Consolidated Kansas

[maidenwolfx80]

chicken Danz- thanks. Also with both the vit E and the poly vits do I just give as much as I can get in them or the whole pill/dropper? The tylenol I can get, and yes I have vet wrap. Should I let her do her normal routine or keep her confined awhile?

 

[JosieChick]

Hi all,

Sorry I am so far behind that I don't know how I could possibly catch up with all of you! Very chatty bunch today! Lucie is doing well. She was sling walked several times today and was able to urinate on her own. She is also eating well and able to take oral antibiotics and pain medication so if all goes well overnight she will be able to come home tomorrow! I am so excited but also kind of nervous to have a bouncing Lucie home with two plated broken legs. Hopefully she won't get to stir crazy. It is amazing to me that she is already up on her feet and able to bear weight. I think I would still be in bed!

Stared my new job today and it about killed me. I was so tired I could have laid down on the floor and gone to sleep! It is amazing how quickly your body exhausts when it is busy putting a baby together. But I made it through and got home and took care of everyone. Hope all is well with everyone!

 

[mommahen10]

Sapphire, that's an amazing story. I'm so glad she's okay.

I don't have a craft room but I do lots of crafts and I Cricut.

Danz, I agree about the upholstery, but for some reason I got totally DUH when it came time to do a couch. It looked so big and I couldn't easily tell how it was put together. Not to mention it was so dry rotted it would crumble and it was just a mess. The pieces I've done haven't been hard as in complicated, but they were hard as in my knuckles and fingers would get all beat up. I used an electric staple gun a lot. I also did the headliner in a van once, that was harder to me because it was hard positions. I didn't know Tylenol would help with swelling, I thought it was ibuprofen. I am so not up on the chick meds, I see you say no ibuprofen. To be sure we don't OD our chicks though, I wanted to ask for clarification. Children's Tylenol doesn't come with a dropper, while Infant's Tylenol does. Infant's Tylenol is actually more concentrated than Children's Tylenol. I know that sounds backwards, but it's not. I had an ER nurse apologizing to me when I pointed it out becuase I would have OD'd my child had I not asked. So, I'm assuming you mean Infant's. Right? I'm just have to agree with you again about the crafting taking second seat to the chickens, I've definitely had less time for crafts and I really have neglected my housework since becoming so consumed with the chickens. I totally love them. I can just stand there watching them, they are so entertaining but I'm certain I will never figure them out. Do you have pics of your brooder house? I'm sorry your plans didn't work out, so what now?

maidenwolf, do you have any kind of Tylenol that you could break down the dosage to a smaller amount? Wait for the authorities to come give you a solid dosing amount of everything but incase you are really anxious I will say don't give them as much as they will take. Vitamins can also be toxic if you get too much. I wish that I could answer your questions, but I don't have experience with chicks nearly so much as human babies. I've never given my chicks more than sugar water. I'm liking the mashed sweet potato idea though. I've been giving all of our chickens sweet potato scraps and they seem to love it. I've been canning them and OMGosh my kids love sweet potato fries. I stood there for 3 1/2 hours making fries and they just kept eating and eating.

Karen, I have 2 Cricuts too. I have the Expression, and the Cake Mini. I love them, and it's addicting. I don't use cartridges though, I use SCAL and design my own cuts. I'm very addicted to designing, moreso than creating. I'm hoping that you update on how that works for you. If you can just stand in the yard and yell "BANG!" I will never need to learn to use a gun. I like that idea.

checoukan, did you get the hay done? My boys love doing hay believe it or not. They went to help a neighbor and I asked how it went and my 13 yo said he had to use a hay hook so they didn't mess up the bales. I said, OMGosh, you could have stabbed yourself in the leg. He put his head down and turned white, then he showed me his leg. He was more afraid of me freaking out than he was really hurt. It wasn't bad, and it healed up fine, but it still scared me. He wasn't going to tell me, little stinker.

Josie, I'll bet you are exhausted. Even if you weren't doing so much you would be tired. You did very well to get through your day. I'm glad to hear that Lucie is doing so well. It sounds like a long road, but it seems quite doable. You can do this.

 

[HEChicken]

Josie, so glad to hear the update on Lucie.

Yup, it is exhausting to grow a baby - make sure to schedule time to rest.

