Wrangling Chickens - Upper Respiratory Infections

Thank Goodness for long weekends!  That one extra day really made a difference in the amount of work we were able to get accomplished.  But first things first;

Corrie is still in residence on our back patio, and still recovering.  Folks, I really thought we would lose her.  At one point she could barely stand, and when she did, she wobbled backwards.  She was miserable.  She does seem to be pulling through, and is starting to get anxious to roam freely.  Can you blame her?  One afternoon of sitting on the couch and watching day time television makes me stir crazy!

We did lose Alfred.  He didn't look sick to us last week, but when we showed up Saturday, he was gone.  I would guess from the same upper respiratory illness that struck Corrie.  If we would have seen him sick, we would have brought him home too.  Poor guy.  He will be missed, he was awesome looking and was a great rooster to his gals.

Since we had a more serious problem, we elicited some help from a local chicken farmer, and researched some more on the internet.  The Tetracycline we were giving Corrie only kept the symptoms at bay, she still had a cough, runny eyes and nose.  It wasn't enough.  So they recommended Tylan.  2cc per bird one time, for those that looked and acted healthy as a preventative, 2cc per bird for three days on the really sick ones.  So far, that's only Corrie.  **I am not recommending the same thing for your chickens, and I am not a vet, but we're giving this a try.  Your chickens are in your hands, not mine. 

It was time for us to wrangle some chickens!  With lawn rakes in hand we set out on our mission.  At times like this the run area seems too large.  Try cornering 9 chickens, 9 separate times!  Needless to say, you thought the world was coming to an end.  The Cotton Club has not been handled on a regular basis, and only come within a couple of feet of us to begin with, and that's if we have food.  We cornered, the Moose grabbed, held them, and opened up their beaks.  I used a syringe and gave them their medicine.   This medicine can also be injected, however we were told chickens have a lot of nerve endings and if you don't know exactly where they are, injecting them in the wrong place could make the chicken lame.  We were not going there.

They spent the remainder of their time outdoors yesterday lounging around in the shade and doing all those things chickens do best;  scratch and eat bugs.  Keep your fingers crossed the Cotton Club and Corrie are on the mend.