Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[lightm]

Whole flock yesterday

Light (front left) stared molting a month ago and is doing well.

Honey (front right) is worrisome. She has been not so active and perhaps with a slow crop. It is all cleared today though and she is more like her usual self. I'm afraid she is starting to have a water belly but I can't tell at all. Is it going to be obvious?

 

[Perris]

Thanks for the link. I have birds laying eggs like that, but not really other symptoms of mycoplasma. Should I be worried?

I wouldn't if that's the only symptom they're showing. As it says on the page there, the consequence is often just reduced egg production or weight gain, and that's not a fatal flaw demanding culling for most of us backyard keepers is it? Note especially also they say "

• If adult stock are kept symptom-free the risk of passing mycoplasma on through the egg is reduced.
• If young stock happen to be exposed to a mild bout of mycoplasma they will acquire a certain amount of immunity as long as there are no other pathogens (such as E.coli) present.

So hatching from symptomatic eggs (if indeed they didn't collapse during the process) or brooding by symptomatic hens is not a good idea, but raising chicks in a mild strain environment has advantages.

 

[ManueB]

View attachment 3756045

Whole flock yesterday
View attachment 3756046

Light (front left) stared molting a month ago and is doing well.

Honey (front right) is worrisome. She has been not so active and perhaps with a slow crop. It is all cleared today though and she is more like her usual self. I'm afraid she is starting to have a water belly but I can't tell at all. Is it going to be obvious?

From my small experience it's not always obvious. We did not see it on Caramel who was a big hen. If you remember, in December I thought Kara had ascites, and my partner took her to the vet. Touching her abdomen, the vet also thought it was possible, but the X rays and ultrasounds ruled it out. Kara is also a big hen.
On Cannelle it was obvious, not only her belly was feeling squishy, but she looked bloated, first from behind, then all over. She has a light, smaller frame so maybe that plays a role.

A possible sign I've noticed is that the chicken takes a strange stance for them. It could be like the penguin stance, or they just have trouble walking, because the unusual mass is bothering them.
And since the water belly is a symptom, not the cause, although it can become deadly itself, I guess it would usually be associated with other illness symptoms.
***********
We had a cold morning today, -5/23, and the forecast is a 48 hours Mediterranean episode starting tonight, a lot of rain and maybe snow.

We are waiting for Cannelle to die. This morning she wasn't able to get down the roost and was semi-conscious so I put her in the crate inside the coop with a warm water bottle. The last time she opened her eyes was this morning when my partner came to say hello / goodbye. She spent the day with her head tucked under her wing, and she isn't conscious or reacting to anything anymore. I think she will pass tonight or tomorrow. I am grateful she won't be suffering for too long, but it's hard loosing another special friend.

We have a different bond with our first chickens than with the ones that came after. When the six ex-batts arrived we knew nothing about chickens. They showed us how incredible and complex chickens are. I thought they were astonishing, I could spend hours watching them, and I also found I felt a bigger responsibility and worry toward them than I ever imagined.

Here are pictures from this morning when it was cold and sunny. Now it has turned grey and we can see it's beginning to snow on the peaks above.

Cannelle is leaving us.

Spoiler

 

[Perris]

what you write about your relationship with the ex-batts is very touching. I hope Cannelle's passing is gentle.

 

[Molpet]

Cannelle is leaving us

So sorry

 

[RoyalChick]

You have been wonderful in your support of Canelle, and maybe now she is ready for a rest.
Your description of your relationship with your first chickens is lovely and speaks straight to my own experience. I think I am now a bit more balanced, though I do still feel a lot of responsibility and I can still spend a lot of a day just watching and listening to them going about their daily activities.

Sorry for your special friend. It probably sounds silly but I found peace sitting with my friends while they died. And at least Maggie, I feel hung on until I came to sit with her in the morning.

 

[lightm]

Thanks for your answer on water belly being obvious or not.

I am sorry about Cannelle.

 

[MaryJanet]

Hoping her end is peaceful

 

[MaryJanet]

Hi Manue, just checking in

 

[ManueB]

Hi Manue, just checking in

You're so kind !
Cannelle is still the same. She is unconscious almost all day but the few seconds she wakes up seem to be painful. We think if she doesn't pass today, we may euthanize her tonight, but it's hard to know if it's the right thing to do.