Purple Dragon

I might have mentioned that my hens aren't laying. Being a novice hen-keeper, I have been trying to find out why, because they appeared to be in good healthy condition.

On Saturday, I noticed that one of the girls was separate from the others, not taking too much interest in scratching or wandering. Later in the day, I noticed she was still in the coop, and hiding away at the bottom, instead of sitting on a perch.

I lifted her out, and examined her. She was very docile, not struggling or flapping, no clucking. She panted a wee bit, but as she hadn't been doing that till I lifted her, I thought she was a bittie stressed.

I was gobsmacked when I lifted her. What I thought was a fat healthy hen was skin and bone. Her chestbone was sticking out with no flesh at all, and her belly was swollen.

Well, naturally I knew straight away then what the problem was - internal parasites.

Sunday she was wandering outside again, but not as full of life as the other girls still.

We went on a school trip today, and when we got back, I put the kids in the car and took a trip to the vet to get some wormer. Got home to go to the coop and find she had wedged herself into the corner of the small run.

Oh, what a pathetic sight. I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say, the parasite infestation was so bad that she had strained and strained, and prolapsed her vent. I put her straight into the carrier, chucked the kids in the car, and took her for an emergency appt with the vet.

He tried to replace the vent, but she kept pushing it back out, so in the end we decided the best thing to do would be to put the poor wee thing out of her misery.

I feel so bad. I should have gotten the medication from the vets on Saturday, when I knew she was poorly, instead of leaving her till today. I just thought that it was 'only' worms, and didn't want to disturb the vets for medication when they were closed on Saturday afternoon.

Needless to say, the other girls have been dosed up, and the vet says they should be fine if they aren't lagging around, which they aren't. I even got pecked.

Poor wee thing. I'm so sad.

Yesterday, our local riding stables has an open day. The idea is to generate more business, as they aren't doing so well, apparently.

They had asked if I would provide a rabbit for their pets corner. Well, they asked for both of them, but Waffle bites sometimes, so I said no, they could only have Noodle.

Anyway, we took Noodle along for 10am and then stayed right thru till 2.30

The kids had a total blast. Because it was so local, they kept bumping into kids they knew from school, which was good. Made them feel more part of the community I think.

It was also their first time on horseback. Laura has been nipping my head for months, wanting a horse. The first time she asked, we asked her where she would keep it, and she said in her room, and feed it coats. Bless

Now she says she wants a "brown horsey, with legs".

They got to decorate horseshoes, and have their photos taken on horseback. Then they got two lead-rein rides. I was dead jealous because I was dying to get up on one, but they didn't have adult rides.

Laura on her horse

Anthony on his horse