Consolidated Kansas

[cherwill]

We got lucky tonight & our granddaughter has decided she wants to spend the night & mom let her, we were kind of surprised. We have had a pretty good day & it's nice to spend some time with her for once. She was going to help me gather eggs this evening, but she has decided she is afraid of the chickens, we will have to work on that.

It's nice that you got some more time with her.

AARGHHHHH!!

That puppy has done it now!!!! She is on pen probation until further notice!!!! I was moving our new fruit trees to the backyard tonight and when I came around the corner the GP puppy had one of my bronze turkeys and was pulling his feathers out!! So I jumped off the mower and raced over yelling no at her and she ran away. The poor turkey was just scared half to death and his tail and half his side is missing all the feathers and his poor wing is hanging down but I think just got pulled hard and doesn't appear to be broken.

So I start to head back to the coop to put him inside the pen and let everyone cool down and catch the puppy. She has ANOTHER turkey and is tearing its feathers out. I could have killed her!!! So she is in the pen and isn't going to be allowed out unless I can strictly supervise her and will put her on a drag to keep her from mauling my poor birds. GEEZ!! Somedays I wish I had gotten another adult dog.....Molly would never dream of chewing on my turkeys!! Such a naughty, naughty puppy...

Yikes! I hope you can get her squared away on the birds. Our Weim got one of the first chickens we had. Both our dogs are hunting breeds and the Viszla gets really birdy, so I haven't even tried to have them around the chickens without a fence in between them. Of course, since we live in town, our birds are always behind a fence and don't get the opportunity to really free range, so it's much easier to keep them apart from the dogs. DH's dogs when he was growing up just had to be taught to leave all the birds alone, like yours. Doesn't sound fun!

Congratulations to Hawkeye95! In case you haven't seen the announcement yet, she won a Spirit Award on BYC last month! Hope to see her back online soon. I enjoy reading her entries.

Congratulations Hawkeye! I never really look the BYC so I didn't know anything about it. I come here, and sometimes to the chicken math thread. If I have a specific issue, I may do a search but it's usually much faster just to come here and ask a question. At least one person will have an answer or suggestion.

We had a monster fish fry last night. DH, my dad and a friend/co-worker of DH's went fishing yesterday and caught a bunch of crappe. We ate lots last night, then divided the rest up (Dad didn't want any, so DH and his friend were each left with over 20 fillets even after we ate). There's one bass there on the end; the only one big enough to keep. Gypsy's down there in the second picture hoping to hoover up anything dropped.

 

[cherwill]

Oops, I forgot to say: Pikeman, your coop is looking great! You've put a lot of work into it and it's going to be a really good coop for your birds.

 

[chicken danz]

So glad you are back and hope your trip was great. I always feel like that after a vacation. Work so hard to get ready, all the activity and stuff during vacation, then come home and have to do laundry and play catch up. Especially when you still have kids at home!

 

[tntblake]

Congrats Loralee! You deserve it!

Cherwill- That is a lot of fish!!! I wish I could catch em like that! I'm lucky if I get one!

Trish- It was great to meet you yesterday! I hope we can get together again sometime! I hope you have enjoyed your time with your granddaughter!

 

[JosieChick]

Hawkeye-Welcome back and congrats on your award!!

Cherwill- That is a LOT of fish!!

Danz- YOU are right. I know she is just being a brat. She has been giving the turkeys the hairy eyeball for the last week and she keeps going "bowling" for turkeys too and getting scolded. Well last night I guess she just couldn't resist. I don't think she was trying to kill it because she could have easily done that but she was just pulling its feathers out. It didn't have a scratch on it, just no tail left, poor bugger. This is a really stupid age for a GP apparently. She is as dumb as a box of rocks, I feel like I need to get a cast iron pan over her head to get her attention. I even put the shock collar on her last night while I finished chores and it didn't seem to phase her and usually she jumps on a very low level. I had been leaving her out at night but put her up the last few nights because she was destroying my planters on the porch, dragging all the plants and soil out all over the porch and yard.

Trish- I think it must be the squeaky sound that attracts them. Kittens, turkeys they all make a squeaky sound that just drives puppies crazy I guess. I was pretty unhappy with her because she has been so good but I feel like she is in her terrible twos now. I bet you have one dominate male tom that is chasing off or killing the other tom cats. They will do that, especially when kittens are present. Your dead kittens could be from a tom too. Many times male cats will kill young male kittens to reduce their future adversaries. Intact male cats can be very aggressive.

