Yesterday we noticed that Honey looked very subdued. She was fluffed up with her head down and looking sorry for herself. I then noticed Amber didn’t look much happier. On a closer inspection I could see that they had been fighting again.
Honey had blood on her comb and a little on her face. Amber had a spot of blood above her eye, a little on her face and a splash of blood on her lobe.
I wondered if Amber wanted to take back her place above Honey. I don’t know why these two can’t just get along without these little battles.
They are the only ones in the flock that fight like this and draw blood. Peaches and Barley raise their ruffs and run at each other but never peck. I had seen Honey and Amber having a spat a few days earlier and Topaz aimed a peck at Amber and stopped them fighting.
Amber’s face with blood above her eye
Honey’s face with blood at the base of her comb
The photos don’t show it very clearly but they both have some spots of blood. Time will tell who is now top out of this pair. I think Amber may have resumed her place above Honey.
The other development yesterday was that just as I thought Emerald was getting back to normal I noticed her gaping much more, wider and more frequently and shaking her head again.
I am guessing that the gape worm eggs have hatched and the next worms have made their way to her throat. I decided that even though it was only a week and a half since I finished the flubenvet I should put her on another seven days right away.
I will keep treating her every time I see symptoms to try to break the egg/worm cycle. I don’t want her throat to become sore again so feel it is important to act straight away.
Emerald always goes to the high perch first at the end of the day as she wants to secure her place (she often gets pushed out being bottom girl apart from the youngsters). This meant that I could hold a plate up to her with two chopped grapes and a sprinkle of flubenevet and get her to take it without being bothered by the other girls.
She is used to this system now and took all of the grape pieces. I wanted to start straight away rather than leave it until morning as I felt the quicker the flubenvet has a chance to start working the better. I feel I have to just keep staying on top of this to give her the best chance of beating this.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
You really seem to have had a bad run of luck (or they have)
As you know it will pass and come the spring it will be all new feathers and eggs.
My old girl Clover is moulting very badly at the moment and I have black feathers every where ,other than that everything is fine ..Fingers and toes crossed .
It does seem that everything comes at once and I think it is going to take a long time to get Emerald back to normal. I am not giving up though and I am looking forward to spring with fully feathered girls eggs once more.
Really frustrating for you but, as I have said beore, you give the best care and can do no more than you do. Hopefully, this will pass.
Emerald has stopped shaking her head already and I think the only thing to do to be on the safe side is to keep treating with flubenvet for seven days until the symptoms stop showing. She has had a dust bath today so that is a good sign.