Yesterday's plans of an easy afternoon after doctors, pharmacy, post office, dropping hubby in Canberra, lunch out, then weekly shopping and going home had an added twist to them which occupied me until home 7pm last night (including picking hubby up off the Wollongong coach again).
When I got home and let out the chooks to free range, I noticed one of them wasn't feeling too happy. I'd noticed the night before that she was the first to roost (assuming that she even left the chook house that is), and at the weekend she didn't have her tuna in spring water which she loves. So after putting away the shopping, I went out and found a pet carrier from the workshed and caught her.
She and I then had a 45 minute car journey to get to the other side of the mountain I live on... I operate a policy of giving them a fighting chance and I've seen these symptoms before and lost each and every chook to it. But she didn't seem as ill as the others had been when we'd first seen the symptoms, so I rang the closest vet, explained I needed an immediate appointment else she's die during the night and they helped out.
She's on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs at the moment as a result. She is also in the house, away from the rest of the flock with all the treats she likes the most. She has egg peritinitus. More often than not it is fatal because chooks hide their illness and although I had been aware she wasn't well since Saturday, taking a chook to the vets because she didn't eat her tuna isn't really a valid reason for a visit! (The vet laughed and agreed.) The hand feeding (or on the end of a special chooks only fork) if the entire flick is it way of keeping track of the flock and checking how they are...
Well she survived the night, which was a surprise so, today's plans include teasing food and water into her and injecting her antibiotics into her. I've enough to Monday and if she's still alive on Monday, I'll have to repeat the trip for the other half of the course.
The rest of the day includes going back to bed for more sleep (my neck and an asthma attack during the night means that neither of us got much sleep last night), and if this afternoon is a nice afternoon, I'll start the mystery shawl knit I'm doing, try starting to cut the lawn and plant some seeds/seedlings in the veg plot and then have a shower. I might even try to weed the veg plot again! I'll need hubby home in order to inject Henrietta. (She's a Houdini, so if you can catch her you know there's a problem.) So otherwise it is a quiet day. No housework because it will stress out a poorly chook!
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