 

[Hawkeye95]

wow that would freak me out. Glad to hear and bout Lucie surgery going so well.

Yesterday we had a scare DH had is chemo session shortly after starting he had severe abnominal pain. They ordered an Xray but nothing showed up so they ordered an emergency cat scan but thank God everything was okay he had a reaction to chemo he doc said he thinks its time to stop the chemo. They wanted to make sure he hadn't perforated his bowel talk about scared i was just thinking to myself how am going to take care of him and our kids.

Oh my gosh!! I will be sure to pray for him! That sounds so scary! What is the plan now? I hope he is feeling better now.

Ok I gave the vit E capsule to her she drank it as I squeezed it out, such a good girl.
How often do I give it and should I give the poly-vi-sol also,,
Now on to the next problem, I have a turkey with an injured leg. It is swollen at the base of the leg at the foot. All toes are swollen as well. Were is my turkey doc..

Danz already answered, but are you sure you checked for bumble? It would be a pretty small black spot on the pad of the foot. If it's a stress injury from jumping down from somewhere high, just keep an eye on it. I was giving my bird penicillin injections for bumblefoot-- it's a staph infection and it can really get out of hand FAST. My turkey used to fly up about 12 feet onto the pergola and perch there for a while and then fly down. They are NOT graceful, so I can imagine them getting injured quite easily.

No problem sharol, just thought I would throw it out to you. They are not advertised, and I probably won't either.

Not crazy about lots of people tromping around here. Just got home, sister-in-laws house was broken into. They are not home, Ransacked the bedroom, but do not see anything missing, but I have not gone through her house taking note of what all is around either. Hopefully they can get home this week. What a mess!!!!

OMGosh!! That is terrible and scary! I had my car broken into once-- I had just bought a new camera-- the SLR with all the lenses and filters, etc, and I had over $1200 in it and they took it. It was hidden under the front seat. They bashed in my windows and stole CD's, a radar detector (that had just broke the week before--hehe!!!) and a few odds and ends. I was parked in a bad part of town, and from then on, I don't do that anymore. I hope they didn't have anything very valuable or sentimental stolen. That is the worst part-- knowing that someone else violated your space and could do it again.

Well this afternoon wasn't the best for me. I found Lily with the dead guinea, she had eaten half of it already. Then I was unloading my truck load of cattails & when I went in to put some in the Ameraucana pen the darned rooster freaked out & flew out the door as I was coming in with a pitchfork full of cattails. He is the devil when it comes to other roosters, he just wants to fight them all & kill them, so he can't be let out of the pen at all, ever. He took off up the hill & I figured well he'll be back & sure enough he came strutting back down & started a fight with first one rooster & then the other. Even the Black Copper Marans had his neck feathers all standing straight out in preparation to fight this guy & he is the most docile of them all. I followed them around behind the pen & as he was getting ready to jump on the Marans rooster I grabbed him while he was focused on fighting. He is a great breeder rooster & produced a lot of nice babies last year, but he isn't a nice boy at all. He looks really scraggly right now too because he's been moltiing. I kind of bopped him upside the head as I put him back in the pen for acting so bad. You have to let these guys know who is boss.

I got started on putting the plastic on the hoop coop for the peacocks, but ran out of plastic & staples, so I have to go get some tomorrow. I need about 3 more small tarps too to put on the pens, but I will wait until I buy groceries & sneak them in with those. I did find out where I can get some of those plastic barrels with the screw lids today, so I think I might get 3 of those Monday when I go to Wichita. Then I will be ready to buy some bulk feed. I just need to find out if I can get a smaller amount somewhere first. I will have to check around.

A friend of ours said that to keep his dogs from getting aggressive or chasing his own animals, he punishes for catching wild game-- like rabbits. He also hunts with his dogs. So his dogs are trained to go run after the game only after it's been shot and he gives the command. They retrieve it and bring it back with a light mouth and drop it at his feet. He said they are never allowed to eat anything he shoots, so they would never be tempted or know that it would ever be okay to eat it. You know-- back when you said that your dogs were catching wild rabbits, I was thinking then, that if any of your rabbits got out or your birds were running, they might chase it down for the "hunt" of it. But what do I know, so I certainly didn't say anything. Our friend has extremely well trained working dogs and he makes them lie down when he is getting ready to show off their skills to us, but he never allows them to "hunt"--- just sit there and retrieve when necessary. It's fun going over there.

