Consolidated Kansas

[Deerfield Acres]

Hawkeye, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am about Seymour. It was very obvious how much you loved that bird. It's true, when you have little kids it's terribly difficult to keep one's presence of mind especially by evening when you're completely done. Please try not to beat yourself up about it. Making mistakes is what we all do, it hurts enough to lose your little buddy. I say you forgive yourself for being human and just grieve your loss. I know you feel crappy, but Seymour had a beautiful life with you because of who you are. The coyotes just seem to have proliferated like crazy last year and this.

Danz, my auto humidifier got a kink in the line right where it enters the cabinet and shut off too. So you may check that. As long as I keep the bucket aligned with the entrance whole into the cabinet it works fine. I had mine pushed to the back on top when it got the kink. Hope you have a good day, Danz.

Pikeman, I bet you're going to feel like a new man after surgery. Congrats on getting that behind you!

So, guys, I'm typing this with one eye. I had to make a trip to the ER last night AGAIN. So here's what happened. I was happily visiting my big chicks and had Buffy (Buff Orp) sitting in my lap, snuggling in the crook of my arm and talking to me. Buffy can be really insistent about attention. So when Henrietta, the beautiful grey EE pullet, made a rare visit to my other knee I greeted her and we were having a fine chat, which peeved Buffy a bit so she landed a respectable peck on my arm to regain attention. I disregarded her warning to my own peril. The next peck landed right in my right eye. YEEEoooowwwwwww! So I had to go off to the ER with yet another chicken related injury. I'm off to see a specialist so have to run. I can tell you I tried very hard not to walk with a limp into the ER!

 

[HEChicken]

OMG Karen, its not funny but I am snickering a little anyway, that you have yet another chicken-related injury. You are too funny. My DSD also has some good stories to tell about injuries she has received. Probably the best is going into a center to get allergy tested and walking out with a broken ankle. I guess after the testing, she stood up, started to walk down the hall and fell (for reasons she has never been able to explain), breaking her ankle. She had a lot to live down after that. You know, everyone you encounter who sees the cast and crutches and asks "How did you hurt yourself?" and she had to respond...."Well, it was like this....I went in to get allergy tested...."

 

[chicken danz]

Loralee, I am so sorry about Seymore. Made me cry. I know how very much you loved that bird. Don't blame yourself. You had no way of knowing she would go back out. Maybe Trish or Ivy can hatch you a new one and you can start over some day when it doesn't hurt as much. She was your first bird in this period in your life and will always have a special place in your heart. I wish I could comfort you. You are such a special person and I hate to hear of your loss.

 

[chicken danz]

Karen, I hate to say it but you are every bit as accident prone as I am. It is funny as you tell it, but I'm sure it wasn't. I do hope there is no severe damage to your eye.

 

[Trish44]

Awww Hawkeye, I'm so sorry about Seymore! We're all human & we aren't perfect, I know you feel awful, but I agree with everyone else you gave her the best life she could have had. I would be out after the coyotes too myself & I don't even like guns. I've got Royal Palm eggs in the bators right now & the first ones are due to hatch the 4th or 5th of May, then I have another batch I just put in that should hatch the 18th of May. I candled the ones in the Brinsea yesterday & saw moving birds in there, it was so cool to see that. These will be my first turkeys to hatch, so they will be special for me. I'm only wanting to keep a trio, so I will have a few extras & like I said more in the next batch hopefully.

KarenS, ouch, I hope your eye is OK, eye injuries hurt so bad! Good luck with your appt. I hope it goes all right.

tweety, I loved your pic of you & your granddaughter, that is just precious! Enjoy her as much as you can because they grow so fast you just blink & they're 7 years old like mine.

tnt, yeah I know what you mean about the CL ads. I really wish people could remember to use spellcheck & I agree should know what they have before writing an ad. Awhile back I emailed a woman about her chicks because she didn't tell what kind. Her response back to me was what color they were & she had no clue what breed of chicken she was selling, typical.

pikeman, good luck on your surgery, you will have a few days of being sore, but you won't believe how much better you will feel when you're healed.

