To begin with we bought five Buff Orpingtons and they were so sweet!
(She totally showered after this picture and was lectured on the fact that chickens carry disease and having them on your head and this close to your face probably is NOT a good idea....but cute picture!!)
Unfortunately they were killed by some dogs that got into their coop early on. We were so, so sad.
We had a rooster that apparently had a stroke or something similar and slowly lost his ability to walk. We prayed for him and my daughter brought insects for him to eat and did "physical therapy" with him to keep his muscles moving. Unfortunately, he eventually died as well.
Early on we found out that there are not many vets that will help with chicken issues, plus that could get really expensive, so we began to learn on our own.
Recently we entered the henhouse to let the chickens out for the day and one of our chickens named Roadrunner (due to her resemblance of a roadrunner as well as her super-sonic speed!) was laying on her side completely unable to move. Her wings were spread in a weird way and she could not move anything except her head. I really thought that we would have to put her down when my husband came home that night. I was also super worried that she was in a lot of pain and I might have to put her down before he came home.
We did a little research and could not find any clear disease that this resembled but we went ahead and separated her from the other hens. This was not only for the safety of the other hens, but also for her own safety as they will tend to pick and peck on weaker, sickly chickens.
We gave her food and water and as long as we held it for her, she was able to eat and drink so we decided to wait until that evening.
Come that evening she was able to move her wings some, so we decided to wait until the next day. Then she was able to sit and keep herself upright, but still not stand. She could not move to go potty so we also had to keep her bum clean :) Poor girl even laid an egg.....though we tossed it since we did not know what was going on with her!
Three days she could not move. She just sat or laid and let us feed and water her.
Then my husband came upon a tip for giving sick chickens a little bit of Gatorade, so we started that and we began to see a big difference!
Three more days go by and she is hopping to come out of confinement so we stick her in with the other hens and they instantly began to harass her. We gave it a little bit to settle down, but they would not stop picking on her so we pulled her out. She was feeling a lot better, but still was not 100% and the other hens must have picked up on that.
So...a few more days alone and then we stuck her in the coop after bedtime and the next morning they all woke up, she was able to fly up to the roosting bar and everyone was friendly again!
I was very thankful that we ended up being able to keep her. She is back to laying eggs and picking on the younger chicks!! I am also thankful for the internet enabling us to become chicken doctors!!
So my chicken first aid advice is this:
1. First thing...separate the sick chicken. Like I said, this not only protects your flock, but also the sick one.
2. Make sure the sicky has food and water and is able to partake of both. You don't want one injury to end up leading to death by dehydration.
3. Use the internet!! There are so many good sites out there for chicken owners and a lot of been there, done that information.
4. Our two favorite chicken remedies are diatomaceous earth and Gatorade!!
5. When the sicky gets better, be careful of integrating her back into the flock.
6. Sometimes nothing you can do works and they die. We have lost a total of 8 hens over the last year. We feel sad each time we lose one, but we also try our best to give them a great life while they are with us and that helps us feel a bit better when it is time to let one go.
We figure that Roadrunner must have pulled a muscle and just needed time to heal. She did not like having to eat and drink with our help so her electrolytes became unbalanced and the Gatorade helped with that. In the end we probably will never know for sure, but I am so thankful for our happy ending this time!!
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