Alright folks, I am off to get some stuff done. It is so stinkin hot out...and DH wanted fruit trees so now I have six darn trees to plant today.

 

[Hawkeye95]

So glad you are back and hope your trip was great. I always feel like that after a vacation. Work so hard to get ready, all the activity and stuff during vacation, then come home and have to do laundry and play catch up. Especially when you still have kids at home!

YES!! I have a ton of laundry to do, and it didn't help that I didn't fully get the house cleaned up before we left. So there is a ton of work here. Yesterday I slept off and on and did sweep up the floors. But that was about it. I still haven't started any loads and i promised myself I'd get a bunch of laundry done today. Ah well.

Congratulations Hawkeye! I never really look the BYC so I didn't know anything about it. I come here, and sometimes to the chicken math thread. If I have a specific issue, I may do a search but it's usually much faster just to come here and ask a question. At least one person will have an answer or suggestion.

We had a monster fish fry last night. DH, my dad and a friend/co-worker of DH's went fishing yesterday and caught a bunch of crappe. We ate lots last night, then divided the rest up (Dad didn't want any, so DH and his friend were each left with over 20 fillets even after we ate). There's one bass there on the end; the only one big enough to keep. Gypsy's down there in the second picture hoping to hoover up anything dropped.

WOW, that fish fry looks pretty amazing! Lots of fish there! I spend a lot of time on the silkie thread and then jump on the coop building every now and then. I usually am the first to answer all the "dumb/easy" questions people ask over and over. (they aren't really dumb-- just rookie coop Q's) Often I will just look and those questions get overlooked or no one else ever wants to answer them. They can sit there all day long and for some reason no one else ever answers. BUT you know what the funny thing is?? The second I go and answer a coop question (that has been sitting there for HOURS) then like 10 other people will chime in after me to basically say "yep" that's the way.

Congrats Loralee! You deserve it!

Cherwill- That is a lot of fish!!! I wish I could catch em like that! I'm lucky if I get one!

Trish- It was great to meet you yesterday! I hope we can get together again sometime! I hope you have enjoyed your time with your granddaughter!

Thanks!! So neat that you got to meet up with Trish!


Tweety, I read back and am really sorry about your cat. My friend just went thru this with her cat. Her cat started peeing outside of the litter box. She did it for a few days and my friend took her to the vet to figure out what the deal was. Turned out she had a kidney or bladder infection. She was on meds and THEN, everything suddenly went down hill and she had to put her cat down. I'm not sure what all was going on, but the cat was old and getting more sick, etc. She was definitely very upset about it.
I had to put down a dog of mine a few years back and it was not an easy decision. However, we'd just spent about $2000 in vet bills on her that year, she was getting worse. She had Addisons Diesease and she went in every 28 days for a hormone shot to control the disease (percorten). Unfortunately, she would go into seizures and have "episodes" and she'd have to go to the vet and be on IV drugs (with her florinef, dexamethosone, and percorten) The DOCP shot cost us $38 every month, and then I gave her the Florinef once a day, that was cheaper, but another $20 a month, and then when she'd crash, she'd be on the dex IV's for several days until her levels came back up. That would cost us around $300+ a hospital stay. It was getting to the point that it was becoming uncontrollable and she had crashed several times in the last couple of months of her life. I was dosing her with meds 3 times a day and giving her a lot of other drugs for other issues that had cropped up. I was dealing with congestive heart failure. kidney failure, on and on. But I was determined to do my best and eventually the last few days I took her off all of her meds except for her hormone drugs which would have killed her in hours if she didn't have those. But I decided no more heart and kidney meds, etc... She declined so much that I finally took her in to be checked over and the vet recommended we put her down then. It was terrible. She was a small little orange Pomeranian and the best dog we'd ever had. Anyway, it's tough, but I think most of us understand the angst you are going thru. And, I'm so sorry.

Danz, that was one crazy vet experience you had! I hope your cheek is feeling better now? Hopefully this (thursday??) goes better!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye-Welcome back and congrats on your award!!

Cherwill- That is a LOT of fish!!

Danz- YOU are right. I know she is just being a brat. She has been giving the turkeys the hairy eyeball for the last week and she keeps going "bowling" for turkeys too and getting scolded. Well last night I guess she just couldn't resist. I don't think she was trying to kill it because she could have easily done that but she was just pulling its feathers out. It didn't have a scratch on it, just no tail left, poor bugger. This is a really stupid age for a GP apparently. She is as dumb as a box of rocks, I feel like I need to get a cast iron pan over her head to get her attention. I even put the shock collar on her last night while I finished chores and it didn't seem to phase her and usually she jumps on a very low level. I had been leaving her out at night but put her up the last few nights because she was destroying my planters on the porch, dragging all the plants and soil out all over the porch and yard.

