anamiya Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Our top hen (ex-bat) who is now 3 years 9 months has been looking 'old' for some time now, she really does enjoy life but at a much slower pace. Her lifelong wingwoman passed away in her sleep last week and since then Alice has definitly been wobbly on her feet. She spent a day not eating (we think she was mourning the loss of her friend) and now seems to have an adequate appetite although not as big as the others, is going to bed very early, 3.30pm - 4pm, although today went to bed at 1pm and she looks very happy and content doing normal chickeny things. Like I said she is wobbly on her feet and unsteady, sometimes tilting forward or back, sometimes swaying to one side. Is this old age? What can we do to help her, we have started giving her arnica and I sometimes make a warm porridge with her feed using electrolites and vitamins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Sounds like you're doing all you can. Extra vits and oils are the main thing. She just sounds a bit doddery, bless her. I think I would only step in if she went off her food and was unable to get around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 That's a good age for an ex-bat. I think you are doing all you can. It's very sad when they go, but they have known freedom which many of their sisters never did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LottyJ1 Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 She has reached a good age so just make sure she keeps on eating and drinking and the others don't bully her. You coa put tonics in the water to help. If she has stopped laying she will eat less anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anamiya Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 An update on Alice, we took her to the vets yesterday thinking she would need to be put to sleep, turns out that all her signs of being 'old' were not due to age but due to a respiratory issue! Yesterday she couldn't even walk, she wasn't eating or drinking and she had terrible diarrhea. The vet gave her an antibiotic jab, an anti-inflammetry jab and a 14 day course of Antirobe. Today she has woken up a different chicken! Normal poo, more alert and after 2 hand feeds during the day this evening she ate on her own...she even managed to stand up! We are not out of the woods but I feel that we're going in the right direction. I feel awful though as I hadn't suspected a respiratory condition as she hadn't shown any of the signs I had read about. She's still on the arnica and a friend has recommended aconite once a day as this is supposed to be good for respiratory issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickabee Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Good news that she's looking better. Fingers crossed for a full recovery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 It just goes to show how how cleaver there girls are at covering illnesses up.....gosh what a result Good old alice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Brilliant news. And what an old fogey! Well done for keeping her going strong for so long - and what a lovely happy time she's obviously has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anamiya Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Thank you everyone for all your lovely comments! Alice is eating well today and had a little sunbath and has manged to move around a bit more. She has still managed to keep her top hen position although Bella challanged her earlier, I picked Alice up and put her on Bella's back (I was holding Alice the whole time, team effort), Alice grabbed Bellla's comb and wouldn't let go, a bit unorthadox I know but I don't want Alice to loose her top hen status, (she is wonderful at it) and Bella retreated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Just noticed the names of your hens - one is my daughter's and another my mum's! Hah you haven't got me yet!!!! Mother in law is Silvia if you ever add more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anamiya Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 Just noticed the names of your hens - one is my daughter's and another my mum's! Hah you haven't got me yet!!!!Mother in law is Silvia if you ever add more! Don't tell me your daughter is called Bonkers and your mother is called Squiffy?!!!!!!! Silvia is a nice name, what's your name? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Hahaha - Erin is DD, Ivy is mum (also my grandmother). I'm Kerry and don't even think about it! Hahaha - don't mind really! But usually do get called Bonkers and quite a few more rude names! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LottyJ1 Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 So pleased she is feeling better I had a Silvia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morween Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Lovely to read that your girlie is getting better. Is there a period of egg withdrawal when a chook has had Antirobe? One of elderly girls, Pearl, was treated with it, and as such she now lives separate to the other girls. She has just started to lay again after a period of 8 week, and kept separate as I don't know if the eggs can be used. I have 26 rescue hens, bliss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anamiya Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 Lovely to read that your girlie is getting better. Is there a period of egg withdrawal when a chook has had Antirobe? As with all antibiotics our vet tells us not to eat the eggs for 2 weeks. (other vets will say 1 week, 30 days, never again) To be quite honest we still eat them as we think we are giving ourselves a tiny amount of antibiotic (medicinal eggs?!) but we would never give these eggs to anyone else to eat, we eat them at our on risk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Some people are allergic to certain types of antibiotic and good get a reaction on those eggs. The other danger of "tiny ammounts of antibiotics" is that any bacteria that you might have, can become resistant to that type of antibiotics. This might not be a problem for you personally, but by not keeping to prescriptions and exposing people/animals to trace ammounts of antibiotics, is how bacteria as MRSA got multiresistent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
