That worries me. I just checked one and they're cool but not cold. I'm not sure what to do because where I am its pretty hot okus I live upstairs sonits even hotter so I don't want to out then under the heatlamp because I don't have a thermometer for their pen. So I'm stressing on what to do. They're not acting too cold or too hot. They're sleeping now but they were running around eating and playing with each other and they're not under their heat lamp just on a blanket in my room. There's no panting and they were laying separate but one just got up and laid with the other. I'm not sure if its for heat or because she's lonely
Quote: They usually cuddle if they're cold (have some on my couch doing that right now and their feet and legs are definitely cool, so I'm going to fill up some bottles with warm water for them). Do you have an ear thermometer? If so, I could take temps of my two sets and you could compare your's to mine.
FWIW, I just used an ear thermometer and checked the belly temps of my ducklings that are outside in the shade eating and drinking. Their belly temps are all around 104. The ones inside are 102-103, but the iffy one is just 100, so back in the Janoel he goes, he's way too cold.
Holy cow you guys!! My husband just found an opossum one of our trash bins in the chicken area! It was freaking adorable. (Sharp teeth and all)
Ok so my most obvious question is: Do they eat chickens?! This was about the size of a large rat. Not sure how big they get. I've lived in Dunsmuir all my life (28 years) and have never seen one. So weird.
Yes...they can and do kill them. They are often after the eggs and will rip out the reproductive tract. I have heard of people finding dean hens sitting in the nest box or on roosts that looked like they were asleep.
Quote: He is cute there. Bet not so much now. My only encounter with one was when one had gotten into someones garage and was in defensive mode. They have some scary teeth!
Argh! I've just had to lay down the law--no kids in the coop or the greenhouse without an adult (which was actually the rule before, too...) The free-range kids of the neighborhood tend to come by here--mostly because my husband doesn't want our girls running around (in the case of the 5-year-old, I agree, but I think the 11-year-old is responsible enough). First my daughter comes in with a not-quite-ripe tomato, announcing the first ripe big tomato of the year
(it really needed about 2 more days...) Then I go out to check for eggs--the bucket of fermented feed isn't in the outdoor cabinet--instead, it's on the ground next to it, and is a *lot* drier than yesterday. That could've been my husband's doing, however--the cabinet doors had a board holding them shut, and he's not here to ask. Anyway, I go into the coop, and the milk crate nest box is out of the temporary pen (not that that pen is anything more than in the way, now, but I've not gotten around to taking it out yet) and lying on its side. There's a bike helmet upside-down on top of the feed buckets (amazingly enough, poo-free!), the pvc feeder has come apart, and oyster shells have been scattered all over in the deep litter--almost a full coffee-can's worth.
Hubby just came home--he didn't take the bucket out.
Anyway, typing this out, this sounds really petty, but still...
He is cute there. Bet not so much now. My only encounter with one was when one had gotten into someones garage and was in defensive mode. They have some scary teeth!
I got the preliminary report back on my hen that died. Not much found, but tests are pending. I am wondering if maybe the other birds were keeping her from eating. Here is what they say so far:
Case Summary:
08/05/2014: The pullet was in a very poor nutritional condition but no gross lesions were detected in the visceral organs. I will
rely on ancillary laboratory tests to try to determine the cause of disease/death in this chicken. More results to follow.
Laboratory findings/Diagnosis
Backyard pullet -
- Whole body, very poor nutritional condition, with severe atrophy of breast muscles and very scant fat deposits.
- No significant gross lesions detected in the visceral organs.
Tests pending: AI and Salmonella PCR, bacteriology and histology.
Gross Observations:
Necropsy of a white backyard pullet was performed on August 5, 2014 beginning at 1:50 pm. The carcass was very poorly fleshed, had scant fat deposits and the tissues were in a moderate to advanced state of postmortem decomposition. No gross lesions were observed in any of the organs examined, including brain.
I got the preliminary report back on my hen that died. Not much found, but tests are pending. I am wondering if maybe the other birds were keeping her from eating. Here is what they say so far:
Case Summary:
08/05/2014: The pullet was in a very poor nutritional condition but no gross lesions were detected in the visceral organs. I will
rely on ancillary laboratory tests to try to determine the cause of disease/death in this chicken. More results to follow.
Laboratory findings/Diagnosis
Backyard pullet -
- Whole body, very poor nutritional condition, with severe atrophy of breast muscles and very scant fat deposits.
- No significant gross lesions detected in the visceral organs.
Tests pending: AI and Salmonella PCR, bacteriology and histology.
Gross Observations:
Necropsy of a white backyard pullet was performed on August 5, 2014 beginning at 1:50 pm. The carcass was very poorly fleshed, had scant fat deposits and the tissues were in a moderate to advanced state of postmortem decomposition. No gross lesions were observed in any of the organs examined, including brain.
I got the preliminary report back on my hen that died. Not much found, but tests are pending. I am wondering if maybe the other birds were keeping her from eating. Here is what they say so far:
Case Summary:
08/05/2014: The pullet was in a very poor nutritional condition but no gross lesions were detected in the visceral organs. I will
rely on ancillary laboratory tests to try to determine the cause of disease/death in this chicken. More results to follow.
Laboratory findings/Diagnosis
Backyard pullet -
- Whole body, very poor nutritional condition, with severe atrophy of breast muscles and very scant fat deposits.
- No significant gross lesions detected in the visceral organs.
Tests pending: AI and Salmonella PCR, bacteriology and histology.
Gross Observations:
Necropsy of a white backyard pullet was performed on August 5, 2014 beginning at 1:50 pm. The carcass was very poorly fleshed, had scant fat deposits and the tissues were in a moderate to advanced state of postmortem decomposition. No gross lesions were observed in any of the organs examined, including brain.
Quote:
Hopefully the rest will be in tomorrow. I will be relieved if it is not Marek's.
It was a kind of strange though. Someone called me from UCD and said they received the bird but there was no paperwork inside. She asked me to fax a copy and since I hadn't "saved" the form on my laptop, I did a much less details version and faxed it over. Then...when this report came over, it had all of the info from the original one. Then I thought about it, and if they didn't get the paperwork, how did they know my phone number???