Then to my horror I discovered my gate to the big pen is about 4 inches too narrow to angle the panel across to get it inside. I really don't want to remove fencing to get a panel in there. I was going to do the same thing in the turkey pen but use another 6 X 10 panel to divide the pen further so I could house the blue slate turkeys in the same big pen as the midgets. It's not going to happen! I had this so clear in my mind and DH even thought it would work well. Best laid plans!!!
I'm still trying to get laundry done. I have my bedding in various stages of washing and drying right now. I normally like to do the sheets on Monday but DH was still on night shift.
Seems like another day just wizzed by.

OH my-- that sounds so frustrating to have it not fit/work out! I did clothes washing all day yesterday. I need to do beds today. Blah.

Oh boy its going to be a late night. Back to the hay field. Got to get the alfalfa up last cut of the year.

He be ahead of me enough to get bales picked up now!

How many cuts did you get on the alfalfa?? I swear, they only got one cutting up here. Maybe they did squeeze out a second, but it's looked pretty bad here.

Good luck with all the showing Hawkeye and Cheoukan! It sounds just like getting ready for a dog show! I miss that sometimes. Reading about your preparations, down to the whitening shampoo brought back fond memories
Right now my 14 yr old is trying my nerves by spreading herself so thin in all her activities, but she will figure out how to solve some things out on her own with help and guidance, I have no doubt. It just keeps her old mom worried

Ahh.... My brain is mush. Must hit the hay. Will share a pic of our newest egg though Its's the one on the bottom right. I think our wheaten ameracauna laid it

Hope everyone finishes the week strong!

Thank you! The shows are so exciting and already I can see they are addicting! I can't wait for the next one, and this one hasn't even arrived! LOL I got my packed in yesterday for the Kansas Fall Classic in November! Sounds like your DD has a lot going on. It has to be pretty stressful for her too. IS there any way she can cut back on some of it? I could not handle everything in school, I had to cut out sports. That was right about the same time we discovered my heart condition, anyway. But it gave me more time for barrel racing and horse events. Congrats on the eggs!

Danz, yeah I just think they're attracted to the darned guineas because of all the noise they make. You know how crazy those darned birds are & they get out & first thing they do is start yelling at the top of their lungs. As long as I was outside the dogs seemed to be ignoring them fine, but it was after I came & was cooking lunch that they got that one. HEChicken, yeah it's possible that Jasmine got the bird & then Lily took it away & ate it, but Lily is the one that got red-handed eating the bird, so she got walloped with it. I have heard people say before that they beat their dogs with the thing they killed & it is somewhat of a deterrent in a way if you're getting beaten up with a dead bird. She is going to get taught a lesson tomorrow though for eating the bird, even if she didn't catch it first she did in fact eat it, so that deserves punishment too. I'm going to have to I think start taking away all of these wild rabbits they catch because now they seem to think whatever they catch they can eat. I was feeling like the shock collar had really worked & now feel like I'm back to square one. I can't let the guineas out to range unless the dog has the shock collar on it seems. I have two of them, but one needs to have the screw drilled out because I could never get that one out to put the batteries in & the company wouldn't stand behind their product when it was defective, so I ended up buying another one. It would be nice if I could just get a second collar for this receiver.

medawinks, you have some pretty eggs! I can't wait to see what color of eggs I get from my Wheaten & Blue Wheaten Ameraucana hens & my Cream Legbars too. The lavender Ameraucana hens lay a pretty sky blue egg & a more teal colored one & my EE hen lays either a light greenish egg or sometimes it's almost blue.

I think you did a good thing with hitting her with the dead bird. I don't know what you'll have to do, but it does sound like it's going to take some time to work out. I'm soooo sorry! I hope you can figure out a good system. Maybe go hide and let the guineas out with her collar on? Cesar Milan (Dog Whisperer) would know what to do! LOL

Hi all,

Sorry I am so far behind that I don't know how I could possibly catch up with all of you! Very chatty bunch today! Lucie is doing well. She was sling walked several times today and was able to urinate on her own. She is also eating well and able to take oral antibiotics and pain medication so if all goes well overnight she will be able to come home tomorrow! I am so excited but also kind of nervous to have a bouncing Lucie home with two plated broken legs. Hopefully she won't get to stir crazy. It is amazing to me that she is already up on her feet and able to bear weight. I think I would still be in bed!

