Arizona Chickens

[AnotherKim]

Such a beautiful family! You girls look so fresh. You'd never know it was over 100 degrees.

Off Topic:

Did a photo shoot for fathers day yesterday. Here are a few of my favorites.

 

[udubchick]

The babies did great through the night and are playing in their run. The big girls aren't doing as well. One of our mystery hens/EE contender is really sick this morn. She's struggling to walk and drooling. She isn't moving too much but is able to. Could it be a scorpion sting? other options? Any ideas for what I should do? The other too older girls are doing great and worried about her, but I seperated her for now, but they can still see each other.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Oh, that does sound serious! I know Sonoran Silkies and pastrymama have lots of experience with scorpions stinging chickens, hopefully they can offer some advice.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Mikey, sorry about the diagnosis of Mg. It really stinks.

itsredcandy, nice family photo! Reminds me that we have to take one here soon.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

So, not to rub it in or anything, but we got rain here in Tucson yesterday. We were amazed to see the sky darken up from clouds out of the SE and we even had thunder and lightening. Then it rained sporadically and lightly for a couple of hours--enough to make puddles on hard surfaces. It was an incredible day of weather. Anybody else get rain yesterday?

 

[Mikey D]

So, not to rub it in or anything, but we got rain here in Tucson yesterday. We were amazed to see the sky darken up from clouds out of the SE and we even had thunder and lightening. Then it rained sporadically and lightly for a couple of hours--enough to make puddles on hard surfaces. It was an incredible day of weather. Anybody else get rain yesterday?

Gallo,

Every cloud has one of dem silvery things...

This enforced lack of chicken math does have an up side:

I'm going to stay married longer!

And as for precipitation, I've seen more rain in the last week than I have in the 7 years prior!

Of course I've been in NY and GA but that neither here nor there.

Actually it is here and there!

 

[Novaleigh]

UGH!!! Last night, Amalthea was happy as a clam, and today? I found her mostly eaten corpse in the backyard, covered in red ants! GRRRRRRRRR!!!! Stupid ants!!! Anyone know of chicken safe ant killer? Horrible beasts that they are!

 

[pdx2phx]

The babies did great through the night and are playing in their run. The big girls aren't doing as well. One of our mystery hens/EE contender is really sick this morn. She's struggling to walk and drooling. She isn't moving too much but is able to. Could it be a scorpion sting? other options? Any ideas for what I should do? The other too older girls are doing great and worried about her, but I seperated her for now, but they can still see each other.

I would bet that is a scorpion sting! If you do a search in this thread you'll see more of the symptoms described. They will tend to get increasingly paralyzed and have more and more problems breathing. Acting fast is key.

What we do is bring them inside, put them in a safe place propped up on towels and give the Childrens Benadryl orally with a little syringe. There are different measurements for what to give depending on the size of the chicken (banty, etc) which we have found by searching online. Usually it takes about 24 hours to recover, but twice this year it has taken 2 days. We have had great success with this method, but have happened to catch it pretty early every time. We have probably treated for scorpion stings at least 8 times now over the past 3 years.

Good luck and make sure you watch her breathing.....a lot of times they want to sleep with their head down and that makes the mucus worse/breathing very difficult. They also have muscle spazms which can make them kick and push their way into unsafe positions so watch where you put food/water/etc..


good luck to you and your hen and please let us know how she does!

 

[pastrymama]

no, we have not had a scorpion sting that i know of. gallo must be thinking of phx2phx. you have become quite the expert unfortunately. but the remedy does sound like everything that i have read. and she is right, act fast! we always keep kids benedryl on hand(having 3 kids and one that is highly allergic to everything and who knows what and mystery hives that cause eyes swelled shut, etc). we also have a portion of our yard that is river rock and who knows what lurks beneath. i would love to have it taken out. anyone have a bobcat and want to come get it out of my yard? i also need a pond dug. anyone do that? where is bob's henhouse when you need him?

 

[pastrymama]

anyone looking for waterfowl, not for breeding or showing, just eggs and pets? i was searching for a gosling yesterday for memphis' goosie baby and i came across a local waterfowl rescue.
Webfoot ResQ in Gilbert. she literally has hundreds of ducks and ducklings, all domesticated, that need homes now that she has rescued from local area parks that have been dumped after Easter. they are rehabbed and vet checked, and she is drowning in waterfowl(no pun intended). she has some geese, i may try to sneak a few into the yard and see if the fireman notices

, but she will question you to the hills to make sure you are a fit and that you know what you are doing. if you want to eat them, buy them off CL(not mine!) she loves these birds and wants to see them go to good homes so if you have a secure place for a few and a kiddie pool, google her and give her a call. if i had known, i wouldn't have ordered ducklings. my bad. but i sold 2 hens last night so i figure i can go rescue 2 somethings from her. she takes donations and is very reasonable for what she is doing. i am going to drag memphis out there this week and see what kind of damage we can do. QUARRANTINE QUARRANTINE QUARRANTINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!