Colorado

[COChix]

@COChix
 - thank you!  Deleware's are on my list.  Do you use your birds for meat?  I've looked into cornish as a possibility, but their egg laying leaves a lot to be desired.  Are cornish mutts a happy medium between egg laying and a decent carcuss?

Sigh, I may be a lost cause for ever finding a favorite, I just love dabbling.

Well we got our birds for laying with the intention that we would also process the extras, older birds, etc. I was new to chickens when we ordered our flock and I wanted a rainbow of egg colors so that is what we ordered a rainbow pack. We had 5 Cornish at one time. Yes they don't lay great and I cannot answer your question about the carcass as we have not processed a Cornish. Last year we sold 18 one year old egg layers to make room for hatching. Our Delaware were the best as far as hunting, they always seemed to find the mice and frogs.


Sadly, I have been away a few days as we had to put down our old Anatolian Shepard mix - Diego. He was my dog, he was a rescue and this is his story. Diego (formerly "Buck") was a tagged dog in California who had been hit by a car, tied up at the shelter. His owners never claimed him, the shelter did an FHO on his left hip because his hip ball was shattered. He was adopted out to a lady with two other dogs, she brought him back. Said it was just too much, he was a year old, scheduled for euthanasia. A rescue group from Fort Collins brought him to a foster in Colorado. When I met him he had no hair, they said he had corn allergies, he also wasn't bearing any weight on his left hip at all. He was pretty sad looking, but a sweet boy and he played with my other dog immediately, so it as a fit. I took him home...he didn't have corn allergies, he was stressed out! His hair grew back, I put him on Connectin for dogs and within 2 weeks he was bearing weight on his hip. He also survived cancer back in 2012 he has mast cell tumors and went through surgery to remove them. He was a fighter, just goes to show you what is possible with some love, positive healing and a owner who is willing to take on a "stray". I would say Diego picked us and I wouldn't have been more happy. While I am going to miss him dearly, his good hip was giving out and we could not longer keep him comfortable with cannabis. We did use a service called Caring Pathways, the come into your home and provide the service there. We did that because we needed our pack to move forward. We have three other dogs and it was a great service and interesting to see the dogs react to the body and such. Diego lived to rip age of 11!

 

[21hens-incharge]

COChix I am so sorry you lost such a good soul. He certainly benefited from the care and time your family took for him. I think you all probably benefited as well. It sounds like he was well loved.
My heart goes out to you and your family.

 

[maggiemo]

Sorry for your loss Trish

 

[Percheron chick]

That's a heart warming story. We should all be lucky enough to have a dog like Diego.

 

[coop410silkies]

Snowing here pretty hard now. Just got home from the hospital. Hubby fell at work and has a bad concussion. He will be fine. The itty bitty cochin has gone broody and this time in a bad place. She made a hole and got UNDER the coop. No sign of her at lock down tonight. If she comes out in the morning I am filling her hole. I thought I had simply missed her in the run last night and she spent the night there. Turned out she was under the coop. No chance of reaching her either. Ornery little monster. This is her. Kinda mad at her right now. Making me worry more like I did not have enough worries. Just realized you can see the curled toes on the SS in this pic too. Both of the SS have this same malformation.

Wow, she is very adorable, doesn't look a bit ornery. I would be furious if one of my pets went under the coop to set eggs, especially in cold weather like this. (We have a little shitzu who goes under the shed to chase rabbits, and we DO get furious.). Did you get her out? One of my breeder SS hens has a bent toe - as does an offspring - and a few of the SS I hatched had bent hocks - some very severe - as well. The condition is called perosis, and it is a result of the tendon falling out of its groove where it attaches the muscle to the bone. I thought the bent toes and the twisted hocks were genetically related, and I asked about it in the HAL I was doing last year. The moderater said the perosis was probably a result of incubation conditions (temperature fluctuations) and NOT genetic. That would be nice for me, because it means I have only to get my incubator up to speed. If your hens have bent toes, though, I'm thinking it's not JUST incubator problems. Funny how you learn stuff. Now I'm thinking about Breeders. They have to breed to SOP if they are breeding for Show. If they can breed winners from a line that just happens to throw a few bent toes, they just might keep the line for its winners and toss the bent toes. Well, it is something to think about, especially if one is looking to buy show quality birds for breeding. SOP SS are difficult to find, and Show winners are rare. I guess maybe I should rethink my breeding program to develop a line of SS that NEVER begets bent toes and remains as true to SOP as I can get them. I'm not breeding for Show, after all. Fortunately, there are people well educated in genetics on some BYC boards. I have soooo many questions now. Is your little Cochin safe and sound, now?

 

[coop410silkies]

Well we got our birds for laying with the intention that we would also process the extras, older birds, etc. I was new to chickens when we ordered our flock and I wanted a rainbow of egg colors so that is what we ordered a rainbow pack. We had 5 Cornish at one time. Yes they don't lay great and I cannot answer your question about the carcass as we have not processed a Cornish. Last year we sold 18 one year old egg layers to make room for hatching. Our Delaware were the best as far as hunting, they always seemed to find the mice and frogs.


