Keeping Chickens When You Have Arthritis.

[dotporter]

Have you tried a nice hot soak in an epsom salt bath?

 

[Tesumph]

Great thread idea! I don’t have arthritis but I’m constantly looking for these little shortcut hacks to make life that much easier. I’m a young old lady, 20 but dealing with undiagnosed seizures and some other chronic issues that come with a lot of pain and fatigue. We got chickens (again) for the sole purpose of getting me out of the house, both for physical and mental health. I know my illness won’t keep me down forever, but it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who gets out of bed just for my chickens on some days.

As for shortcuts, DLM is my biggest focus. I have a huge run for my small amount of birds and I expect to basically never need to clean it out. It’s been a lot of work getting it up and running but I think it’s worth it, I only need to scoop out my coop and toss the shavings into the run as needed. Totally predator proofing the run is another big deal; right now I often have to ask hubby to lock them up every night, but when they’re bigger we will just leave the door open.
I also have an automatic waterer that I haven’t put up yet because I’m missing a hose attachment. It’s a PVC nipple waterer that directly connects to the hose, no dumping or refilling necessary with constant fresh water. (Not my pic)

I too use a big plastic tote for food that is kept next to the coop, but mine is an actual dog food storage container with airtight seals and latches. The raccoons are almost as bad as the ants around here.

 

[nikkers390]

We all have our personal demons no doubt but also know we can stay active with our birds we will not lay down die !

Amen to that!!
Here it is just my husband and myself.
DH is also disabled and a teensy spoiled. he does, though, keep himself busy most of the time. We have 5 acres. He uses the tractor to bush hog the property, maintains the equipment, built our solar system from scratch and maintains the electrical and mechanical things around the house. He's great that way but don't ask him to toast bread or pick up after himself.
I have terrifying visions of life without my poultry. I can see myself becoming a full time house keeper, maid, cook, laundress, bookkeeper and altogether compliant to DH's needs.
Even when I was young and rearing four children, my motto was:
i'd rather shovel POOP than do housework.
I find "womanly" domestic duties to be mind-numbingly repetitive and terminally BORING. Even at my age, I'd rather wear myself out doing outside work than
never-ending house work.
Needless to say, my kids learned EARLY to do for themselves.
My birds give me a purpose, plans for the future and the will to carry on.

 

[Latestarter]

Great thread idea! Thanks for those who have joined/contributed! My primary care physician at my last appt told me that I have beginning stage osteoarthritis. The pain in my hands & wrists, as well as knees and ankles, sometimes makes it difficult to do many things. Initially I thought it was my gout spreading and the doc let me believe it. For the past several weeks, my right hand and wrist has been so swollen and sore that I can barely grip a coffee mug. Used to be able to swing a hammer all day, not so much anymore. At one point about 7 months ago I had to drive to the VA ER, 2 hours away, and they gave me 2 shots, one in each butt cheek and put me on steroids to get me back to "normal". But they never told me a diagnosis...

I don't have a DW, so am here by myself. It's really starting to sink in that I have to be extra careful because if I do something really stupid, there's no one here to "fix it". Though I still forget, I really need to start forcing myself to carry my cell phone with me when I'm out working around the place. It's the only way I could get help if I needed it.

 

[Tesumph]

Great thread idea! Thanks for those who have joined/contributed! My primary care physician at my last appt told me that I have beginning stage osteoarthritis. The pain in my hands & wrists, as well as knees and ankles, sometimes makes it difficult to do many things. Initially I thought it was my gout spreading and the doc let me believe it. For the past several weeks, my right hand and wrist has been so swollen and sore that I can barely grip a coffee mug. Used to be able to swing a hammer all day, not so much anymore. At one point about 7 months ago I had to drive to the VA ER, 2 hours away, and they gave me 2 shots, one in each butt cheek and put me on steroids to get me back to "normal". But they never told me a diagnosis...

I don't have a DW, so am here by myself. It's really starting to sink in that I have to be extra careful because if I do something really stupid, there's no one here to "fix it". Though I still forget, I really need to start forcing myself to carry my cell phone with me when I'm out working around the place. It's the only way I could get help if I needed it.

I think many of us with chronic issues refuse to let it truly “sink in” hehe. I’ve gotten myself into quite a bit of trouble working outdoors on the run in this heat, I often forget my phone or am too sheepish to ask for help when I push it too far.
I get hell for it regularly from hubs.
It really is being trapped between a rock and a hard place when you feel that claustrophobic “rotting indoors” sensation coming on, but your physical health is on the line.

 

[Morrigan]

I'm only in my 50s and doing pretty well, although I'm starting to notice that I can't do as much as I used to, and the it takes me longer to heal from strains and minor injuries.

I'm incredibly inspired by all the stories I read here of perseverance and motivation to live your lives as fully and actively as you can. I am taking these to heart as I hope to follow in your footsteps.

 

[cmom]

I'm 72 years young and in a wheelchair. Luckily I can walk a few steps without too much pain.
My coop and pens are about 75 yards from my hfouse.
I use a golf cart to haul food and other supplies.
The food is kept in metal trash cans on my back porch.
I use kitty litter buckets and fill as many as I need as heavy as I can carry them. I bring them to the lift in my chair and transfer the buckets to the golf cart.
My husband ran water close to the coop and I have a hose going to each of the 3 pens so I don't have to drag the hose around.
I do not my bring the cart into the pens. One, it will not fit, two, it's death on chickens.
I keep an old wheelchair in each pen so I can move the buckets to the feeders and rest when I need to. I collect the eggs and bring them to the golf cart. You would be surprised how moving things around in a wheelchair makes hard jobs easier.
It takes a while to feed and water the 2 pens of roughly 70 chickens and chicks and a pen for 6 geese.
At times I get some help but mostly, I do it myself. Hubby hates the chickens so no help there.
I try to plan my duties so I get as much done with the least amount of effort.
Frankly, I enjoy my time with the chickens. It is hard work but I will keep doing this as long as I can.
chickens rule!!!

