Coffee's ready...

[oesdog]

It has been really wet here for months even through the summer everything is wet and damp - nothing has had a chance to totally dry for near on a year. Everyone is suffering much with damp and cold. The problem is the wind chill especially since were on the coast. Weve had very high winds and many trees and shed and roof are damaged or down lately. It is this long wet spell combined with the chilling wind that I think is finishing a lot of the weaker ones off. Today it is sunny and the girls have been out dust bathing. I was worried about Agnes earlier but then she went and laid herself an egg so I think she was acting strange because she needed to lay and I disturbed her. lol! At least I hope that was all it was. Betty laid today as well both good signs as those were the two I was most cincerned over because they have had a bit of a bad sound in the past week or so. They also spent a deal of time with Bertha and Drumstick.

Now comming home after being out most of the afternoon there is no sign of bad breathing and all seems well but I must say I am afrade this thing will return.

Oes - terrible about my Bertha she was such a great hen. But I hope her daughters Mable and Betty may go to brood and be good mums too?

 

[newfoundland]

I wonder if it is the damp? We are just across the water from you and have very similar weather. In fact it has been winter since November and the East wind has been something awful. It is people suffering as well, I have never known such a year for chest infections and head colds! Yesterday and today are a bit more spring like and at least it is dry, although the wind is picking up again. Having had birds before with sour crop I now use a tablespoon og apple cider vinegar in their water once a week as a preventative. It has worked so far (touch wood!). Would a poultry tonic help do you think?

 

[oesdog]

I use the apple cider vinegar too. When Drummy got sick I did find some green mould like stuff in the coop that I haven;t seen before. It must have come quite quick because I usually clean out every 2 weeks. Very odd? I was thinking gone off egg - but then there wasn;t anything else about. I just cleaned everything and put extra bedding in and then bingo THe next one went sick so that didn;t work too well. And dorothy died a fare bit before Drummy. I was shocked that Drummy got sick especially since she was the one who picked on Dorothy so much and was in full flight of nastyness when Dorothy died as it was her who finished Dorothy off by shoving her head first into a mud puddle! Odd to think both are away now. That seems such a short time ago - end of January -OMG I am averiging one a month???? By September I will have an empty coop if this goes on? None of the other girls seem ill but I do keep listening out. I am certain it has been the bitter wind we have not had a winter like it in years. The wind was so strong here it took the roof clean off a shed and half went into the greenhouse the other bit ended up in the cow pasture! That was the shed that the hens used to sleep in so thank god they were not in it at the time! I am just getting my head round things and that the Sussex is away - a most perfect hen. I will have to be thinking of a replacement eventually but not for a bit yet to make sure we don;t have anything nasty. I think we have had months of damp and winter weather here we have not really had much of a summer in a few years!

Oes

 

[newfoundland]

Yesterday and today are the first spring like days we have had. The forecast is for things to warm up a little at the weekend. I do hope so! The ground is so saturated I don't know when it will ever be possible to plant any veggies, so I not even bothered with tomato plants this year so far. I do think that hens do badly in cold damp weather, they do not seem as resiliant as ducks which seem to cope with any amount of rain and cold. I hope the rest of your girls remain well and you are just going through a bad patch due to this awful weather. Fingers crossed for that!

 

[oesdog]

Yesterday and today are the first spring like days we have had. The forecast is for things to warm up a little at the weekend. I do hope so! The ground is so saturated I don't know when it will ever be possible to plant any veggies, so I not even bothered with tomato plants this year so far. I do think that hens do badly in cold damp weather, they do not seem as resiliant as ducks which seem to cope with any amount of rain and cold. I hope the rest of your girls remain well and you are just going through a bad patch due to this awful weather. Fingers crossed for that!