Trish- I think it must be the squeaky sound that attracts them. Kittens, turkeys they all make a squeaky sound that just drives puppies crazy I guess. I was pretty unhappy with her because she has been so good but I feel like she is in her terrible twos now. I bet you have one dominate male tom that is chasing off or killing the other tom cats. They will do that, especially when kittens are present. Your dead kittens could be from a tom too. Many times male cats will kill young male kittens to reduce their future adversaries. Intact male cats can be very aggressive.

Alright folks, I am off to get some stuff done. It is so stinkin hot out...and DH wanted fruit trees so now I have six darn trees to plant today.

Thanks! What kind of fruit trees are you planting? I'm wanting to put more in too. I just have apple trees is all. I'm wanting to put in pear and peach and maybe some cherry. You're right about the squeaky sound-- turkeys don't have a normal chirp-- definitely a wheezy squeak!

 

[sharol]

My vet told me that 9 out of 10 indoor cats over the age of 10 die of kidney failure. Apparently that is the weak spot for cats.

It is a tough decision.

Tweety, I read back and am really sorry about your cat. My friend just went thru this with her cat. Her cat started peeing outside of the litter box. She did it for a few days and my friend took her to the vet to figure out what the deal was. Turned out she had a kidney or bladder infection. She was on meds and THEN, everything suddenly went down hill and she had to put her cat down. I'm not sure what all was going on, but the cat was old and getting more sick, etc. She was definitely very upset about it.

 

[JosieChick]

Two kinds of cherry, two kinds of apple and two peach. I cut him off there. That is a lot of planting and watering!! I think Turkeys sound like little mini space ships blipping around in the tall grass and they are so laid back and silly that they let the puppy walk right up to them! I bet she would bother the geese to if the gander hadn't nipped her in the butt good the other day! I have too many projects on my plate!

Tweety- I forgot I was going to write about your kitty. I am so sorry and it is so hard to watch them go downhill. I worked as a veterinary assistant for several years and people always had a hard time deciding when it was time. It is never easy but I always tell people that they know their pet best and she will tell you when it is time and you will know. They reach a point where they don't want to get up for the day anymore and you will know when that is. Thoughts are with you, it is always terribly hard to lose a dear friend.

 

[sharol]

I had a cat (Calvin) with diabetes that I gave shots to for 2 years. The meds were $100 a bottle, and by the time he died, he was using a bottle a month. He was also producing huge quantities of urine, so I had to scoop the litter pan several times a day, and he had to be confined to a large cage (a double cat show cage) when we were gone in order to save the floors. It was my experience with him that allowed me to recognize the symptoms of diabetes (the cat would sleep with his head in the water dish) when my DH developed similar symptoms while on chemo. I think Calvin actually saved my DH's life because we recognized that he needed immediate help (his blood sugar was well over 600 when he was tested). The things we do for our pets. I suppose we wouldn't be here working out problems with our feathered children if we weren't that type of people, though.

Sharol

I had to put down a dog of mine a few years back and it was not an easy decision. However, we'd just spent about $2000 in vet bills on her that year, she was getting worse. She had Addisons Diesease and she went in every 28 days for a hormone shot to control the disease (percorten). Unfortunately, she would go into seizures and have "episodes" and she'd have to go to the vet and be on IV drugs (with her florinef, dexamethosone, and percorten) The DOCP shot cost us $38 every month, and then I gave her the Florinef once a day, that was cheaper, but another $20 a month, and then when she'd crash, she'd be on the dex IV's for several days until her levels came back up. That would cost us around $300+ a hospital stay. It was getting to the point that it was becoming uncontrollable and she had crashed several times in the last couple of months of her life. I was dosing her with meds 3 times a day and giving her a lot of other drugs for other issues that had cropped up. I was dealing with congestive heart failure. kidney failure, on and on. But I was determined to do my best and eventually the last few days I took her off all of her meds except for her hormone drugs which would have killed her in hours if she didn't have those. But I decided no more heart and kidney meds, etc... She declined so much that I finally took her in to be checked over and the vet recommended we put her down then. It was terrible. She was a small little orange Pomeranian and the best dog we'd ever had. Anyway, it's tough, but I think most of us understand the angst you are going thru. And, I'm so sorry.