Consolidated Kansas

[lizzyGSR]

Merry Christmas everyone!! It is snowing here and has been since yesterday evening. We've gotten at least 3 more inches of snow, though it is dry powdery snow so there's not much moisture with it. It is nice to have a white Christmas, though.

Danz - thank you for your quick response about my goose (gander?). I have a terrible time telling the two embdens apart so I'm not sure which it was that got hurt. It took me over an hour to get the bleeding stopped, but I did end up being successful. It looks to me like the bird somehow managed to puncture his/her foot in the duck house. I really don't know HOW that happened, though because all of the sharp edges are covered. I thought that maybe the bird got his/her foot caught in the door, but I am not so sure after having searched the duck house for possible problems. Either way, the hurt bird and a friend are camping out in the house for a day or two so I can better watch the injured foot. The wound is 1/8"-1/4" wide and is present on the top and bottom of the foot, though the top of the foot seems to be injured worse. I used flour instead of corn starch to stop the bleeding (its cheaper) and sat outside with the bird for 45 minutes in sub-zero wind chills trying to get the bleeding stopped. My DH was sleeping inside, and I didn't want to wake him up. Finally, I had to come inside as my feet were getting pretty cold, and the bird had wiggled and caused me to knock my hat off, and I couldn't get it back on one-handed. Either way, things are looking up for the injured bird. One question, though... Why is it that animals ALWAYS seem to injured themselves when help (i.e. the vet) is unavailable/closed?

 

[chicken danz]

It always happens that way.
Well my day has turned out to be less than stellar. My hoses were frozen even though I blew them out last night and I had to use the heat gun to even turn on the faucets. As soon as I would shut it off it would freeze again. So I hauled at least 30 buckets of water out to all the birds. My first stop was the worst. My olandsk hen was dead. I knew she was feeling bad yesterday but so was everyone else in that house. Even with the vaporizer on and vetRX in her water. My youngest oladnsk are sick too as well as my roo. I moved those 4 into the house, set up a vaporizer, put duramycin in their water and vet Rx. I finally gave the young roo a shot of tylan while ago because he was doing especially poor. My little gal I lost was a $75 bird not counting shipping so I feel pretty sick about it. She was just gorgeous too. I also put duramycin in the water in that coop hoping it will work for whatever bug I have out there.
I'm hoping the Swedish flowers out there are strong enough to fight this thing. I felt about ready to cry. I have so much time and money and effort invested in those birds. I lost another campine in the brooder. That only leaves me two. I guess if they die I will just have to forget that as a breed. Funny they had all done so good until now. Everyone else in the brooder seems fine right now. I do have it shut up tighter than I like but at least it is warm in there.
My turkey boys were fighting like crazy again. I would pull them apart and give them a slap on the rear and they'd just go back to it. I finally figured I couldn't spend my whole day out trying to keep them from killing each other. It took me 3 hours to get every one fed and watered and then another hour and a half after I got back home from town. I didn't have time to do anything but take a quick shower and run out the door with wet hair to go see my Dad so I looked a fright. Anyway we ate and he opened his gifts and when he got sleepy I headed back home.
My sister that was there gave me a chicken hook for Christmas. It was such an awesome gift. I have never had one. I was temped to go try it on a few birds when I got home but I figured they were having a hard day too.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Well one of the little polish/phoenix chicks died today. It was teh weakest and smallest off all, and yes that is ahrd to do when half the chicks are d'uccles, I nursed it and still could not save it. That is life and luckily my kids know and respect that aspect of life. I told my son I would make sure I got another chick for him.

