Post-Christmas Chicken Update

Merry Christmas! I trust that all of you had an experience...of some sort. :) Our chickens were singing and chatting away for most of the holidays - they were even louder than our dogs! And we had 15 dogs here for a few days!

We put Neil, Whitey Alice and Trumpeter Alice back out into the coop a few days ago. There was a long chinook, so temperatures were mild, and they are only down a few feathers - no open wounds at all. In fact, they look so good, I wish I had taken pictures! But I forgot. Anyway, here is a picture of Neil's "snow angel" when we set him down on the way to the coop.

Toes (Fatty) Alice and Brownie Alice are still in the house, enjoying some free range time in the spare bedroom! Just for a few minutes at a time, but it's pretty fun.
They get to stretch out their wings and run around a bit, pecking at stuff that's been flying out of their crates every day as they forage.

Toes (Fatty) Alice on the mend - only one scab left from the deep dog bite marks

Brownie Alice - feathers growing back in nicely and many layers of skin repaired and healed :) Just a couple more layers to go there... thanks to Derma-gel :)

Chicken update - with photos!

It's been about 5 days since the chickens got attacked by the dog. All of them have not only survived, but have improved quite a bit! Brownie Alice is even laying eggs! Of course, we can't eat these eggs, because we're giving the chickens antibiotics. I would post a link to the stuff we're using but good lord! - it's darn near impossible to find the product on the brand's website. It's like the Pfizer of veterinary medicine or something. Anyway, we just buy it in a pouch at UFA and add it to their water. They seem to like the taste.

Anyway, we are scrambling Brownie Alice's eggs and feeding them to all of them for a little extra protein. They go nuts for it. They also go nuts for cooked oatmeal! I put a tiny dose of meloxicam (Metacam) on a glob of oatmeal and they basically jump me and swallow the glob whole. They look like little piggies with oatmeal all over their beaks. :)

Neil is definitely feeling better. He's starting to peck at our fingers again when we are opening the door to the crate. And all of them are clucking and cooing and singing away several times a day. It's really cute. At night they are sooooo quiet, you would have no idea they're in that room!

In addition to the antibiotics and the topical cream and Dermagel spray, we bought some epsom salts. Apparently chickens really love a warm bath, and epsom salts with help draw out any infection. We'll try it as soon as we're both home at the same time for long enough! :) Here are some pics of their injury sites (taken 2 days ago):

Brownie Alice's bitten back

The bare back of Trumpeter Alice sprayed with Blue-Kote

Whitey Alice's left backside

I will try to get a pic of Fatty Alice too, as her wounds are pretty darn bad. But then, you won't be able to see the before and after - it's pretty dramatic already!

Thanks for reading about the cheeeekins I love so much. :)

Traumatic incident with the chickens

Sounds like a headline more than a blog post title. It feels like a news report, too. Not fun at all. :(

First off, I will give you a picture of the culprit in this story:

Billy Sue, wearing her bear bells and Sport Dog e-collar

It's been in the minus 30's (degrees Celcius), which is like the minus 30's in degrees Fahrenheit, too. One day the internet said we were the coldest place on Earth! Anyway, the chickens were doing okay; we borrowed a heat lamp from Bear Valley Rescue, and got a heated dog dish for their water. Chickens are surprisingly hardy! Birds, as it happens, adapt to the cold temperatures more readily than mammals. There is less perspiration (none, in fact, for chickens!) and they are covered in down, which they can fluff up to trap their body heat against their skin.

Neil and his Alice's basking in the heat lamp's glow

Anyway, with the cold temperatures came a blizzard. Our neighbour said he hadn't seen that much snow in 20 years! The wind was crazy, so there were snowdrifts 4 feet high in some places. 

The drift that we had to shovel through in order to park the truck

The chicken run had a large drift a few feet away from the entrance to the coop, which blocked the view I usually have from the kitchen window.

The drift that cuts right through the chicken run

I left the little square chicken-door open for a couple of hours yesterday because it was really sunny out for the first time in days and days. I didn't think the chickens would actually go outside, but I figured they'd get a smidge of natural light for a bit. I really didn't imagine they would go outside. And I certainly didn't think that Billy Sue would find a way into their yard (our front yard)...

I was wrong. :( Remember that 4 foot high drift out by our truck? Well, it went right over our fence! Billy just climbed right on up and walked along the drift into the yard! How could I forget that drift... :(

I heard an awful sound coming from behind the snow drift, and I realized Billy was missing. I called her name from the front door, and out she popped from behind that drift. She came right to me, and I had to take care of the other dogs inside for a few minutes. I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I went out to the coop and found Trumpeter Alice lying face down in front of the coop entrance, nearly encased in ice (presumably Billy's slobber from a few minutes earlier!). I brought her inside and held her in the bathroom to warm her up. I was relieved her neck didn't seem broken and there was only a tiny bit of blood coming from around her beak.

When my partner came home, we went out to the coop to check on the others. They were all alive, but barely. Neil the Rooster was cowering and missing all his tail feathers. We brought them all inside and checked them out, cleaned them up, and put them in dog crates.

The most grievously injured two are Brownie Alice and Fatty Alice, in far L crate. We put White Alice and Trumpeter Alice in the middle one together (they are less injured), and Neil on his own in the far R crate.

We cleaned the two hens who got the worst of it, just with warm water, and put Dermagel on all of them. They were all eating last we checked, and communicating with each other.

I will keep you updated.