Wavey - Medical Marvel

In November 2023, we got a message from a wonderful animal sanctuary that we had known for a while. It was about a hen named Ginger who was constantly getting crop issues. They felt that she would be better in a smaller flock and had asked if we could take her.

As she would have needed to quarantine for a while, we asked if she could come with a friend so that she wouldn't be alone, and that friend was Wavey.

We began treating Ginger for her slow moving crop but soon noticed that Wavey had an audible rattling sound with her breathing. We took her to a vet who strongly suspected that she had aspergillosis and advised us to put her to sleep, as the medication for this is strong, hard hitting, expensive and wasn't guaranteed to help.

We got her back home and began researching options ourselves. Aspergillosis is a fungal infection that can be caused by inhaling spores found in moldy bedding, feed, or damp environments. We read that nebulising could help in early cases - and so, Wavey began to have two nebulising sessions of 30 minutes each day. We did this for just over 4 weeks and Wavey's breathing got better and better, until she made a full recovery! And, after a much longer separation period than planned, the two moved into the main flock.

Wavey was a such a sweet chicken who was terrified of humas when she first arrived. But as she settled in, she grew fonder and fonder of me, until you could always find her at my feet at cleaning and free ranging times. She reminded me so much of Karen - they way she looked, her mannerisms and her gentle nature. Sadly, after just less than a year with us, she developed reproductive cancer and when it became too much for her, we had to say goodbye. Each chicken really does leave their mark and I am so grateful to have been trusted with Wavey and to have had the joy of knowing her and spending time with her.

Our learnings:

• Wavey had her nebulising sessions in the small quarantine coop that we had set up for the two newbies. We found this to be much less stressful than a crate or cardboard box, as we put the nebiliser on in the mornings and evenings when the chickens were already in bed. It was OK for Ginger to receive the same air too.

• We used a ready to use F10 solution in the nebuliser (which was a human one, purchased online).