Is anyone else raising fall broilers? Our chicks came today: 8/18

[Boichik86]

Normally its colder here in CT this time of year, but we're experiencing an indian summer this year. I imagine its going to get bitter around january/february like it did last year. We had 60 -70 degree days all the way thru december, then, all of a sudden winter hit all at once in Jan with record breaking 3ft of sow fall in one night! But then again you know what they say about the weather in New England! And to all of you Mass-holes out there, yes CT IS part of New England

 

[Boichik86]

OMG everyone! one of my 2 1/2 week old meaties got trapped outside the brooding pen and stuck in the rain while I was away today. I came home and it appeared to be quite dead; limp, flat, soaked to the bone, and just plain stone cold dead. No pulse, no breathing. I held her my left hand and shook my right hand skyward and shouted "God-**** it! Can't I get a single break!?" Just then, and this is the gospel truth, just before I had resolved to bury her, I felt a twitch in her tail! It couldn't be! Was this a desperate figment of my imagination? Just to be sure, I wrapped my mouth around her little beak and inflated her ever so gently....A twitch! Her leg just twitched! I told myself "don't get your hopes up, just the death spasms that animals experience just post-mortem". But something told me to persist, I kept giving steady, gentle breaths, and gently depressing her keel. Within a few short breaths, there was a kick! A decided kick! And to my amazement she managed a few shallow breaths and then stopped. This was the second chance I was praying for! I called my boyfriend Jorge, who was already there and watching in amazement, to run inside and put some hot-pacs in the microwave. I lowered her into a basin of warm water, and she started moving! Just some twitching in the wings and legs, when her body matched the temperature of the water, I wrapped her in a dry, warm towel and placed it over the hot-pacs. Then, a little peep could be heard. The weakest, saddest, little peep you ever did hear..I started to gently rub her, first directly with my hand under the towel, then with the towel. She started peeping weakly but contentedly. I fed her a little hot chai tea with lemon and honey. She was thirsty and drank immediately. She was coming-to rapidly, her pupils were huge! Soon she was demanding water and peeping loudly. I draped some mylar over her and wrapped her snugly in her towel. She soon went from laying on her side to sitting up, and huddling her now dry head into her fluff and sleeping soundly. She is going to sleep indoors tonight while her nest mates huddle under the only spot under the tarp where rain is pooling...

Uggh...They are all dry and warm..for now....Anyways, I would have never thought to perform CPR on a chicken if it were not for the PBS documentary, the Natural History of the Chicken. There is a vignette in the documentary of a Maine woman resuscitating her chicken after it becomes frozen in a blizzard. So to all of you who find a chilled, apparently dead chicken, do not bury it immediately! There may still be hope! All praises unto God, Omnipotent and Merciful!

 

[Buster52]

Never mind. Didn't realize this was an old thread.