Sickness in the Chicken Coop

So it happened...all the chickens have a cold...runny nose, foamy eyes, sneezing and coughing....sounds like we need Comtrex, eh?  Well unfortunately, one thing about chickens is that they don't show that they are sick until it is basically too late.

Monday night was the telltale night. When I returned home Tuesday morning from work, I arrived to find 2 dead birds and poor Maran panting on the floor.  I took Maran into the house and gave her antibiotics...this is the bird that survived the "Easter Drought".  Sadly she didn't survive the Flu of 2010.  Antibiotics all around in the chicken house. Then when I took the second dose of medicine out before I left for work, there was another that had passed.  4 were wheezing and coughing, so I figured I"d come home from work with another 4 dead, including my sweet rooster, Boo.....only 1 though, and not Boo.  Another day of antibiotics, sneezing, wheezing, foamy eyes.  Came home from work today, no one dead.  WOOHOO!! Still it's going through the house and others are sick now.  So I just came if from doing something I never thought I would be doing....I sat out there for almost and hour, picking up various birds and forcing...er...coaxing...antibiotic water down their throat with an eyedropper.  Yep. 

Luckily the artic blast has broken and it isn't so bitterly cold.  Still they do not like the snow so everyone is stuck in the house. I spent time during the night picking out the day old chicks that we will get in February to replace the casualties.  But they will go to good use as they are waiting for the compost heap to start warming up for the spring.  I realize I sound a bit mean...but I've had days and hours agonizing, crying and being upset about losing our birds, and have come to the "farmer mindset."  No use crying over dead chickens, or something like that!  (That doesn't mean that I am not still a bit obsessive about caring for them when they are sick...I'm thinking most farmers don't eyedropper their hens! :) )

On a happier note...I was able to get all the Christmas decorations (san the stragglers that I always seem to miss) put away.  I also downsized this year and went from 6 boxes of decoration down to 3!!