Stared my new job today and it about killed me. I was so tired I could have laid down on the floor and gone to sleep! It is amazing how quickly your body exhausts when it is busy putting a baby together. But I made it through and got home and took care of everyone. Hope all is well with everyone!

The sheer exhaustion doesn't last forever. But in the beginning, it can sure put you on your butt. I remember working and falling asleep at my desk in the middle of working a program and not even realizing it until I heard laughter. I would find myself face planted on the keyboard. But it does get better! I hope you do enjoy your new job! It is all day every day? Or is it certain days of the week? My groomers that I take my dogs to-- they don't work on Mondays, and they work from 8am-2pm and that's it. There are 3 of them in the little shop. It's all by appt, so everyone drops off their dogs in the am and then as they get dogs done, they call you to let you know yours is done. By 2pm, they usually are able to shut it down when the last dog leaves. Those girls have a good time in there, they are always laughing.


Sapphire Blue--- for some reason, it didn't get your post, but wanted to say-- WOW that was a crazy story about your bird getting caught up in the wire and being cold and actually living through that. I'm so glad you did go out and check on them. Poor girl, but I'm glad she's okay. I bet she was so scared.

I probably forgot others... sorry!

I have a list of things to do today, but no idea if it will all get done. I need to muck the barn, I pitch it all in the breeze way and then take the tractor with the front loader (scoop) and just "bulldoze" it out of the barn. It goes pretty fast that way. I wish I had a mini tractor or bobcat to muck out the stalls themselves! Ugh. And I really, really need to get a roof on my brother's coop. I've just put it to the back of my mind and sort of pretend it's not there anymore!

What a baaaad sister I am!!

 

[HEChicken]

Danz already answered, but are you sure you checked for bumble? It would be a pretty small black spot on the pad of the foot. If it's a stress injury from jumping down from somewhere high, just keep an eye on it. I was giving my bird penicillin injections for bumblefoot-- it's a staph infection and it can really get out of hand FAST. My turkey used to fly up about 12 feet onto the pergola and perch there for a while and then fly down. They are NOT graceful, so I can imagine them getting injured quite easily.

Bumble is really a good suggestion - I have a bunch of birds with bumble in one or both feet. I feel really bad because I know it is from the roosts being too high to begin with. Live and learn right? As Hawkeye said, if you look at the bottom of the foot and it looks like they have a flat black disk sort of stuck to the bottom of the foot, that is a bumble. There are some good videos on YouTube of people performing bumblefoot surgery. I must say, I've only done one and didn't enjoy it one bit but it is is one of the necessary aspects of poultry-keeping. I have more surgeries I need to do - just need to find a time when DD is free to help hold birds.

Hawkeye, are you doing the penicillin injections instead of surgery or in addition to/after surgery. Are you seeing a reduction in the bumble yet?

Speaking of turkeys flying up 12 feet, the height of lean-to horse shelter that is just outside of my chicken yard, is about 12 feet, I'm guessing. This morning I watched a duck launch and fly almost straight up, to land gracefully on the top. The other duck took one look, though "I wanna do that too" and joined her sister. They stood there looking down on everyone with satisfaction, their little crests raised and heads bobbing. About then I noticed Madge, the turkey, looking up at them with interest and sure enough a second later she attempted to join them. Well, her flying skills are not yet on a par with the ducks, I guess, and she only made it about half way, before flapping back down to the ground. Unfortunately that was on the other side of the fence so I had to then open the gate and herd her back in. Sigh. I'm sure its only a matter of time until I look out and she is up there too. I can only hope she finds a soft place to land. The ducks fly so well that they can fly down and land softly on the ground, but the other birds are so heavy it really is kind of a crash landing any time they jump down from something high.

Ned Kelly, my male turkey, suddenly matured overnight and is a displaying fool this morning. As I walked down to the yard I could see him displaying (albeit the middle tail feather is missing due to molt) and stopped to watch this rare sight, but didn't need to. All morning every time I turned around there he was displaying again. I opened the turkey pen so they could go in and get their morning gamebird feed. Madge rushed right in. I asked NK if he wanted to go in and he muttered "can't...right....now....too....busy....displaying". LOL. I get such a kick out of these guys.

