Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

Danz, that is a nice brooder house, you have been busy since I was there last building more pens & buildings. I don't know how you do all of it. I think I'm going to have to build another brooder to use next spring when I start hatching more. I just have individual brooders so they can be moved around & I have them sitting up on cement blocks so I don't have to bend over far to tend to the chicks. I have a bad back too & bad knees, so bending over all the time to take care of chicks isn't something I want to do.

I feel like a mack truck ran over me today, this darned head cold is kicking my butt. I went out & did chores earlier, but I'm trying to just do what I have to today & nothing much else. I managed to put a casserole in the oven & made enough for tomorrow too, so I don't have to cook tomorrow. I have to get over this thing quick because I have way too much going on right now to be sick. I have several appts. next week & just a lot of things that have to get done. I have a load of cattails sitting in the back of the truck that need to be unloaded & now they're wet from the big rain we got last night. I had just put fresh cattails in the outside pens & now the grow-out pen is soaking wet. The water just runs down the hill & right into that pen & I haven't found any way to keep it from doing that. At least the chickens had their roost & the igloo dog house to get out of the water last night, I was thankful for that since I wasn't feeling well & sure didn't want to have to go hauling chickens out of the pen in the rain. I don't know if there is some way I could divert the water away from that pen or not, when I feel better I'm going to have to see if I can figure out a way to do that. The turkey pen was only wet just in the front where it rained in there & the rest was dry, but it's really wet in the grow-out pen.

tweety, I hope you feel better soon, it's too bad you couldn't get that treatment with the botox sooner. I sure hope it works for you, you're in my prayers.

HEChicken, that's great that you figured out how to make Cyrus back off. You just kind of have to figure out what works for each one. My Speckled Sussex hasn't come after me for awhile now, I think he got the idea after I kept chasing him & backing him into the coop. Some of them just have to be shown who's boss & then they'll go about their business. The Black Copper Marans rooster has never been aggressive at all, he's a pretty laid back guy.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Ok. Everyone knows that I tend to worry about my birds and may even see things "wrong" when there is nothing there, and I hope this is one of those times. Hopefully, someone here can say for sure.

I was out feeding my birds (9 ducks and a goose) this evening. AFter they were done eating, I noticed that one of my birds was coughing. I could see her chest muscles contracting... I figured she just needed a drink, so I sat for a few minutes and watched her get a drink. She coughed again after she had gotten a drink. A little worried now, I decided to catch her and feel her over to see if I could find something wrong. Just as I caught her, she threw up. When I felt her over, she felt fine and she didn't have anything visibly wrong with her.

Now, a little background, the bird in question is a khaki campbell that I've had for over a month now. I believe she is this year's hatch, but the person I got her from said she could also be last year's hatch. He wasn't sure. I feed my birds 16% poultry crumbles from Orscheln's. I feed them 4 cups in the morning and 6 cups at night. This is LESS than is recommended, but I do let them free range during the day. I just recently increased the amount of food I give them after it started geting colder and I started worrying about there being fewer bugs outside. When it cools off more, I will increase their food more. I feed the food dry with water in bowls near the food. However, the birds eat as quickly as they can, presumably to get as much as they can. Could this bird just be suffering from eating dry food too fast or is this a sign of sickness? I saw a bird (same kind, can't tell the 5 khakis apart to tell if it was the same one) do the same thing yesterday, minus the vomiting. I go out to look at my birds multiple times during the day and haven't noticed anything abnormal except for right after feeding them yesterday and today. However, I also don't spend long periods of time sitting with them during the day like I do in the evenings.

What do you think? Should I try adding water to their food for a day or two to see if the dry food is the problem? If you think this is a sickness, what do you suggest I do, if anything?

Edit to add: The bird in question today pooped on me while I had her, and her poop looked fine.
Edit again to add: I sat with them for 10 minutes before locking them in their coop for the night. I did not hear any more coughing in that time. I think I'm gonna try to water their food down tomorrow morning and see if that helps.

 

[tweetysvoice]

We've got the trap set out in the coop with some expired tuna (can you say stinky! - Can't believe I found it in my cabinet! LOL) It's hard not to keep going out there to check and see if we caught something. LOL

 

[Trish44]

We've got the trap set out in the coop with some expired tuna (can you say stinky! - Can't believe I found it in my cabinet! LOL) It's hard not to keep going out there to check and see if we caught something. LOL

I hope you get that thing, I just hate possums, they're nasty creatures.

