Okay back to horse issues. I really wanted to buy a little mare last spring. Trish knows the one, as she was there. Her feet were grown out some and needed trimmed. How would I know if I were looking at a horse if it were foundered before I bought it? I was reading and it was mentioning ex-ray but obviously you won't have an ex-ray at an auction. I really wanted that mare. She was exactly what I wanted. At least that will keep me from jumping in and buying something else since I found the perfect horse and passed up getting her. At least all the horses there are coggins tested and most are registered. Here I am worried about buying bird feed and I want to take on another animal to feed! I'm nuts. But I have hay available so that helps.
If a horse was foundering you would know. They typically adopt a stance when they are in pain in their front end. I will post a pic at the end of a foundering pony so you can see what they look like. They are often reluctant to walk due to the pain in their front feet. Overgrown feet should just look long but feet of a horse in trouble will look like their are large waves in the hoof wall. If you can pick up the feet it should look fairly smooth on the sole of the hoof, if their is coffin bone rotation their may be a large bulge at the front of the hoof in front of the point of the frog. In a normal hoof their is a small bump here called the hoof callus but in a foundering horse it looks as if the coffin bone is pushing the sole outward. This is why I always buy horses from a private party where I can have a vet check and lameness check. At auction you never know what is going on with a horse and it could even be medicated with something like bute to reduce pain and inflammation the day of sale. I don't know if they do any blood testing to be sure the horses are not drugged at smaller sale barns but they do back on the east coast at the big thoroughbred sales because people would bute up lame race horses and sale them as sound animals.
Josie what did you worm your Sebbies with? Just curious what you recommend. I need to worm my Sebbies and my peafowl. The chickens are in good shape. Also at what age should I start worming my turkeys. I can't remember when I started worming the others but I sure don't want to do it too early on these expensive ones. I wormed them with oral and topical ivermection/praziquantel. I used .75 ml ivermectin cattl pour on (5mg/ml) I got a 250 ml bottle at TSC for $15. This is what chooks uses on her birds I believe and she told me about it. It is 3-4 drops for a bantam, 5 drops for hatchery fowl, 6 drops for extra large birds (big roos, brahmas) I looked up on the geese forum and they use a whole ml but I did the math and that seemed like a lot so I used 0.75 ml on the back of their necks. I also gave them oral ivermectin/praziquantel horse paste dewormer (equimax is the name brand). Per DH I mix 1 ml of dewormer with 5 ml of olive oil (it is not water soluble) and give 0.4 ml by mouth to each goose. I banded them all too. I had to remove the big white ganders npip zip tie because he had pulled on it and tightened it down so it was cutting into his leg. I will put another zip tie on his actual leg band next time instead of on the actual birds leg. I forget how they put everything in their mouths so if you do your geese keep that in mind if you need to mark them that zip ties may not be a good option!
Mentioning feed being a problem; I think that is why there is a shortage of chick starter now. I have read at least three companies had their starter recalled. Cargill produces Nutrena, Purina and several other brands and had a recall. I am thinking whomever produces orshlen's must have had a recall as well. There is always a chance that some of it doesn't get pulled. All the stuff I have read was due to some bad labeling that could potentially kill chicks. I'm not sure what a label has to do with killing chicks unless they got the wrong ingredients in the mix. AWESOME!!! Now I am going to run out there and look at my bags because I really don't understand the mysterious deaths I have had. No signs of distress, some with pasty butt much later on than I would expect and then they peep really loud and drop dead. That might explain the loss of my brahma chicks earlier this month.
I just got some Purina so I certainly hope it is safe. I had given the babies some all-stock and it made their poo stink and gave my turkeys the runs. I want to keep the turkeys and peachick on medicated feed because they are so much more susceptible to getting sick.
Speaking of peafowl I may have a miracle going on. My peahen has been sitting in her nest for 2 days now. There were no eggs in there but maybe she has finally decided to lay and sit. Wouldn't that be wonderful is she could hatch some babies for me this late? I started putting a bottle of ice in their big water pan they just stand in and started giving them cucumber pieces so they had more green in their diet. Maybe that worked. I keep checking her to make sure she is alright and she appears perfectly healthy.
She is a crazy bird, sitting in this heat! Do you have eggs for her to set?
Founder isn't just caused by food, but that is a common cause. Founder is also caused by infection or illness. Years ago, we had a mare that foaled and then got a VERY serious uterine infection afterwards. We had her cleaned out, but alas, things just happen anyway. She got such a high fever for so long and was so ill (despite penicillin injections), she ended up foundering. Her laminitis was pretty severe, and her coffin bone did rotate and start to push thru the sole of her hoof. We wound up in rubber wedges and rubber boots for nearly two years correcting her condition. Feet issues can and will cost you an arm and a leg. My farrier has a moto--- "No feet, no horse" and it's true. You either spend a fortune fixing them (which is always what we end up doing) or you put them down. Now, we've had a lot of horses over the years, and I'd say out of every 7 horses we would get, we'd end up with a foot problem-- not necessarily at the time of purchase, but like I said.... things just happen! LOL Honestly, x-rays are CHEAP compared to buying a horse with problems. We now have any horse we are looking at inspected by our farrier and the last time, we had a vet check them too. You can spend $60 on an x-ray or you can spend thousands later on for being duped. Now... what happens after you bring home healthy feet... you can't often predict.
I bet you could spray your trees with something and get them sorted out in a season or two. But I wouldn't know where to start. You would want to bring in the leaves and the fruit to be examined.
Oh that is a rough age with them being so little. I only coslept for the first 6-8 months when they were wanting to nurse thru the night. After that, I needed my space! LOL Hope they get adjusted well, and maybe getting them a really neat night light or something will help. My kids keep seeing those ads for the glow in the dark Pillow Pets and if they all didn't already have a pillow pet, we'd probably do that. They also have the light shows that project on the ceiling... with kid scenes, and stars, etc... maybe find something fun to keep them in bed and comforted.
Another dead give away on this pony above--- look at his stomach muscles all clenched up. He looks like he's barely making it. Even the roach back might be part of that stance. I usually check colic this way-- if their belly muscles are clenched like that, you know they are in serious pain. His front feet are rounded out--- poor thing. Oh, another thing, if you lift the foot, you can sometimes see where the foot is pulling away from the hoof wall, there will be a white line and if there is any separation or that white line is really thick..... bad, bad, bad.Danz- Classic laminitic posture in a pony. Very painful.
Well here is an important lesson for everyone. When there is a feed recall it helps to have all your feed labels. I am going to start taping the labels with the lot numbers on the container when I empty bags into the barrels because I can't even find all my labels but one of my bags of chick stater has been recalled due to high levels of aflatoxin which is a fungus that can grow in grain and cause serious health issues and apparently death in chicks. That explains the sudden tragic losses I have had. Fantastic.
