Keeping Chickens When You Have Arthritis.

[No More Empty Nest]

Hi everyone. I was just discussing this with @penny1960 over at the Old Folks Home and she gets credit for coming up with this idea for a thread.

I was just diagnosed today with osteoarthritis and borderline rheumatoid arthritis. Starting shots this week. In the meantime, I have a flock of over 50 birds who anxiously watch for the treat lady to show up every morning and afternoon with fresh water and goodies to eat.

I'm sure Penny and I aren't the only two people here on the forum with arthritis of one sort or another. Doctor's orders for me are to keep active, which I told him would be no problem.

Still I have noticed over the past year that it's getting harder to do the manual labor stuff that goes into flock keeping, and what I do hurts more than it did 6 months ago. I'm also dealing with loss of dexterity and strength in my hands.

I'm looking for ideas. How do you cut corners, make chores easier, what devices or remedies have really helped you as you deal with keeping a flock and dealing with joint and muscle pain.

I'll start things out with this idea. I have a little cart that my husband made for me along with a wagon that I use to haul feed and water from the feed room in our shop out to the birds. I'll get pictures tomorrow of both. The little cart is three wheeled and we are going to be adding different wheels to it to make it easier to push.

I also wear heavy wool gloves in the winter and do everything I can not to get my hands wet.

Looking forward to hearing other ideas and also feel free to discuss pain control, and obstacles you are encountering as you deal with joint pain along with flock care.

Omgosh!! I haven't read everything in this thread yet but just so happy to see it! I have rheumatoid arthritis. Under fair control right now. I started my mini flock in August this year. They're 14 weeks old. They get me out every day and bring me such joy. It's late now so I'll be back to read tomorrow, lol.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but neoprene gloves (like you’d wear scuba diving) have helped a lot to keep my hands warm and dry while watering the flock! Also, hubby got a four-wheeled Gorilla Cart to pull heavier loads.

And, like my PT says, “motion is lotion!”

 

[microchick]

Hope everyone survived Thanksgiving with minimal discomfort! @penny1960 you made a good point. Dealing with the holidays is stressful for somebody suffering from joint disease. Make sure to get plenty of rest everyone an try to delegate some of the work to to others.

@animalyodelers everyone is welcomed to join in, sufferers and non sufferers alike. Sounds like you are dealing with your own demons when it comes to joint pain. I love the neoprene glove idea. We woke up to 7 degree temps this morning so I will be pulling on heavy gloves. The other day I pulled a rubber glove on over my outside gloves to keep my hand dry while I watered the birds. It really helped keep my hand dry and warm.

In the mean time DH presented me with news that he had ordered a dump wagon for me to use to haul water up to the coops and to do chores around the farm as a Christmas gift. It's one of those with a heavy duty plastic 'buckets'. I can hardly wait to get it!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

@microchick your dump wagon sounds like mine! Hope it has the big knobby tires too. It’ll make a huge difference. Great idea about pulling on rubber gloves over your warm gloves, I never would have thought of that! I think a trip to Walmart is on the to-do list for this week!

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Hi everyone. So happy to have found this thread! Introduction time: I'm 64, was diagnosed almost 3 years ago with seropositive RA. It took 2 1/2 years to find a med that worked. Started with methotrexate and had a terrible reaction to it, lung problems, fevers. Then went to Humira with increasing dose (well actually the same dose per shot but taking them closer together in time). Never worked. Still could hardly walk any distance at all. Then tried Cimzia. Btw, all drug choices were the insurance companies choices, not my doc's. Finally found Orencia and I'm doing really well on it. Have been on it over 6 months now and I have my life back. I still have days when I'm tired or hands hurt more than other days, but it's tolerable now. My level of tolerable pain is so much different than pre RA, lol.

