Looking for answers
I feel like I am watching an old movie about a poor family that struggled against all odds to make only to have their only cow run off with the handsome bull next door...and now the family is left with no milk. Heartache follows until the cow comes home with a calf and they all live happily ever after.
Okay, how does all of this relate to me...Chicken Mama...and Eastside Farm. We lost yet another of the flock. Domino died yesterday after having struggled for 2 days. I brought her into the house, as I brought Mama Roux into the house - into the bathroom. She was, at first, on a heating pad and then under a heat lamp. I gave her anti-biotics that were left over from Mama Roux (that did nothing!) but they did nothing for Domino. I heard Domino get up, fall and try to get up. I ran into the bathroom to find her struggling to stand. I picked her up, put her on my lap, stroked her and told her I would find out what was making her sick...and she then rolled on to her side, stretched out and extended her wing...and died.
I wrapped her up in a towel, then a very large plastic bag and put her into the refrigerator. Today, after many calls, talked to a renowned chicken doctor and he thought it could be Marek's disease. None of the birds that have died (I am now counting Grace into this group) were innoculated at birth against it...the damn vaccines are for groups of 1000 birds...and we were told it can only be done in the chicks first 24 hours...and the batch only lasts 24 hours. GREAT. How in the world does a back yard chicken mama deal with this?
At the doctor's suggestion, I packed up Domino in a towel, a plastic bag, 2 zip lock bags, on ice, in a styrofoam chest...and Fed Ex'd her to UC Davis...for free. They pay for the shipping and the necropsy. I have to find out what is going on with my birds. I don't want to lose the whole flock.
Now I will wait for the news from UCDavis...and, as in the imagined movie, life will be sweeter than ever. We'll get more chickens and everyone will live happily ever after.
In the meantime, please light a candle and say a prayer for my little hen, Domino. And then go tell someone you love them!
Okay, how does all of this relate to me...Chicken Mama...and Eastside Farm. We lost yet another of the flock. Domino died yesterday after having struggled for 2 days. I brought her into the house, as I brought Mama Roux into the house - into the bathroom. She was, at first, on a heating pad and then under a heat lamp. I gave her anti-biotics that were left over from Mama Roux (that did nothing!) but they did nothing for Domino. I heard Domino get up, fall and try to get up. I ran into the bathroom to find her struggling to stand. I picked her up, put her on my lap, stroked her and told her I would find out what was making her sick...and she then rolled on to her side, stretched out and extended her wing...and died.
I wrapped her up in a towel, then a very large plastic bag and put her into the refrigerator. Today, after many calls, talked to a renowned chicken doctor and he thought it could be Marek's disease. None of the birds that have died (I am now counting Grace into this group) were innoculated at birth against it...the damn vaccines are for groups of 1000 birds...and we were told it can only be done in the chicks first 24 hours...and the batch only lasts 24 hours. GREAT. How in the world does a back yard chicken mama deal with this?
At the doctor's suggestion, I packed up Domino in a towel, a plastic bag, 2 zip lock bags, on ice, in a styrofoam chest...and Fed Ex'd her to UC Davis...for free. They pay for the shipping and the necropsy. I have to find out what is going on with my birds. I don't want to lose the whole flock.
Now I will wait for the news from UCDavis...and, as in the imagined movie, life will be sweeter than ever. We'll get more chickens and everyone will live happily ever after.
In the meantime, please light a candle and say a prayer for my little hen, Domino. And then go tell someone you love them!
posted by Chicken Mama at 10:47 PM
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