Kitchen Heneral Hospital, The Continuing Story

Our dear Hennifer Aniston is still in-patient at Kitchen Heneral Hospital. She has been admitted for 3 weeks now. She is getting better, but she has a ways to go. Just a little warning- this post mentioned some chicken biological functions. I did not include any gross pictures, but just be aware both wounds and poop will be discussed.

We initially brought her inside because she has bumble-foot. She has been doing quite well with regular foot soaks and Blu-Kote (a.k.a. gentian violet) treatments. A few days after my prior blog post about bumble-foot, however, Mr. Food-It-Yourself noticed something else. We brought Hennifer outside to interact with her flock, and she showed no interest in scratching for the treats we had spread around. She was lethargic. Her poop was watery and an odd green color, even though we had not been giving her greens. Her comb and wattles were pale.

After a quick internet search, we feared Hennifer had picked up coccidiosis, a protozoal disease. Yes, protozoal infections are more common in summer, but we had a spate of warm, wet weather in January. Mosquitoes were hatching, so it is perfectly plausible that oocysts from a protozoa could activate. Thankfully, the treatment for coccidiosis is available over the counter at feed stores. I mixed the liquid into Hennifer’s water, as directed. We also decided to treat the water the rest of the flock was drinking. Some of the resources we consulted recommended this, as the odds of only one bird in the flock having it are small. With five days of treatment, Hennifer was back to her perky self. Her poop was back to normal, also.

In anticipation of Hennifer returning to the flock, we bought several bales of compressed bedding straw and covered the run. It will benefit all the birds by keeping their feet out of the mud. Here’s a cute video of Misty Coopland and Ellen DeHeneres helping me spread the straw out; Michelle Obrahma does the cutest photobomb.

Today, we decided to give Hennifer a good long visit with her flock. He foot wounds were scabbed over and stable, and the weather was reasonably mild. Yes, there was some typical chicken squabbling at first. Eventually, everyone settled down and Mr. Food-It-Yourself and I let the birds be. When the flock had gone into the coop for the night, we grabbed Hennifer for an evening foot bath, reapplication of Blu-Kote, and a return to the coop. Unfortunately, her foot wounds had opened up and both feet were bleeding a bit. We suspect pecking by the flock was to blame. So, Hennifer is back in the pet crate for the night to keep her feet clean.

Mr. Food-It-Yourself has since ordered some protective foot coverings. We also bought some chicken diapers so we can allow Hennifer to walk around the kitchen more when she is inside. The ultimate goal is for her to rejoin the flock outside. However, I know several fellow chicken tenders who have kept “house chickens” for various reasons.

We did discuss the possibility of culling. The need may arise, but not today. We believe Hennifer heal and will have a long and excellent chicken life.

Owning pets is a big responsibility. Chickens are usually low-maintenance birds, but once in a while, we have to put in some extra effort. We don’t mind doing it, if I’m honest. What animals do you care for? Tell us everything about your amazing pets in the comments section.