So, I've been ill, which isn't much fun when you are trying to deal with a chook who won't eat anything other than chinese leaf! We've muddled through though!
Her Ladyship is still into chinese leaf big time! She has it everyday but not til about 11.30am-12.00 ish, this way she will eat a bit of her proper food first, and graze on her feed throughout the day too. She is still very light, but it seems to vary day to day now, the other day she hit 1500g (having been 1836g when she very first had the implant done) which is a mahoosive loss! Then she will put a little weight on for a couple of days averaging out at just below 1600g, then drops again! She is a bit subdued, but nothing major *touches wood* so as long as she is still active and alert, and still picking at food we will let her be. She is back on the metoclopramide twice a day (orally) which does seem to be helping. Her moult seemed to be pretty much done, just the last bit of shedding the sheaths to go, then yesterday she started dropping a few more feathers. Most odd!
Nowt else to report really, I'll be back soon, hopefully minus this hacking cough! *splutter*
Saturday 25 June 2011
Monday 13 June 2011
Monday, day 16, 13th June 2011
Food in crop this morning, but not overly worried as nighttime droppings were ok (and plenty of them for a change!).
Her Ladyship Queen Lola of Divaland was very much into her chinese leaf again today, plus she ate a bit of breakfast, plus she decided cucumber was a worthy addition to her diet today too :-)
The best news of the day is that Lola has GAINED 50g over the last 24 hours WOOHOOOOO! What a clever little chookaloo she is!
So, this evening I trotted off to the supermarket and stocked up on chinese leaf, cucumbers, and brocolli as I thought she may like to try that too. I spied her eating some of the ex-bat crumb at one point, and she had a bit of scrambled egg at teatime too. I also popped into the vets to pick up some Hills A/D diet food for her, just to try and get some of that lost muscle/weight back onto her.
Another thing she has done today is to have a dustbath, something she has not done for at least a week and a half I reckon. She is definitely up and about more too.
The relief of seeing her eating, and actually showing an interest in food is incredible.
One oral dose of metoclopramide today
No egg
One superdooper happy Mama *grin*
Her Ladyship Queen Lola of Divaland was very much into her chinese leaf again today, plus she ate a bit of breakfast, plus she decided cucumber was a worthy addition to her diet today too :-)
The best news of the day is that Lola has GAINED 50g over the last 24 hours WOOHOOOOO! What a clever little chookaloo she is!
So, this evening I trotted off to the supermarket and stocked up on chinese leaf, cucumbers, and brocolli as I thought she may like to try that too. I spied her eating some of the ex-bat crumb at one point, and she had a bit of scrambled egg at teatime too. I also popped into the vets to pick up some Hills A/D diet food for her, just to try and get some of that lost muscle/weight back onto her.
Another thing she has done today is to have a dustbath, something she has not done for at least a week and a half I reckon. She is definitely up and about more too.
The relief of seeing her eating, and actually showing an interest in food is incredible.
One oral dose of metoclopramide today
No egg
One superdooper happy Mama *grin*
Sunday 12 June 2011
Sunday, day 15, 12th June 2011
Food in crop this morning so back on the metoclopramide.
She picked at breakfast which was good. Still losing feathers but it has at least slowed down; she is working on her hair at the mo, and I think her tail is going to be next.
I've been poorly the last few days, so I had to catch up a bit today and nipped out to do some shopping. I came home armed with various bits n bobs for Lola to try, as this not eating/losing weight is worrying me silly. Pureed baby fruits- not interested, organic yogurt- not interested, this morning she was picking about in the cat bowl, although it was empty...so I bought some posh cat food for her to try- one of those all fish/vegetable/natural kinds...now I will point out that I am not really an advocate of feeding cat/dog food to birds as a general rule (mostly because I know what goes into it- lets face it, that is where my hens were headed had they not been rescued), however on this occasion she did pick out a couple of bits of fish- result! Desperate times call for desperate measures!
