Coffee's ready...

[oesdog]

Thanks - Sometimes I wonder about these things. Why they happen. I mean little Dorothy was a lovely little bird who was always into everything you did! You know the type under the shovel when your trying to clean out the coop. I guess that makes you miss them all the more when they are not about even though (They are the ones who make you shout the most! Get off the darn shovel!!!! Go play for goodnessake GO AWAY!!!!!!! Before you get squished! ) - Now all I know is the sun is shinning and there has been more warmth in the air today than for weeks and she isn;t here to enjoy it. The others know something isn;t right but they haven;t worked it out yet. Betty is still looking for her friend. Agnes and Florry arn;t that bothered that their sister isn;t about though yet. Gerty is running about making sure every one knows KNOWS she is in charge. She had them all hidden under the garden seat earlier while she stood on the top as look out!
I see all these funny things going on and I know that yards away Dorothy lies dead in a bin ready to be taken away. It seems very cruel and unfare indeed. She was a darling little thing. THen I get to thinking daft stuff like - yes us humans are supposed to have gotten into bother with God and so he limited our lives - but how did these critters upset God that he should make their lives even shorter than ours????? If God alowed death as a punishment for us - he hardly gave it for good to the animals? When I loose someone or something Like Mum and Murphy and now little dorothy I do question these ideas about God - I wonder at his very existence or indeed if he does exist is he all for the good of us and those we love including our animals?

Oes -?????? Time for coffee I think!

 

[Gargoyle]

How old was Dorothy? How long had she been with you?

 

[oesdog]

I am not sure how old she was because she was a rescue, she came to us 3 yrs ago when a lad in the village didn't want them anymore. There were three birds Agnes, Florry and Dorothy. When we got them the lad brought them in a bag and just threw them out on the lawn like rubbish. THey were very thin but little Dorothy was very ill and weak and when I lifted her up where my hands touched her her feathers fell out and the skin was black/ sickly grey underneath. It was not like a normal molt but rather like she was starving. She was extremely thin.

I nursed her back to health but the eggs she laid were always those funky thin shapless IB eggs so she had had Infectious brioncitus at one stage. That I think left her weak and vulnerable to airway infections. Every winter she seemed to go down hill and be near deaths door until spring. This year was different though as after she got her head stuck in the fence a few weeks back she didn;t seem the same. I think she hurt it and the airway infection she had before Christmas started up again. Probably due to her neck injury she couldn't clear it and also she started to go into molt again which left her very cold - I put extra bedding in and did what I could for her but reluctantly had to stop at giving her more Vet care. This is because here we can get 3 healthy point of lay hens for £20 - The Vet charges £25 before he even gives you any meds! One has to be sensible and simply this means a hen is not viable in that state so its a case of they have to hold their own to an extent. I think that is why lots of BYC folk learn a lot of care for their animals themselves ebcause the Vets charge unrealistic prices that don;t actually make since of the value of the bird in the first place. We cannot buy over the counter Antibiotics here so we have to use infant ones left over from humans and just guess the amount!

At least she had a good last few years here it has just been despirately cold and wet here for so long.

Oes

 

[Gargoyle]

figure at least 4 years, with good treatment the last 3. You did a wonderful job caring for her, that is a long life for a typical chicken in our world.

 

[quercus21]

Morning People,
Karl, Gargoyle you guys get hit with this storm? They are having everyone batten down the hatches here. Schools are closed, and events are being cancelled. It's just a cloudy day here so far. Looks like the birds will be staying in their runs/coops for a bit.
Have a good day

 

[Gargoyle]

We only got about 2 or 3 inches, but its wet snow. It had warmed up yesterday, so the old snow turned to slush and then froze to ice; we have ice under the wet snow, and now the wet snow has frozen up and crystallized. Wife was able to get out of the driveway with her 4wd this morning. I have a truck coming in to pick up a sculpture this afternoon, I'm trying to reach the show plow guy to get him over here, but he's not answering. (I gave up on plowing myself a few years ago. I learned long ago that I need to stick to what no one else can do; if anyone else can do a job, they can do it better, faster and cheaper than I can).

We were on the low edge of this storm, 20 to 40 miles north of us got hit pretty hard, they probably got 5 to 9 inches. Chooks are happy, as long as it stays above 8 or 10 degrees I have no problems keeping their water wet.

 

[quercus21]

So far we have about 2" of snow on the ground. It looks like it is setting in pretty good now. It's a nice light snow at the moment. Everyone can stay in tonight (people), chickens are whole up till the are shoveled out. Chicken and gravy over pasta with a salad for supper. I figure I'll start making my rounds around 9/10 tonight. These are the times I really enjoy the wood stove......

 

[rngrbill]

10-11 inches here in Pittsfield. Now just cold and blowey. They say gust up to 35mph. with it being a dry snow I guess we will have to shovel it several times as it blows back and forth.

Keep warm ya'll

 

[quercus21]

That's just about what we had here rngrbill. This morning temps dropped to about 4 degs. Later part of this week they are calling for temps in the upper 30's to low 40's. We had snow drops flowering last week. Now they are buried under the snow. They were about 4 - 6 weeks early.
Enjoy the day, stay warm.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers'
Weather this year is something isn't it?We are into the muddy season already.$0's yesterday and the tractor isn't able to pull anything threw the pasture without sliding and sinking.At least it is not the Snow of the northeast and the tornadoes of the south east.It very windy here today 40 mph I would guess at this time.
God Bless!y'all