It was a very cold day. I couldnt keep the water from freezing and we had to leave for christmas with the inlaws, I was worried the whole time. When we got home the pilot was out on the furnace and the incubator temp was 87,, eerrgg it was 105 last night when I woke up , I am afraid it has been unstable far too much and the eggs will be dead. I want to candle, but I need to leave them be and wait awhile longer.
I hope everyone had a good christmas and stayed warm

 

[chicken danz]

Even for a normal day this would have been a bad one for me. But for Christmas I have to say it really sucked. I am anxious to go to bed and go to sleep so I can wake up to a new day with new hope. Sorry about the chick. I still have that hen sitting on that pile of eggs so if she doesn't give up there will be more babies to rehome.
DH should be home from work in about 30 minutes. Then we can eat and call it a night.
I did make a pie after I got caught up with all the doctoring and caring. That is all I am doing special this evening.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, sorry about your birds. I still have the sick marans rooster & I heard at least one hen sneezing too. It's been too darned cold to really go out & do much for them but the bare minimum of feeding & hauling water. I lost one Welsummer pullet today & I don't know what happened to her, only that I caught Lily with the dead bird. I had to chase her up the hill through the backyard & she ran all the way back down to the cattail pile down by the turkey pen. I was out of breath & mad as all HedoubleL by the time I got caught up to her. She knew I was mad & she took off for up by the house & I ran after her with the bird & hit her in the butt with it. She ran up by the tree & lay down pouting. I have no proof she or either of the dogs killed the bird. My DH said that he saw them both up in the hedge row with their ears perked up, so I have no idea whether we had a predator & they didn't get there in time or what. I wish he would tell me these things at the time instead of later.

I did close up the last window in the coop tonight, I hope I don't regret that, but it's so darned cold & the wind is blowing so hard I just felt like maybe I should. They do have vents in the coop, so it's not airtight. I didn't get nearly as many eggs today as I have been either, about 8 compared to the 11 or 12 I have been getting. You would have thought they would have just stayed in today & hung out in the coop, but the silly birds were out running around most of the afternoon. I hope they all do OK through the night, it's going to be really cold tonight. I tried to give the guineas, peafowl, & turkeys some extra snacks to help them out. The chickens in the main layer coop & the ones next to it get sunflower seeds every night. I have one poor little Australorp hen that is in molt & she is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen, she is virtually naked like she has been plucked. I felt so sorry for her today in that cold, I wished there was a chicken coat to put on her.

We had a quiet day here today, it was just the two of us. I got out some of the ham we had cooked before we went to OKC & fixed some other things to go with it like my favorite cranberry salad I make & a couple other things. We haven't had our dessert yet, we're fixing to go have it now since we were too full earlier. I hope you all have had a good Christmas!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Trish, really sorry about your dead hen and having to chase your dog. This has been a rough day for all.

It always happens that way.
Well my day has turned out to be less than stellar. My hoses were frozen even though I blew them out last night and I had to use the heat gun to even turn on the faucets. As soon as I would shut it off it would freeze again. So I hauled at least 30 buckets of water out to all the birds. My first stop was the worst. My olandsk hen was dead. I knew she was feeling bad yesterday but so was everyone else in that house. Even with the vaporizer on and vetRX in her water. My youngest oladnsk are sick too as well as my roo. I moved those 4 into the house, set up a vaporizer, put duramycin in their water and vet Rx. I finally gave the young roo a shot of tylan while ago because he was doing especially poor. My little gal I lost was a $75 bird not counting shipping so I feel pretty sick about it. She was just gorgeous too. I also put duramycin in the water in that coop hoping it will work for whatever bug I have out there.
I'm hoping the Swedish flowers out there are strong enough to fight this thing. I felt about ready to cry. I have so much time and money and effort invested in those birds. I lost another campine in the brooder. That only leaves me two. I guess if they die I will just have to forget that as a breed. Funny they had all done so good until now. Everyone else in the brooder seems fine right now. I do have it shut up tighter than I like but at least it is warm in there.
My turkey boys were fighting like crazy again. I would pull them apart and give them a slap on the rear and they'd just go back to it. I finally figured I couldn't spend my whole day out trying to keep them from killing each other. It took me 3 hours to get every one fed and watered and then another hour and a half after I got back home from town. I didn't have time to do anything but take a quick shower and run out the door with wet hair to go see my Dad so I looked a fright. Anyway we ate and he opened his gifts and when he got sleepy I headed back home.
My sister that was there gave me a chicken hook for Christmas. It was such an awesome gift. I have never had one. I was temped to go try it on a few birds when I got home but I figured they were having a hard day too.