 

[checoukan]

You not a bad sister, YOU ONE BUSY SISTER!!!!!!

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Mommahen- I got the childrens tylenol this morning and I am going to give her a dose. She seems to not be as painful as yesterday so that is a plus. Noone at my house likes sweet potato and I get 7 bags at a time from a friend who gets them at a harvesters, she said "if anyone can find a use for any food it is you" I used to spread them out to other friends and I make homemade dog treats and sell them. I use lots of fresh goodies in those too. I have been peeling and boiling and mashing sweet potatos now to freeze for use in dog treats and I will take a big bowl out to the birds and they dive in like crows on a trash pile

Hawkeye-- I checked briefly under her foot and wiped off any mud/poo and saw nothing but it is worth another closer look this time. They like to get up on the roof of my home, a trailer so it is not too bad but still high, maybe I should not let them up there anymore. She is till favoring it this morning so I am going to give her some tylenol and vet wrap it she is not going to be happy about that at all. If she doesnt rest on it on her own I will seperate her and keep her inside for today and she will hate that too lol. It just seems to all happen at once and I have been hounding you guys franticly for the last few days. I have never had so many issues with my animals before. It just rains when something does happen. The two chicks are still trucking along, they are still hungry and thirsty and pooping so I am just going to monitor.

I thank you all for your patience with my out of control screams for help.

HEchicken--
I posted before I saw your post. Thank you , now I know what to look for. It worried me everytime they jump up somewhere high and jump down because yea they are not very graceful. My roosts are waist high to me in my coop, maybe I should lower them? the nest box is an entertainment center bottom so they have that they can get down on of course they dont use it, some of the chickens do though. But should it be lower?

 

[lizzyGSR]

I have never had so many issues with my animals before. It just rains when something does happen.

I hope your birds get better! I completely understand what you mean about the "when it rains, it pours" thing. I'm currently dealing with not one, but TWO tanks full of sick fish (a 55g and a 29g). I've got sicknesses in my tanks because I got busy and stretched my weekly cleanings out to 1 1/2 - 2 weeks instead of the 1 week they should have been. I'm spending big bucks on aquatic antibiotics trying to save my fish... I'm also cleaning the tanks out much more often than usual (daily or as the medicine directions allow). Even so, it is possible that I'll lose all of my fish ($200+ worth of fish, plus the $$ I've spent on meds). The research I've done suggests that I could have a pretty nasty sickness in my tank, and there is no known treatment for one of the illnesses that my tank(s) could have (except for euthanizing the inhabitants and bleaching the tank, which I REALLY don't want to do - I'm not ready to give up just yet).

I was planning on cleaning my duck house out last night. I plum forgot until after dark. Beings that not cleaning my fish tanks out oftenenough caused lots of sickness with the fish, I was really worried about my birds. I slept rather fitfully last night because I was worried about my birds. I've not been sleeping well because of worrying about my fish as well. When I put the birds away last night (after dark 'cuz I forgot to do that too), I THOUGHT I heard a bird sneeze. After getting up early to clean their duck house out this morning, I spent some time watching them and didn't see any signs of sickness. Thank goodness! However, I'm now beginning to feel like a terrible owner. I'll be bringing my horses out here in about a month, and I'm both really excited and super nervous, all at the same time. I've never been solely responsible for the care of horses before, and I seem to be failing at taking care of fish/ducks (or at least I feel like I am). The only consolation I have for myself is that the work to prepare the property for the horses should end before the horses are out here. Hopefully, things will slow down after that...

Anyway, I've been super stressed recently with all of my deadlines. I've got deadlines coming VERY quickly for work, and I've been working overtime trying to meet those deadlines. Then, I've been spending every spare minute I can trying to prepare the property for the horses (cleaning debris out of the pasture, filling holes, helping my DH build the barn and fence, etc). Then, on top of that, I'm still responsible for cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. Plus, I live in the middle of nowhere so I still try to make time to run to town to visit my friends. The added stress of sick animals hasn't helped at all... Anyway, I figured you as my BYC friends would understand and wouldn't mind if I vented for a minute or two. Thanks for listening/reading!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, are you doing the penicillin injections instead of surgery or in addition to/after surgery. Are you seeing a reduction in the bumble yet?