Sadly, I have been away a few days as we had to put down our old Anatolian Shepard mix - Diego. He was my dog, he was a rescue and this is his story. Diego (formerly "Buck") was a tagged dog in California who had been hit by a car, tied up at the shelter. His owners never claimed him, the shelter did an FHO on his left hip because his hip ball was shattered. He was adopted out to a lady with two other dogs, she brought him back. Said it was just too much, he was a year old, scheduled for euthanasia. A rescue group from Fort Collins brought him to a foster in Colorado. When I met him he had no hair, they said he had corn allergies, he also wasn't bearing any weight on his left hip at all. He was pretty sad looking, but a sweet boy and he played with my other dog immediately, so it as a fit. I took him home...he didn't have corn allergies, he was stressed out! His hair grew back, I put him on Connectin for dogs and within 2 weeks he was bearing weight on his hip. He also survived cancer back in 2012 he has mast cell tumors and went through surgery to remove them. He was a fighter, just goes to show you what is possible with some love, positive healing and a owner who is willing to take on a "stray". I would say Diego picked us and I wouldn't have been more happy. While I am going to miss him dearly, his good hip was giving out and we could not longer keep him comfortable with cannabis. We did use a service called Caring Pathways, the come into your home and provide the service there. We did that because we needed our pack to move forward. We have three other dogs and it was a great service and interesting to see the dogs react to the body and such. Diego lived to rip age of 11!

Well we got our birds for laying with the intention that we would also process the extras, older birds, etc. I was new to chickens when we ordered our flock and I wanted a rainbow of egg colors so that is what we ordered a rainbow pack. We had 5 Cornish at one time. Yes they don't lay great and I cannot answer your question about the carcass as we have not processed a Cornish. Last year we sold 18 one year old egg layers to make room for hatching. Our Delaware were the best as far as hunting, they always seemed to find the mice and frogs.


Sadly, I have been away a few days as we had to put down our old Anatolian Shepard mix - Diego. He was my dog, he was a rescue and this is his story. Diego (formerly "Buck") was a tagged dog in California who had been hit by a car, tied up at the shelter. His owners never claimed him, the shelter did an FHO on his left hip because his hip ball was shattered. He was adopted out to a lady with two other dogs, she brought him back. Said it was just too much, he was a year old, scheduled for euthanasia. A rescue group from Fort Collins brought him to a foster in Colorado. When I met him he had no hair, they said he had corn allergies, he also wasn't bearing any weight on his left hip at all. He was pretty sad looking, but a sweet boy and he played with my other dog immediately, so it as a fit. I took him home...he didn't have corn allergies, he was stressed out! His hair grew back, I put him on Connectin for dogs and within 2 weeks he was bearing weight on his hip. He also survived cancer back in 2012 he has mast cell tumors and went through surgery to remove them. He was a fighter, just goes to show you what is possible with some love, positive healing and a owner who is willing to take on a "stray". I would say Diego picked us and I wouldn't have been more happy. While I am going to miss him dearly, his good hip was giving out and we could not longer keep him comfortable with cannabis. We did use a service called Caring Pathways, the come into your home and provide the service there. We did that because we needed our pack to move forward. We have three other dogs and it was a great service and interesting to see the dogs react to the body and such. Diego lived to rip age of 11!

,
I am sorry for your loss. 'Twas of pure grace that he made a gift of himself to you.

 

[coop410silkies]

@21hens: oh yes, and how is your HUSBAND? I hope you both are doing OK. More than OK, even.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry you lost your big guy @COChix . Glad he had a good life with you as opposed to being put down as a pup.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I set to digging the lil bugger out and she decided that was enough of that and came out. I filled the hole with flagstone and mud/dirt packing it in good. OH man is she going to be mad at me lol.

Hubby is resting and on a lot of meds. I don't think he should even try to go to work tomorrow. He certainly has enough trouble walking so I do not think I will release his keys to him any time soon. The worst part of it for him is the dizziness he has every time he tries to stand up.

Thanks for asking and the well wishes for him and the monster of a broody.

Oh and I did a full head count to make sure no one else was under there with her.

 

[coop410silkies]

I set to digging the lil bugger out and she decided that was enough of that and came out. I filled the hole with flagstone and mud/dirt packing it in good. OH man is she going to be mad at me lol.

Hubby is resting and on a lot of meds. I don't think he should even try to go to work tomorrow. He certainly has enough trouble walking so I do not think I will release his keys to him any time soon. The worst part of it for him is the dizziness he has every time he tries to stand up.

Thanks for asking and the well wishes for him and the monster of a broody.

Oh and I did a full head count to make sure no one else was under there with her.

I am glad you are keeping a good eye on your husband; do not get lax about it. He should get a doctor's OK before he does ANYTHING. He might not be able to make good decisions for himself, and you will have to make them for him for awhile. Probably won't be fun.

My Broodies all like to set their eggs in Dogloos. I get them used - free or very cheaply - from garage sales, for sale ads, and from CL sellers. If your coop were large enough to hold even a small one, your Cochin might get real happy with it. Just a thought. Glad you got your little sweetie out. Does she have a name?