INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Spent most of my day today worrying about Margie and her eggs. This morning, when I checked on her, she hopped off the nest and hurried out for a drink. She usually takes her break in the afternoon, but I went ahead and let her go then since she wanted to. Afterwards, though, she went to the perch in the lower part of the coop and just sat there, making her broody noises at anyone that got too close. I panicked and carried her back to her nest to make sure she wasn't quitting, and she did settle back down on the eggs, but that scared me! I have no idea how long she would have sat there off the nest if I hadn't intervened! I have my incubator set up and mostly ready, just need to put in the rails and plug it in, so if she does decide to quit I can at least save the babies. But I'm obviously hoping she does not quit! Just a week and a half or so to go on those babies, not too much longer to hang on!

This, of course, means that the piles of homework I have to do for next week has hardly been touched. I guess I'm going to have a busy Sunday...

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Man it took me forever to get caught up... lol hate it when I'm too busy to read post every day. Things are busy around here, with 5 bottles to be made every 4 hours and all the poo and pee cleaning to do, then there the entertaining them or they get into things they should not!!! ( sorry talking about goat kids ) Love it when the temp is high enough to let them go outside and play!!!!!!!! They sleep really well after a day outside... that means I get to sleep.
DH finally gave up on his lawsuit over his Knee... I think we have talked to every lawyer in the state and I few in ILL too. No one wants to take on a doctor that already has so many lawsuits against him it aint funny!! I don't get it but time is up now!! I'm kinda glad, at least we don't have to got to all these appointments, CT scans, blah blah blah. Now to add to the daily pain he is in arthritis has set in on top of it.
We took a day-cation last Saturday, We had to get a different critter sitter cause our normal one's were sick..... what a mess!!!!!! We got home too late to go and check on things real good, we just did a quick check to make sure everyone was alive and in where they belonged and went to bed.
The next morning at feed time Ransom ( my 16 year old horse ) was coughing... badly! I went to check on him and he was breathing heavily and sweating. I called the vet out and it was determined that he aspirated some feed. So the vet gave some shots, left some expensive antibiotics, ordered a blanket and to wet his feed and hay down for 5 days and 1 steroid shot a day and stalled for 5 days. my boy was very board and so tired of daily shots... o and boy does he hate wet hay!!

So the vet leaves and I am getting the blanket and notice left over goat feed in the horse feed buckets!! I called the critter sitter and asked which feed barrel he fed the horses from?????? he feed them GOAT FEED!!! Ransom cant have textured feed cause he eats so fast that he WILL Aspirate the oats!!!! I was not a happy camper and DH took the phone away from me before I said something I shouldn't have!!! ALL mt feed barrels are marked!!! Horse feed, goat feed, chicken feed and dog food!!! how could ya mess that up??????
So now we have a 300.00 vet bill!!!
Ransom is fine and was turned out with his buddies yesterday. He ran and jumped and kicked up hs heals with joy... and ofcourse he just had to roll in the mud.... lol blanket and all!!

UGh feel for you! When Dad had his open heart done, DDs were doing the feeding and care while I took care of mom and trips to Indy to see dad. They were feeding sweet feed to my hens... no eggs, thin birds. I assumed they knew the differences, but no one was reading the labels. I'm with you, I have a very hard time leaving even for a day, I just cringe. Let alone stressing about my parents care, I have a 2 page instruction sheet for every animal species care. It never fails, something happens. We have even discussed giving up our campground of 17 years, its just not worth keeping if you can't enjoy going. My parents will not go camping, they hate it. I worry most for them, so I just stay home.

Cuddles update:
It was obvious after the 1st night that Cuddles had something that prevented her crop from emptying. Yesterday we tried to feed her HB bread with oil, egg with oil, yogurt & HB, & late last night tube fed 1 tb water w/ stool softener . She's so quiet & only pecks at food - not the usual gobble ASAP that we're used to. She's probably the only hen that dislikes moist/soft food - like applesauce & yogurt - but will still try to eat floor crud. Her crop was slowly emptying throughout the day & felt like chicken scratch or sand. Not one hard mass. I GENTLY massaged her crop but not sure how hard to do it. When getting ready to tube feed, she put her head down & liquid came out. After the tube feeding , she did some head shaking. (Stopped by morning.)

Her crop is much smaller & softer today. My biggest concern is that her abdomen is very big & hard. I wormed her (Valbazen) a few days ago, so perhaps there's a worm blockage. She's pooping some. The 3 parts are watery, dark greenish slimey, white slimey. Very smelly! I cleaned up her vent area with a warm bath. The vent looks small, dry, & tight like a non-layer. (Her last egg was Sept 1, 2015, followed by sickness, then molt.) Could it be egg bound? I'm afraid to check since the vent looks small.

Any suggestions to soften up the __?__ blockage? Her back end from just behind the legs to the vent is swollen & firm. She walks very slowly.

I would start giving her warm soaks right away. Hopefully, it will help relax her muscles enough to allow passage. I lost a LO hen to egg binding last year, caught me totally off guard. Hugs to you and prayers tor Cuddles.