Speaking of turkeys flying up 12 feet, the height of lean-to horse shelter that is just outside of my chicken yard, is about 12 feet, I'm guessing. This morning I watched a duck launch and fly almost straight up, to land gracefully on the top. The other duck took one look, though "I wanna do that too" and joined her sister. They stood there looking down on everyone with satisfaction, their little crests raised and heads bobbing. About then I noticed Madge, the turkey, looking up at them with interest and sure enough a second later she attempted to join them. Well, her flying skills are not yet on a par with the ducks, I guess, and she only made it about half way, before flapping back down to the ground. Unfortunately that was on the other side of the fence so I had to then open the gate and herd her back in. Sigh. I'm sure its only a matter of time until I look out and she is up there too. I can only hope she finds a soft place to land. The ducks fly so well that they can fly down and land softly on the ground, but the other birds are so heavy it really is kind of a crash landing any time they jump down from something high.

Ned Kelly, my male turkey, suddenly matured overnight and is a displaying fool this morning. As I walked down to the yard I could see him displaying (albeit the middle tail feather is missing due to molt) and stopped to watch this rare sight, but didn't need to. All morning every time I turned around there he was displaying again. I opened the turkey pen so they could go in and get their morning gamebird feed. Madge rushed right in. I asked NK if he wanted to go in and he muttered "can't...right....now....too....busy....displaying". LOL. I get such a kick out of these guys.

I did the surgery on the same bird TWICE. (poor thing!!!) and then it still didn't clear it up. It worked on all the others! So she must just be really sick. So after the second surgery didn't clear it up, I started her on penicillin. The first go around, it really dropped the swelling! But it didn't completely go away. The last round, it worked again... and I need to go check and see if I got it all. I'm afraid that it didn't. Which means probably a 3rd round of penicillin for her. BUT--- it IS working. Just slowly. And I'm being really careful with my dosing-- after Josie's post I didn't want to kill her with over doing the penicillin. So maybe I'm not giving her enough, but I can see a difference. If I have to do a 3rd round, I'll up the dosage a teeny tiny smidge and see if that will just get it once and for all.
Oh-- and don't worry-- your turkey's WILL learn to fly much better! LOL They will end up being great flyers and be on top of your house, your barn, in your rafters, everything! I LOVE those birds!!!!

You not a bad sister, YOU ONE BUSY SISTER!!!!!!

Thank you, Rosie!

I'm still sitting here, though. Bleah. I've been cleaning the kitchen up and trying to get laundry sorted and my youngest some how talked me into making macaroni and cheese for BREAKFAST a bit ago. So we're sitting here eating mac and cheese. Sheesh.

A whole lot of nothing is going to get done at this rate!

Mommahen- I got the childrens tylenol this morning and I am going to give her a dose. She seems to not be as painful as yesterday so that is a plus. Noone at my house likes sweet potato and I get 7 bags at a time from a friend who gets them at a harvesters, she said "if anyone can find a use for any food it is you" I used to spread them out to other friends and I make homemade dog treats and sell them. I use lots of fresh goodies in those too. I have been peeling and boiling and mashing sweet potatos now to freeze for use in dog treats and I will take a big bowl out to the birds and they dive in like crows on a trash pile

Hawkeye-- I checked briefly under her foot and wiped off any mud/poo and saw nothing but it is worth another closer look this time. They like to get up on the roof of my home, a trailer so it is not too bad but still high, maybe I should not let them up there anymore. She is till favoring it this morning so I am going to give her some tylenol and vet wrap it she is not going to be happy about that at all. If she doesnt rest on it on her own I will seperate her and keep her inside for today and she will hate that too lol. It just seems to all happen at once and I have been hounding you guys franticly for the last few days. I have never had so many issues with my animals before. It just rains when something does happen. The two chicks are still trucking along, they are still hungry and thirsty and pooping so I am just going to monitor.

I thank you all for your patience with my out of control screams for help.

