- Thread starter
- #31
janicetroyer
In the Brooder
- Oct 22, 2020
- 40
- 20
- 46
First of all, thank you everyone for your support and advise. I've never had chickens before. Raising them from chicks, I became a momma hen. I'm know there probably are a lot of eye rolls going on out there. No judgement. I would have been one of them at one time.
I thank God they all look exactly alike so I never got too attached to any one specific hen. I'm a city girl married to a guy who grew up in farm country. He feels bad for her. But feels like she's just a bird, and this is all too much for a bird. Frankly, I wasn't as upset with the idea of putting her down, when she was just laying there with her eyes closed, skinny as a pigeon and seemed to be dying. But once she was up on her feet looking around when I went down the next morning, I just couldn't let him do it.
I will try to check out her head tomorrow. We're in the middle of a Noreaster, so no trips to the store. I have Durvet's Layer boost wtih Omega 3, but the last thing I wanted was to stimulate laying. It does have electrolytes in it. The celery juice I gave her this am was pure juice. Lots of vitamins in that too. I drink it myself in the morning so it's easy to give her some tomorrow.
Tonight was the first time she ate her regular food.
Yes, there's no door on the closet that she's in, and there's light from the window and I leave the light in the room on all the way, or on low in the night. The room has been up to 66. If I turn the heat off, it will likely be at 60. I can open the window to make it a bit cooler before she goes outside.
She definitely has not been able to see yet. She feels around with her beak. Instead of a door on the closet, I have a 3 ft high piece of plywood against the bottom covering the opening which can be slid out when I want to get to her. There's a tiny plastic strip where the door was and she seems to want to sit on that. So I put a dowel in there tonight (right on the floor) and she sat on that.
Most of the time she'll let me hold her and feed her the mashed food, which has water in it. If I pick the dish up so she can find it, and then lower it, she'll eat her regular food. But she can't find it on her own. She even stepped on the edge and spills it (which is surprising since it's a pretty oven bowl) and it doesn't occur to her that's her food. In her shed, we have hanging food and elevated water dish, so that won't be a problem.
Tonight for the first time, she started forging in the cedar chips with her beak. She won't find the spilled food. But between perching and this limited forging, she seems to becoming more of her chicken self.
I thank God they all look exactly alike so I never got too attached to any one specific hen. I'm a city girl married to a guy who grew up in farm country. He feels bad for her. But feels like she's just a bird, and this is all too much for a bird. Frankly, I wasn't as upset with the idea of putting her down, when she was just laying there with her eyes closed, skinny as a pigeon and seemed to be dying. But once she was up on her feet looking around when I went down the next morning, I just couldn't let him do it.
I will try to check out her head tomorrow. We're in the middle of a Noreaster, so no trips to the store. I have Durvet's Layer boost wtih Omega 3, but the last thing I wanted was to stimulate laying. It does have electrolytes in it. The celery juice I gave her this am was pure juice. Lots of vitamins in that too. I drink it myself in the morning so it's easy to give her some tomorrow.
Tonight was the first time she ate her regular food.
Yes, there's no door on the closet that she's in, and there's light from the window and I leave the light in the room on all the way, or on low in the night. The room has been up to 66. If I turn the heat off, it will likely be at 60. I can open the window to make it a bit cooler before she goes outside.
She definitely has not been able to see yet. She feels around with her beak. Instead of a door on the closet, I have a 3 ft high piece of plywood against the bottom covering the opening which can be slid out when I want to get to her. There's a tiny plastic strip where the door was and she seems to want to sit on that. So I put a dowel in there tonight (right on the floor) and she sat on that.
Most of the time she'll let me hold her and feed her the mashed food, which has water in it. If I pick the dish up so she can find it, and then lower it, she'll eat her regular food. But she can't find it on her own. She even stepped on the edge and spills it (which is surprising since it's a pretty oven bowl) and it doesn't occur to her that's her food. In her shed, we have hanging food and elevated water dish, so that won't be a problem.
Tonight for the first time, she started forging in the cedar chips with her beak. She won't find the spilled food. But between perching and this limited forging, she seems to becoming more of her chicken self.
Her bad eye was closed again last night and she became lethargic. I wrapped her and got some neosporin on her eyes again. When i moved her comb it seems there maybe a wound under there. I rubbed some neosporin in the area and any other spots that look questionable. 