Hey everyone. I haven't been on here in about 2 years. Had a baby. Moved. Busy busy. It will be nice to get to know everyone again. My avatar has me in Columbus Indiana, but I am now in Pierceton. We still have our 4 normal sized hens and our black bantam cochin Susie. Getting chick's this next week as our girls aren't all laying anymore. They are getting up there in age.

So good to see you!!! Life changes so much. Please always feel welcome here.

Well, today is ROOM REASSIGNMENT day! I have to draw some charts and figure out how best to move everyone to get the colors I want. Our refurbished small coop is ready to go once we move it again a few feet. Either the Jubilees or the chocolate cuckoo roo Hershey and some girls will go in there. Haven't decided yet!

Janet's lavender boy is about to be very, very busy. He already has 5 young hens with him (3 lav, 2 black or black split), and will inherit Cogburn's girls which are hinkjc, so he'll have 8 hens to service. I am doing some hatch testing to figure out whether the two blacks are "regular black" or black split to lav starting tomorrow. I honestly will be happy if they are both "regular" because I already have Cogburn and his two black split sisters.

Cogburn will get to be the mixed flock roo after I put Placido (my Jubilee roo) and Hershey (my chocolate cuckoo roo) into their own breeding pens. I think he'll enjoy that with 20 or so hens at his disposal.

AND my I'm firing up the incubator today and hope to set my first 40 or so eggs tomorrow. It includes BBS and lavender Orps as well as Bielefelders. The next batch will include Jubilees, chocolates/chocolate cuckoos, and mauves hopefully.

We had an interesting week. We went to Brown County State Park for a couple of days while they still had their 2 nights for 1 deal. We found a very nice and inexpensive place to board Beavis while we were there (I wish they had some pet friendly rooms and cabins there, but they don't). Then the day after we got back, we had dual colonoscopies. Thursday and yesterday were just miserable, and the older among you know what a blast it is both before and after.

I am so happy for the fella, he was such a sweet boy to the hens here, and a very dominant caring roo.
LOL not fun for the day after yuk! But a "have to" ugh.
Your LO fella has certainly become THE MAN of the free range flock, even the WL roo won't cross him.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Spent most of my day today worrying about Margie and her eggs. This morning, when I checked on her, she hopped off the nest and hurried out for a drink. She usually takes her break in the afternoon, but I went ahead and let her go then since she wanted to. Afterwards, though, she went to the perch in the lower part of the coop and just sat there, making her broody noises at anyone that got too close. I panicked and carried her back to her nest to make sure she wasn't quitting, and she did settle back down on the eggs, but that scared me! I have no idea how long she would have sat there off the nest if I hadn't intervened! I have my incubator set up and mostly ready, just need to put in the rails and plug it in, so if she does decide to quit I can at least save the babies.

But I'm obviously hoping she does not quit! Just a week and a half or so to go on those babies, not too much longer to hang on!

This, of course, means that the piles of homework I have to do for next week has hardly been touched.

I guess I'm going to have a busy Sunday...

Thats my only complaint about broody anything. I pretty much only let my scovy and geese brood, it seems like most of the others give up. My bourbon red turkeys have been good mothers also.

I need to do a project for my Writing in the Sciences class, and was curious to know if anyone knew a science-related professional with quick turnaround on letters. The last few intended interviewees cancelled on me, and I need to a rough draft by Thursday.



In other unrelated news:

• The lame roo has made no improvement even with tons and tons of b-vitamins.
• RK does in fact have up to 10 straight run chicks free after rebate.
• I picked up nine Brahmas because I'm stupid. The hope is that they are dark, but if they're light, I can use them for a sexlinked project next year with my buff Colombian roo.
• We picked up a 10x10 shed kit as Home Despot today, after much rigmarole and hullabaloo. It's going to be an huge improvement as a coop goes.
• Still no golden pheasants, but at least DH is getting the idea of what I'm looking for in a run/coop for them.
• Major Tom is calling for Ground Control, methinks. Going to have to look into getting some more sociable midget whites, but he's an ornery little stink.

I'm so sorry about the little roo. Sadly I think he may be splayed, if so he won't recover.
If you want to rethink and try bourbons, they are MUCH more social than MW. Thats one of the main reasons I decided to sell them, I want human social birds. MW were more flighty like leghorn chickens. I know I can rehome your fella with the new owner of the MWs and will be well cared for.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Lots of yard work today, a ton more tomorrow! Clearing the next pasture site and making sure there is no old metal, junk or broken glass in the next area. Just amazed at how many old car parts there is on this property. I want the option for good pasture rotation. We have a nice, seedy type orchard grass here and a general mix, very little clover except by the barn. My rotation will be.. cow, donkey and goat first, the pigs next, chickens last. so each one will be used, turned, scratched and reseeded.
Realistically the chickens really love the cow pasture because of the grain the cow, goats and donkey waste when they eat. Its crazy how they dart under the cow, and never get stepped on! I watched an EE, Buffy jump up on Fanny today and grab a fly right off her ear! That made me really happy, good girl Buffy! My EEs are laying, I found 2 EE eggs stashed in the goose's nest. Am quite sure my stinker found the EE eggs and added it to her brood. I am going to sneak in at night and candle the eggs under her, I bet she has at least 15.

