Well, it's been a tough week to be a chicken around here. There is something, viral or bacterial, going through the coop. One of the black sex linked chickens the kids had for their 4-H project, died on Sunday night after a few days of being unable to stand up. We think that could have been caused by Marek's disease. Not totally sure though. We took her out of the coop and quarantined her in the garage in a dog kennel for those few days, hoping to nurse her back to health. We completely cleaned the chicken coop to remove any bad germs that might be in there. All of the feeders and drinkers got washed in bleach. The coop got sprayed down with disinfectant. Yesterday I went down to the barn to get a shovel so I could do some gardening. I went to the coop to talk to the chickens and saw our 2 buff orpingtons dead on the floor of the coop. I called Old Goat over and he took the birds out, no sign of injury. It looked like they just fell over dead. So we replanned our day. No gardening for me. No fencing for Old Goat. We got all of the chickens out of the coop and proceeded to strip it out again. We whitewashed the inside and put in two windows for more ventilation. Supposedly the lime used in the whitewash kills bacteria. While down there I noticed one of the gold laced Wyandottes not running around like the other birds. She just stood there all hunched up. She didn't fuss when I picked her up like they all usually do. We decided to quarantine her just in case. She came up to the garage and went into the dog kennel. I mixed up some whole oats, cornmeal, flax seed, and sunflower seeds for her to eat, noticing how boney she was. No fat or muscle anywhere. Just skin and bones. I put a little apple cider vinegar into her drinking water. She drank some water, but I couldn't get her to eat. After dinner I cut up a mango and took the pit out to her, hoping she would nibble off some of the fruit. This morning I went out to check on her and she was dead. It is so frustrating not knowing how to help your animals.
I made a vet appointment and I am taking Pipsqueak in to get checked out. It appears she has a vision problem. Hopefully this Avian vet will be able to give me some information on what is happening and what I can do about it. I just don't want to lose the entire flock. Today everyone looks healthy and lively. No one is hunched over. No one feels like skin and bones.
Country Girl said she was ok not doing market birds, since we are one short for her pen of 3 for fair. The golde laced was Country Boy's show bird. Luckily we have another gold laced to take her place.
In August when we go to fair we will have the two goats and 8 chickens- 2 show birds and 6 market birds. At this point I just hope the birds are all still alive come fair time....
Today, I will finish my garden project and get the seed starts out of the green house and into their container garden since they have outgrown their little soil pods. No sense losing the garden as well as the chickens....
The windows are salvaged from an old camper. Gives the chicken coop a very stylish look....
The goats really appreciate the viewing window. Now they can check on the chickens without getting stuck in the pop door!
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