Our Chooky Journey

[Gardenwitch]

Ugh! some good news and bad news i guess

Bella my Amber has NOT gotten over her "sniffles" at all still as snotty as ever AND now Thomasina has the same thing too Trying to reach breeder; I've only had them 2 weeks. Initially she told me they were recently inoculated before we bought them and may get a sniffle for a few days but now its been weeks and symptoms are not going away and now seems to be spreading- I'm SO dissapointed!

Betty is still tired but is eating, drinking, and socializing with the other 3 but is still dozey so now i'm beginning to wonder if something is off with her too? She seemed to try laying an egg yesterday morning as there was this yellow goo splattered on the coop floor, looked like a yolk only attempt if it was.

[RichmondHens]

That doesn't sound too good Gardenwitch. Given your others have "sniffles" it might be worth checking with the vet, or at least getting a sample of poo, and mucus from the others' nostrils if they are discharging, to have lab tested. At least that way you might only have to pay lab fees and not a consultation charge.

[frias]

That doesn't sound too good Gardenwitch. Given your others have "sniffles" it might be worth checking with the vet, or at least getting a sample of poo, and mucus from the others' nostrils if they are discharging, to have lab tested. At least that way you might only have to pay lab fees and not a consultation charge.

When I sent poo to a lab iit was £15 per sample! My vet did it for free.

[RichmondHens]

Vets seem to charge different amounts it seems, and some do cheaper consultations than others. Our vet is £16 per consultation, PER ANIMAL. I took two cats to an appointment initially booked for one, and they charged me double. My previous vet would have looked at both for just the one fee. I just thought it MIGHT be cheaper to just send the sample in, rather than spend out on a consultation fee for looking at a hen, or hens. If I need my cat's urine testing (one of them has ongoing urinary issues), I send the sample in, without actually having to take the cat itself, and it's much cheaper.

[Gardenwitch]

yes i'm searching for a poultry vet in Colchester and found one but cant get my bird in until tuesday, i'll take the worst one in and see what happens it seems they may have mycoplasma and if thats the case we might have to cull the birds, as they've all been together initially?

The breeder is not getting in touch with me either despite leaving phone and email messages- and its a decent breeder near my local area I'm not naming names but if all of this does end badly and I dont here from breeder either I will be naming names to warn others which is SO disspointing.

[Suechooks]

Poor you - and poor chooks too. It's so upsetting when you've only had them a short time. The breeder seems to be rather irresponsible if he/she isn't even replying to you.
Maybe you'll hear over the weekend.
I do hope the poultry vet has better news for you when you get there.

[frias]

Vets seem to charge different amounts it seems, and some do cheaper consultations than others. Our vet is £16 per consultation, PER ANIMAL. I took two cats to an appointment initially booked for one, and they charged me double. My previous vet would have looked at both for just the one fee. I just thought it MIGHT be cheaper to just send the sample in, rather than spend out on a consultation fee for looking at a hen, or hens. If I need my cat's urine testing (one of them has ongoing urinary issues), I send the sample in, without actually having to take the cat itself, and it's much cheaper.

Actually my vet charges £25 consultation fee but as my hens are ex-batts he doesn't charge at all. One of the nurses has ex-batts so maybe that's why.
When I had a cat that needed an injection every month he didn't charge the consultation then either, just the injection. This was an understanding we had from the beginning. This was a rescue cat also so perhaps he just doesn't charge for rescues. In fact when the cat was finally put to sleep he did it in my home, bringing a nurse and with travelling time took him over an hour but cost was still under £50. I don't want to lose this vet obviously!
Going back to the lab fees, the lab never even identified the parasites my chooks had. The vet looked at poo sample and immediately said tapeworm. He later did it again under microscope and rang around to get the best treatment. Lab just said they didn't check for tapeworm only roundworm!

[RichmondHens]

Wow Frias - Think you have a good vet there. There are not many poultry vets about (although there is a listing in the back of Practical Poultry mag) but with the surge in poultry keeping maybe more will pop up.

[Gardenwitch]

I've had a bad day Found another vet, costs were £26 per bird; more than I paid for them. Mycoplasma and betty my black one who sleeps all day and gets all shaky sometimes now has something else I cant remember the name now, so its a def cull the lot. I'm just so shocked by it all and wasnt expecting it I'm well and truly gutted

I can't believe this, we're so happy and excited with them and have had them a couple of weeks, but its still hard to let them go- but I dont want them ill either and they were primarily for egg laying purposes as we only have a small space. Life is not fun sometimes.

[RedThorn]

{{{Hugs}}} Super big hugs!

[MaureenHall]

I'm so sorry xxxxxxxxxxx

[frias]

Oh no, I'm really sorry. ((((((big hug))))))

[Gardenwitch]

Thanks everyone I appreciate it, i just feel kinda numb right now and my OH is in denial about them being sick. I just never expected such a short chooky journey.

[Flummery]

What a shame - you get so attached to chickens so easily - I'm not surprised you're gutted. So sorry.

[bluemoon]

Oh no, Gardenwitch, I'm so sorry, that's just awful for you.