MissPug+Chooks Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Poor Hoppy Hoppy Chicken was pts last night. Some of you will remember Hoppy if you've followed numerous posts about her - from what to do after the fox attacked her and broke her leg, to being bullied by the other girls ( please know that she was looked after better than most humans during these times). Hoppy had been doing really well since the winter when we installed the WIR and looked like a normal happy chicken (with one leg of course!) all summer she was looking brilliant, but I noticed her hopping was slowing down considerably. Last night I came home from work as it was getting dark in the pouring rain, popped my head into the WIR and Hoppy was all hunched up with her eyes closed, her feathers up and her tail down. I dropped all of my work stuff, dived in and picked her up to find her underside completely swollen. I phoned the vet and they put us in at 7pm at the end of surgery. Vet confirmed that she was egg bound but it was too high in her tract to get to. She was looking terrible by this point and the kind vet said that he could charge me hundred of pounds in attempting to get her right, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't happen, so we both made the decision to have her put to sleep. Although I am gutted and cried for a good hour or so last night, I am sort of relieved as I was worried how she would cope this winter with not being able to hop around so much. She was a brave little thing, even through the fox attack and the bullying she always looked great - bright red comb and was always really chatty ( I think she was my favourite - although I don't tell the other girls that). I'm pleased that she is now resting in peace and get eat all of the corn that she likes up in the sky....R.I.P. Hoppy Hoppy Chicken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissPug+Chooks Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 oh....the advice I needed was which egg shell improver to use - Not sure if what happened to hoppy was because the egg shells aren't great right now. Is Oyster shell any good? I found that the peices were too big for the girls. Does anyone use the EquiMins Egg Shell Improver at all? I don't know whether to go down the natural calcium route or the calcium diphosphate route... Also...how on earth do I add more birds to a pekin bantam and a huge without either the Bantam or new birds getting bullied? X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zakjon-98 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 So sorry to hear this I'm sure she had a great life with you. There are quite a few supplements people on here use for egg shell quality. I think limestone flour is one of them. When one of mine was laying thin shelled eggs I broke up egg shells in to small pieces and fed them to them whenever we ate eggs. This helped with mine. If you choose to add more birds I would do it very slowly with separate housing and you could expect the bantam to get beaten up badly from the newbies and some people find it never settles. Many people have mixed flocks though so it can be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissPug+Chooks Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 Thank you This is the problem...our seperate housing is non existant now aftr it all falling apart. I managed to introduce 2 pekins to the 2 before with success so hope that if I can find another hutch or something similar that I can introduce them that way. My problem is that the remaining is not interested in the Pekin and Vice versa so both are now squaking - I'm guessing because their friend in common is missing? Do chickens actually remember these things?! x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majuka Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Very sorry to hear this. Sweet dreams Hoppy Hoppy Chicken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_B Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 So sorry to hear about your girl. RIP Hoppy. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
