INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[chick rookie]

As suspected would happen, the chickens refused to go through the pop door with plastic, and the coop was filled with even more wild birds that had no problem coming through the plastic. Grrrrrrrrrr. Guess I will be out there in the snow storm tomorrow fighting the next skirmish. Of course the roads are too bad to go out for more supplies and lowes didn't have poultry netting when I stopped today. They clearly don't think anyone buys poultry fencing in the winter. I'm going to have to rig some tarps up on top of the run to temporarily thwart the darn birds from coming through....and with all the snow we are getting my next ordeal will be a collapsed run because of the snow load piling up on the tarp. It is amazing how you see it coming, hope for better and then reality is exactly how you expect To top it all off my heated water dish keeps popping the GFI and was completely frozen over today. Poor girls So I will probably be hauling water all day tomorrow too and trying to figure out how to fix it before I have to go back into the office thursday and friday. Oh, and I am one of those lucky hoosiers that is supposed to be getting 2" tonight, and another 12" tomorrow, and it sure looks like I already have more than 2" so I am seriously afraid to see what tomorrow brings! Is it Spring yet? It sure is difficult to have livestock in the winter. These are the days when I wonder if it is really worth it...I know it is but it is hard to struggle so much for months on end without questioning.

Oh, and in my struggle to get the wild birds out of my coop, two of my chickens flew the coop and my dachshund took a mouthful of feathers out of one or both. She got yelled at and I think they are ok. I worry that they are not and that I missed an injury. And my dog knows I'm mad at her so she has been a nervous wreck all night. We are all an emotional exhausted mess tonight.

my internet is too slow right now to load the pic's so I will do my best to explain what I did to cover part of my run with a tarp and it has lasted all winter:
depending on the height of your run... my fence is 7 ft tall ,so I took a 8 ft 4x4 stood it in the middle of the tarp and took a 6 ft 1x2 from the corner of the fence attached one end to te fence post and the other end to the 4x4 at the top. My tarp covers the front of the coop where the pop door is, so I took another 1x2 attached it to the house and then to the top of the 4x4 ... 2 of those and 2 from the fence covering ll 4 corners of the tarp, all at an angle to make like a tipii type thing, that allows some of the snow to slid off while being strong enough to hold the remaining snow, .... it my snow free zone for the flock to come out in bad weather. It also works well if raining. I didn't do it with birds in mind but if your putting a trap up like this it will keep your run fence from falling in. good luck hope this helps.

 

[ellymayRans]

Since I am officially spamming the page tonight - I got a funny shot of my gawky chicks tonight Charlie's Angel Chicks They are so hard to photograph now! They were flying all over the place!

So cute!

 

[kabhyper1]

Lily has depth perception issues today. It's day 3 of the oral tylan. Could it just be part of her respiratory stuff?

Come on guys, one of ya'll has to have an idea. You guys are chicken specialists. I got home tonight and they were stuck shut again. He depth perception was better tonight. It was probably getting the tylan in her eye this morning that did that.
She acts fine when they are moistened open. Eats like a horse, I just can't keep them from sealing shut. In the middle of a snow storm, so I'm using what I have. Vetrycin, Tylan orally .25 cc once a day, poly vi sol in her water, and I have Dh's contact saline but I'm not sure I should try it again. I did it once in the beginning and it didn't seem to help. I have just been using a warm damp washcloth to wipe them off until she can open them. I have colloidial silver to put in them also. Her sinus' are not swollen anymore.

 

[chick rookie]

Sad day we lost one if our Golden comet hens this morning. That leaves us with only 5 layers

So sorry to hear you lost one of your girls

 

[ChickCrazed]

Come on guys, one of ya'll has to have an idea. You guys are chicken specialists. I got home tonight and they were stuck shut again. He depth perception was better tonight. It was probably getting the tylan in her eye this morning that did that.
She acts fine when they are moistened open. Eats like a horse, I just can't keep them from sealing shut. In the middle of a snow storm, so I'm using what I have. Vetrycin, Tylan orally .25 cc once a day, poly vi sol in her water, and I have Dh's contact saline but I'm not sure I should try it again. I did it once in the beginning and it didn't seem to help. I have just been using a warm damp washcloth to wipe them off until she can open them. I have colloidial silver to put in them also. Her sinus' are not swollen anymore.

Sorry! I wish I had insight or something to offer! Maybe try posting in the medical/emergencies section? I have had luck there before! I am a chicken noob and can offer nothing but virtual hugs! However, since she is inside and not in her normal environment, could something in the house be setting off allergies? Just trying to think outside the box!

