chicken raising always dramatastic?

[PeiTheCelt]

Is it always crazy? Is it always one thing after another? I'm just asking.

I have never gone through a new pet learning process that left me feeling so much stress (or joy, I absolutely LOVE them, don't get me wrong), but...

Just really want *one* day to go by without something happening (notice me not even talking about *what* happened this time because I'm so tired of coming on here with drama)..

Just someone tell me that it's not just us, that starting out as chicken parents has been stressful and dramatastic for other people and it's not just us (me).

 

[MarkR]

It's normal. No worries.

Mark

 

[Southern28Chick]

I want to know what happened. I'm very nosey.

 

[thndrdancr]

Me too.

 

[MandyH]

If it makes you feel any better and you REALLY want to know about drama...... We have about 350+ chickens running around here, 30 or so guineas, some ducks, 19 turkeys, 15 or so rabbits and then sheep too. Oh, and I didn't mention the cat, dogs, hubby AND a two year old daughter. So drama is just normal everyday around here. Feel better?

 

[SpottedCrow]

Yes!!!
Things get a little easier when they're a little older and you're a little more experienced.

 

[thndrdancr]

I only had the three to begin with, didnt have any pastey butt issues and there was STILL drama as I ended up with a little crossbeak.
I didnt realize how much time she took out of my day til she was gone, but I would have still given up all that time and more to have her back.
Then we went thru grieving trama, my one has nite terrors, is neurotic and now I have two more chicks and they scare me to death they seem so fragile at times.
So, I would say YUP, I dont even have a "collective" and there still is drama and trauma.

Jill

 

[Southern28Chick]

Ok here's drama. (Not trying to say that my situation is worse than anyone else's)

I have a blind pullet...BORN BLIND. She was born on a Monday, shipped and I received them on Wednesday. She didn't eat on her own for the first time until Saturday. While she wasn't eating on her own I had to put her beak in the water and force feed her a paste made from hard boiled egg yolk and water.

She's now about 22-23 weeks old and doing great. She was being picked on by the other 23 chickens so she has her own house and run built off the side of the main chicken house.

Here she is:

 

[PeiTheCelt]

Thanks guys, and now that the drama has (once again) settled peaceably I don't mind sharing. We let Maggie out last night after work (the same dog that led to the stress out the other day, remember?) and somehow instead of clipping her lead to the D-ring on her collar, it got clipped to the wire ring that held her rabies and registration tags.

Shiva and Parvati were out.

About 10 minutes later, I hear is my husband (in the basement/garage, putting the wheels on the coop to move it up to it's permanent location) shouting "MAGGIE, NO!" and by the time I get downstairs (about .5 seconds after I realize that it's coming from the wrong side of the house from her run), my husband has her on a down stay and is kneeling looking under the car talking to something. Turns out Parvati is hiding under our explorer and avoiding Greg. Thankfully she sat still while I reached under, picked her up, and then just took her up to the temp coop to love on her and stroke her a little. (Which also gave me a chance to peak at the area where she'd been "overly loved" by the boys in her previous flock, and which has a lot of feathers coming back, but the skin has some rough looking areas, so I'll be searching the forums some for "skin cream" for chickens. (I don't believe that I just said that) No bleeding (so I knew it wasn't new and thus from Shiva picking at her) but some older "friction" scabs and the skin just looked dry and like it had been abused regularly and was starting to get better, but only slowly).

Shiva was *gone*. All I had found was a single black feather with a lovely green iridescence with some blood at the base of the shaft. I couldn't even look at Maggie, I didn't blame her, I mean, it's what she is. BUT.

We left the coop open as late as we could last night, hoping against hope that he'd come home.

Nothing.

We went for walks looking in all his favorite hidey holes.

Nothing.

We checked everywhere that a body could have been tossed by a dorky dog along the path she took before Greg caught her..

Nothing (okay this one was reassuring).

All last night and this morning I was keeping half an ear out for Shiva.

Nothing.

6:00 rolls by. Nothing
6:15 rolls by. Nothing
6:30 rolls by (usually the latest he wakes up). Nothing

6:45 I hear "RRR RR RRR RR RRRRRR"

and my heart starts to beat again.

But last night I was just sitting there sort of shaking my head, like it's been one thing after another since we got Shiva and I was just feeling like such a moron, that here I was again with an incident that could have been avoided. Though it was really sweet although the chickens are "my" project, Greg was a complete WRECK until we heard Shiva this morning. Don't tell him I told you guys, but he really loves the feather-heads. But sometimes I feel like we must just be too dumb to raise chickens! Okay, it's FAR more likely that it's a result of the fact that I'm a city kid who has never had anything more interesting than cats and dogs and though Greg grew up in the country, he hasn't had chickens since he was about 6.. So wasn't exactly the working chicken parent).

*shakes head* Oi. And no, the new coop didn't make it up to it's spot yet, just in case that needed saying. :-/

And Southern28Chick, a chicken being born blind isn't drama, drama requires stupid mistakes and panic..

A chicken being born blind is a challenge. And a really lovely pullet, she's gorgeous!

 

[PeiTheCelt]

Quote:
Is that drama or just plain chaos?