I live in the city so I only have 1 coop and only allowed 4 chickens, I have 5. They're 14 weeks old now and they are so much fun. My daughter built my coop for me, my husband is not an animal type of person so was not so thrilled, lol. He now thinks they're ok. My daughter has chickens so thought it was great that I wanted them too.
I have bantams. 3 EEs, 1 mottled cochin, and a white crested black Polish. I lucked out and they are all pullets. Can't have roosters. The EEs are Pearl, Jade, and Opal. The Cochin is Diamond and the Polish is, of course, Amber...there's a lot of great amber in Poland, lol.

I also am a nurse. I had to give up direct patient care when diagnosed so went into phone triage. I worked in a pediatric clinic at the time. I slowly decreased my hours due to hand pain from the computer work and not finding a good med until I totally retired last August. Not doing patient care was a BIG blow, it was who I was. I never wanted to go into management or teaching or anything else. I loved what I did, whether in the hospital or in a clinic, I loved it. Retiring early is a blow too, although I do like not having to obey an alarm clock anymore.

This is getting to be a long introduction, I'll just add that I have bad osteo arthitis in my lower back with beginning spinal stenosis too. My knees have no cartilage left and I've been doing fairly well with the fake joint fluid injections (hyaluronic acid) into them. Steroid injections stopped working. So it's knee replacement time next year. Lots and lots of wear and tear in nursing, lol. Plus genetics, no RA in my family but my Dad had bad osteo, knees and back like me.

 

[microchick]

Welcome @nomoreemptynest! So glad to have you join our little circle and at the same time sorry you are having to deal with the same challenges most of us are dealing with!

My wagon is something like this:

Only I think the one he showed me is yellow maybe?

I did the rubber glove over both hands this morning, put them on over my gloves and it worked like a charm. No wet gloves, hands warm. Only one little tear on the back where a juvenile pullet panicked when I picked her up and gave me a quick bite. She gave up when she realized she wasn't biting skin. So that experiment was a success. I will probably pick up some 'chore' rubber gloves next time I'm out also so I can get them over thicker gloves.

Also a tip I wanted to pass on. Two years ago I took a spill on black ice and broke a rib. No fun at all. After that, DH bought a box of hex drive quarter inch sheet metal screws and proceeded to screw them into the soles of a pair of old boots of mine. The soles were thick treaded and by the time he was finished I had a set of ice boots to wear.

These are fantastic! I wear them when ever I am dealing with icy conditions outside and they dig in like the expensive ones you can buy on line at a fraction of the cost.

If anyone is interested I will take pictures and post.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hi everyone. So happy to have found this thread! Introduction time: I'm 64, was diagnosed almost 3 years ago with seropositive RA. It took 2 1/2 years to find a med that worked. Started with methotrexate and had a terrible reaction to it, lung problems, fevers. Then went to Humira with increasing dose (well actually the same dose per shot but taking them closer together in time). Never worked. Still could hardly walk any distance at all. Then tried Cimzia. Btw, all drug choices were the insurance companies choices, not my doc's. Finally found Orencia and I'm doing really well on it. Have been on it over 6 months now and I have my life back. I still have days when I'm tired or hands hurt more than other days, but it's tolerable now. My level of tolerable pain is so much different than pre RA, lol.

I live in the city so I only have 1 coop and only allowed 4 chickens, I have 5. They're 14 weeks old now and they are so much fun. My daughter built my coop for me, my husband is not an animal type of person so was not so thrilled, lol. He now thinks they're ok. My daughter has chickens so thought it was great that I wanted them too.
I have bantams. 3 EEs, 1 mottled cochin, and a white crested black Polish. I lucked out and they are all pullets. Can't have roosters. The EEs are Pearl, Jade, and Opal. The Cochin is Diamond and the Polish is, of course, Amber...there's a lot of great amber in Poland, lol.

