Derperella, the (weird) Faverolles, & Friends

[Nambroth]

A quick update, as this heat wave sits upon us!

This week it is frozen watermelon and big bowls of water for the girls. It's hot here, and humid! Last I checked the weather station (we have a small one in the yard) read 93°F.... with the humidity being 80%+ locally, that's a heat index of well over 100. I know that's not much for some of you, but we're not used to it up here!! We have no air conditioning.

So I am melting in the house and trying to work, and the hens are melting outside and eating frozen watermelon....

Everyone seems to be in good health. I noticed a bumblefoot-scab on Kua, but she is not limping, so I will wait until the heat breaks before attending her feet so I don't cause her undue stress.

Derp seems about the same... a bit crooked, a bit not. She's still insisting she can't get into the coop on her own, but sometimes I find her egg in the nest box and I didn't put her in there... hmm. Sneaky Derp?!

I took some photos of her this weekend that I will try to share a bit later tonight when it cools off. My computer runs very hot!

 

[drumstick diva]

Maybe Derp tricked another hen into putting her egg in Derp's nestbox. It's kinda strange that Derp lays normal eggs. I'd think they would come out as rectangles or squares.

 

[CinnamonQueen]

A quick update, as this heat wave sits upon us!

This week it is frozen watermelon and big bowls of water for the girls. It's hot here, and humid! Last I checked the weather station (we have a small one in the yard) read 93°F.... with the humidity being 80%+ locally, that's a heat index of well over 100. I know that's not much for some of you, but we're not used to it up here!! We have no air conditioning.

So I am melting in the house and trying to work, and the hens are melting outside and eating frozen watermelon....

Everyone seems to be in good health. I noticed a bumblefoot-scab on Kua, but she is not limping, so I will wait until the heat breaks before attending her feet so I don't cause her undue stress.

Derp seems about the same... a bit crooked, a bit not. She's still insisting she can't get into the coop on her own, but sometimes I find her egg in the nest box and I didn't put her in there... hmm. Sneaky Derp?!

I took some photos of her this weekend that I will try to share a bit later tonight when it cools off. My computer runs very hot!

Our weather situations just got swapped. Last week, you were saying that you had a lot of rain, and here in Texas it was hot and humid. Now, it's pouring rain, the coop is flooded with an inch of water, and before it was still muddy from yesterday's storm.

Our hens will be living in a mud hole for the next few days!

 

[Nambroth]

Well, darn. After noticing Kua's bumble, I decided to check all the chickens tonight carefully. Nearly everyone has the typical 'bumblefoot scab' even though no one is limping. I noticed Kua's scab was starting to pull away, so in she came, and we did the bumblefoot surgery. I went deep into her foot but couldn't find any kernel or infectious white/yellow strings or cheesy bits. Puzzling. I have her bandaged and right now she is sitting happily in a box. She loves boxes!! She's easily the best chicken indoors as she thinks boxes are just the best and she won't wander off onto the carpeting...

Now I am puzzling over what to do. I am very careful about sharp objects and smooth, low roosts to keep bumblefoot at bay. I think it was just a perfect storm of having nearly two months of nasty, hot, wet, gross weather. I have smooth pea gravel in my run for good drainage but even with that it seemed to stay just too wet. Staph loves warm and wet! But, I can't have 5 or 6 chickens in the house recovering-- there's just no way to do it. Hmm! I can't keep them in the dry coop in this heat, either. Darn it!

 

[artsyrobin]

i am sorry, and yes i think the weather has alot to do with it. My Galahad has an ongoing battle with it. I have tried various things- what seems to work the best is to put ichthamal ointment on it after scraping the scab- it is an old timers recommendation- it is a drawing salve- they use it on horses to pull stones and such out of their hooves after a race- this is the first time i've tried it, so i can't guarantee it will work- but you might try it- less invasive, and you just bandage the foot and change it out daily until it clears- and then i heard about something called avipow (Pau d'arco), used with parrots for bacterial and fungal infections, you add it to the feed, i am seeing it clear up thrush in one of my roosters throat- it is supposed to be able to deal with staph infections, which is what bumble is- here is a link for info- down at the bottom of the page- http://www.avitec.com/AviPow-Anti-Fungal-Anti-Bacterial-p/apw.htm?1=1&CartID=0


as far as the heat goes, yes, we get that kind of weather down here- i freeze jugs of ice and put it in front of the fan for the girls, it really does help cool it down, maybe you could do something like that where you work?

 

[Nambroth]

Thank you for the avipow link. I will check it out tomorrow. I ordered some Tricide-Neo and will use it to help the very minor cases. Gotta get everyone's feet cleaned up so I can better check how bad or mild they are. I check feet regularly so I knew about Kua's but these others tossed me for a loop. Coho limped when she had hers, (she's got the scabs again, too, darn it) but no one else is so I hope I caught it early. The only one I didn't check is the evil Lorp, she wouldn't let me look at her tonight. I'll check her in the morning.

 

[artsyrobin]

i wonder if spraying the roosts with vetrycin would help? maybe kill any bacteria there that might infect any sore they might have? just wondering, someone told me to spray roosts with athletes foot spray once a week to help control bumble

 

[seminolewind]

i wonder if spraying the roosts with vetrycin would help? maybe kill any bacteria there that might infect any sore they might have? just wondering, someone told me to spray roosts with athletes foot spray once a week to help control bumble

That's a good idea-spraying the roosts. I think you should use something like Lysol, or Oxine, . Lysol kills everything. Read the can!

 

[AlpineButterfly]

Oh, dear.

It's really happening. Plush Derperella.



The good news:
- I am not totally inept at making plushes! Yay!
- She's made out of the finest materials I could get.
- I giggled the whole time I made her.

The bad news:
- Since she's hand sewn, and I am very anal about high quality, it took a long time. Much longer than I expected.
- Her materials were rather expensive.
- The two factors above mean that I might have to sell these for more than I anticipated. They also won't be made very quickly.

Bear with me as I work on this and see what results..!! I'll take more photos once it stops raining.

I know this was a long time ago, but I love the plush Derperella! Did you ever end up making another?
I'm sorry to hear about Trousers. Maybe you can make a plush Trousers to go with your plush Derp!

 

[CinnamonQueen]

I know this was a long time ago, but I love the plush Derperella! Did you ever end up making another?
I'm sorry to hear about Trousers. Maybe you can make a plush Trousers to go with your plush Derp!

I love that idea!
If the plushes are sold, then the $$ could go to helping others with Marek's in memory of Trousers... just a thought.