madwomn
Songster
- Jun 26, 2012
- 16
- 748
- 127
I bought a gorgeous 5-week-old Quail D'Anvers pullet baby from an airheaded woman who had ordered a selection of rare chicks from McMurray hatchery (she thought... though she couldn't remember, of course). I was only looking for one pullet, though I was dying for the white Polish boy she had.
We had Reeses for two days - isolated in a plastic dog cage - before she got sick. Our weather's been weird (welcome to northern Nevada, would you like some snow in July?), and from 90 degrees one day, it changed to 70 the next, with 40's in the night between. Reeses was ruffled up and lethargic. I thought, "Oh, she got cold. We'll warm her up, feed her some mash with watermelon juice, and she'll be fine." No dice. She has diarrhea and is COLD all the time. We're watering her with electrolyte water and an eye dropper and she mostly eats for herself once we get her started. And she eats A LOT. So, except for needing one of the heated rocks like you find in a reptile cage, being skinny, having a case of the runs, and not moving around a lot, she's holding her own.
The BIG question is, though, what the heck do I do with her if she survives? Right now, she's living in a plastic dog cage with pine chips and a light for extra heat and illumination (because she's not getting any sunshine). We're feeding her warm mash made up of chick crumbles, teeny tiny watermelon chunks, and electrolyte water. She's in my daughter's room because it's the warmest room in the house (the 70's persist, with 50's at night). My "Chicken Health Handbook" says that many of the diseases that cause diarrhea persist after the chicken appears well, and that the birds can become a carrier. Yikes! I have two other girls (a 1-year-old mottled D'Uccle named Pepper and a 10-week-old clinically insane 1/2-Cochin/1/2-Silkie mix named Florentine) who make up the established "flock" in my yard. I don't want to kill them! If I'll always have to have Reeses separated from the other two, and I can't in good conscience give her to someone else, should I just cull her? My daughter will move out and I'll have to go into therapy!
Gads.
Any advice?
We had Reeses for two days - isolated in a plastic dog cage - before she got sick. Our weather's been weird (welcome to northern Nevada, would you like some snow in July?), and from 90 degrees one day, it changed to 70 the next, with 40's in the night between. Reeses was ruffled up and lethargic. I thought, "Oh, she got cold. We'll warm her up, feed her some mash with watermelon juice, and she'll be fine." No dice. She has diarrhea and is COLD all the time. We're watering her with electrolyte water and an eye dropper and she mostly eats for herself once we get her started. And she eats A LOT. So, except for needing one of the heated rocks like you find in a reptile cage, being skinny, having a case of the runs, and not moving around a lot, she's holding her own.
The BIG question is, though, what the heck do I do with her if she survives? Right now, she's living in a plastic dog cage with pine chips and a light for extra heat and illumination (because she's not getting any sunshine). We're feeding her warm mash made up of chick crumbles, teeny tiny watermelon chunks, and electrolyte water. She's in my daughter's room because it's the warmest room in the house (the 70's persist, with 50's at night). My "Chicken Health Handbook" says that many of the diseases that cause diarrhea persist after the chicken appears well, and that the birds can become a carrier. Yikes! I have two other girls (a 1-year-old mottled D'Uccle named Pepper and a 10-week-old clinically insane 1/2-Cochin/1/2-Silkie mix named Florentine) who make up the established "flock" in my yard. I don't want to kill them! If I'll always have to have Reeses separated from the other two, and I can't in good conscience give her to someone else, should I just cull her? My daughter will move out and I'll have to go into therapy!
Gads.
Any advice?