Haven't checked this group in a couple of days. Things seem relatively fine during the day-- chickens alert and happy and eating... except one hen who's been very skittish and scared for the last two weeks and I had her in the basement w/ the crop problem hen when the arctic freeze was here. She was just her normal nervous self, living in the sheep shed freely during the days now and in a box w/ a lightbulb at night (I thought she was molting... the two other hens I got w/ her also have been losing feathers). Today though she was hunched up and her crop seems large and her head moving around like that other hen. ugh.
At night when they're roosting and still, I shine a light on them and just watch... the crop problem hen has a squishy crop at night with the knobby thing still there, in the same spot, but in the morning it goes down a bit. She still moves her head around a little. The other hens are still sneezing. Perhaps worse. The roo is fine during the day but often opens his mouth to breath as if struggling a bit to get air (this has always been the symptom when he's relapsed). A few hens are now shaking their heads a little. Maybe they do this all the time when they are roosting, but I don't remember seeing it before.
They are still on 4 in 1 powder but I just looked at the forecast and saw that we'll have -11 degrees on Sunday night. I have been explaining to my daughters how sick they all are behaving and preparing them for the reality that we may have to euthanize them before the next cold stretch.
It's been so warm here (30s).... I don't want them to endure more bone-chilling cold.
As for how to kill them... the dry ice is hard to get up here in the boonies... fear of CO2 bombs made by kids apparently.
I will call my vet tomorrow to see if she might come by. Doubtful.
So I will probably have my husband shoot them once it gets dark.
I know there's many worse things that can happen, but it still gets me upset to think of losing certain birds and doing it ourselves..
Kristen
--- In CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com, <cathryntherese@...> wrote:
>
> Kristen, How are is your flock doing? Cathryn
>
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