Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: campanula on May 16, 2010, 16:41

Title: dodo vets
Post by: campanula on May 16, 2010, 16:41
whilst on the subject of sick hens (see 'a salutary lesson'), i feel i should make it plain that our vet (and many others) has proved completely useless - totally disinterested, claims to know nothing about hens and anyway, even if he was an ecpert, his costs are blooming astronomical - also, our last visit was because of a very ill cat - his first question: 'is it insured?'  No. His next statement, 'it needs putting down'.....and then, the clumsy get made a mess  of that leaving us grieving over a dying cat which had not been given enough of the injection - which he blooming aimed straght into his side. *. So, often, a vet is not the answer, even if you were able and willing to pay almight prices - it cost us £300 for two tests and a killing for our cat!
So no, nipping off to the vet is not the easy option it might appear so we had all better get clued up pretty fast once we embark on a livestock adventure.
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: campanula on May 16, 2010, 16:42
i guess it is clear that the original title of my last post was NOT 'manure' vets!
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: joyfull on May 16, 2010, 16:57
the problem with chickens is that they hide their illnesses for as long as possible so when anything is noticed it can often be too late. Many of the medicines required can only be obtained from a vet so I would advise you change your vets. Different practises specialise in different animals.
As we cannot see the birds that people ask about we can only advise and therefore often we will advise you take them to a vets.
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: dizzylizzie on May 16, 2010, 17:16
Im sorry but i disagree a bit with you Campanula. Whilst some vets are rubbish and know nothing about chickens, you have choices. If they are rubbish-change vets. It sounds like the one you used is rubbish in general, if they cant manage to put a cat to sleep humanely,  i would not be going back there. BUT, however you see your animals, (livestock or pets) they have a right to treatment or swift culling. Getting 'clued up' is important before getting any animal, not just to get off paying vets bills, but so we can reconise if our pets are ill as they cant tell us so rely on us to be able to read the signs. Its not only important to have enough knowlage to spot symptoms so they can be treated promptly, but also so we know how to avoid illness, even simple things like de-lousing, worming and a proper cleaning regime can make a huge difference to the welfare or our pets. The size of vets bills shouldnt be the motivation behind gaining as much knowlage as possible, the welfare of the animals we take on responsiblity for should be!
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: Aunt Sally on May 16, 2010, 17:42
i guess it is clear that the original title of my last post was NOT 'manure' vets!

And judging by the number of asterisks in your original post campanula, you had better moderate your language on here !
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: Elcie on May 16, 2010, 19:11
I took one of my hens to the local vet.  They were lovely and very helpful.  The charge was £17 including an injection which I was more than happy to pay.  Guess it depends on where you go.
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: Flowerpower136 on May 17, 2010, 11:22
Our vets are great with dogs, but just laughed when I asked them if they knew anything about chickens.

Thankfully we've managed without so far.  We have a lady game keeper living in our village (she chook sits for me when we're away), and being responsible for the local pheasants, she's very knowledgeable out bird health, and very happy to call in and check if I'm worried about anything.  Very reassuring for me.
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: poppies on May 17, 2010, 13:56
Im sorry but i disagree a bit with you Campanula. Whilst some vets are rubbish and know nothing about chickens, you have choices. If they are rubbish-change vets. It sounds like the one you used is rubbish in general, if they cant manage to put a cat to sleep humanely,  i would not be going back there. BUT, however you see your animals, (livestock or pets) they have a right to treatment or swift culling. Getting 'clued up' is important before getting any animal, not just to get off paying vets bills, but so we can reconise if our pets are ill as they cant tell us so rely on us to be able to read the signs. Its not only important to have enough knowlage to spot symptoms so they can be treated promptly, but also so we know how to avoid illness, even simple things like de-lousing, worming and a proper cleaning regime can make a huge difference to the welfare or our pets. The size of vets bills shouldnt be the motivation behind gaining as much knowlage as possible, the welfare of the animals we take on responsiblity for should be!