 

[Crafty chick]

Oh kittydoc, I have always wanted lavender orps! So pretty, and I bet they are sweet like the buffs.

 

[daskhan]

Oh kittydoc, I have always wanted lavender orps! So pretty, and I bet they are sweet like the buffs.

Me too only if I wasn't so poor I'd buy like 6 of every kind lol

 

[pbirdhaven]

BBL but wanted to quickly share our new additions! She had 3, all healthy and eating like....pigs!

Man it took me forever to get caught up... lol hate it when I'm too busy to read post every day. Things are busy around here, with 5 bottles to be made every 4 hours and all the poo and pee cleaning to do, then there the entertaining them or they get into things they should not!!! ( sorry talking about goat kids ) Love it when the temp is high enough to let them go outside and play!!!!!!!! They sleep really well after a day outside... that means I get to sleep.
DH finally gave up on his lawsuit over his Knee... I think we have talked to every lawyer in the state and I few in ILL too. No one wants to take on a doctor that already has so many lawsuits against him it aint funny!! I don't get it but time is up now!! I'm kinda glad, at least we don't have to got to all these appointments, CT scans, blah blah blah. Now to add to the daily pain he is in arthritis has set in on top of it.
We took a day-cation last Saturday, We had to get a different critter sitter cause our normal one's were sick..... what a mess!!!!!! We got home too late to go and check on things real good, we just did a quick check to make sure everyone was alive and in where they belonged and went to bed.
The next morning at feed time Ransom ( my 16 year old horse ) was coughing... badly! I went to check on him and he was breathing heavily and sweating. I called the vet out and it was determined that he aspirated some feed. So the vet gave some shots, left some expensive antibiotics, ordered a blanket and to wet his feed and hay down for 5 days and 1 steroid shot a day and stalled for 5 days. my boy was very board and so tired of daily shots... o and boy does he hate wet hay!!

So the vet leaves and I am getting the blanket and notice left over goat feed in the horse feed buckets!! I called the critter sitter and asked which feed barrel he fed the horses from?????? he feed them GOAT FEED!!! Ransom cant have textured feed cause he eats so fast that he WILL Aspirate the oats!!!! I was not a happy camper and DH took the phone away from me before I said something I shouldn't have!!! ALL mt feed barrels are marked!!! Horse feed, goat feed, chicken feed and dog food!!! how could ya mess that up??????
So now we have a 300.00 vet bill!!!
Ransom is fine and was turned out with his buddies yesterday. He ran and jumped and kicked up hs heals with joy... and ofcourse he just had to roll in the mud.... lol blanket and all!!

Glad to hear that Ransom has revived!

 

[pbirdhaven]

Sudden death strikes again. I went out to feed today and my rescue peafowl pair were both dead, lying there cuddled together. Neither has appeared ill. I checked them for mites, signs of respiratory infection, weight loss--nothing. The only thing that I could think of is that they got hold of some bad feed, but seems that others would have gotten into that also, unless they found some that had spilled behind something and had spoiled.
I couldn't keep them for a necropsy; no way to get them to someone on a Saturday and I don't have refrigerator space for peafowl. Enjoyed them while I had them and will miss them, but I guess that's life on the mini-farm. I once had a peahen die while I was feeding--just fell off the roost.
I'm keeping an eye on everyone else, but all seem okay.

 

[Indyshent]

Sudden death strikes again. I went out to feed today and my rescue peafowl pair were both dead, lying there cuddled together. Neither has appeared ill. I checked them for mites, signs of respiratory infection, weight loss--nothing. The only thing that I could think of is that they got hold of some bad feed, but seems that others would have gotten into that also, unless they found some that had spilled behind something and had spoiled.
I couldn't keep them for a necropsy; no way to get them to someone on a Saturday and I don't have refrigerator space for peafowl. Enjoyed them while I had them and will miss them, but I guess that's life on the mini-farm. I once had a peahen die while I was feeding--just fell off the roost.
I'm keeping an eye on everyone else, but all seem okay.

I'm so sorry

 

[ellymayRans]

Sudden death strikes again.  I went out to feed today and my rescue peafowl pair were both dead, lying there cuddled together.  Neither has appeared ill.  I checked them for mites, signs of respiratory infection, weight loss--nothing.  The only thing that I could think of is that they got hold of some bad feed, but seems that others would have gotten into that also, unless they found some that had spilled behind something and had spoiled.
I couldn't keep them for a necropsy; no way to get them to someone on a Saturday and I don't have refrigerator space for peafowl.  Enjoyed them while I had them and will miss them, but I guess that's life on the mini-farm.  I once had a peahen die while I was feeding--just fell off the roost.
I'm keeping an eye on everyone else, but all seem okay.

Thats horrible Judy! Im so sorry! With both dying at the same time, would definitely suspect feed. That same thing happened to you not too long ago. Maybe store it differently?!?