After Rusty's death, I began to notice Penny behaving peculiarly. She seemed to be breathing deeply, standing with her legs wide apart, and bearing down. Sometimes, she'd sit for a while and bear down. Her poos were runny, so she had dirty rear feathers. Oh dear, could she be egg-bound? The symptoms matched. The only peculiarity was that Penny seemed quite alert and was eating and drinking a little; egg-bound birds deteriorate very rapidly. She has lost condition -- always rather a skinny chook, her keel feels like it could cut your hand now.
Last night I gave Penny a nice hot bath, the kind that water-births occur in (only hotter, because chooks have a higher body temperature than we do). She seemed to like it, but the only result was a fart and some green goo which landed on my foot. I left her with a heat pack overnight. While she was no worse this morning, she was no better, either.
The forecast was for 33 C today, and I was worried that she'd die from the added heat stress, so off I went to the vet instead of church. It turns out that Penny has a respiratory infection -- chook pneumonia -- and that the other behaviours are related to keeping her lungs open. I had considered respiratory infection, but discarded it as I couldn't hear her breathing or see any discharge. She looks reasonably well, and we're hopeful she'll pull through. I really don't want to conduct two chook funerals in a week!
3 comments:
Poor Chook / Chookie.
Life is tough for most chooks, but yours are well pampered and hopefully this chook will recover quickly.
Poor Penny and poor you. I hope she picks up soon! Sick pets can be such a worry, especially as I've had to say goodbye to your other chicken so very recently.
Fortunately, Penny is looking no worse and possibly better today. She is still having some difficulty breathing, but she isn't struggling and her poos have become firmer. I am now very hopeful that she will recover well.
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