What an ordeal maidenwolf, that's crazy. You shouldn't have to move because of them though, that makes it even worse.
Danz, I'm betting now that you declared war against that darned owl you will send him on one way or another. I can't believe he did it right through the fence, he's gutsy.
Trish, don't you just love duct tape? It works for everything.
Yep, it sure is cold out now, but while you all are closing the house up I'm opening it up and it sure is freezing in here. I will explain in a bit.
checoukan, congrats on your new land purchase. Retiring early sounds like a fun plan, it'll give you more for other things, like cows and chickens. That does sound like more fun to me anyway.
Well, I did something really stupid this evening. I wouldn't normally blab about how dumb I can be, but it seems that half of my family knew better and half did not so if I can save someone else from doing something similar then I have to tell. I have these chicks in the house, I haven't been able to find my usual waterer I use in here, so we've been improvising, no big deal. Well, I found the missing waterer so I wanted to wash the feeder and use it for feed again and set it all up right. So I washed the feeder, but I wanted it to be completely dry before I added the feed. I didn't want it sitting on the counter while I was cooking dinner, I needed it done so I can move on with my chores. Silly me, or idiot me, put the galvanized metal waterer on the stovetop to dry it with heat like I do the cast iron skillet. OMGosh! It stunk so bad. I instantly got a headache, my throat started hurting, and I noticed the smell and that it was discoloring and I turned the stove off. The kids were all outside directly outside the kitchen window which was open. My 8 yo called for me, her throat hurt. I knew what it was, this was seconds after mine started hurting. My 15 yo came in, saw what I had done and started yelling to get everyone out of the house, which he and I were the only ones in the house but they all came in to see what the fuss was about. He was saying it's extremely toxic, you can't heat galvanized. So, we got everyone out of the house, the chicks were all asleep at this point which I thought was weird but I walked right past them. We talked on the deck a bit to figure out what to do, decided to go get the ipad to look it up and we did and then decided to call poison control to be sure. Poison control said that it's not likely we would be harmed by such a small exposure, plus the windows were open, plus the kids were outside and I was the one most exposed and I just had a headache and sore throat. We were advised to open the house and leave for a few hours and that's what we did.
The kids got in the van, I went back in and opened the windows and turned on all fans, left the doors open, lights off to keep the bugs away. I grabbed my sleeping chicks, and basically shoved them in the outdoor brooder, which it's not in that room yet so I wasn't ready to do that at all. They have a light on, but now the chick with the hurt eye is in with them all. Talk about shocking them. So we left and intended to go to town to a friend's house to bathe kids and get them ready for bed so we could still be on a reasonable schedule. We didn't get very far at all and my 4yo fell asleep, it was very early for this but I still didn't think too much of it. Then not 10 minutes later he started throwing up and I got so scared. No one has been sick, he had been fine all day long. We went directly to the ER and spent a few hours there. He continued to throw up, they gave him meds. The dr. said that it is probably due to the exposure to the metal toxins but that there is nothing they can do other than treat symptoms. We are home now, and my poor dh got the couch because the little one is staying right beside me tonight. We are to follow up with the dr. tomorrow. I still have a headache, but my throat isn't sore. The house didn't smell at all when we got home, but it's still very cold in here. I had my dh go out and check the chicks, he said they were all huddled together under the light but a couple of them out eating. I'm so worried about them too. I will probably bring them back in tomorrow. The chick with the hurt eye seems fine still, I'm just worried they will start pecking at it again. It looks better today than it has since we got her. I'm wondering if it didn't start draining to begin with and that's why they started pecking at her. Still, we don't need that nonsense.
I'm going to go out and check the chicks myself, I can't possibly rest without knowing they're alright.
Tomorrow is lockdown too.
