Wanted - Eglu Cube Mk1 Roosting Bars

[Uma]

Oh my...heartache!

 

Lily my beautiful splash Orpington (yes the one that had suspected Newcastles disease last month...and recovered...!) has done it again. I went out to go swimming with my son and found her lying with her neck and head trapped under our wooden stable door. Her leg was slightly twitching but there was no movement of breathing or in her face. I thought she was dead, in fact I am convinced she was dead. Then. Her beak moved slightly. I couldn't get her neck out as it was jammed through, moving the door at all would have taken her head clean off.

 

So I had to dig her out.

 

Her neck just flopped and I though she was gone. Then. She stood up! Walked a few steps and boked at me! She changed from being purple/blue to red again. I took her straight to the vets as she was bleeding a lot from her neck. When he moved her head forward to see the wound, oh my! I could see her bone, from her head down to her shoulders He kept her in over lunch time to 'try' and stitch her up. He managed.

 

She is now home, downstairs eating an egg and some corn. Although the wound still looks like the most hideaous thing I have ever seen.

 

Thoughts appreciated!

 

I swear I am *never* going to get chickens again. I adore them but the heartache, problems and cost is immense. I have spent £100s on these girls, as something always seems to be wrong with them. One is on ongoing medication to stop her laying so she can live without dying from peritonitis.

 

Argh!!

 

Uma x

[LottyJ1]

Wow that sounds terrible - so sorry.

 

You do seem to have had a lot of bad luck to date but all I can say is there are periods when they do stress us out but then times when all seems to go well and they give a lot of pleasure.

 

Don't give up and I hope she gets better soon.

[Luvachicken]

Awww, poor little thing. It sounds like you found her just in time.

I hope she makes a speedy recovery.

[Uma]

Thank you!

 

I never ever thought there could be so many things that can go wrong with chooks... And mine are kept like Queens...Massive walk in run, free ranging every day, mucked out every few days, expensive feed (they won't eat anything else...I have tried). And yet we have experience, Bronchitus, Sour crop, more peritonitis than I care to remember, odd neurological issue, and now this!

 

My ducks are much much easier!!

 

But I do love my girls. She is currently wolfing down some spinach

 

Uma x

[coco]

Chickens do tend to heal well. The most important thing is stopping infection. I have a young speckled sussex who was in a seperate pen in the WIR. She managed to escape and got in with the big girls and was pecked so badly you could see the top of her leg bone. The vet wanted to put her to sleep but as she was happily hoping round the vet table I said to give her a chance. She had seven days of antibiotics as well as bathing the wound with salt water daily. I alos purple sprayed her. Four weeks later she is fine (but still purple) and is now fully integrated with the big girls and quite happy. hope your girl is ok.

[Daphne]

 

We all experience periods of seemingly never-ending illness, death or other problems which then clear up and then we have years of comparative bliss. However, I really can't believe your girl, she must have cat genes in her somewhere, all these lives she shouldn't really be having

 

Its a lovely story, she is a lucky bird and I will keep my fingers crossed for her. I adore splash orps but I am a bit superstitious about them, they seem dimmer than other colours, but with more character which is all the more upsetting when they die. My rationale self knows none of this is really true, but I don't keep them anymore, I just admire from afar

[good_egg]

How on earth did she manage that! Poor her, poor you and well done on what sounds like a rescue off 999 Emergency!

[libby22]

How awful and what a horrible shock for you. I am glad she is safely home and tucking into her treats.

 

The amount of times I turn up to work with that shocked/stunned look on my face due to something the girls have been up to that morning! It causes great hilarity with my work colleagues However, I am constantly asked how they are getting on and what they have been up to. I think they find it as addictive as a soap opera at times.

 

I am often told "you should write a book" when I have relayed their latest set of antics, but what they don't realise is that it isn't just me - it is anyone who keeps chickens - it comes with the territory.

 

I do hope you feel better soon. The shock and upset is awful, but they do give us a heck of a lot of joy in the end and after all she has put you through, I bet sitting watching her eat her spinach with the utter look of cheek they can have - makes you smile.

[Groovychook]

Oh my word

I've been there, with the 'never getting chickens again' feeling, but I've never had to deal with a situation like that! How on earth did she get into that position?! I wonder if she was after a mouse that escaped under the door

 

I hope she recovers well, but you'll have to keep a close eye on her... she's obviously got an eye for adventure!

[daxigirl]

Know where your coming from. Having a good spell at the moment though, but have no plans to get anymore for a good while.

 

I came home after a couple of days away to find Evil Edna had stuck her head through the wire in the big girls run and ended up with a big gaping wound across the back of her head and a baldy spot (it's the only thing I can think of), it's all healed up and her moult has now recovered her head. She's still just as nasty and not learnt any lessons from it.