Napoleon Recovery - Clean Bill

Just a quick note. I'll update more tonight or tomorrow.

We're taking Napoleon for a final visit with an avian specialis tonight. His feathers are really sprouting now and we hope she gives him a clean bill of health. Our goal is to have him back in the coop in the next day or so. I know he is eager to be out and we hope the girls will not have a problem with him (or should I say them not give him any problems).

If all goes well he'll be out scratching around by the weekend!

Napoleon Recovery - Day 5

Hi there!

Napoleon continues to amaze us with his recovery. He's even tried to flap up over his barrier on the porch. He's getting restless and probably bored with being on the porch, away from his girls with nothing to scratch up or play with.

His back seems to be healing and he is walking better. He is getting an odd discoloration on the skin on this back, though. We are going to take him in for a follow-up vet visit tonight. We want them to look at his back and make sure he doesn't need more antibiotics.

We plan on taking him at night, since the vet is an after-hours vet anyways. This way, he'll be in his crate and sleepy. We hope!

More of the saga to follow.

Please Send Good Thoughts

I can't write this all out again. Please read it at Shoe Daydreams.



Please send your good thoughts to Napoleon. He needs them right now. We all do.

Back in the Pink

So just a brief update to let you know that Gertie is feeling much better. The limp is mostly gone so I guess the sprain is healing. She'll be happy to get out into the yard tomorrow and over the weekend for lots of yummy bugs, worms and grass.

For all of you who thought we were crazy to take a chicken to the vet, just hope I'm not responsible for your health care in the future.

That's all I'm saying.

Trauma Center

We had a bit of trauma here today. I let the gang out to free range yesterday because it was such a lovely day... finally a Saturday without rain! Everyone was happy to get out into the sun and the grass.

But then I noticed Gertie was favoring her right leg. She was limping along, trying her best to compensate for something.



I don't usually pick the girls up because they really don't like it but I had to look at her foot. So I put Meg and Napoleon outside and cornered Gertie so I could get her. Once I picked her up I felt all around her foot and up her leg. I couldn't see anything stuck in her foot anywhere and couldn't feel anything wrong. We decided to wait to see if it cleared up by the next day.

But when I let them out this morning, she was still limping. Even though we are in a semi-rural area there do not seem to be a lot of vets who'll treat farm animals and chickens in particular. I guess chickens don't rate health care generally. Well screw that.

So we found an After Hours vet, wrapped Gertie in a towel and drove her in.

She was actually better in the car than the dogs and cats. She seemed to like looking out the window and had a funny habit of flinching when we went under and overpass. I think the shadow freaked her out a bit.

The good thing is that we got to the vet okay and she got examined by a vet who has chickens herself. She said that Gertie did not appear to have a break or mites or something in her foot. She thought it was just a sprain. She gave her an injection for the pain and we were able to bring her home. We were worried that the other two chickens might hurt her when she came back in but all was well.

I hoping that she will be feeling better in the morning.



The chickens are watching you!