Let’s Talk About Chickens
by Nicole Brecht, Founder Good Life Refuge
March 14th, 2022
Did you know that 60% of our residents are actually birds and within this group chickens make up about 66 percent? Further, they are the animals that we are most often asked to provide a permanent home for here at Good Life Refuge.
Many of our birds and chickens have been found abandoned and were left to fend for themselves. Others were surrendered by their owners and some came from shelters or caretakers who wanted to help them, because the owners wouldn’t.
Our birds and chickens are one of our most work intensive areas as they require daily cleaning and intensive medical care. They often arrive sick and neglected at the sanctuary. They come with external (mites, lice) and internal parasites (coccidia, worms), heart disease, respiratory issues, old and new injuries, prolapsed cloacas, deformed extremities and often cancer.
It is heartbreaking to care for birds. Not only are they bred to produce more eggs than their bodies can handle, they are also hiding their pain and illnesses well until they can’t anymore. The slightest sign of being off the norm usually means they are really sick.
I brought many of our hens for a veterinarian check up because they looked a little puffier than normal, walked funny, held their legs up a second longer while walking than the others, or had a weird waddle or stance. And every single time our veterinarian found masses, fluid build up or cancer in these ladies.
These visits are costly. Just one visit to the veterinarian usually costs us around $300, because x-rays are often required for diagnostic purposes. And after the initial visit, intensive medical care including daily administration of several medications, fluid therapy and isolation of the impacted bird is often required including multiple follow-up trips to the veterinarian.
It is heartbreaking to see what their bodies have to go through so we can have eggs. At least at the sanctuaries these birds receive medical care, but in many other settings it is denied and these living beings are dumped, tossed aside or left to die. They deserve so much better. They deserve proper medical care, attention and love. They are funny, vocal, loving and social beings. Will you help me to protect them?
