I have been thinking of writing about my own personal experience with sick chickens. Chickens tend to get sick during the very wet ,cold, and windy winter and spring in this area. Especially now that the rainfall here seems to be heavier even though it doesn't rain longer, so that there is always standing water in the chicken yard. I finally took to laying straw down in the chicken yards to soak up the water and lessen the contact with mud. Why did it take me so long to think of this? I'm just getting old I guess and it takes me longer to find simple solutions. Putting straw down works out so well. The eggs are clean, my boots stay much cleaner, and I believe it helps with the health of the chickens. The last straw for the winter was just laid down. Doesn't the yard look nice?
The first time I went to a poultry show with chickens to enter, I took both the hens to a vet before taking them to the show. They were both healthy and tested negative for any disease. When I brought them back from the show I noticed that Blondie was making little gurring noises. I thought that was cute. Like she was telling me that she didn't approve of whatever I was doing. I took her to the vet again because i wanted to check her fertility. And the vet said, well she has a cold, can't you hear that? (gurring!) So we need to treat her cold and then test her fertility. I felt kind of stupid, she did not look sick or even act sick really. So chickens can be sick without looking like the traditional sick bird sitting all hunched up and not eating etc. So the vet prescribed Baytril - one drop every day for seven days. This did not help.
She remained sick until I read on a blog by a vet that raised Seramas that Baytril should be given for 14 days or longer in tablet form until the chicken is well. And that really messes up their fertility for quite a while. Blondies eggs came out with bad shells and funny shapes. At the end of the season I got one fertile egg from Blonde but it did not hatch. (Her problem with fertility was that she was very feathery - soft feathers is the term- and when I trimmed the feathers away from her vent she did get a fertile egg.
Shows are very stressing for the chicken. Some people give antibiotics both before and after a show. There are other products available to give a chicken at a show that can boost their immunity and lessen the effects of stress. Pay close attention when you are observing your chickens and when they act differently - check it out.