Thanks for that. - We really have only had our first dry "warm" day today. It was lovely to go out in the yard and actually feel a warmth in the air! I feel sad that poor Bertha was not here to see it. I do think you are right about the damp cold weather and that chickens don;t do too good in it. It has been a bit horendous here with bitter bitting wind that goes through to the bone. Being on the coast of course it comes in off the sea the very worst kind raw cold sea wind. The girls are all out enjoying themselves they look healthy and are acting fine - they are enjoying dust bathing by the back fence.They have not done that in ages. also they were sunning themselves on the back patio decking. So that was nice to see. The only one I have concerns over now is little Agnes She would be more RIR than PR - she was the one who ejected loads of clear fluid from her beak about 10 days back. She is sometimes opening her beak like she is gasping for air or trying to crow but no sound comes out. - I remember little dorothy used to do that. but then she did it for about 3 yrs. Maybe it was from the IB she had once had? Today Aggy was a bit solitery for my liking as she seemed to spend a deal of time in the dust bath while all the others prefered to forage for food in the as yet empty veg bays! But she is now getting the suns warmth and so I am hoping she will be ok. I am making sure there is ACV in all their water to cut down the chance of algy etc which seems to be everywhere of late. I am thinking that is what caused Drummy to get sick - sure it was sour crop not pnemonia but I am sure one can lead to the other ??? I can;t believe I lost 3 girls so quickly?????? But it took the scrawney ones PRs who are usually very thin anyhow due to being bred for simply laying. No meat on their bones to ward off the cold. Bertha was an older hen Speckled sussex so she was nice and fat but she had a bad leg injury ligament damage about 18 months back, which made her vulnerable to cold as she couldn;t "move" as quick as the others so maybe didn;t get the best food or best place to sleep etc.Though she was second in command and her sister Gerty is missing her very mich right now. - hard to know really what happened but in the end they are gone and now I have to look to the future.
The group are acting up a bit and Isobella is challenging Gerty for the leadership now Bertha Momma hen is no longer about to back her sister up this may be an issue! All very interesting in a social science context!

Oes - Ha ha the girls are not happy with me cause I just rounded them all up and put them in for the night before the temp drops! Mable was a little terror and Isobella was trying it on. Aggy got a big cuddle but her sister florry wouldn;t leave my side and followed me about the yard cause I had aggy in my arms. She feels warm but her feet are freezing. No gulping for air tonight!

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
Today is a sunny day here. We may even reach 60 degrees farinheit.We ussent count the chickens before they hatch though.I must get my fence done this weekend.And till my pasture and plant potatos and all that stuff befor mad mowwing begins in about 2 weeks.ready to plant, ready to weed ,ready to burn in the hot sun.Come on summer.Swat flies spray cattle spray wasp nests swat mosquitoes,.Catch fish swat mosquitoes,clean fish, fry fish, eat fish.Weed garden swat flies,battle jap beetles spray weeds.mow weed whip.Worn out already must rest up for winter.
God Bless!

 

[oesdog]

We are getting SUN here too - such a pitty my Bertha isn;t here to enjoy it.
But we do have eggs in the incubator. - Thing is DH in his wisdom trying to be nice bought them off the internet. They were supposed to be Silver grey Dorkings. However when the eggs arrived 6 of them they were BLUE?????? Silver grey dorkings are supposed to lay white are they not? Anyhow one egg was already broken and the one next to it was real thin and fell apart when DH tried to lift it. I think it was stuck to the packing with the leaking of the other egg. So sad to say there are only 4 but we will see what they turn out to be????? Put them in last night so this is DAY 1 - the should be due 26/27th April? I am looking forward to seeing if they hatch as this is a new incubator we have not yet used?

OES - hopefully something will arrive? It is a bit of a lucky dip though! Well I did say I wanted a blue layer!

 

[Gargoyle]

Tomorrow (M0nday) is supposed to be 70 degrees F here (21 C). Thursday night is supposed to hit 18 degrees F (-8 C). Weather is all messed up this year.

 

[karl E lutz]

Good morning chicken wranglers
We had 75 degree days here in central IL.USA .Today is 50 and damp.I cannot wait until the grass is knee high and the cows are fat and sassy.My milk cow is giving 2 gallons a day.I know that is not much but she is a small cow,a belted Galloway.She is a real lovey also nuzzling and rubbing up against me.My chickens are growing like weeds .Gardening season is bearing down on us.
Gargoyle my son wants to go to the water park in gurney for his birthday.If it happens I would like to stop on the way and see your studio. I will confirm within a week or so.
God Bless!

 

[Gargoyle]

Gargoyle my son wants to go to the water park in gurney for his birthday.If it happens I would like to stop on the way and see your studio. I will confirm within a week or so.
God Bless!

Sounds good. I'm on the way there.

Drove up to Wisconsin this morning, got back just in time. An hour after I left they got hit with monsoon rains; we hardly had any rain here.

But we have 90% chance of t-storms the next two days.

Chooks are doing good, another four-for-four day. However, Tessa (with the wry tail) still has problems. Thin shells with calcium deposits, so they feel like sandpaper, and if she steps on them they break. Also sometimes she drops them on the poop board at night, (and then they get stepped on)... then in the daytime she doesn't realize she's already laid, so she goes in the nest box and sits and waits... poor girl, she is really sweet.

This morning I had two of her slightly cracked/stepped on eggs (the inner membrane was still intact)... hard boiled, they were really tasty.