact with any other horses apart from those next door which are the only possible source, if it turns out that it is strangles. Thankfully, he is easy to get medication into as he loves his grub and is still keen to eat at the moment.

Pleased to report that MeMe seems to be back to soundness but I'm just not getting time to get any ridden work done, which is frustrating when I had made so much progress on fitness and training!

Chicks are doing well. They are now 10 days old and all 9 seem to be fit and healthy. Frances is getting sick of me micro managing them.... I have a little cage in the paddock that I put them in during the day but she is ready to free range them. I'm just concerned that they are so small, they may be target for Jackdaws and my yard is overrun with those.....also very easy to get stood on by horses as well as integration worries within the flock.... not sure why I am worrying about this now when I haven't with previous broods but it maybe because I haven't got time to be there and supervise them and once they have their freedom I will have difficulty catching them again, so I can't let them out for an hour or two and then get them in so I can go to the clinic to see Reb. Arrgh!
It's just all bad timing. I have taken photos but just no time to down load them.

The other new barnyard mutt broody is on just 15 eggs now and seems to be covering them all. I can see one on the floor of the shed that must have fallen out and I don't know what happened to the other but 17 was too many anyway. She's just a 9 month old pullet but seems to have her grandma, Tasha's instinct for wiliness and broodiness, so hopefully she will be successful. She is barred so I am wondering if any chicks that hatch will be sexlinks.... I am pretty sure she is on all her own eggs as it is a well hidden nest. Unfortunately I have 3 cocks in the flock and one is also barred, so it will no doubt be a mixture. Just hoping that the rats don't get them. I think they re safe from most other predators where they are. I've caught 3 "longtails" as Ian calls them, in traps in the past few days but there will no doubt be others. I usually find they can't resist carrots and peanut butter for long!

Think that is all my news for now. Thanks so much to everyone for good wishes and support.

Will keep you posted when I have time.

Regards

Barbara