Sad one to ask about - Vets bills for chickens

**dobby** · 02-09-2010, 09:01 AM

Hi everyone, hope you are all enjoying the quiet if your kids have reurned to school - I am finally trying to catch up on postings etc whilts baby has morning nap so enjoying the silence!

However we did have a very sad Bank holiday weekend when a fox attacked our hens. Never realised how much I cared about the things until then

Full story here http://www.urban-chickens.com/index....o-the-morning/

Being it all happened over the bank holiday weekend and was an emergency the vet bills have come to almost £300 - and our remaining hen needs at least one more follow up appointment which is £29

I know its a ridiculous amount of money and hubby did make comments about "sorting it out himself" but admitted he couldn't have done really plus Poppy would have needed treatment regardless as she was not "at deaths door"

But he did make one comment which I thought was worth checking with you folks. As, in theory the hens were brought in as part of the educational element of my childcare provision - so i am going to be putting the set up costs through my books; would this mean I would also be able to put the vets bills through as well?

I am looking into pet insurance but all the companies I have contacted so far have said they dont cover Chickens.

**emmadines** · 02-09-2010, 10:08 AM

I have ten hens and to put them on the pet insurance would cost my a fortune each month....Tescos will insure them I believe if this is the rout you want to take....
Treatment varies both in what they have done and what vets you go to, have you shopped around??
also you have to take into account it was bank holiday as well so the prices will be more then your average.. what have you got your hens in?? a walk in run?? an omlet cube/eglu or a wooden chicken coop?? how long have you had them for??

I hope they are all doing alot better
xx

**dobby** · 02-09-2010, 10:15 AM

Only one survived Emma. We will restock but will have to wait until she is able to cope with it. At present she is very shocked still and can only manage me being nearby for a few minutes at a time.

We have a coop with built in run which is like fort knox. The attack happened 5 mins after we let them out to free range. We are looking at building on to the current run so there will be enough space for them to stay in most of the time now though.

I am not worried about the money paid out, its gone now and yes half the cost was due to it being a bank holiday weekend. I just wanted to check if folks thought it was a legititmate expense for the books really. Our sole survivor,Poppy will always be very special and I will continue her vetainary care regardless. There was no chance to shop around as they were local vets on call for area, next nearest being 10 miles away.

bexcee · 02-09-2010, 10:15 AM

Sorry to hear about your chickens.

I'm not sure about putting it through your books, hopefully someone else will be along soon with better advice.

**Roseolivia** · 02-09-2010, 01:27 PM

Sorry to hear about your chucks, i couldn't believe how sad i felt when my dog eat my daughters favourite chicken. Think it was more the fact that i had to tell her about it but we blamed it on a fox as we didn't want her blaming the dog.

**emmadines** · 02-09-2010, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by dobby

Only one survived Emma. We will restock but will have to wait until she is able to cope with it. At present she is very shocked still and can only manage me being nearby for a few minutes at a time.

We have a coop with built in run which is like fort knox. The attack happened 5 mins after we let them out to free range. We are looking at building on to the current run so there will be enough space for them to stay in most of the time now though.

I am not worried about the money paid out, its gone now and yes half the cost was due to it being a bank holiday weekend. I just wanted to check if folks thought it was a legititmate expense for the books really. Our sole survivor,Poppy will always be very special and I will continue her vetainary care regardless. There was no chance to shop around as they were local vets on call for area, next nearest being 10 miles away.

ah - sorry I must have missed that :S - personally I dont know if you could put it on ur books as I guess they would come under a family pet... Ive not put my lot on mine (never really thought of it.

have you kept hens for long?? when shes strong enough i would prob get one hen to introduce her too otherwise she may get bullied. hope she continues to improve.

xx

**fluffysocks** · 02-09-2010, 07:18 PM

I used to work in accounts and my understanding would be that yes you could. If a day nursery or school kept chickens/animals then they would account for them in budgets etc!

However you may come unstuck due to working from home, as chickens can be classed as a pet and obviously would be cared for by your family and any "produce" (eggs) may be used by the family.

I would say you would have to assign a proportionate amount, i.e. how much do the chickens benefit childminding compared to family. (possibly 50/50?) Similar to how you would mobile phone costs, broadband fees etc.

If you do go down the proportion rate remember any supplies for the animals needs to be split this way too.

its been a while since i worked in the accounting world but that is my understanding of the situation. The likelihood being you wont get audited so all will be fine, but if you do get checked then as long as you can argue your case well with however you decide to account for it should be ok.

x

**miss mopple** · 02-09-2010, 07:24 PM

I put some of my pets bills through as I can hand on heart say I wouldnt have them if it wasn't for minding. I put stuff for the guinea pigs and rabbit through, but not the hamster, fish or dog as they are our family pets, the rest were bought for the benefit of my minded children

**dobby** · 02-09-2010, 09:51 PM

Thanks for the feedback. Its ironic that chickens might be classed as pets for accounting purposes as I have been told by several of the pet insurance firms that they are not

They are classed as livestock even if you only have a couple. I have also found that I was lucky to get a vet willing to see them as some will not treat, only, at a push, euthanise

I will keep the bills in my accounting folder and make a decision next time I do the books i expect. Right now I will just focus on getting Poppy back to health. She ventured out of the run onto our lawn for the first time today (I sat nearby to keep an eye on her) She was so nervous poor thing, and now it seems she might have a problem walking as she kept sinking to the ground or walking with her back end down - like a goose does.

On the brighter side, she laid an egg this morning (cant eat it due to the antibiotics she is on but even so

) and she was enjoying being out so much she didnt want to go into her pet carrier to come in to bed (cant sleep outdoors in the coop at present), she also fought not to have her antibiotics this morning wheras the first day she was totally passive