Belina

Chickens are becoming really popular family pets and anyone that has one in the garden will tell you how much character they have and how clever and friendly they can be.

Belina is certainly much loved by her owners but when she was brought into the surgery to see vet Kate the future did not look too bright.
She had suddenly become very depressed and quiet and had vomited. She had a condition called “ sourcrop” where the food that normally moves through the digestive system quite quickly sits in the crop and doesn't go anywhere.. But this is usually secondary to another condition.

In Belina’s case this other condition was egg peritonitis. She had a very large amount of free fluid in her body cavity causing her much discomfort and this condition is very serious.
It happens in female birds when the egg is deposited in the cavity instead of the oviduct. The cavity then becomes seriously infected, leading in many cases to organ failure and death.

Laying hens especially ex-battery chickens are quite susceptible to this, simply because they lay so many eggs.

The treatment is to place a hormone implant into the bird underneath the skin to stop her from laying eggs, however we needed to provide a lot of nursing support while these hormones kicked in,

With days of supporting fluids, feeding, antibiotics and pain killers Belina was like a new bird. She was soon walking around the building like she owned the place and was eating us out of house and home.

We are so pleased that she has done so well and are proud to award her this month’s Braveheart award!

Congratulations Belina. Sandhole's Braveheart
for February 
 

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