I tried her with some cauli leaves- quite a lot of interest...I had bought some spring greens...still lots of interest so I brought out the chinese leaf (they often have this hung up in the run) OMG, major interest! I hung some leaves up around the kitchen door handle and Lola ate constantly for about 45mins!!!! AMAZING! (Picture to follow!) Just when I thought it couldn't get much better, I put the girls into the run with their tea- scrambled egg- and Lola started tucking in to that as well...not a massive amount, but it's a start :-)
No egg
Happy Mama
She picked at breakfast which was good. Still losing feathers but it has at least slowed down; she is working on her hair at the mo, and I think her tail is going to be next.
I've been poorly the last few days, so I had to catch up a bit today and nipped out to do some shopping. I came home armed with various bits n bobs for Lola to try, as this not eating/losing weight is worrying me silly. Pureed baby fruits- not interested, organic yogurt- not interested, this morning she was picking about in the cat bowl, although it was empty...so I bought some posh cat food for her to try- one of those all fish/vegetable/natural kinds...now I will point out that I am not really an advocate of feeding cat/dog food to birds as a general rule (mostly because I know what goes into it- lets face it, that is where my hens were headed had they not been rescued), however on this occasion she did pick out a couple of bits of fish- result! Desperate times call for desperate measures!
I tried her with some cauli leaves- quite a lot of interest...I had bought some spring greens...still lots of interest so I brought out the chinese leaf (they often have this hung up in the run) OMG, major interest! I hung some leaves up around the kitchen door handle and Lola ate constantly for about 45mins!!!! AMAZING! (Picture to follow!) Just when I thought it couldn't get much better, I put the girls into the run with their tea- scrambled egg- and Lola started tucking in to that as well...not a massive amount, but it's a start :-)
No egg
Happy Mama
Saturday 11 June 2011
Saturday, day 14, 11th June 2011
Little bit of food in her crop this morning, considering putting her back on the metoclopramide for a little while, not sure yet though.
Not very interested in food, still losing lots of feathers and lots of new pins emerging. Still looking sorry for herself poor mite.
She has lost a bit of weight again *dammit* but I did discover that an egg yolk on the floor is indeed rather tempting lol, and as they are calorific, I'm going to keep on with that for her. She does seem a little more active which is something.
No egg
Not very interested in food, still losing lots of feathers and lots of new pins emerging. Still looking sorry for herself poor mite.
She has lost a bit of weight again *dammit* but I did discover that an egg yolk on the floor is indeed rather tempting lol, and as they are calorific, I'm going to keep on with that for her. She does seem a little more active which is something.
No egg
Friday, day 13, 10th June 2011
Didn't update last night as I took to my sick bed!
Miss Lola is in full moult and looks very sorry for herself.
The hand rearing formula (nutri bird A19, high energy) arrived by courier, and although she wasn't all that impressed by eating it out of a bowl she did at least try a bit. I've found that mixing it in with wet mash means she will at least have a pick at it.
She put on 5g in the previous 24hours which is fabulous, at least it is heading in the right direction, the weight loss has been worrying me silly. I am going to weigh her every day for the moment as this needs closely monitoring. I think I will try and get an appt with Greg at the vets just to give her a check over and make sure everything is ok.
She had a little bit of food in her crop when she got up.
No egg
Miss Lola is in full moult and looks very sorry for herself.
The hand rearing formula (nutri bird A19, high energy) arrived by courier, and although she wasn't all that impressed by eating it out of a bowl she did at least try a bit. I've found that mixing it in with wet mash means she will at least have a pick at it.
She put on 5g in the previous 24hours which is fabulous, at least it is heading in the right direction, the weight loss has been worrying me silly. I am going to weigh her every day for the moment as this needs closely monitoring. I think I will try and get an appt with Greg at the vets just to give her a check over and make sure everything is ok.
She had a little bit of food in her crop when she got up.
No egg
Thursday 9 June 2011
Thursday, 9th June 2011, day 12
Well sure enough Miss Lola has indeed starting dropping lots and lots of feathers all over the place today, poor lil sausage :-/ So out of all of my birds the only one who really needs to moult is Ellie, and she is the only one keeping hold of her feathers!
