Tribute to Flitter

Flitter

October 2008 - December 24th, 2011

My gorgeous girl was admitted to Lort Smith Animal Hospital for her hernia on the 23rd.  The surgery was a success but poor Flitter had trouble breathing and had to be put into a special incubator with oxygen being pumped in.

Her surgery was meant to be routine and We hoped she could come home but the next day, the 24th, the vet rang to say Flitter started spasm-ing and they tried to stabilize her but couldn't so the decision was easy for them to put her down.

Hernia's seem to happen often with poultry; my online research tells me a chicken is either born with it or develops a hernia when they first start to lay.  Flitter has always laid big eggs so I suspect that is the reason.  

I always thought I would have her for years and years.

 

Read about how I got Flitter in my old posts here

Flitter has lice!

My baby has lice!

Those nasty parasites have laid thousands and thousands of eggs at the base of her bum feathers.  It's a good spot to hide because that's a pretty well hidden spot.

I only discovered it when I was trimming her feathers around the lump on her bum.  I've cut off a few feathers but can't be too heavy handed or she'll be completely bald down there!

Thank goodness for online stores because there's this pet shop at Enfield that sells practically everything I need.  Enfield Pet and Garden they're called.  So I put in an order for;

- calgrit: right now I give them normal grit but if calgrit offers a higher calcium content then I'm all for it!

- garlic and apple cider vinegar: apparantly this is a supplement that they will love to drink

- diatomaceous earth (food grade): used as an insecticide, due to its physico-sorptive properties. The fine powder absorbs lipids from the waxy outer layer of insects' exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate

- poultry dust: great for the prevention and control of poultry parasites such as fleas, flies, ticks, ticks and mites. 

All up it only cost about au$68 with postage being au$20 from NSW.  I've read that shaking the eggs off then rubbing vaseline into the base of the feathers will hep.  Kind've a tricky thing to do considering Flitter doesn't particularly like being handled.  And White Chicken, we can totally forget that!

My poor girls :(

Long Time No Blog

Having chickens sure keeps one busy!

Hi my name's Nancy and It's been over a year since I last blogged :o)

Needless to say, much has happened. I'll continue from the first blog - alas, Sam is no more. Why, do you ask? Because he grew up into a beautiful male chicken who loved to strut around and crow. Crow a lot. The neighbour wasn't a fan, especially being woken at 5am. So he called the council on us - two guys in a car who were parked outside our house for a while, then introduced themselves as Council workers who just so happened to be 'driving around' when they noticed the chickens in the yard. Sure.

After that visit, Dad decided Sam had to go. So into the pot he went, later that year in 2009.

Flitter didn't seem to miss him too much - I rather suspect she was glad she wasn't getting mounted 24/7!





And it meant she was getting twice the attention and being spoilt rotten!

It was just me and her for a while, but one day in March of this year, that changed...Because a stranger came knocking on our door saying she'd found a chicken in the alleyway, and did it belong to us?

May: 'We have a black chicken'
Stranger: 'It was a white chicken and it's been in the alley way a couple of days now.'
May: 'Hmm..can you show me?'
Stranger: 'Ok, sure, jump into my car'
May: 'Sure!'

Long story short, they tracked the chicken down and caught this gorgeous snowy hen. She was terrified of humans and cringed when you went too close.

For the first 2 weeks, she perched in the laundry and refused to eat when we were in the room. At first Flitter ignored her. Then when White Chicken (for that is her name) got braver and finally left her perch to walk around, Flitter would bully her mercilessly.

But they're the best of friends now, so all is well!