Chicken, Chicken Now Come Down Outta That Tree

Sweetheart has been doing a little better. After a week on stall rest, her feet have started to firm up again. However, mentally she isn't doing so well. She spends all day everyday pacing back and forth in her makeshift stall, trying to get out. She bashed her face open a little on the ceiling trying to get out, and we ended up putting her on Acepromazine to try to take the edge off. Unfortunately even max dose isn't doing much to help her, though it did stop her from trying to leap out. Nothing will stop the pacing. Even tying her up doesn't help. It's a really bad sign, and I'm afraid that she will colic, especially with the new meds that she is on (muscle relaxers, bute, ace and aspirin). She refused to eat her pills for a few days without hand feeding and serious work on my mom's part, but with the slow mixing in of her new senior feed, she will finally eat it. She has lost probably 100 pounds in the last week. I'm praying that she gets through this. I am so grateful to my mother for taking care of her, and spending hours every day with her. I don't think I could handle it on top of everything right now, though I would do my darndest were she here with me. I've had her for 8 years, and that crazy horse and I have been through a heck of a lot together.

One of my chickens got really sick yesterday- blew up like a balloon, retaining water and had an abnormal-looking rectal area. She kept getting worse as the day progressed, despite isolation and warmth. We made the decision to put her out of her misery in the evening. I have never before seen a chicken walk upright, but I saw it yesterday. After she was gone, I necropsied her to check out was going on. She had about 2 cups of abdominal cavity fluid, which was slightly yellowed. However, all of her organs and membranes contained yellow staining. I thought this was perhaps renal failure, but upon consultation with Dr. C., I think she had egg yolk periotinitis. That is, the egg was deposited inside the abdomen rather than the oviduct. This makes complete sense, since her eggs have always been misshapen (she is our only white-egg layer), and that is a common precursor to this disorder. There is no real hope, and the chicken will simply waste away over the next few days. I am glad that she did not have to continue to suffer, and I am also glad that I now know the signs and what to look for... and if in the future I end up treating chickens, this is one disease I will certainly not forget.

~Melissa