Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

So true. Laminitis is an inflammatory response in the hoof and can occur for a number of reasons. The most common is often over feeding but can be a number of things. White line separation is a good indication too of problems. Here is a decent article on laminitis http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/laminitis-in-horses.html. It has some good explanations and drawings of hooves. That poor pony in the pic just looks miserable. I found a tragic picture of a cart horse somewhere that was foundering and in full harness and hitched. I had tears in my eyes for that poor animal to be forced to pull when it was clearly in so much pain. The hoof is a vital part of circulation and support for the entire body of the horse. Most people treat the hoof as a separate entity on a horse but I feel like a horse's foot is like the canary in the coal mine, when the foot gets bad the whole body is being damaged in my opinion. No hoof, no horse!

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.

 

[Hawkeye95]

So true. Laminitis is an inflammatory response in the hoof and can occur for a number of reasons. The most common is often over feeding but can be a number of things. White line separation is a good indication too of problems. Here is a decent article on laminitis http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/laminitis-in-horses.html. It has some good explanations and drawings of hooves. That poor pony in the pic just looks miserable. I found a tragic picture of a cart horse somewhere that was foundering and in full harness and hitched. I had tears in my eyes for that poor animal to be forced to pull when it was clearly in so much pain. The hoof is a vital part of circulation and support for the entire body of the horse. Most people treat the hoof as a separate entity on a horse but I feel like a horse's foot is like the canary in the coal mine, when the foot gets bad the whole body is being damaged in my opinion. No hoof, no horse!

Indeed, that is exactly the point my farrier is always making!

 

[Trish44]

Josie, what brand of feed was that you mentioned that was part of that recall for anafloxin? Now I've got to go out & look at the bag I just bought yesterday of chick starter & make sure it's not part of any recall. Oh bother, don't we all have enough to deal with right now with this darned heat without having to worry that our feed is poisoned?

Danz, that horse you were talking about was so cute, just a doll, I wish you had gotten her since you know where she came from & all.

I would really like to have some goats to clear off some of the 5 acres we have that we don't mow or do anything with, but my DH isn't in favor of it. He says the fence will cost too much & then we'll have something else for someone to care for when we have to go out of town. I just keep seeing these cute little goats though on the swaps & on CL & wish I could get some. We were talking at one time of just fencing a section at a time & then moving the goat when it had one area cleaned up. I still think that could work, but he's not convinced enough, plus I don't want to rock the boat right now when he's started building my coop. Oh well, maybe next year when we don't have a major building project going.

It's just so hot out there today & I think it's worse because there just isn't much air moving. I hate days like that when it's so darned hot & then it feels suffocating on top of that. The birds all seemed to be glad I came out earlier with the hose, even the turkeys enjoyed the spray down. I've got to go out there again & cool them all down. I'm waiting on my egg customer to come & clean out my eggs again. My DH actually told me it might be a good idea for me to get a refrigerator for the garage just for eggs. I never thought I would hear him say that because I figured he would complain about me running another appliance, but he doesn't like the one in the house just full of eggs & no room for anything else. After our vacation I may start looking for a cheap used one for out there if I can figure out a corner to put it in. I'm planning to do a major garage cleaning when it cools off & re-arrange everything. There is still one big tool cart that my son hasn't taken home with him yet. If he doesn't get it I may just use it for storage. It's one of those from the aircraft industry back in WWII that belonged to my late husband & his dad before him & it weighs a ton.

I can't get motivated to do much today, I've just been tired all day. This heat just saps your energy, it does mine anyway, every time I go out I just drag myself back in. Ugh, are we ever going to get a break from this? I just saw on the forecast for next Weds. high of 106 with a heat index of 115.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Josie, what brand of feed was that you mentioned that was part of that recall for anafloxin? Now I've got to go out & look at the bag I just bought yesterday of chick starter & make sure it's not part of any recall. Oh bother, don't we all have enough to deal with right now with this darned heat without having to worry that our feed is poisoned?

Danz, that horse you were talking about was so cute, just a doll, I wish you had gotten her since you know where she came from & all.

I would really like to have some goats to clear off some of the 5 acres we have that we don't mow or do anything with, but my DH isn't in favor of it. He says the fence will cost too much & then we'll have something else for someone to care for when we have to go out of town. I just keep seeing these cute little goats though on the swaps & on CL & wish I could get some. We were talking at one time of just fencing a section at a time & then moving the goat when it had one area cleaned up. I still think that could work, but he's not convinced enough, plus I don't want to rock the boat right now when he's started building my coop. Oh well, maybe next year when we don't have a major building project going.

It's just so hot out there today & I think it's worse because there just isn't much air moving. I hate days like that when it's so darned hot & then it feels suffocating on top of that. The birds all seemed to be glad I came out earlier with the hose, even the turkeys enjoyed the spray down. I've got to go out there again & cool them all down. I'm waiting on my egg customer to come & clean out my eggs again. My DH actually told me it might be a good idea for me to get a refrigerator for the garage just for eggs. I never thought I would hear him say that because I figured he would complain about me running another appliance, but he doesn't like the one in the house just full of eggs & no room for anything else. After our vacation I may start looking for a cheap used one for out there if I can figure out a corner to put it in. I'm planning to do a major garage cleaning when it cools off & re-arrange everything. There is still one big tool cart that my son hasn't taken home with him yet. If he doesn't get it I may just use it for storage. It's one of those from the aircraft industry back in WWII that belonged to my late husband & his dad before him & it weighs a ton.

I can't get motivated to do much today, I've just been tired all day. This heat just saps your energy, it does mine anyway, every time I go out I just drag myself back in. Ugh, are we ever going to get a break from this? I just saw on the forecast for next Weds. high of 106 with a heat index of 115.

