The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[speckledhen]

Oh, my, I am back, but not sure it's permanent! On a whim, I had my DH check the connection again. It's UP! The stupid company said, after doing some checks over the phone line, yup, it's dead, we'll send you a new one, but oh, it's not the free one, we don't have those anymore, now you have to pay $6.95/mo rental for this one in addition to your already exhorbitant monthy bill. WTH???? Oh, we are steaming. It's already the slowest DSL on the planet, 3-5 mphs, and overpriced by a mile and now, just to have home phone and DSL (this phone co is the only one in this little area and the only internet co at our location, too), adding the new rental fee, it would be $97/mo for just those two. But another company is running line close by and if they make it up here, we can get phone, FAST internet AND television for a few more bucks than we're paying now.

BUT, I guess it's back up and we can send back the stupid modem and avoid the new fee and

that the other company will be providing the services soon so we can

our current company!



Dusty's crop is still bloated. I can't get it down. I've tried quite a few things I know to do and it's still a balloon. I think it may be her old system beginning a shutdown. The crop is such a tattletale about what's going on in the body of a chicken.


As far as the whole house generator I mentioned, NO WAY. The cost of the generator itself it not the issue. The installation is as much as the generator itself! So a $3000 generator will cost about $6500. And that's with my DH's military discount! I can't do that. I'll have to pull out my old generator and see if we can fix it somehow, get some of those big square water tanks for water storage and do it that way.

 

[Wyatt0224]

Glad to see you're back! Sorry to hear about Dusty. It's weird that in 2017 you have that bad of a phone and Internet company. They must really be bad for everything to be that slow.

 

[GingersHuman]

We only got fast internet about 7 months ago. We bought a WiFi modem off of Amazon to keep from paying $10 a month to get the company's WiFi modem. It's paid for itself long ago.

 

[speckledhen]

Glad to see you're back! Sorry to hear about Dusty. It's weird that in 2017 you have that bad of a phone and Internet company. They must really be bad for everything to be that slow.

Lots of folks in very rural areas have the same issue, I guess.

We only got fast internet about 7 months ago. We bought a WiFi modem off of Amazon to keep from paying $10 a month to get the company's WiFi modem. It's paid for itself long ago.

Yep, we are about to see to doing that ourselves if ETC doesn't get their lines down here soon.

It's insane how many taxes of various mysterious types are on the phone bill, about $20 of the entire bill consists of those mystery taxes. We pay $2/mo for the DSL modem we currently have so if it looks like we're stuck with the local phone co. for a long time to come, we'll probably end up buying a modem ourselves.

 

[MistyMountain]

Glad you're back. I don't get a chance to comment much, but I do enjoy following along on breaks.

I know what you mean about slow internet. We lived in Mountain City, TN while DH went to App State. The only internet we could get was dial-up. The phone company was the only one around, so they charged big bucks just for phone, and did not maintain their lines. We lived right up on a mountain in a little cabin... brings a smile to my face thinking of it now. Simpler times. Anyhow, word on the road was that a man down the mountain used to get mad and shoot his shotgun at the phone lines. That's where the static came from. I work from home and send some fairly big files daily. I feel your pain on the video uploads.

Our next stop put us on cable internet. It was fast... when it worked. For whatever reason, it only worked half of the time. Next stop, DSL. We were as far from the station as we could be, therefore super slow internet speed. Not great for sending my files. (we moved around a bit before settling)

Now... I am spoiled. We live further out than we have ever lived before, and for whatever reason, they have fiber out here. Phone, internet, and TV all on fiber optics. I am much more efficient now, no worries about dropping a deadline on a rush order. Last check, I was at about 25 mbps download speed, 5 mbps upload speed. I'll never go back!! Also, we are NEVER moving again!

So sorry to hear about Dusty. I hope your efforts were able to give her some relief.

 

[speckledhen]

Glad you're back. I don't get a chance to comment much, but I do enjoy following along on breaks.

