Sam's Memorial

Hello again, followers of this blog, which I imagine is actually a very small group.
Sad news: my rooster Sam, the sick one, he passed away a week ago, and I don't even know what caused it for sure. I can guarantee you that there has NEVER been a chicken in all of human history that has been loved or treated even one fifth as much as Sam, except for our other hen, Daisy.
Speaking of Daisy, she seems as though she might be a little bit under the weather, and I am of course worried. She was kept separate from the rooster, and had no contact with him, but is just now staying pretty stationary in her cage. She is eating and drinking, and laying. It has been very hot up in New England lately, and perhaps she is just molting, as I have seen a few feathers along the bottom of her cage, and her laying does seem decreased a little bit. I have noticed on her what appears to be small bald spots, and I am not sure what this could be from except for molting. Whenever I go into her room, she makes a loud high pitched sound that almost sounds like a squeal or a scream. She actually doesn't seem to be doing to poorly, of course Sam seemed to be doing his best the day before he died.
I apologize for this post being on a sad note, but that's how life is. Thank you for reading, keep following, and if it is not too much too ask, remember Sam when you think of this blog.

Road to Recovery

Hello again, readers.

You may remember my last post of how my rooster was sick, but it seemed like he was recovering. He now seems like he has gotten worse, as he stays asleep and on his side most of the time, although he can stand, make noise, and drink on his own, he is just sleeping in most of the time that he would.

Here he is standing on a a towel, with some water right next to him. It seems as though being a refined space like a cage discourages him from moving. He has a lot of strength though, he can try to fight me off when he is tube-fed.
I tried to include a video in here of him, but something got messed up with the upload. When I get my SD card back I will try again.
Thanks for reading, keep following.

A Sick Chicken

Hello again, blog viewers. I would like to thank any of you who have read my previous post for doing so, I have actually earned a tiny bit from the ads, but that is not the reason I blog. I blog to let you all know what chickens are like as pets, but still, thank you.

Last autumn, my neighbors were moving, and they also had chickens, and they had this one chicken that they were very fond of because she was very docile, and they were worried that she would be killed at the farm she would end up at, so they gave us the hen! Her name is daisy.

When we first got her, she was timid and shy around us, but after a while, she got very used to us and was compliant to us holding her. She has mostly the same conditions as my rooster, Sam, but in a seperate cage. I let her play outside once a day, in a protected area from preditors.

At first, she laid no eggs, perhaps this is why my neighbor was worried about sending her to a farm. But I remember the first egg she laid, it was actually on the Purim after I got her. She is now about 3 years old I beleive, and she lays about six little beige per week, quite a lot for a bantom cochin like herself.

You remember how I told you in my last post that my rooster has louse eggs on his face, turns out those weren't eggs, just sabacious deposits, but ironicly, he did have lice. Unfortunately, something happened to Sam, I am not sure what, but it made him very sick. The vet says it is a neurological disease, but if he gets over it then it is probably a vitamin-E difficiancy or a bacterial infection, which wouldn't be too much of a problem, but if he doesn't recover, it could be a reportably virus which would lead to whole crapload of stuff with the state.

Last Wednesday, maybe Tuesday, he was very wobbley, and had trouble walking normally, and then on Friday, I brought him to the vet, he had lost weight and wasn't eating, he told us to syringe-feed him, and we did. On Monday night he couldn't even stand, and was lying on his side, and we brought him back on the next Teusday, he stayed there untill Thursday, and was tube-fed and medicated.

We brought him back yesterday, and now we are tube feeding him, and he does seem to getting a little bit better, he can stand a little bit, support his head and neck better, and make his usual sounds again. But he still can't walk(but he's trying to), doesn't stand very much, and sleeps for most of the day. At least he seems to be on the right track though. I couldn't get any pictures of him in this state.

Thank you for reading, please keep following.

Chickens as Pets

Hello, viewers.
I don't know if you realize this, but chickens have became a much more popular pet than you may have thought in recent time, and this is likely for good reasons.
I have two pet chickens myself. Why? Because I like animals, and chickens really are very good pets. One of my chickens, a black silkie rooster, I have had for almost four years now! He can get a little irritated and try to peck you, but this is very rare, and normally isn't actually a hard peck, but just incase, we do handle him with gloves.

This is Sam, the rooster. You may notice little white spots under his wattle and earlobe, unfortunately, these are lice eggs. I am trying to get rid of them with pyrethrin spray, I also dip a Q-tip in the bottle and rub it on the eggs. I might try using a sevin powder also, any advice is apreciated.

Sam is kept in a cage instead of a coop, I would probably not be able to have a chicken coop due to regulations, but the cage is plenty big enough, and I let him outside to play at least once a day as long as the weather is not horrible. And his cage is cleaned daily, I think he is pretty happy where he is, itchy, but happy.

As I was saying, chickens are becoming much more popular pets in suburban areas, and sometimes even in urban city areas. The way I keep my chickens is easy to do, even with limited space, and because he gets to play outside, I think it works pretty well. Chickens are very talkative, but not annoying, maybe a little bit annoying when he crows all the time, but that is rare.
There is also the element of hen's eggs. As long as the owner can afford the price of the feed, they are rewarded by layers with the occasional egg.

Thank you for visiting, please come back again soon!