Anyone who has animals will know that it’s rarely all plain sailing.
This morning it was little Gloria who was down in the dumps. Unlike the hounds (who are, quite frankly, little drama queens), chickens will go out of their way to mask illness to avoid being rejected by the flock. So once an illness is bad enough to be obvious it’s important to move quickly.
After the initial scramble out of the run Gloria took herself off under the fir tree, standing still, tail down and feathers puffed out. Very typical “sick chick” behaviour.
I encouraged her back out and checked her over, her crop was firm and she had dirty knickers, which didn’t really narrow it down for me significantly, it could indicate anything from impacted crop to egg issues, (so both ends).
I sringed a little olive oil into her mouth and separated her into the mobile hen hospital (dog cage) with the isolation nesting box (cat carrier) for some quiet time.
Then a very odd thing happened, as I said earlier hens mask to avoid being seen as a weak member of the team. Descended from dinosaurs, hens sometimes attack a weak bird to maintain the strength of the flock. But little Queenie, the smallest of the birds, and definitely lowest in the pecking order went and sat next to Gloria’s cage and cooed at her.
Gloria is regularly vile to little Queenie, chasing and pecking her on an almost daily basis, so this behaviour really surprised me. But it honestly seemed to settle Gloria who laid down herself and had a rest.
After a few minutes she started laying a soft shell egg, thank goodness, problem uncovered! A quick spa treatment in the hen bath (bucket), quick blow dry (yes with a hairdryer – cool setting) and she was right as rain.
Support, empathy and understanding can come from the most unexpected sources. Remember who was there for you through challenging times, those friends are pure gold.
Chicken Nuggets 