I'm so sorry about your hen and your chicks. I agree, this was not a good day for chickens.

I lost a foundation bird of mine that I have been using to start my flock today. I paid $100 for her. Sigh. I'm so glad I have gotten a lot of chicks out of her, but I had BIG plans for her this Spring. She was going to help with my black project. I'm so sad. I don't think it was the cold that killed her though.

Anyone have any ideas on what killed her? I noticed yesterday that she was not feeling well. She was hunched over and by herself. I picked her up and she was light weight! So thin!!! I immediately sprinkled her down with Sevin dust along with everyone else. I was hoping it was mites and she'd be fine. But today she must have died during the day while I was gone. That's the only "symptoms" I have to work with. Light weight and by herself and acting depressed. Obviously not eating. Everyone else seems fine. I checked crops tonight on all the silkies, and they've all been eating. The water NEVER froze, so it's not lack of water or lack of food. Both have been full. Disease???? Or mites???? Or maybe she just wasn't doing good in the cold???

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I dont know what it was about today. I am sorry to everyone who has lost a bird today. Darn it all. I just lost the one chick and everyone else is doing fine. I sure hope tomorrow is better but like others I am terribly worried about the birds tonight. It is so cold out there and my coop walls are not all the thick. I just have to keep reminding myself that they do much better in the cold than the heat and I need to give them more credit. But like a mother,, I will worry until I open that coop door and see everyone run out.
I hope everyone had a good christmas besides the loses of birds. Merry christmas dear BYC friends, stay warm tonight.

 

[Hawkeye95]

OMG--- What about WORMS!?!? That fits, rights???? I mean, I just treated them with Wazine about 2 months ago. I was all proud of myself for keeping to my schedule.... but the weight loss and sudden death.. worms?? Maybe?? So I probably need the Ivermectin!! OMGosh, I feel terrible, I should have done that too, and I didn't. And here HeChicken nearly lost a bird to it and why didn't I even think of that??? It just is so suspicious that she should die so quickly. They are all under heat lamps and have food and water.... (kicking myself)

MaidenWolf, so long as it's not drafty on them, they should be fine. Maybe. I'm obviously doing a stellar job keeping mine alive.

 

[sharol]

OK, let's not jump to conclusions. Can you do a necropsy on the dead bird? This weather has everyone in an uproar. The sudden temp changes are hard on everyone (feathered and not). Certainly that is a possibility, but I would be cautious of using meds when the birds are already stressed with the cold unless I was sure about the problem.

You will figure it out. You are one of the go-to people on this list when problems with flocks rear their ugly heads, it is just really hard to stay objective when they are YOUR birds that are suffering.

OMG--- What about WORMS!?!? That fits, rights???? I mean, I just treated them with Wazine about 2 months ago. I was all proud of myself for keeping to my schedule.... but the weight loss and sudden death.. worms?? Maybe?? So I probably need the Ivermectin!! OMGosh, I feel terrible, I should have done that too, and I didn't. And here HeChicken nearly lost a bird to it and why didn't I even think of that??? It just is so suspicious that she should die so quickly. They are all under heat lamps and have food and water.... (kicking myself)

MaidenWolf, so long as it's not drafty on them, they should be fine. Maybe. I'm obviously doing a stellar job keeping mine alive.

 

[sharol]

I freaked out when the coop light didn't come on this morning and went out to be sure the heater was still on. Even with the 2 heaters over the roosts, the temperature of the coop was 16 (the light had just come unplugged - didn't affect the heater at all). My DH got a good laugh at me trudging out to the coop at 6 a.m. in my jammies and robe (and coat and boots and hat) with a flashlight to see what was wrong. I had visions of chilled, miserable hens crowded into a heap somewhere. They were on the roost and fairly comfortable.

And I actually like winter. generally. mostly.