Friday 24/01/2014

The Colonel, just a little less aggressive than usual.

Mick spent day working on wheelchairs while I pottered around with chooks, washing, clearing up. Put gardening books on display cabinet to see how they look. Think they may be more accessible there and make the unit more functional/useful.  Picked up huge (70kg/>140lb)) sheet of aluminium from Rob's for wheelchair mods.

The Colonel is still sick. His breathing now seems a little rasping.  He wouldn't go into the shed at night so got a little wet from the light showers we had at dusk. Once it was dark he was calm enough that we were able to pick him up and carry him into the shed.

We asked Dr Google what might be wrong with the Colonel:

• Gape worms are a popular first choice almost always followed by someone commenting that gape worms are actually quite rare.  Post mortem diagnosis is the most accurate, or a Q-tip down the throat.  We tried the second alternative.  Lesley was surprised just how far a 15cm cotton bud on a stick can be put down the Colonel's throat and swirled around.  No thread-like red worms, or anything other than mucus.  So that seems to eliminate gape worm.
• Infectious Laryngitis Virus or similar is a popular second choice.  Give antibiotics, the best of which you can't get without a vet's prescription..
• Fungal infection gets a mention, Whatever you do, do not give antibiotics.

We hedged our bets and decide to give him a dose of over-the-counter bird antibiotic that we have had on hand for a while and have used on a few occasions for injured birds.  He was a bit unsteady and would not stay on a perch, so put him outside the sleeping house so he wouldn't sit under the perched hens among the fresh manure.  We put a cardboard box over him to keep him draft free and crossed our fingers.