Trish, what if you found a mini fridge and took out all the shelves? I bet you could stack a lot of egg cartons in it. And it would be a LOT cheaper than an older fridge. I wouldn't buy an older fridge, they use MORE energy than newer ones and will cost you more. You could even buy a half sized (apartment sz) fridge and it would be cheaper than a full size one. Just an idea! We have a mini fridge downstairs that we store all of our 'beverages' in. But it keeps it all out of the way, and it has a lot more room than you'd think. If you do end up looking at them, take a couple of egg cartons with you when you look to see how many it would stack and if it would meet your demand.

 

[JosieChick]

Trish-My feed was nutrena. You might just google your name brand of feed for recalls and it should come up with the FDA. So frustrating.

Its not too bad here today, its hot but there is a decent breeze so I have gotten a fair amount done. Just cleaned out the fridge and took a huge bowl of goodies out to the ladies, they loved that! Even the ducks were pretty excited for strawberry tops and left over nectarine pits. They are too funny!

 

[michelleml]

here is the link i posted earlier http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm313507.htm

 

[michelleml]

hawkeye the kids want the same people i also have a 10 yr old that wants the pillow i think i saw them in the ltd commodities catolog i may try them. My DD who is three took a nap in her room today so i think its just going to take some time.

What do you all use for feed? Do you let your flock out to free range most of the day and find food on their own?

Michelle

 

[Trish44]

michelleml, have you ever ordered from the ltd commodities catalog before? Yeah the stuff is cheap, so you think OK I can order all of this stuff & then they hit you HARD with the shipping. Sometimes they send multiple shipments so they can get more money out of you, just watch them if you order.

Hawkeye, I do already have one tiny little tabletop fridge up in our office, but it only holds about 6 dozen eggs. Sometimes I have 10 or 11 dozen before I get someone to come get some. I probably will have more than that this fall when my young chicks start laying & it's cooler. Right now not all of my hens are laying in this heat. The lady that is my best customer came again today & took all 8 dozen I had, so that should make my DH happy again. She said she is surprised my hens are still laying at all in this heat & I said yeah me too.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

I have a friend who buys feed from the coop by the ton and it is her high protein mix - she sells to me for 17 cents a lb! I can ask her if she's interested in selling to other locals - she has quite a large poultry thing going and sells a lot of eggs and broilers. Anyways - Winfield/Oxford area, let me know.

 

[chicken danz]

Another long day. I thought my chickens had cut back on laying but DH found at least 10 dozen they had laid out in the barn here and there. I hate wasting all those eggs. I might take some of the red star eggs and try hatching them. I have a big ole brahma roo who thinks they are his ladies and brahmas are great layers as well. I think it would be a decent laying mix for the future. At least I wouldn't just be trashing all those eggs.
I went to town and delivered 5 cockerels and two drake pekin ducks to my Chinese client. He now has decided he wants to buy a couple hens from me. He looked at my garden yesterday when he was here. Today he said your garden has no bugs. I have to kill bugs all the time. I want to buy 2 hens to eat bugs. I told him I could sell him the hens and he would have some of his own eggs. Of course he has no fence or a coop. I have noticed he does garden the most spectacular way. He has vegetables planted in every little nook and corner without it looking out of place or unsightly. It is all weed free and very tidy. An amazing use of space. I really could learn a lot from him. He uses no chemicals at all and his vegetables are beautiful. Today he gave me some chinese cucumbers which are weird looking things. He said they have a lot better flavor than American cucumbers. He told me if I liked them he would save some seed for me for next year. He has built trellises using natural branches and stuff that are more or less woven and look beautiful. It amazes me how some other cultures make so much better use out of all that they have than we do.
I also went out and gave my peafowl some more left over salad greens. The strategy I am trying has really worked. I was told to give them ice in their water and any kind of veggies and greens. So I've been dropping a 2 liter bottle of ice in their water and giving them cucumbers and peppers since that is all I have right now. Sure enough the hen got up from her nest and she has three eggs in there!!! I am so thrilled. It is late for a peafowl to lay but by golly she is.
Yesterday I gave the geese some grass I pulled and a bunch of radishes that had gotten woody. They were thrilled with them. I may never end up with a decent garden for myself but if I can feed the refuse to the birds I am happy. I wish I lived closer to some bigger restaurants. I would take all of their leftover veggie greens and cuttings.
Josie I watched videos and read from that link. There were a couple of horses in there that made me tear up. Now the problem is if I see a horse that needs help I am going to want to rescue it!! I am going to have to really make myself behave. I will have to keep reminding myself I can't save the world.
I went to the poultry barn today at the fair to see the entries. I was glad to see several of my birds were there that I sold to various people. I even gave a friends daughter a couple of young guineas this spring and they got 1st prize. One of my buff cochin chicks I sold her got a purple. A pair of pheonix I sold another friend got a purple and a red. All three of the bantam polish another guy got from me had one prize or another. Personally though I didn't see the kind of birds I expected. Most of them looked pretty raggy. It is an open outdoor facility. There were some fans aimed more at the people that were sitting there and some misters but not much to protect the birds. Some of them didn't look well at all.
I noticed all of the entries were the children of whom I sold the birds. So my stupid question of the day is this. If these are 4H birds, and only children enter, how on earth can I enter birds next year when I have no children?? I am so convinced I could rock the competition off their heals. My birds are much nicer than most that were there. I don't want to travel all over to enter birds but I am trying to get some respectable stock to show. Where can I show them?
I'd better go check on DH. He is out trying to finish the gate post for the electric fence.