Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[Perris]

you gave her a wonderful life

 

[RoyalChick]

Good bye, Blanche. I had come to believe you would live forever.

1 May 2021.
View attachment 3827327

Farewell Blanche, you will be very missed around the world. Your joy in the little things in life, whenever you had the energy to do so, was an inspiration for us all.

Manue - I know you will be feeling very sad and knowing you, probably guilty for something. But in my humble opinion you did right by this little soul. She died on her own terms, would that all could be so lucky, and her last months had many small moments of joy with treats, and digging and lounging in the sun.

to you as I know you will miss her.
for her journey through life.

 

[ManueB]

Thank you all so much for the kind thoughts. I feel so dumb bawling for a chicken that I knew would die, your support means a lot.

Manue - I know you will be feeling very sad and knowing you, probably guilty for something. But in my humble opinion you did right by this little soul. She died on her own terms, would that all could be so lucky, and her last months had many small moments of joy with treats, and digging and lounging in the sun.

to you as I know you will miss her.
for her journey through life.

Beautiful words. I don't feel guilty for once, because in her case I'm sure we did what she wanted in the end.

I have been worrying she would die for such a long time, since she didn't recover from the hawk attack at Christmas 2022, that now she's gone I feel disoriented, and sad, and also relieved her suffering is over.
I'll post some pictures and stories tomorrow or some days later when I feel up to it !

 

[Sequel]

I’m so sorry for your loss! You gave her everything she could want to have an absolutely lovely chicken life!

 

[lightm]

Good bye, Blanche. I had come to believe you would live forever.

1 May 2021.
View attachment 3827327

Oh Blanche!

 

[ManueB]

Another post about a distressing health issue .

I am going to do just what I said I wouldn't, and post in detail about some yucky scary chicken health problem that I encountered yesterday. I hope the outcome turns out to be not as bad as the fright it gave me ! I may be too squeamish for chickens but I was pretty shocked. I would be thankful for any advice.

I mentioned it on another thread : we noticed about two weeks ago that Lilly's foot,which we thought was healed, was swelling again. So we started tending her foot again.
Yesterday evening I knew my partner had to help a friend for some garden stuff after work and then he needed to check the fence for the boar's passages, so I did the foot care on my own. I usually avoid that because it's really easier being two and Lilly is a big hen who does a lot of strong wing flapping, especially now she is half broody. But I had just received the drawing salve I ordered ten days ago and I wanted to start applying it as soon as possible.
She began to struggle a bit on my knees while I was wrapping her foot, so I picked her up to put her back in place....and... her water broke . About the equivalent of a small glass of water fell from her belly on the floor. I was utterly panicked and my first thought was she had ascites and I had somehow punctured the skin through.
I wanted to have a look but I was very scared to squeeze her in case it would make things worse. I thought I could burrito wrap her in a towel. Bad idea. She freaked out and started flying all over the place. Jumped on the wood stove, which wasn't lit thanks to the great chicken, on to the oven and on the sink, and from there to the border of the salad bowl full of water rinsing a lettuce...so then I grabbed her and put her on the floor with a small plate of rice to try to keep her quiet just a bit. Then I saw something looking like a scab under her, on her bare abdomen (she has plucked all her feathers away) . I put a towel under her and touched it...and the thing I newer saw in all various bumblefoot that is supposed to happen came out : a huge plug and a core of solid pus.

Spoiler: Picture

I was actually relieved to see that because at least I knew what it was - an abscess that I guess she may have made from sitting on the perch with her bare skin ? And I knew what to do - empty the pus and disinfect. But I just didn't know how without hurting her as she was freaking out and trying to escape me. After some unsuccessful attempts I just put her on my knee and heled her tight against me with one hand while pressing a gauze with betadine (iodine) on the hole. This seemed to soothe her and she began falling asleep, but whenever I released my grip, she got up in alert again.

I briefly phoned my partner to tell him to try to come as soon as he could, and waited 40 long minutes with the hen sleeping on my lap. Once he was there, it was really easy. We didn't even need to move her - he got on his knees on the floor and could see and tend to the abscess. He said the hole was the size of a middle finger tip, but it was clean. After another round of iodine we put a big very sticky dressing on it and sent her to bed.

Today she has been acting normally (for a broody, that is). My partner gave her some metacam for pain once she was out of the nest, toward 11 am. I've wrapped her roost with a gym mat and tonight when we take off the dressing, we will see what it looks like and send pictures to the vet.

In retrospect I'm glad it happened at this moment because outside we would have missed it, and if my partner wasn't heading home, I don't know what I would have done. I haven't cleaned out the pet carrier and the crate that we used for Blanche so I didn't have anything easily accessible to contain her, and I just couldn't leave her in the room for more than a minute seeing how freaked out she was and jumping around everywhere.
I'm also realising I need to find some surface disinfectant. We haven't used any for a long time because of the cats, but right then I would have needed something to spray on the floor.