I know what you mean about slow internet. We lived in Mountain City, TN while DH went to App State. The only internet we could get was dial-up. The phone company was the only one around, so they charged big bucks just for phone, and did not maintain their lines. We lived right up on a mountain in a little cabin... brings a smile to my face thinking of it now. Simpler times. Anyhow, word on the road was that a man down the mountain used to get mad and shoot his shotgun at the phone lines. That's where the static came from. I work from home and send some fairly big files daily. I feel your pain on the video uploads.

Our next stop put us on cable internet. It was fast... when it worked. For whatever reason, it only worked half of the time. Next stop, DSL. We were as far from the station as we could be, therefore super slow internet speed. Not great for sending my files. (we moved around a bit before settling)

Now... I am spoiled. We live further out than we have ever lived before, and for whatever reason, they have fiber out here. Phone, internet, and TV all on fiber optics. I am much more efficient now, no worries about dropping a deadline on a rush order. Last check, I was at about 25 mbps download speed, 5 mbps upload speed. I'll never go back!! Also, we are NEVER moving again!

So sorry to hear about Dusty. I hope your efforts were able to give her some relief.

We only had dial up when we moved here in 2002 as well. This DSL isn't a whole lot better at times! Same here, end of the line, super slow. When they get that fiber optic cable finished and we can hook up to it, my phone company is FIRED! We told them so, too.

Haha, my upload speed was something like .3 mbps. Did you see that point in there?

Dusty's crop is not quite as gassy this morning, but still a bit bloated. She keeps gagging like she has something in her throat, but she probably feels like she does with all that mess pushing upward. I used gas reliever gel tabs on her, the simethicone stuff. Maybe it helped some. Poor baby. She's an old gal, doesn't have long, but I don't want her to be hungry and uncomfortable.

 

[getaclue]

Doctor's office called today. I'm scheduled for surgery on the 24th. @ 7:30 am. Hopefully this will solve my lung issues.

 

[speckledhen]

Doctor's office called today. I'm scheduled for surgery on the 24th. @ 7:30 am. Hopefully this will solve my lung issues.

Hoping for the best for you, Cheryl.



On a side note, my Dusty's sour crop is still raging. I feel it's just her system shutting down, but though I know how to treat sour crop, I looked in the seven, count 'em, SEVEN, books on chickens I have here, including the Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow and NOT ONE tells how to treat sour crop, if it even mentions it at all. I find that very interesting, don't you?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have never experienced sour crop nor heard of it ever until this site. Being an old farmer from farming ways we cull most birds that show illness. I have tried treating stuff in the past and a few recently but I never seem to fix anyone. I think most animals are healthy until they aren't than everything goes down hill. Sorry for your chicken. I get attached to mine too and it's hard to watch them not doing well.

A few of my books mention impacted crop, but not sour, which may not be a common term. My guess anyways.

 

[speckledhen]

I have never experienced sour crop nor heard of it ever until this site. Being an old farmer from farming ways we cull most birds that show illness. I have tried treating stuff in the past and a few recently but I never seem to fix anyone. I think most animals are healthy until they aren't than everything goes down hill. Sorry for your chicken. I get attached to mine too and it's hard to watch them not doing well.

A few of my books mention impacted crop, but not sour, which may not be a common term. My guess anyways.

You know, that statement you made is pretty much on the mark, with few exceptions. Moldy feed can cause sour crop, which is one reason I am 100% against fermenting feed for avian species and just did a YouTube about that. I have found that the crop is a pretty good gauge of the overall health of the bird, generally.

With an old hen like Dusty, who has never had one single issue with health her entire life, for her crop to suddenly balloon up like this and be stubborn about going down, seems to tell me that it's ceasing to function and food is fermenting/souring inside the crop, not moving at all. It's probably just the end of her life, unfortunately. I'd rather find them just gone like Rita than to watch them cycle down this way, though. But, also, my Blue Orp line was very prone to crop issues, including pendulous crop, which keeps food from leaving in a timely manner so it ferments and sours just sitting below the exit hole. Dusty's sister's crop was always pendulous and just quit working prior to her death about three years ago, but Dusty has never had an issue until now as she's turned 9 years old, which I feel is a pretty old Orp.