BYC Café

[CapricornFarm]

Hi cafe,

I made more coffee, help yourselves!

I've been looking into selling eggs rather than giving them away. Not much red tape and no fees included. Still in the early stages, but I'm excited to start something I've wanted to do for a while but family obligations prevented from happening. I don't want to get rich, but it will be nice to have help with the feed bill.



Good grief no! He was always getting into trouble! Shooting bad guys, fighting, drinking...don't put any of that on the Duke Shad

What type of eggs will you be selling, NN?

 

[Bamabexchicks]

I just came down from the attic and was successful at mounting the new whole house fan and getting the power and two way switch wired. It was very hot up there even though it was before noon.

The next step is cutting and patching in the sheet rock. I will have to go back into the attic and strap the wires to the joice boards. I will wait until the morning though

Wow! What a project that turned out to be! You must be very handy in the construction area!

 

[CapricornFarm]

This may be of interest to those who have to deal with a sick chicken.
I first noticed Blue Spot not 100% at the end of last month. Unless you knew her well there wasn't much to indicate there was a problem. While she was eating and drinking she drank more than was normal and eat a bit less. Otherwise she looked fine. Comb bright, clean rear end, foraging and often the biggest sign, grooming. Never the less, I checked her over properly that night. Checked her crop which was a bit lumpy but full. I checked carefully for mites and lice; she was spotless. Checked her vent (finger in a good inch) clear and clean with a good healthy color.
For the next couple of days I kept an eye on her. She laid a ver very small egg, about the size of the tip of my thumb. That is not a good sign. She had been until then the most consistent and prolific layers here. She would lay most of the winter.
Her food consumption declined over the next few days but she would still forage and when I checked her crop at night the crop while not full had food in it. Her poop changed colour partly because she was eating more grass and forage but ime, there consistency indicated a problem.
Checking her crop in the morning, I found while it was considerably smaller than the night before, it hadn't fully emptied. I started crop massage and water flooding by tube at that point.
This seemed to have an effect and for the next couple of mornings her crop was very near to empty but when massaging her crop I could feel some small lumps about 1 mm in diameter that seemed to be attached to her crop lining.
I started tube feeding her wet feed mash at night at this point. In the morning I would flush her crop again. This worked well for a couple of days but she still lost weight.
On the advice of my vet I started her on a course of antibiotics. I had mostly resigned myself to the probability that Blue Spot was dying. It then became a question of how long it was humane to help to keep her alive. I tube fed her and groomed her every night and watched her during the day.
During the days, while not as active she still kept with her tribe, foraged and groomed a little. She was just obviously short of energy and spent more time resting in the cool soil above the rockery.
In the last three days her poop became worse. Bright green with yellow urates; not a good sign.
Throughout all this contrary to the beliefs of many, none of her tribe bullied her or drove her away.
In fact the opposite was true. They would tend to gather around her the slower she became and Punch her son and her eldest daughter didn't stray far from her side for the last three days.
During the last tow days I gave Blue Spot the maximum dose of Metacam for her weight each morning and night.
During the 17th and 18th of this month it was apparent that she was fading fast. On the night of the 18th she didn't roost on the perch with the others and stumbled and fell when she came out in the morning. Most of 18th she stayed mainly in a very small area with her eldest son Punch standing guard. I picke Her up a few times in the day to give her water and I could see that Punch was thinking about attacking me in defense of his mum. I believe if Blue Spot has complained he would have attacked.
On the 19th I decided that Blue Spots quality of life was not satisfactory and had to finally acknowledge she wasn't going to get any better.
On the night of the 19th I brought her into my house for a couple of hours to say goodbye. I gave her one more dose of Metacam and put her on her perch between her two sons until dawn.
I ended Blue Spots life early on the morning of the 20th.



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You certainly did everything you could have. What a great chicken owner!

 

[igorsMistress]

What type of eggs will you be selling, NN?

Yea if anyone wants hatching eggs I can just advertise on CL or whatever. Selling eating eggs requires registration with the Dept of Agriculture in case of salmonella or whatever.

I have to grow out these chicks first of course, register and we have a business name but I have to find out if there are any other regs I have to follow besides what the Dept of Ag requires.

 

[ronott1]

Wow! What a project that turned out to be! You must be very handy in the construction area!

I can do quite a bit of things around the house. With this one I am taking in slowly. I find it harder to go up into attics at 59 than it was when I was in my twenties!

 

[Bamabexchicks]

I can do quite a bit of things around the house. With this one I am taking in slowly. I find it harder to go up into attics at 59 than it was when I was in my twenties!

Yup. I'm several years older than you, and hubs is 10 years older. I had to almost hobble that man to convince him to hire out some of the dangerous stuff like roofing and high up tree work. He is starting to take a seasonal approach to hard jobs now, and try and do it before it's too hot/cold etc. Sounds like you are going about it the right way to me!

 

[Bamabexchicks]

Yea if anyone wants hatching eggs I can just advertise on CL or whatever. Selling eating eggs requires registration with the Dept of Agriculture in case of salmonella or whatever.

I have to grow out these chicks first of course, register and we have a business name but I have to find out if there are any other regs I have to follow besides what the Dept of Ag requires.

It may change for you there, they have found cases of vND in AZ.

 

[drumstick diva]

Gee ron, you and Sean should be good for a senior discount at the next birthday. I should be entitled to a double discount since I am older than either of you.

My mother threw a fit whenever they tried to give her a senior discount- she would insist she wasn't a senior. Yah she was! My brother was bald early and they always gave him the discount - he didn't care. I had to show ID at Kohls because they don't want to offend anyone by asking.

That's is not the only thing my mother and I didn't share. My grandma(mom's mom) and I have/had a great sense of humor - sometimes a little hard for others to follow. My mother had none. She was furious if she believed you made fun of her. She'd take it to the grave with her, sounds familiar.

 

[igorsMistress]

I may change for you there, they have found cases of vND in AZ.

Yup, I'm not selling hatching eggs anyway and these kids are far from laying lol. My flock is closed. Fortunately I can trust the breeder I got the eggs from!

 

[ronott1]

Yup. I'm several years older than you, and hubs is 10 years older. I had to almost hobble that man to convince him to hire out some of the dangerous stuff like roofing and high up tree work. He is starting to take a seasonal approach to hard jobs now, and try and do it before it's too hot/cold etc. Sounds like you are going about it the right way to me!

It is hard to give it up!

I do not go up on roofs now much because of having a bit of food drop. I am a bit clumsy with the right foot now