Nutmeg RIP

Sadly today nutmeg finally died. She had been getting progressively worse and at the weekend we had to move the big chickens into the small eglu and the little chickens into the eglu cube because Nutmeg couldn't make it up the steps into the cube any more,her balance had gone,

She still pottered around but looked a bit hunched and uncomfortable. 

I gave her a large dose of meta am on some grapes. She really enjoyed this but even thought I'd cut them very small ahe had trouble swallowing them, I think the lumps must have affected her throat. She had also got very thin by now. At one point she toppled over and we thought she'd died, but she got up and carried on eating the grapes.

We expected her to have died overnight but she didn't.

Today she wandered out but didn't move much. She was a lot worse. She seemed to sunbathe a bit then I couldn't see her at all. I found what looked like her corpse under a bush by the fence but when I went to pick her up she twitched and lifted her head. She wasn't far off so I moved her to a cool shady spot and she was dead within the hour

I probably could have taken her to the vet sooner to have her out down, but each day she seemed to be eating and drinking up until the end and I always found myself asking "Would she really be happier dead?" And thinking that the answer was no.

Nutmeg more lumpy

It is now June and Nutmeg is still with us. Of late, her lumps have got worse, and I notice that she twitches her head a little more than the other chickens as thought they irritate her. Her comb is paler and although she seems happy with the others, I sense that it won't be long. Still, she is a good age and has had a good life. 

Nutmeg - defies the path lab with her lumps

First I took Nutmeg to my local vet who prescribed Tylan (antibiotic) as I expected. When this had no effect, we then added metacam (anti-inflamatory) but still no change. I decided I would have to seek out a poultry specialist and went to The Scott Veterinary Clinic who have a nice vet, Natalie, who specialises in exotic animals. I hadn't realised that chickens were classed as exotic but its rather nice.

She had a good feel and observed that some of the lumps were quite fleshy. She didn't think it was respiratory - so she took samples from each of the four lumps and sent them to the path lab.

Took longer than expected to get back to me because the path lab were so stumped they did the tests twice. There is "reactive lymphocites" in each of the four samples, but different ones. We discussed at length, but I decided that since Nutmeg is very happy in herself - she is even still laying eggs occasionally, and since she is already nearly 6 which is a good age for a chicken, I'm going to leave her and see how things go. If she deteriorates fast (as may happen) and is in distress I'll take her to be put to sleep. If she dies overnight, which may also happen, I've also promised to take her corpse along because the vet and the path lab are really keen to do a post-mortem to find out what this mysterious problem is.

Of course she could just recover :)

You never know.

Nutmeg - still no change

Phoned the Vet friday as no change in Nutmeg (other than a slightly runny bottom which is probably due to the antibiotic). The vet had spoken to her vet pal who was a poultry specialist in Nottingham who said she used Aivlosin and also that Metacam (anti-inflammatory) might help.

I'm getting concerned that in addition to the bulging face, Nutmeg has a distinct lump on the top left of her head and also down on the left side of her neck.

I'm now giving 3 more days Tylan plus metacam. So far (day 2) there has still been no change. May need to research Aivlosin.

Nutmeg's swollen face worsens

Really quite worried about Nutmeg. Her face is swollen on both sides, but unevenly. There seems to be a bump on top of her head, to her left side and she also appears to have a slight bump on the left side of her neck (from her perspective, if looking at her front on it is to the right).

I took her to the vet on Friday 7th. I don't have a poultry specialist vet and my vet practice had just, this week, been taken over by a new couple of vets. What the vet said matched what I'd read. Poss Myco and prescribed Tylan.

However today is day 4 and still no improvement. What could it be?

Nutmeg's swollen ear

I tried to get some photos of nutmeg this evening. I'll take more tomorrow and post a question in some chicken forums, and maybe give twitter a go too. I have checked against earlier photos of her (like all chicken fans, I have lots of photos of my hens) and her left ear??? back of cheek, seems to be rather swollen. The other side is similar but the left side sticks out most. She is happy and behaving and eating normally. Hope it is nothing serious. The other hens all look fine.

Maud and Nutmeg

I have just downloaded a blogger app to my iPad mini, so I hope to start posting more regularly to all my blogs. Once you have several, like when you have several twitter accounts, it becomes essential to have some way of switching quickly between them or you done use them. My wordpress app means that I blog readily to my work related wordpress blog Research Essentials. Hopefully this blogger app will redress the balance between that and my many blogger blogs.

Maud is not yet two years old. She was laying beautiful blue eggs up until March this year when she just stopped. Christmas she suddenly began laying again and already has laid 3 eggs! Wierd.

Nutmeat meanwhile must be at least 5 years old. She moulted recently, and I noticed her comb was looking very pale, as was Agatha, another recent moulter. I therefore started lacing their feed with poultry spice. It has been about a week and I have noticed a difference. Nutmeg is very much more red, tho still with some pale bits. I shall carry on.

Meanwhile, I'm a bit worried about Nutmeg. Although she is still behaving normally, her ears/cheeks seem swollen or sticking out. One side is worse than the other. I need to check my old photos of her to see if this is usual for her as I just don't remember.