Fuzzy's Farm

[fuzzybutt love]

I actually put the straw a foot INSIDE the coop, and a 3 foot bank of snow OUTSIDE the coop Something i read in one of those old "mother earth" survival magazines. I've heard of people putting straw bales around for insulation, but snow was free and did just as good in a pinch

Roads are slick and full of snow too... bleh. Glad you got the cats in, i have heard that if you leave them outside they will probably be dead in the morning. Already been reports of dogs freezing to death earlier in the week It brought tears to my eyes to see feral/ idiot's cats still roaming my trailer park this evening. I called but the cats wouldn't come to me; i'd have at least put them in the shed for the next couple days.

Goat coat thoughts: pics!!!!

i'd brace them with some firmer material either going longways down the belly or on each side; only other thing that comes to mind is a v shaped butt strap but they'd probably not like that LOL.. You'd have to keep the strap away from their business end. I think it's just a softer material issue; i had a dog coat for a cat once and it was a very stiff thing with a fleece liner.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

idk if i shared this pic on this thread

 

[jorey]

Morning all. Not sure on the goat coats and yes pics please. Fuzzy are those lemon d' uccles? They Are beautiful. Office where I work closed today so snow day for me. Yea I can spend it outside shoveling paths. Lol. At least my landlord ( my cousin) will plow the drive so I just have to do paths to the pens.
Daughters school called off last night so I can put her to work helping also. Be safe today everyone.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

nope, not lemon. I wish! Would be worth some big bucks, very very rare color in the US. These are porcelain, which breeds "true", so the babies are the same color as long as both the parents are. My blue ee's don't, you get all kinds of combos with them.

Coop news:
Just got back from doing the birds, brrr! The bank's sign says it's 5 degrees and the camper coops thermostat says it's 15 in there; so the snow bank trick really DOES make a 10 degree difference! The foot of straw takes the wind chill and any moisture out of the air. I hung out in there to catch my breath a min after doing the water, had to wade through knee-deep drifts to get there!!! Don't worry i wore several layers of clothes in preperation. Gonna go hit the coffee pot up now, though, lol. Still no heat lamp in there, continuing with the duramycin in the water. Praying a little since i'm sure that the worst is not yet....
Everyone is doing great, nice red combs but they are very testy and peckish. Even hope, who is generally at the bottom of the pecking order is attacking her flock. Poor cold girls. Baby bird is doing great still. I'm not sure if the worst is here yet, it is windy but don't feel like 20-30 mph. (ottowa co, coopersville/ ravenna area)
Lots of snow. Probably 10-12" here, too, with drifts making the roads almost impassable. And my work called our answering machine and asked if i'd come early because of all the call-ins from last night and this morn; ummmm NO! I'll probably go in since it's literally a block from my house, but really i'm a temp and they know it's life threatening out there; also i was lied to and told last night was mandetory to come in and i get there and it wasn't :/ so a little peeved and thus not going early.
Dripping my water both hot and cold so the pipes don't freeze; i had the hot water line freeze a couple days ago from the water heater to the house (trailer) Took until 3 am to unfreeze; i'd rather catch up the utilities as needed than deal with bursted pipes in THIS! Yikes! Stay safe everyone.

 

[NovaAman]

OMG!! Amy, I need what ever you might have regarding stiff feet. Strutters toes will not bend. They are STIFF. they are warm, so I know there is circulation there. Not frost bite, but like they've been locked... I don't know what the hello. The two marans girls with him, Blueberry and Texas, their feet are just fine. They are on a 6 inch wide roost. AND I do mean stiff. Almost like how little Pretty's foot got after the coon attack and she lost toes to it. ANYWAY

HELP!!

Weather was/is horrid today. I got to work this AM and only me and my boss showed up. Everyone else called in stuck. I was almost out of gas too! SO, no real weight in the jeep made for a real pita of a drive. I got heat lamps hooked up in the coops too. We went so far with out, but the temps are just two cold, Strutter is molting, Big Red is too. Worried about Gainsborough and Honey out there. SO.... hooked them up, tied them up, stapled them too.

I also did what you did, piled snow up aroudn the bases of all the coops. I am keeping an eye on the big run, not letting it get too much snow on the tarp, but I don't want to take it down unless I see sag start. It is amazingly much warmer with a few inches on the tops than with out.

Hi Gigi, and Welcome to the thread Jorey!

Weather sucks... big time. Johns battery keeps dying. Neighbors battery also died. I keep starting the jeep up every few hours to keep it going. I just hope it goes over night with no problems. If I didn't have so many chickens in my garage... the jeep would be inthere. I could put it in there, but them psycho chickens would so crap on my windshield...

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I'm sorry Nova, i got nothing. I'll look and think really hard.

My d'uccle girl looks like she's dying. I have no idea why, she's been in the house since the beginning of winter.

I've put antibiotics in her water in a last ditch effort; she won't eat even raw yolk or bread. So torn and confused; the only symptom is white diarrhea but i can feel nothing that is constipating her or no bound egg. She's stone cold as well, though the temp in the bird's room is 65 degrees. I've heat lamped her at this point but idk what else to do i'm just making her comfortable; i tried forcing pellets but she spits even when i hold her beak shut.

I'm also praying for my battery; i did call in to work tonight. When i got home from my John's i found my heater running constant and my water mostly froze even with both hot and cold dripping, and heat tape. So i had to make the call, though i live only a block away I have been baby sitting pipes, and i banked my trailer with a 3 foot snow bank too. Back's out, but trailer is holding 65 degrees and pipes have been holding.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Nova, only things i've been able to bring up so far is the merecks and frostbite.. His toes aren't black? But your girl got it in the summer...Also bad leg mites, but you would have known what that was... If his joints were swollen and warm it could be other things..... such a strange issue. Stumped too. Gosh dang it all, why did it have to be your pretty one. I'll keep looking for you, might take time on this one tho.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

i put my girl on the emergency forum; nova i'd put yours on too. Couldn't hurt.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/847084/duccle-hen-with-white-diarrhea-and-not-eating-dying

 

[taprock]

Fuzzy she sounds a lot like a hen of mine, bantam faverolle. However, it her case after a day I could feel a uterine tumor. It literally took a day to get huge. I thought she was egg bound because she had laid a soft shell and then one of those blob things, sorry I can't think of the name right off. Then she wouldn't stand and stopped eating. She had the white diarrhea but I kept thinking it was a broken egg and the white coming out of her. She did not survive but like I said I knew after finding the tumor to just keep her comfortable. I hope you do find something else that you can help her.

Nova have you considered gout? It did in one of my beautiful roosters.


The blob thing I couldn't think of is called a lash.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

gout is reversed in roos same as people, tart cherry and limit protein; too much protein and calcium cause it in roos if that's the case

I will feel her up again. I'm looking into tainted feed possibly too, colustrum is what it's called i think. Was the bottom of the bag.. the cycline should help if so....