Yet more sunshine (we are being spoilt) and for the first time in weeks, ALL the birds were out of the stable when we went down to muck it out mid morning!!! Row here (as in Hedgerow Broody and Quennie’s granddaughter) found the best seat in the house and spent most of her morning sunbathing! We have actually lost a few birds this winter, two of them Indian Games. The first died very suddenly and with no warning which was weird and the second seemed to suffer from something neurological because she became very wobbly on her legs and then developed a head tilt! We made the decision with her to put her to sleep as we did not think there was much chance of being able to get her better!!!
It’s difficult with poultry. There are some birds such as Row here and definitely Queenie where we may consider getting a vet to look at them but on the whole we tend to view a very sick bird as an animal to dispatch, rather then try to cure. It does depend on how sick of course. We have treated birds with respiratory illnesses before now as with the right medication they can often be nursed back to health. Some thing neurological though is unlikely to be curable.
We now have 26 chickens and 4 cockerels. We still need to sell a few chickens so we aren’t overrun with eggs but 30 chickens is actually feeling quite manageable at the moment (plus the ducks, turkeys and geese of course...)