HEchicken--
I posted before I saw your post. Thank you , now I know what to look for. It worried me everytime they jump up somewhere high and jump down because yea they are not very graceful. My roosts are waist high to me in my coop, maybe I should lower them? the nest box is an entertainment center bottom so they have that they can get down on of course they dont use it, some of the chickens do though. But should it be lower?

Don't worry about it! We've all had our panics! And it helps to have everyone here that has done it before. Be careful with the vet wrap-- I do want to warn you on that. It is great stuff, but if you pull on it too much, it tightens down after it's on and can cut off blood circulation. So it would be a great stablizer, just put it on a bit loose and then squeeze down to make it hold tight. I put it on after my bumble foot surgeries and wrap it kind of loose-- not TOO loose, but not super tight. And then anything that looks a bit loose, I squeeze down and it makes a great bandage, etc. If your roosts are waist high, they are fine. They should be no higher than 3 feet to cut down on bumblefoot. I have pictures of bumbfoot surgery in my pictures. If you click on my profile and go to my albums, I have an album labeled "Bumblefoot".

I hope your birds get better! I completely understand what you mean about the "when it rains, it pours" thing. I'm currently dealing with not one, but TWO tanks full of sick fish (a 55g and a 29g). I've got sicknesses in my tanks because I got busy and stretched my weekly cleanings out to 1 1/2 - 2 weeks instead of the 1 week they should have been. I'm spending big bucks on aquatic antibiotics trying to save my fish... I'm also cleaning the tanks out much more often than usual (daily or as the medicine directions allow). Even so, it is possible that I'll lose all of my fish ($200+ worth of fish, plus the $$ I've spent on meds). The research I've done suggests that I could have a pretty nasty sickness in my tank, and there is no known treatment for one of the illnesses that my tank(s) could have (except for euthanizing the inhabitants and bleaching the tank, which I REALLY don't want to do - I'm not ready to give up just yet).

I was planning on cleaning my duck house out last night. I plum forgot until after dark. Beings that not cleaning my fish tanks out oftenenough caused lots of sickness with the fish, I was really worried about my birds. I slept rather fitfully last night because I was worried about my birds. I've not been sleeping well because of worrying about my fish as well. When I put the birds away last night (after dark 'cuz I forgot to do that too), I THOUGHT I heard a bird sneeze. After getting up early to clean their duck house out this morning, I spent some time watching them and didn't see any signs of sickness. Thank goodness! However, I'm now beginning to feel like a terrible owner. I'll be bringing my horses out here in about a month, and I'm both really excited and super nervous, all at the same time. I've never been solely responsible for the care of horses before, and I seem to be failing at taking care of fish/ducks (or at least I feel like I am). The only consolation I have for myself is that the work to prepare the property for the horses should end before the horses are out here. Hopefully, things will slow down after that...

Anyway, I've been super stressed recently with all of my deadlines. I've got deadlines coming VERY quickly for work, and I've been working overtime trying to meet those deadlines. Then, I've been spending every spare minute I can trying to prepare the property for the horses (cleaning debris out of the pasture, filling holes, helping my DH build the barn and fence, etc). Then, on top of that, I'm still responsible for cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. Plus, I live in the middle of nowhere so I still try to make time to run to town to visit my friends. The added stress of sick animals hasn't helped at all... Anyway, I figured you as my BYC friends would understand and wouldn't mind if I vented for a minute or two. Thanks for listening/reading!

OH no, so sorry about your fish! I hope they will pull through and be okay. I just cleaned out my coop last weekend... or the one before, I can't remember now. It needed it! The shavings were in there from last October. So it had been a year. I used such deep litter, it stayed clean and odor free for all that time, though! (well, almost, the last few weeks I could tell the shavings were done in) I like making a list and crossing everything off. Not that I stick with it well, but when I am really pressed for time and have to get a lot of kid things done-- I do it then especially. Like this morning, the kids had Picture day, and so I got their clothes out last night and had them ready for this morning. Then I had the money and the packet already put in their bags and even put them in the car, so no chance of forgetting. Then we have conferences tonight with two diff teachers... and I have that taped to my kitchen door so every time I go in, I won't forget it's today. (because I would!!!) And on, and on. Lowers the stress level when you know where you are at with things. But I'm sorry that you have so much going on, hopefully there will be a nice lull where you can feel more relaxed soon.