 

[ellymayRans]

We had freezing fog yesterday morning. It formed huge flakes of frost on everything -- even roosters! You can see the flakes standing on end. My dead weeds have never looked prettier! The flakes of frost started falling off as the sun got stronger. You can see them lying on the ground. I think it looks so cool! Another gorgeous dead weed!

I think nature gives so many beauties! I feel everyone's pain with the weather and caring for our beloved extended families outdoors but even as I drove home from Btown this afternoon in the mess of it all watching folks slide off the highways I was so happy to come home and as always the first thing I do is tend to my flocks...no matter the weather or what the crazy daily life brings me I know they will "brighten" my day! Don't get me wrong. .I can't repeat all the nasty 4 letter words I rant when fishing out a silkie from under the coop for nightly lockup...or when one flies out and lands on my head because they just realized there's snow on the ground..or when I slip and fall walking up the steps into the coop because my bloody boots are a sloppin' mess..when I reach into a nest box to recover an egg only to realize I just ran my arm through a huge mess of poo right there on the perch...let's see I could just go on and on! !!!!!!! Right! Who's with me! ?! HAHAHAHA! But O how I love them! LOL

 

[kabhyper1]

Sorry! I wish I had insight or something to offer! Maybe try posting in the medical/emergencies section? I have had luck there before! I am a chicken noob and can offer nothing but virtual hugs! However, since she is inside and not in her normal environment, could something in the house be setting off allergies? Just trying to think outside the box!

Lol thanks. These are my peeps here, so I usually go to them with problems. LOL not sure how much they like it, but they are stuck with me. I looked in the search for it, but I didn't find much. I may just give it the few more days on Tylan and see how she does.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Come on guys, one of ya'll has to have an idea. You guys are chicken specialists. I got home tonight and they were stuck shut again. He depth perception was better tonight. It was probably getting the tylan in her eye this morning that did that.
She acts fine when they are moistened open. Eats like a horse, I just can't keep them from sealing shut. In the middle of a snow storm, so I'm using what I have. Vetrycin, Tylan orally .25 cc once a day, poly vi sol in her water, and I have Dh's contact saline but I'm not sure I should try it again. I did it once in the beginning and it didn't seem to help. I have just been using a warm damp washcloth to wipe them off until she can open them. I have colloidial silver to put in them also. Her sinus' are not swollen anymore.

The only advice I have to offer is to maybe call an avian vet.


Where's M2H and her handy dandy book? (I am just kidding, I know you are really busy taking care of your sick daughter and new chicks).

 

[PeacefulWalls]

Come on guys, one of ya'll has to have an idea. You guys are chicken specialists. I got home tonight and they were stuck shut again. He depth perception was better tonight. It was probably getting the tylan in her eye this morning that did that.
She acts fine when they are moistened open. Eats like a horse, I just can't keep them from sealing shut. In the middle of a snow storm, so I'm using what I have. Vetrycin, Tylan orally .25 cc once a day, poly vi sol in her water, and I have Dh's contact saline but I'm not sure I should try it again. I did it once in the beginning and it didn't seem to help. I have just been using a warm damp washcloth to wipe them off until she can open them. I have colloidial silver to put in them also. Her sinus' are not swollen anymore.

Would you want to try the honey wash? I posted a few days ago about it. Don't know if it will help, but it shouldn't hurt either.

 

[bradselig]

Come on guys, one of ya'll has to have an idea. You guys are chicken specialists. I got home tonight and they were stuck shut again. He depth perception was better tonight. It was probably getting the tylan in her eye this morning that did that. 
She acts fine when they are moistened open. Eats like a horse, I just can't keep them from sealing shut. In the middle of a snow storm, so I'm using what I have. Vetrycin, Tylan orally .25 cc once a day, poly vi sol in her water, and I have Dh's contact saline but I'm not sure I should try it again. I did it once in the beginning and it didn't seem to help. I have just been using a warm damp washcloth to wipe them off until she can open them. I have colloidial silver to put in them also. Her sinus' are not swollen anymore. 

I have had this issue with one of my chicks. It started a couple days after hatching and still at it 3 1/2 weeks later. I started with the prescription drops from the vet I had from another silkie with this issue (only one eye though), then I went to antibiotic in the water, the. Vetercyn, and now back to a different antibiotic in the water. This time I'm using Denagard. I've stopped all eye drops. Today is day 3 on denagard and they haven't been matted shut the last couple days. Today one was completely clear and the other had gunk on it but not matted shut. I will continue the antibiotic for another 2-4 days. If this doesn't work, I'm not sure where I'm going to go next. If it works or you are interested in trying it, let me know. I got a large bottle of it with the silkies when I bought them.