The yarn eating hen update - she if doing just fine. She doesn't act like anything ever happened. And, for what it is worth, the colored wax smear is still on her tail, so that makes a good way to mark a bird if you need to know at a glance which is the bird you are tracking. A slightly warmed crayon should do the same thing. Just warm enough to make it soft and easier to work with, not melted.
So glad she is okay! I'll keep the marker in mind!
Thanks Chickies. I actually don't know what to think. At 5:30 this morning they both seemed completely broody, allowing me to pick them up off their nests, when they wouldn't normally tolerate being handled at all. The "first" broody had feathers plucked to make a lovely cozy nest and was in every way acting totally broody. Yet when I went down to see them again just now, neither was on the nest nor acting broody at all. I'm actually quite happy for them not to be broody yet but its weird they were acting so much that way just a few hours ago.
I'm glad the hen is doing fine now and thanks for the tip on the crayon!
Trish, guess what? I got my first turkey egg today!!! Since Madge is from the same hatch as your hens, I'm guessing eggs won't be far away for you either. I decided to let the turkeys out of the hoop coop for awhile but after she was out, I found the egg at the back of the doghouse that is in there, so now I'm wondering if I made a mistake letting her out. Oh well - I can always put her back in.
Yay for the turkey egg! She will probably lay for a while and then go broody. But she might start to hunt around for a good spot to lay out in the trees. That's when you'll need to lock her up. I had no idea what was going on with Seymore! So lesson learned! Don't let them stray to lay.
Finally getting to sit down after a full day. I sold the rest of the pups today! Woot! I just have the one little girl I am keeping until the end of the month to take care of. I might be able to let her out to play some when I am here.
I had to take a load of eggs to town and went to see my Dad. It is so weird trying to communicate writing on a white board instead of being able to talk.
So glad you got the pups sold! One less thing to worry about, which is nice. I'm so sorry your dad is not hearing now! I can't imagine how really frustrating that is making him! Listening to the radio, the news, or the tv-- I can't even imagine how angry I would be.
The goats are doing very well. I'm working with the older one on trying to get her used to me, she is very skittish, she has not been handled much at all. I got halters for them to try to teach them to lead, but they're still too small for them to fit, even the smallest size. I will have to get a smaller dog collar for her, the ones I have are even too big for her, but I did put it on just to get her used to something around her neck. I have one for the smaller baby & she leads on a leash fine, she is very tame though from being bottle fed. Well it's not really like feeding a human baby when the baby has hooves & she tries to jump in your lap, lol! She sucks down those bottles pretty fast these days too. I took her out in the field this afternoon on the leash & just let her browse a little & when we left the older one yelled her head off the whole time we were gone. I was surprised that she didn't like being left alone, I think she is becoming friends with the younger one now, that's what I was hoping would happen. That little one is just the sweetest thing, she follows me around like a dog.
Well I just thought I had dodged the bullet on the respiratory stuff. Now there are about two hens & a rooster that are sneezing & have runny eyes. I couldn't remember if it was the Denagard or the Tylan that were better for respiratory stuff. I put some Denagard in the water today. I have those two & I have Sulmet. Josie if you're on here & read this, which one is best for those symptoms?
Your goats sound adorable-- especially the little one. Maybe you can give the bigger one treats? Does she like anything in particular-- like carrots or something? Then she'll come up for treats and you can pet her. She definitely needs to be tamed if you're going to have a good experience with her. Sorry about the sickness. I still have my silkie on Denagard. I had her on it for a week and stopped and put her back out with the others. She was acting fine-- but two days later, runny nose!!! So I brought her back in and she's back on antibiotics. UGH! I'm pretty sure it's all this messed up weather, I am so OVER it.