Well I think the reason why some of my best layers aren't laying is that they've gone into molt, ugh. I had thought they only molted in the fall, but I just read that it depends on when they start laying as to when they molt, so I guess my oldest ones are about at the right time. Fortunately I have some that are younger that are still laying, so I am still getting eggs, just not as many or as big. I told my DH I guess that's one good reason to have different ages of chickens so you still have some to lay while others are molting. My new chicks will get here this week in two batches, some in the mail & some I will pick up from the CO-OP on Friday. I didn't find out that the CO-OP in Arkansas City had chicks until after I had already ordered from somewhere else. I will remember that next time because I didn't have to pay any shipping for those. Anyway, by the time these start to lay the other ones will go into molt, so hopefully I will keep having eggs.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

So, I'm back with antibiotics under a contact band aid on my eye and a follow up appointment for tomorrow just to be sure no infection gets started. It seems the peck went deep enough to cause excruciating pain but not deep enough to require a surgery.

So, I've dodged the surgery bullet a second time and feel like the luckiest woman alive, sort of. It seems getting pecked in the eye is a rarity not only in the ER but also at Greene Vision Group. The PA, intake person, and the nurses at Wesley were so happy to have a new story to tell about eye injuries. Today, the receptionist, nurse and yes, the Dr. were all highly entertained by having a unique story to add to their repertoire of odd eye injury stories. The Doctor made quite a point of telling me in all his 30 years of practice, I'm the first for real hen-peck victim he's treated.

I've been spreading joy everywhere I limp, so do not feel in the least guilty about snickering over my unusual situation. The worst part of the whole thing has been that they gave me percocet for the pain and being desperate for something, I took it. The stuff has made me quite nauseated, turned me into a babbling fool (or is that just me?) and, apparently unable to spell (thank you Mr. Spell check for fixing humiliting for me) or choose words properly, (i.e., whole/hole), so that's quite humiliating, as well.

Danz, I'm sure hoping you're not as accident prone as me! I'm a mess!

I'll check back in once I'm clean and sober, all!

 

[chicken danz]

That is why I've consistently kept some of the pullets I hatch. I was scrapping for eggs the first time my girls went into a molt. Now I have some here and there that molt but don't notice much. I will probably be much more aware of that after I downsize some. My older hens are slowing down a lot of laying just from age. I really need to be breeding for offspring soon.
So many projects!

Tweety grandchildren are so special. You are so lucky to be near enough you can spend time with your new grandchild.

 

[HEChicken]

Karen - so glad it wasn't serious enough to require surgery. Hopefully the Percocet will help you to feel better. It might be better to take it with food - if it was on an empty stomach, that might be why it caused the nausea? Anyway, hope you are feeling lots better soon!

 

[Trish44]

KarenS, I'm so glad your eye injury wasn't too serious & you gave the Drs & nurses some entertainment for the day! I know how that hurts though, I haven't had a chicken peck me in the eye, but I wear contacts & have gotten something under them & scratched my cornea, it's very painful. I hope it feels better soon!

Danz, yeah those of us with limited coop space have to stagger chicken ages some in order to keep some laying. I'm glad I did get a few last year later than the others, so at least those are still laying & the ones I got from IVY are still laying too, thank goodness. But of course the ones in molt are my best layers, naturally. I'm hoping these leghorns & anconas I'm getting this year will be egg laying machines. Of course I will have to wait for them to get old enough first, that's the hard part.

 

[tweetysvoice]

The Doctor made quite a point of telling me in all his 30 years of practice, I'm the first for real hen-peck victim he's treated.

I admit I had to giggle at this too.. I'm so sorry that Buffy got ya! Working in the ER, I can honestly say that I haven't seen that either, so I'm sure you were the talk of the office all day! I'm glad to hear that it didn't do any real damage.