kirkcudbright | another dead hen

We buried another hen this morning. Unlike the last one, we knew how old this one was - 2½, so age definitely wasn't a factor here.

She'd been looking a little peaky last week, and she'd lost a bit of weight in the last month (since I weighed her to determine worming dosage). I put the whole flock on tetracycline, and she seemed a bit perkier through the weekend. However, I didn't weigh her, so I didn't have really objective data.

This morning, she was listless and droopy - couldn't hold herself up. I held her, and forced her to drink, but she barely opened her eyes, and she was gone within the hour.

So, what next? I'm going to weigh the 4 remaining birds at least weekly, and continue the tetracycline for the remainder of the week. The first sign of sickness wins a trip to the vet (assuming Andover Animal Hospital has anyone at the moment who knows poultry - there's a lot of turnover in that practice).

I was at the Agway on Friday, and they had day-old chicks. So cute, but I'm not bringing home any new birds until we get this figured out.