This evening provided some excitement. We were leaving to take DS in for a haircut when I heard an odd sqwak from one of the girls outside. It was the same sqwak I would hear if the girls were getting testy with one and other. I normally wouldn't go out, but something in the back of my head said I probably should. I open the back door to find feathers SSX feathers EVERYWHERE! I am in socks and the first thought I had was OWL! GRrrrrrr.... So, I scan the yard and nothing. I am looking all over because I know something is up. I check behind the coop and find a Coopers hawk with Ginger (RI) on her back with Ginger gasping for air! I start yelling at it -- nothing. So I grab the dogs pooper scooper that happened to be nearby and smack it with the scooper. I busted the end of the scooper off and the hawk still wouldn't let go. So I smacked it about 4 more times and he finally back up, but not before charging me. He got another smack for that. Then he flies up on the coop and won't leave! I swing at the hawk and he flies into the pasture next to my house. I run inside get my shoes on and tell the clan we have a hawk attack in progress and I need help getting the girls in the coop. DS and DD to the rescue! I get the wounded bird - Ginger back in the coop - she had blood coming out of her mouth - eek! DS runs to the other side of the yard to scoop up a hen and DD and I are shooing the others that don't like to be picked up back to the coop. The **** hawk was back hiding under a wheel barrow!!!!! It flew between DD and myself to start attacking another hen! DD is now in a panic because the hawk won't let go of the new hen. So I smack the hawk again and it flies back over the fence to the pasture. DD and DS stand on some pallets and keep an eye on the attacker. In the meantime DW has grabbed her .22 and is about to go all mamma bear on the attacker! WE managed to chase the hawk off and thought it was gone. So we are scooping up more hens and taking them back to the coop when DS says, "Daddy there is a dead chicken!!!!" I run up and the **** hawk is back trying to kill another of my birds! The hawk managed to wedged this hen between the coop and ground so that the hen was stuck, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying to take her. DW aka Mamma Bear shows up and tells the kids to get back. Needless to say the score is now Mamma Bear 1 - Hawk 0. I think the lesson here is, don't mess with Mamma Bear especially a Mamma Bear that is the daughter of a police officer.
So far, the SSX (Saffron) appears to be completely fine, she got away, but not before shedding a ton of feathers. The RI (Ginger) is being watched as I am really worried about her. The Wyandott (Salt) is being watched too as she was the one that was getting pulled by her head from under the coop. I will check on them again in the am to see how they are doing.
DW and I have never seen a hawk that ****** determined to go after a hen. Most hawks I chase off and they don't come back. This hawk wasn't going to leave until it had a hen or two!
DS said he and DD were heroes for saving the chickens. I chuckled and said that they both were.
Ok, now time for a stiff drink to calm my **** nerves.
Oh, DD got his haricut. He wanted a mohawk after all the action and DW was more than happy to oblige.
This is just INSANE!!!!! I would have done the same thing! I can't believe the nerve of that hawk. I wonder if it was sick? I have a hawk here that flies around and checks out my birds, but when i go out there, it takes off. I'm just shaking my head-- I can't believe how nuts that was!
Here are my new toys from the Auction
They are Cackler geese. These are male female year old birds . My domestic ducks are bigger then they are.
These look like candadian geese! But they are really small, hu? That is neat! They look really cute-- their heads look like ducks.
I shot 17 fox and 9 raccoons last year not to mention countless feral cats. All costing me money from eating my birds. Anyhow I noticed the other night coming home from the auction in my yard was about fifteen rabbits. Now I have lived here for almost five years and never seen one rabbit. I have done a great job taking out any predator by land or air! Now I have a GP and she does a great job of saying "hey dad there's a evil out here bring your rifle!" And I do and I rid the problem. Right now I have one smart dam raccoon, but he shouldnt last much longer ;-)
Daren
ha! That's funny! All the bunnies know where it's safe! I love rabbits!
I had the weirdest thing happen. I had a baby hatched a couple days ago. I noticed it was starting to fail. It was eating and drinking but not doing well. Well I checked it out. It's vent is closed except for like a pinhole size. It can't poop. Even pressing on it like you would to extract poop you can only get a tiny pinsize drop of liquid out. There just isn't a place for it to go. I don't think I have ever heard of that happening before. I am sure it will pass fairly soon. There is just nothing I can do for it. I can't help but wonder what on earth caused that problem. Other chicks from that group are doing great. I am sure it will die from it's own toxins. Poor thing!
Oh wow, I'm so sorry about that chick, I've never heard of that. I guess with as many as you hatch, you're bound to see it all! You should take a picture. You could give a talk on everything you've experienced!
So I woke up sick. Bleah. I think I have a sinus infection, but it's kicking my butt. I took some non-drowsy decongestant, but I think it's still going to put me to sleep here in a bit. Took some asprin because my neck and body aches a bit. I could scream I am so freakin' sick of winter.
I keep hoping my silkies are going to lay any day now-- they are driving me NUTS! LAY darn you all!!! hahahhaa! Okay, I need to go rest.
