I went outside a couple of days ago, to fins one of my chickens unable
to stand. I had no idea what to do - whether to keep her quiet and see
if she'd recover, or put her out of her misery - not that she seemed too
miserable, just alarmed at not being able to walk. I picked her up and
checked her legs and back to see if I could diagnose anything (though
I'm better with motorbikes at diagnosis!), and couldn't feel anything.
I decided to kill her (she was one of the white unproductive hens), but
as I happened to be going to the vet later that day (my bulldog is
having puppies) I asked him what could have happened. The rooster had
been close to her at the time, and I surmised a broken back, but the vet
said while it was possible, it was most unlikely. He said it may be
calcium deficiency, but as my chickens are completely free-ranging and
also get laying mash I don't believe that would be the case. The other
option, he said, was some sort of parasite - sounded as if he said
tampons (!) so when I got home I checked her for parasites and found
nothing.
Anyway, decided to cook her up for the dogs, since I was still unsure of
the cause, and in the process of cutting her up found it was actually
the back. It wasn't broken as in snapped in half, but there was a
definite grating of the bones in that very spot where I was taught to
cut the chicken when ****tioning them at cookery school.
So how about that? I need to reduce my flock by a whole lot, so it
wasn't too sad a thing to happen, but not very pleasant all the same.
And all my ducks have been stolen!
Sigh.
That IS a sad state of affairs.
Catherine
|