The hand rearing formula I ordered last night has been sent via courier so that it arrives tomorrow, fabulous fabulous ebay seller :-)
Lola's been eating quite well today, she scoffed about 15 live mealworms in mere seconds love her! Just as well really after the weight loss. She's been pretty active today, pootling about in the garden, indulging in a spot of digging, although I was thinking earlier that I am pretty sure she hasn't had a dustbath for quite some time!
She did have a small amount of food in her crop when she got up this morning, but as she is still eating, drinking and pooing ok I have kept her off the metoclopramide.
No egg
The hand rearing formula I ordered last night has been sent via courier so that it arrives tomorrow, fabulous fabulous ebay seller :-)
Lola's been eating quite well today, she scoffed about 15 live mealworms in mere seconds love her! Just as well really after the weight loss. She's been pretty active today, pootling about in the garden, indulging in a spot of digging, although I was thinking earlier that I am pretty sure she hasn't had a dustbath for quite some time!
She did have a small amount of food in her crop when she got up this morning, but as she is still eating, drinking and pooing ok I have kept her off the metoclopramide.
No egg
Wednesday 8 June 2011
Wednesday, 8th June 2011, day 11
Well my theory was right, Miss Lola is indeed going into moult. She's been doing ok with her eating today, and isn't guzzling water like yesterday. She has been a little bit snoozy today but nothing like it was before.
My main concern is the amount of weight she has lost. Overall, since being implanted she has lost over 200g. That is a huge amount to lose in such a short space of time- in fact she has lost that since Saturday really which shows how little she has been eating. I am hoping that now her appetite is increasing a bit, she will put some weight back on, a few of the girls on the ex-bats forum have said their hens lost weight after implanting. I've ordered some more CCF, and also some hand rearing food to try and build her up a bit and to support her through this moult. The alfamix arrived today and both girls seem to like it, so they now have that alongside their allen and page ex-bat feed. I have also put Lola on 'feather up' from the birdcare co, as I have always had good results with this. It ups their protein levels, and also has sulphur containing amino acids which make up a large portion of the protein in the feathers. It helps them get over the moult quicker, while supporting them through it.
Then just to top that, I walked into the lounge to discover Simba (African grey parrot) has decided to drop his feathers all over the floor too, oh joy of joys! He tends to get grumpy when moulting which will be fun!
I was emptying the dishwasher earlier while the girls were having a preen in the kitchen, and bent down to put stuff away in the under-counter cupboard when Lola wasted no time at all jumping up onto my shoulder, it was lovely to see her up to her old mischief! She is in bed with Ellie again tonight, perhaps these are going to be the new sleeping arrangements now!
No metoclopramide
No egg
My main concern is the amount of weight she has lost. Overall, since being implanted she has lost over 200g. That is a huge amount to lose in such a short space of time- in fact she has lost that since Saturday really which shows how little she has been eating. I am hoping that now her appetite is increasing a bit, she will put some weight back on, a few of the girls on the ex-bats forum have said their hens lost weight after implanting. I've ordered some more CCF, and also some hand rearing food to try and build her up a bit and to support her through this moult. The alfamix arrived today and both girls seem to like it, so they now have that alongside their allen and page ex-bat feed. I have also put Lola on 'feather up' from the birdcare co, as I have always had good results with this. It ups their protein levels, and also has sulphur containing amino acids which make up a large portion of the protein in the feathers. It helps them get over the moult quicker, while supporting them through it.
Then just to top that, I walked into the lounge to discover Simba (African grey parrot) has decided to drop his feathers all over the floor too, oh joy of joys! He tends to get grumpy when moulting which will be fun!
I was emptying the dishwasher earlier while the girls were having a preen in the kitchen, and bent down to put stuff away in the under-counter cupboard when Lola wasted no time at all jumping up onto my shoulder, it was lovely to see her up to her old mischief! She is in bed with Ellie again tonight, perhaps these are going to be the new sleeping arrangements now!
No metoclopramide
No egg
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