Colorado

[Pozees]

Well, she had her Bone scan two weeks ago and her CT last week. We finally go the Doctor to call and let us know the "official " results.....
The bone scan show additonal active locations on her pelvis and spine. Not good there. The CT scan showed no change in the lung tumors. This is actually good. That means it hasn't gotten worse, so chemo continues.

That is good news, I'm happy to see it!

 

[Pozees]

Did some more work on the Weathervane rooster.... he's starting to look like a rooster I think.

Wendell, that looks great!!!

 

[coloradogal]

This is Chester, named after Matt Dillon's gimpy sidekick played by Dennis Weaver. Ironically, the vet's last name is Goode

He is most definitely not what I was expecting. He's gorgeous.

 

[EHook518]

I had a date last night that was just blah. It was one of those dates that are sooo hard to get through that it just left me tired and drained. Now I know how people feel when I talk ad nauseum about my chickens. anyhoo

How's she doing? Small beak injuries should grow out in time. There didn't seem to be a huge loss of blood, which tends to be the killer of beak billed critters, so that's a big, big plus. Think of the beak like your tooth as far as pain. I suspect she's in a lot of pain right now. I would continue to keep her separated, give her mash instead of hard food and keep her calm. Just monitor her poo and make sure it looks acceptable. Are you doing fermented food? If you aren't, just run to the store and pick up a small little thing of buttermilk. Take half of it and pour it with some milk and leave it on the counter overnight -if you use cream, you'll have sour cream by the next morning.... the other half, put in some crumbles until it softens. The lactic acid bacteria in there should keep the icks away from the wound and the milk fat globules should do some coating. I would not do a vinegar mash as I suspect that would sting like a mother. The next day, your buttermilk infused milk should be clobbered and take out half, and do it again. Keep the mixture in glass jars and well fed. If you do it longer than a couple of days, you should be able to culture more milk so its less work. When its ready, just put it in the fridge.

Skippy: I'm in Falcon near the county airport.

I was gone all day. She is about the same. Only wants to eat her yogurt mixture off my finger, I may have spoiled her a bit too much! I did give her some wormer this morning, poop still dark green and runny. Question on the fermented food, what is the difference between that and yogurt? She has ACV in her water and is drinking well so that doesn't bother her. Still taking some breaths through her beak, wondering if she bruised her sternum (if that is what chickens have) and that is making her a little uncomfortable. I can only imagine how painful and stressful it was for her to break her beak. That would take a lot of force wouldn't it? Thank you so much for the advice and support. Trying to stay positive.

 

[EHook518]

Did some more work on the Weathervane rooster.... he's starting to look like a rooster I think.

I am very impressed! He looks great.

 

[Chesterchook]

I wanted to announce the birth of http://coloradochickens.com

Awesome! Great work

 

[coloradogal]

Awesome! Great work

X 2

 

[Pozees]

I was gone all day. She is about the same. Only wants to eat her yogurt mixture off my finger, I may have spoiled her a bit too much! I did give her some wormer this morning, poop still dark green and runny. Question on the fermented food, what is the difference between that and yogurt? She has ACV in her water and is drinking well so that doesn't bother her. Still taking some breaths through her beak, wondering if she bruised her sternum (if that is what chickens have) and that is making her a little uncomfortable. I can only imagine how painful and stressful it was for her to break her beak. That would take a lot of force wouldn't it? Thank you so much for the advice and support. Trying to stay positive.

Fermented food makes more of the nutrients in the dry food we feed our chickens available for absorption. As much as 12% more of the proteins in a typical commercial chicken feed may be available to the digestive systems of our chickens. Most who ferment their chickens' food report lower consumption of both the food and water, as the food is soaked, accompanied by better condition. It is also rich in probiotics and other various micronutrients.

There are a few of us in Colorado feeding fermented food to our chickens, and there are upsides and downsides to it. Downside would be you can't fill a feeder once a week or so and not worry about it the rest of the week. Upside would be approximately 1/3 decrease in consumption. If you only have a few chickens it takes a long time for that to add up to a substantial savings; if you have dozens, it adds up quickly.

The basics are that you put dry food (mash, crumble, or pellets) and scratch or whole grains and seeds (or nothing else, you can do it with just dry commercial food but the whole grains and seeds make it easier to manage) in a bowl/bucket arrangement that typically includes a straining vessel inside a liquid-tight vessel, add water and a few "glugs" of unpastueurized apple cider vinegar, stir once or twice a day until it starts to smell ferment-y and/or bubble, scoop out a day's worth and replenish with dry ingredients. Use plastic or stainless steel. I use a big bowl with a colander inside, many use doubled 5 gallon buckets with drainage holes drilled in the inner bucket. I scoop with a plastic slotted spoon in case there is excess liquid that needs to drain off, although it doesn't really seem to matter to the chickens, they eat it regardless, but they like it a bit on the dry side better.

My mix consists of layer crumble and my home mixed scratch, which right now is whole oats and wheat, cracked corn, BOSS (Black Oil Sunflower Seed) and some wild bird seed, about 2 parts scratch to 1 part crumble. Mixes vary, as long as the chickens eat it and stay healthy it should work.

It takes a minute extra a day, I figure, at least for my little microflock, and when I have more chickens this summer it will be a few more minutes a day. I only feed once a day and leave dry crumble, grit, and oyster shell available free choice all the time. They use more oyster shell as my fermented mix includes less layer mix, but I feel safe with the backup of dry feed if they need it. They have used very little of the free choice dry crumble the last month or so. Evenings they get an apple and a few times a week some dry scratch right before bedtime. Various times they get leftovers, couple of times a week yogurt, forage three full days a week plus 30 minutes to an hour each evening.

There is nothing foolproof - in chickens, or in life. I can say with enormous satisfaction that I had my first 7 egg day today - I have 7 hens

 

[Chesterchook]

We're using the bucket method too, very convenient.
Pozees, what made you decide on that particular combination for your scratch mix? I've just heard about BOSS, is that shelled or unshelled?

 

[wickedlees]

SO AWESOME!

Did some more work on the Weathervane rooster.... he's starting to look like a rooster I think.