Today should be day 18, so I'm going to pull the turner and get ready for lock down. Some don't look like they are really at that point so I may hand turn till I start hearing chirps and then just leave everyone to it.
We've had a few setbacks today, one of the juvenile mutts I hatched last month got caught by H2B's dog. She didn't chomp down, but he did suffer a small puncture on his upper thigh. I have him in a dog carrier, solitary confinement, till I see if he's going to thrive. I figure I'll give him a few hours to let me know if he's willing to recover. If I don't think he's going to make it I won't let it go on any longer.
Poor Dax, she's new here, 9 yrs old, a very quiet and gentle dog. I've been introducing her to the chicks like I do my other dogs and cats and she hasn't ever made a move for one before, this poor guy just had the misfortune of being on the floor and running/flapping when I was too far away. It was all my fault, I know, but it was still an accident.
Then I went out to the coop and found my Cuckoo Marans on the floor with her feet stretched out behind her, she had her wings spread, for balance I think, and her feet are pretty puffy. My nest boxes are not the ideal design and I think they may have played a part in this incident. It's a system that is a rack with buckets for the actual boxes.
The girls have been using these boxes for a couple years without incident but today there were 3 buckets that had shifted back allowing them to tip down which would, in effect, pour the occupant out. The evidence is making me thing that she was either dumped without warning or perhaps even caught somehow. We are trying to assess if her legs were injured and that is why her feet were left out in the cold, which would explain the puffiness as the first stages of frostbite. Or, it may be, that there is something wrong with her feet that is making them puffy, which is causing pain, which is why she was on her belly with her feet stretched out behind her.
For now she is in Emergency bed #2, a larger dog crate, with her own food and water. When I filled the water in the coop she seemed to want some so I held her up to it and she drank. I'm taking that as a good sign, no interest in food yet, but she was laying in the puddle of food the others had billed out of the feeder so she had plenty available while she was down. She's in the heated garage, under surveillance. When I try to tuck her legs under her and set her on them she is visibly annoyed and squirms to put them back out behind her. I thought I would give her a few hours, and watch her closely, to see ow she progresses. The garage has good light but I want to take a brighter light down so I can ruffle through her feathers and see if I can see any other trauma to her legs.
We've had a few setbacks today, one of the juvenile mutts I hatched last month got caught by H2B's dog. She didn't chomp down, but he did suffer a small puncture on his upper thigh. I have him in a dog carrier, solitary confinement, till I see if he's going to thrive. I figure I'll give him a few hours to let me know if he's willing to recover. If I don't think he's going to make it I won't let it go on any longer.
Then I went out to the coop and found my Cuckoo Marans on the floor with her feet stretched out behind her, she had her wings spread, for balance I think, and her feet are pretty puffy. My nest boxes are not the ideal design and I think they may have played a part in this incident. It's a system that is a rack with buckets for the actual boxes.
The girls have been using these boxes for a couple years without incident but today there were 3 buckets that had shifted back allowing them to tip down which would, in effect, pour the occupant out. The evidence is making me thing that she was either dumped without warning or perhaps even caught somehow. We are trying to assess if her legs were injured and that is why her feet were left out in the cold, which would explain the puffiness as the first stages of frostbite. Or, it may be, that there is something wrong with her feet that is making them puffy, which is causing pain, which is why she was on her belly with her feet stretched out behind her.
For now she is in Emergency bed #2, a larger dog crate, with her own food and water. When I filled the water in the coop she seemed to want some so I held her up to it and she drank. I'm taking that as a good sign, no interest in food yet, but she was laying in the puddle of food the others had billed out of the feeder so she had plenty available while she was down. She's in the heated garage, under surveillance. When I try to tuck her legs under her and set her on them she is visibly annoyed and squirms to put them back out behind her. I thought I would give her a few hours, and watch her closely, to see ow she progresses. The garage has good light but I want to take a brighter light down so I can ruffle through her feathers and see if I can see any other trauma to her legs.
I am doing a happy dance! 
