mimi5 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Hello there everyone to start off with!!!!(I've been checking in to the forum since jan but didn't feel able to post!!) I'm a total newbie to chicken keeping and my story began on the 1st october 2011 when I collected 3 lovely young pekins and brought them home to settle in!! (A whole other story is the fact that they weren't the older hens I'd reserved as one had been sold!!!!) It was such a happy moment as I had waited to have chickens and the time had finally arrived! Well, I thought I'd gotten a big enough coop/run, but soon realsied it wouldn't be once they were full grown. It was a horrid cocoon coop/run.( So LOTS of better research for a new suitable one started!!) Then a few weeks later the girls started sneezing......well, we're not sure but they may have had mycopaslma. Anyway, with baytril lots of tlc they all recovered!!! Then the girls were sparing alot to sort out they pecking order but it seemed to go on and on, so I decided to get a cockerel!! I asked my neighbours either side who were ok for me to get him.....Joy! He was a rehome from my breeder to add to the group. But, first I had also been offered a lavender pekin by a friend of mine who had been running with her hybrids but seemed to be suffering bullying.( I had wanted this colour and hadn't been able to get one) So, I got the 2 together and quarantined them for 3 weeks in my "emergency ark". The lavender seemed to make a funny "parp" noise, so I was worried but spoke with my vet and a few days later gave them both a course of baytril and also wormed them. Ok, so now mamoth decision to get a cube with a 3 metre run for my 5 little ones!!! Ouch that was expensive and hubby went into shock!!! So while we waited for it to be delivered I introduced everyone and had cobbled together a larger run for them all. Seemed to be going well and then I got my first little white egg!!! What a proud mummy I was!!!! Cube arrived and the lovely man put it up (in snow showers!!) Everybody in...Horray! I thought I would be able to relax......but next as they start to lay, they started to go broody!! So my steep learning curve continued!!!!! So, finally all laying the 4 girlies, but then "Mr Monty" started making the parping noise and was off his food.(Lots of web searches and I thought it was probably gapeworm) The vet suggested panacur for him which was great as it's a paste in a syringe. Well, 3 rounds of treatment later and he's not much better. Egg laying also a bit off and "Mary" the lavender definitely not right. So I keep her in overnight.... lovely full crop, but very thin. But lovely full crop in the morning even with 7 poos in the carrier!!! Off to the vet (sat) who tried what she could but Mary was put to sleep that evening. Oh I cried buckets!!! But had mentioned Monty's saga and she said panacur dosen't treat gapeworm! (Different vet as mine a one man band doesn't do weekends) So Monty to vet. We made a plan to give him and the girls (Milly, Molly & Mandy) a flubenvent suspension (we did the math and mixed it up) as they are all now off their food. So that's where wer'e up too. SO stressful and upsetting and I feal like I've let them all down. Will I ever know enough??? I am learning and getting an instinct for when things are off, but it feels like at my girls & boy's expense!!! Sorry for my Wallowing! I just want them to be happy and healthy. Throughout this the best thing I did was invest in my cube as it is so easy to use and I know that they are safe and comfortable. Sometimes I wonder if I should re-home them?? Who knew keeping chickens was so hard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 You've just been unlucky getting chickens that have an underlying illness. You'll get them right soon, keep going you're going to have a good summer with lovely healthy chooks and a cockeral. How jealous am I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearls007 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 You've been terribly unlucky. Keep going - it will all sort itself out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 I think you been terribly unlucky as well, so really feel for you but it sounds like you are doing everything you can and as plum said it will be lovely in the summer especially with the lighter evenings to spend more time with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeky Chooky Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Awww bless you...as the others have said, you've just been unlucky and none of those things were your fault. You've been a very good chicken mummy, looking out for your flock and things will get better *hug* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daxigirl Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 I can completely understand where your coming from. The last batch of chicks last year all caught colds and one by one died despite numerous vet visits and meds. Then I had to have Pebbles and Dinky pts in January only to be followed by a Twitter sister, Flossie-Fluff Bum, and my B-Boy with various ailments. I was really considering giving it all up as I felt like a complete failure. The trail of death seems to have stopped and today there should be some Easter chicks waiting for me in the incubator . You just keep doing the best you can, it will get better, promise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Potts Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 I think you have been really diligent and done everything you could for your hens. We always chat about rough introductions between hens, but your introduction to them has been really difficult! I hope that everything gets better for you. Mrs P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi5 Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Thanks SO much for all the kind words of encouragement!!!!! Monty has improved day on day and always has something in his crop in the evening when I give him the suspension. The girls to have begun laying better eggs in shell colour, size and frequency, I've had 2 today so far. So hopefully it's a steady but sure progress. If you have a good chicken friendly vet you are very lucky!! I would also say after my experience don't hesitate to get another opinion as if I hadn't I would have lost all of my little gang!! I will have a go at posting some pics of my pekins I took in the sunshine a couple of weeks ago......going to get some help from an expert, my teenage son! Looking forward to summer days in the garden with all the "M's" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadietoo Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I've kept hens for the last three years, and apart from two fox attacks, up until last August all was going really well. Then we lost Kipper. Then Pansy became ill just before Christmas and had to be pts in January and then only a month later we lost one of our youngest girls, Mabel, to we still don't know what, although I suspect it was coccidiosis or ulcerative enteritis. I am currently down to two girls and am only just now thinking about expanding my flock again. It does dent your confidence, but I think you are right and we have both just been unfortunate. I'm glad to hear things are improving for you now. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