Totally agree with Lizzie, a lot of illnesses and problems can be avoided -also we have a brilliant vet, a bit pricey sometimes but we choose to keep the birds/animals.
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: campanula on May 17, 2010, 23:16
oh dear, guess that told me! Feel like slinking off to vegetables - certainly never feel so wretched murdering a tomato. Thing is though, I have kept animals (cats, dogs hamsters and so on) (and 3 children) forever, all of whom have generally lived to see peaceful old age (apart from a couple of hamsters which met grizzly ends at the hands - claws - of our cat and a neighbours dog). How hard could looking after chickens be? Well jolly easy, by all accounts(3 friends and several books) And we did try. We wormed them, scrubbed and scoured the coup, checked combs, faces, feathers, feet, fussed over them, asked advice...and yes, we did ask the vet but he was very dismissive and because we had had such a terrible experience with our cat, we were feeling very raw and anti-vet anyway, so we felt a bit hopeless. Advice from other chicken keepers was wildly variable (don't worry, I call this 'slow chicken', it will get better or die in three days!' )and we were useless because we simply didn't know what we were looking for and had no comparison with healthy hens to judge. Anyway, I am not excusing myself, just pointing out that it is not always easy and if you really don't know enough to be able to confidently deal with elderly or ill hens, it really is better to buy from a proper dealer who will take the time to show you some of the basic things which are not really clear in books. Amazingly, I also didn't think about an obvious solution - to find and join a local poultry keeping society. It was actually through this forum that we did eventually make contact with a chicken expert but it took 3 MONTHS of generally messing up. Part of me is eyeing up the huge area taken up by chicken run and thinking 'rose garden'. I know a lot about them.
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: joyfull on May 18, 2010, 08:28
I would still advise you to ring around your area and see if any of the vets have any experience with chickens. Treatments such as antibiotics can only be bought from them (yes I know you can buy them cheaply from abroad but often these are not made up of the correct ingredients and will not work  :(). I changed vets with my dogs as I found I had no confidence in them but the vets I am with now are brilliant - when I first went there they had 1 person who knew something about chickens having lived in the country but now they have several. I still print out details of possible illnesses and take these in to discuss with the vet if it is such and such or is it this type of thing.
Now you know we are here please feel free to ask us if you are in any doubt, but try the following:-
Check your girls every morning - are they alert, bright comb - red and not pale and floppy (unless you have a breed that has the floppy combs of course), check their poohs - compare them to the pooh charts that can be found on here, are they walking OK?, check for mites and lice etc. Make sure they don't have their necks pulled in so they sit looking hunched up. Check their crops to see if they are empty in the morning and not fluid filled or still full of feed. Listen to their breathing - they shouldn't be sneezing, snotty or rattly chested. Their eyes should be bright and clean with no sign of bubblyness. Make sure their vent area is clean with no sign of any protrusions.
Worm them several times a year (at least twice - if free ranging then do this 3 or 4 times a year) - use something like  flubenvet it works on all types of worms.

Chickens are generally easy to care for but they will hide their illnesses as much as possible (the law of the jungle - it is a case of the survival of the fittest), so when you do notice something is wrong treatment is needed urgently.

As for doing the deed there are courses that you can go on so that should you need to do it you will have some idea on the least stressful way for both you and the bird.
Title: Re: manure vets
Post by: nicky d on May 18, 2010, 10:12
Dont give up on the chooks, i think everyone has a hurdle that they have crossed and indeed still do, its just one of those things.   You dont have to be really experienced as in knowledge to keep chickens, everyone starts off at the beginning, its just all one big learning curve, i will admit i didnt know much when i first got girlies, just the basics and most of that was reading posts on here, i have picked up so much since then and that is just me talking to people and reading up.  When i got my first chickens, after a couple of days 2 of them were blowing bubbles out of their eyes, it was alwful, i just was beside myself with worry, got them on antibiotics and trust me we dont have a chicken friendly vet but he tries and you just have to work with them.  Dont give up, it may all be doom and gloom at the moment but trust me the good days very much out way the bad, i think you just need to take a deep breath, i agree with Joy that its important that you find a better vet and explain to them about your girlies, get them on antibiotics, the longer there without proper medication the worse it will be become.   It was amazing how quick my girls reacted to the antibiotics, you can then get down to enjoying your girlies and some fresh eggs, you carnt beat it.    Good luck and let us know how you get on