Welp...I have some sad news. Something happened back in April that we
hadn't said anything about until now, because we didn't want to drag
everybody down, and there was nothing anyone could have done to help,
anyway.
WingDing died this morning.
Back on April 10th we innoculated the chicks for Marek's Disease. The
vaccine must be given a few days after hatch, and is delivered using a
tuberculin syringe (tiny, very short needle) via a sub-q injection at
the back of the neck. The kid and I have been doing them for years, so
we know how to do it and are experienced--what happened was a pure freak
accident.
WingDing was a Silikie, and humans developing crested breeds like
Silkies for bigger and better crests have caused a naturally-occurring
hole in the top of a Silkie's skull to become much larger. Their brains
protrude through this hole, leaving them VERY susceptible to brain
injury from what would otherwise be a minor injury from a bump or peck
to the head. I call this kind of injury Head Boink, and it's generally
quite treatable. Head Boink can also be cause by Botulism (or anything
that causes brain swelling), the symptoms are a loss of balance and/or
what is called Twirling/Stargazing. It can be fatal because the bird
cannot eat or drink for itself.
When WingDing was getting her vaccination, she suddenly freaked out and
flailed, and rammed the needle into her neck vertebrae. She immediately
went limp and I thought she'd killed herself.
She was alive, but in shock and paralyzed. I immediately began treating
her with a Selenium/Vitamin E mixture which I've used before for cases
of Head Boink, it's got a very good track record for curing it--but it
takes time--usually around 10- 20 days.
WingDing's injury was profound, she couldn't even hold her head up and
just laid in one spot. We put her in her own cage, and I've been
handfeeding her every 2 hours since April 10th and giving her the Head
Boink treatment. Over the last three months she'd gained weight, grown
and improved to the point where for the last 3 weeks, she could hold
herself upright, was eating and drinking on her own, etc. She still
couldn't walk around normally and I couldn't trust the adult chickens or
big chicks around her, so she'd been living in her own space in the
brooder box. The last 14 days or so the three baby chicks were hopping
in with her and they were all getting along great. WingDing had gotten
much stronger and was still making progress but it was slow, we'd hoped
eventually she'd be able to walk around without staggering and could
join the flock in another few weeks. But she was alert, healthy and
carrying on just like the other chicks.
Today she went out into the small run with the three young chicks from
batch 2--seperated from the big chickens, of course--so they could all
spend a couple of hours outside and start getting used to the outdoors
while we cleaned the brooder box.
An hour later, the kid found WingDing dead. No injuries or damage, she
just...died. I don't know if her Head Boink contributed to her death or
not, but I suspect that she couldn't overcome it and it just finally got
her.
Hope everyone understands why why didn't mention this before...I really
was hoping we'd get her back to a point where she could join the flock
or just be a house chicken. Sorry to be the bearer of sad news, but it
was just a stupid damned accident and we did our best for her.
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