 

[chicken danz]

Kansas Prairie,
I bought two tons of this stuff in Lawton, Ok from Jones Seed company. It cost me a chunk of money but I do believe it is worth it. This stuff is equivelent to the best parrot feed you can buy. And you could pay $10 for a 5 pound bag of that stuff.
Lizzy I had a duck similar to that but she got to where she couldn't breath. I had her on antibiotics and it didn't help so on Josie's advice I gave her some vegetable oil. Squirted it in her mouth. She got better in the next couple days. Sometimes they can pick up something that can get stuck in their throat and can't get it out. I just used a syringe and squirted some in there.
It's raining like crazy. Another busy afternoon and I didn't get half done I wanted. That means I have to get up early tomorrow to get things done. My poor birds! They didn't get much care today.
Thanks for the compliments on my set up. I think my yard looks trashy. That is just one side of it and there's lots more pens. If my building was twice as big I might actually have room for the birds that aren't chickens.
That building is the one I wired last week so I have power in there. I'm sure glad I did. I have so much more to get built and finished before I am done. I am hoping to install some water line in that building with outlets so I can hook it to a hose and have running water. It would certainly beat having to drag a couple hundred feet of hose around every where.

 

[Trish44]

I still haven't caught those two little guineas that are loose in my garage, they're fast as lightening & they learned very fast to get away from the net. I set up a sort of trap for them with a small dog crate & some food & blocked it off, but they have not made it around to where it is yet. I know they have to be getting hungry by now, but I want them to come into the area where I can catch them to get the food. These are two little pied ones & they're so cute, but I really need to catch them so I can take them out to be with the rest of their group.

 

[chicken danz]

Silly guineas! They are really fast aren't they? Food is the equalizer for sure. BTW Trish, my daughter said now that the dogs have gotten a taste of birds that you need to watch them every second you can and zap them with the collar at the top setting any time they even look at a guinea. She suggest maybe even shaving the area the collar goes so they get a real jolt.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, yeah as soon as I'm feeling better I'm going to put that collar back on Jasmine & hide from her so she can't see I'm watching. She definitely has to be taught not to go after birds or she will start getting my chickens too & that's not going to fly. I just can't figure out why after all this time of not bothering chickens she has decided the guineas are fair game. Well I'm going to bed, I'm just feeling horrible right now. I need to be in bed.

 

[chicken danz]

Yeah I'd say if she goes after chickens her days as a LGD are over. Hope you get to feeling better.
We got quite a rain last evening. I never did get every one fed yesterday. Thank goodness the ones in the pens had plenty. I just feel terrible. I spent so much time getting peppers ready for the freezer,getting eggs ready to go, and trying to catch some stupid wild roosters out here that the day was gone.
Actually it was you guy's fault I didn't get done!

All your talk about telling people no and family, I just had to take time to go see my Dad while I was in town, and then stopped to see my sister. I got a rocking chair from her that she has had for at least 25 years. It belonged to my grandmother. She she had purchased my grandma's house and the chairs were supposed to be split amount us. Not that I needed more furniture.
But I did feel better spending just a little time with my Dad even when I was in a terrible hurry. The last chair left goes to my oldest sister. It is in need of refinishing and needs the seat upholstered. I think since I took the nicer one I will offer to refinish it and redo the seat for her. I'll do that in my spare time!

Busy day ahead. I've still got to rebuild a cage I HOPE I can get one of my turkeys in. These guys are huge and crazy wild. Since it rained they will also be super muddy. Oh joy! I've got to get all the birds fed, catch and cage the turkey and get to Yates Center by mid morning. I will be down there most of the day for an auction. I might come home with some livestock as well knowing me! Or I might get bored and come home early. It just depends on what I see there. At least it is supposed to be warm but it's going to be a rainy mess as well.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Lizzy I had a duck similar to that but she got to where she couldn't breath. I had her on antibiotics and it didn't help so on Josie's advice I gave her some vegetable oil. Squirted it in her mouth. She got better in the next couple days. Sometimes they can pick up something that can get stuck in their throat and can't get it out. I just used a syringe and squirted some in there.
It's raining like crazy. Another busy afternoon and I didn't get half done I wanted. That means I have to get up early tomorrow to get things done. My poor birds! They didn't get much care today.
Thanks for the compliments on my set up. I think my yard looks trashy. That is just one side of it and there's lots more pens. If my building was twice as big I might actually have room for the birds that aren't chickens.
That building is the one I wired last week so I have power in there. I'm sure glad I did. I have so much more to get built and finished before I am done. I am hoping to install some water line in that building with outlets so I can hook it to a hose and have running water. It would certainly beat having to drag a couple hundred feet of hose around every where.

Thank you for the advice on the vegie oil. Adding water to their feed seemed to help this morning. The true test will be feeding time this evening, though, as I feed them more at night than I do in the morning to encourage them to free range during the day. If adding water doesn't work, I will definitely try vegie oil.