I also am a nurse. I had to give up direct patient care when diagnosed so went into phone triage. I worked in a pediatric clinic at the time. I slowly decreased my hours due to hand pain from the computer work and not finding a good med until I totally retired last August. Not doing patient care was a BIG blow, it was who I was. I never wanted to go into management or teaching or anything else. I loved what I did, whether in the hospital or in a clinic, I loved it. Retiring early is a blow too, although I do like not having to obey an alarm clock anymore.

This is getting to be a long introduction, I'll just add that I have bad osteo arthitis in my lower back with beginning spinal stenosis too. My knees have no cartilage left and I've been doing fairly well with the fake joint fluid injections (hyaluronic acid) into them. Steroid injections stopped working. So it's knee replacement time next year. Lots and lots of wear and tear in nursing, lol. Plus genetics, no RA in my family but my Dad had bad osteo, knees and back like me.

I am 7 weeks out from my second knee replacement. I also have replaced shoulders. The one they want to reverse the implant because I have no functioning rotator cuff. My first knee was harder because they had to remove dead bone caused by chemotherapy. This knee is doing much better. Mine is all from wear and tear, and perhaps a twist of juvenile diabetes.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Welcome @nomoreemptynest! So glad to have you join our little circle and at the same time sorry you are having to deal with the same challenges most of us are dealing with!

My wagon is something like this:

Only I think the one he showed me is yellow maybe?

I did the rubber glove over both hands this morning, put them on over my gloves and it worked like a charm. No wet gloves, hands warm. Only one little tear on the back where a juvenile pullet panicked when I picked her up and gave me a quick bite. She gave up when she realized she wasn't biting skin. So that experiment was a success. I will probably pick up some 'chore' rubber gloves next time I'm out also so I can get them over thicker gloves.

Also a tip I wanted to pass on. Two years ago I took a spill on black ice and broke a rib. No fun at all. After that, DH bought a box of hex drive quarter inch sheet metal screws and proceeded to screw them into the soles of a pair of old boots of mine. The soles were thick treaded and by the time he was finished I had a set of ice boots to wear.

These are fantastic! I wear them when ever I am dealing with icy conditions outside and they dig in like the expensive ones you can buy on line at a fraction of the cost.

If anyone is interested I will take pictures and post.

They do sell cleats for boots that can be attached to any shoes. I haven't been smart enough to use them yet. I always hope I won't fall down again.

That's a nice dump wagon. Unfortunately snow gets too deep here. I carry out plastic watering cans when I need hot water because they are easier for me to hold and handle.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I am 7 weeks out from my second knee replacement. I also have replaced shoulders. The one they want to reverse the implant because I have no functioning rotator cuff. My first knee was harder because they had to remove dead bone caused by chemotherapy. This knee is doing much better. Mine is all from wear and tear, and perhaps a twist of juvenile diabetes.

Many moons ago when I was young and stupid, I was heavily intoxicated and needed to take a leak.... we were in a car on the highway but I had to go NOW so driver pulled over. It was dark and I managed to stumble right into a ditch, didn't judge the distance down below because I couldn't see so my leg kept extending to make contact and then I heard a very loud, "POP!". I swear it sounded like a firecracker went off, it was loud. Anyway, it's been years now and thankfully even after that loud pop in my knee, it didn't seem to affect me at all. My question is, what exactly made that loud pop noise from my knee and should I be worry about it further down the road?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Many moons ago when I was young and stupid, I was heavily intoxicated and needed to take a leak.... we were in a car on the highway but I had to go NOW so driver pulled over. It was dark and I managed to stumble right into a ditch, didn't judge the distance down below because I couldn't see so my leg kept extending to make contact and then I heard a very loud, "POP!". I swear it sounded like a firecracker went off, it was loud. Anyway, it's been years now and thankfully even after that loud pop in my knee, it didn't seem to affect me at all. My question is, what exactly made that loud pop nose from my knee and should I be worry about it further down the road?

I'm not a doctor, , but my guess would be a tendon popped. They can make snappy noises and feelings. If there's no residual pain I wouldn't worry about it.