A few every day life chicken pictures from the past few days to make up for another awful post .

Lilly today.

Kara

 

[Perris]

wish I could help but I really have no experience with either bumblefoot or abscess, or water belly for that matter. But I'm glad it worked out as it did, because it sounds like she's on the road to recovery now.

 

[RoyalChick]

Another post about a distressing health issue .

I am going to do just what I said I wouldn't, and post in detail about some yucky scary chicken health problem that I encountered yesterday. I hope the outcome turns out to be not as bad as the fright it gave me ! I may be too squeamish for chickens but I was pretty shocked. I would be thankful for any advice.

I mentioned it on another thread : we noticed about two weeks ago that Lilly's foot,which we thought was healed, was swelling again. So we started tending her foot again.
Yesterday evening I knew my partner had to help a friend for some garden stuff after work and then he needed to check the fence for the boar's passages, so I did the foot care on my own. I usually avoid that because it's really easier being two and Lilly is a big hen who does a lot of strong wing flapping, especially now she is half broody. But I had just received the drawing salve I ordered ten days ago and I wanted to start applying it as soon as possible.
She began to struggle a bit on my knees while I was wrapping her foot, so I picked her up to put her back in place....and... her water broke . About the equivalent of a small glass of water fell from her belly on the floor. I was utterly panicked and my first thought was she had ascites and I had somehow punctured the skin through.
I wanted to have a look but I was very scared to squeeze her in case it would make things worse. I thought I could burrito wrap her in a towel. Bad idea. She freaked out and started flying all over the place. Jumped on the wood stove, which wasn't lit thanks to the great chicken, on to the oven and on the sink, and from there to the border of the salad bowl full of water rinsing a lettuce...so then I grabbed her and put her on the floor with a small plate of rice to try to keep her quiet just a bit. Then I saw something looking like a scab under her, on her bare abdomen (she has plucked all her feathers away) . I put a towel under her and touched it...and the thing I newer saw in all various bumblefoot that is supposed to happen came out : a huge plug and a core of solid pus.

Spoiler: Picture

View attachment 3829417

I was actually relieved to see that because at least I knew what it was - an abscess that I guess she may have made from sitting on the perch with her bare skin ? And I knew what to do - empty the pus and disinfect. But I just didn't know how without hurting her as she was freaking out and trying to escape me. After some unsuccessful attempts I just put her on my knee and heled her tight against me with one hand while pressing a gauze with betadine (iodine) on the hole. This seemed to soothe her and she began falling asleep, but whenever I released my grip, she got up in alert again.

I briefly phoned my partner to tell him to try to come as soon as he could, and waited 40 long minutes with the hen sleeping on my lap. Once he was there, it was really easy. We didn't even need to move her - he got on his knees on the floor and could see and tend to the abscess. He said the hole was the size of a middle finger tip, but it was clean. After another round of iodine we put a big very sticky dressing on it and sent her to bed.

Today she has been acting normally (for a broody, that is). My partner gave her some metacam for pain once she was out of the nest, toward 11 am. I've wrapped her roost with a gym mat and tonight when we take off the dressing, we will see what it looks like and send pictures to the vet.

In retrospect I'm glad it happened at this moment because outside we would have missed it, and if my partner wasn't heading home, I don't know what I would have done. I haven't cleaned out the pet carrier and the crate that we used for Blanche so I didn't have anything easily accessible to contain her, and I just couldn't leave her in the room for more than a minute seeing how freaked out she was and jumping around everywhere.
I'm also realising I need to find some surface disinfectant. We haven't used any for a long time because of the cats, but right then I would have needed something to spray on the floor.

A few every day life chicken pictures from the past few days to make up for another awful post .

Lilly today.
View attachment 3829425
Kara
View attachment 3829428View attachment 3829430View attachment 3829431
View attachment 3829439
View attachment 3829441

I am sure it was a huge relief to her to have that nasty hard plug gone.
I will probably get yelled at by someone for this - but soap or detergent is a perfectly adequate disinfectant. Vinegar too if you want to get fancy!

 

[RoyalChick]

I am sure it was a huge relief to her to have that nasty hard plug gone.
I will probably get yelled at by someone for this - but soap or detergent is a perfectly adequate disinfectant. Vinegar too if you want to get fancy!

I don't know why @Perris is laughing - I am serious!
But I forgot, if you want to get really fancy, you can always go with vodka!

 

[ManueB]

I don't know why @Perris is laughing - I am serious!
But I forgot, if you want to get really fancy, you can always go with vodka!

I use soap, and I don't think it's questionable. It's what I've been told to use when I did first aid training and my brother told me it's what the paramedics are told to use as well. It's just that in this case a spray would have been more convenient, I didn't have enough clean towels to sponge with soap, rinse and dry.
I have 90 degrees alcohol to prepare brandy but I'm not sure it's pet safe !