Downsizing is always on my mind.
I hatch a lot of eggs every year. I wind up giving many chicks away when I get overwhelmed. I keep many i like, to see which is female and which is male. Unsurprisingl, I get more males than i could ever use.
Problem is I agonize about giving away these beautiful roosters. If I could, I would keep them all. I do not eat my birds. Eggs is the reason I keep chickens and eye candy.
Spring chicks are getting to laying age and many will have to go.

You are my inspiration...
This year was a late hatch for me and I only hatched out about half of what I have hatched out in the past years, plus I'm about 6 months late in my hatching. I have to do everything because my husband has parkinson's so he has no balance and shakes. We are both in our 70's. I'm in my early 70's and he is in his late 70's. My joints are shot. My doctor wanted to do knee replacement but I didn't do it. I do take something for my joints which I think helps and I rub in horse liniment. I have processed some of my males but with just hubby and me it takes a long time to eat them. Now I sell most of my males. I used to have a place I could take them and sell them but last spring they closed, so now I take some to poultry shows where I show my birds and a couple farm swaps I go to, to sell them. I take a few at a time. I love my boys too but just can't keep them all. I feed the birds once a week. Their feed is in hanging feeders in their coops. Here are some old pictures. More coops have been added since these were taken.

This is a more current picture. We planted the trees several years ago and now we have shade in all of the pens. There are also shade/rain tables for the birds to get under and they do.

Chick coop.

This is the easiest coop to clean out the poop pit.

These are moveable. We put the auto waterers in them and can hook them up to a hose.

My plan was to reside all of the coops with the metal but only did these. All of the coops do have metal roofs. They were some shingles and some with rolled roofing. The roofs were getting old and I had a couple that had started leaking. I was up on them patching them. I'm to old to get up on the roofs anymore.

 

[cmom]

Hubby doesn't really care about the birds except our Gladys.

 

[Kfults]

I agree with the housework! Rather piddle in yard with container garden and chickens then be in house. I have 12 yr old neighbor twins who love to come over and do anything! They help me clean, I pay the each and let them swim in my pool whenever they want! They also help me with the chickens anytime there is a project. Love those girls!

 

[Kfults]

I think many of us with chronic issues refuse to let it truly “sink in” hehe. I’ve gotten myself into quite a bit of trouble working outdoors on the run in this heat, I often forget my phone or am too sheepish to ask for help when I push it too far.
I get hell for it regularly from hubs.
It really is being trapped between a rock and a hard place when you feel that claustrophobic “rotting indoors” sensation coming on, but your physical health is on the line.

When I have a good day I tend to do too much and suffer for days after! Bad days I feed water chickens and water garden then rest ( rainy days are a blessing when I feel bad! Don’t have to water containers! )

Morning all!

I am really amazed at how many people are coping with chronic pain that goes along with RA and OA. I too got started with chickens in order to stay active. I'm not much of a winter person. If I didn't have to haul myself out to take care of them I'd go into hibernation like an old bear.

I also like all the suggestions about moving things closer to my coops so I'm not making trips back and forth to the house for things.

But what I've noticed is most everyone has a significant other to help them out. I've always been a very independent person so it's hard for me to do that but my husband is very willing to help me out and even help with the feeding and watering if the need arises.

@Kfults, I too am a retired nurse. When my husband told me he was ready to retire (he is an eye doc and I worked in his office with him as office nurse/manager) he asked me if I was going to retire also as I was just 60 at the time. I told him yes I was I could not physically do the clinical work anymore. My license was due for renewal later that year and when it came, I checked 'inactive' and mailed it back. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be and when people ask me if I miss it I answer with a resounding NO!

@penny1960 I wish I could get my birds to use the water nipples but they are as dumb as a bag of rocks. I tried everything to get them to use them and they just couldn't catch on. Plus we have pretty hard winters here and I'd be forever dealing with freezing. I use the heated dog watering bowls with good results.

What do you guys do on high 'pain' days to get yourselves up and moving?

Today for me is a foot pain day. I've been up for 1 and 1/2 hours and the pain just doesn't want to settle down. I'll take a couple of aspirin, which will help but don't want to take my big gun Tramadol till later in the day. I think I'm going to try the no sugar diet for inflammation which will be hard for me as I have a sweet tooth. I don't eat a lot of sugar now. Just a little Captain Crunch sprinkled over my bran flakes so they don't make me gag. Then I'm sugar free for the rest of the day.

Has anybody modified their diet to fit their condition?

Everyone is telling me to keep my license active with continuing education, haven’t brought myself to do it. I know I can not go back. My disability insurance only approved 2 years based on spinal stenosis. After that they say I can get a desk job. That was before my RA/OA diagnosis. I plan to fight it, I paid years for the policy not dreaming I would ever use it.
For pain I take 800 Motrin as needed once or twice a day. I have big gun meds but fear opioid addiction. This pain is chronic, can’t take opioids long term without addiction so I have trained myself to deal with it. I use a meditation app that works wonders! Helps center my mind and reduces suffering which also takes my mind off pain for awhile. I didn’t think it would help at first but it does! Prednisone helps for flares but we are weaning me off which is tough- waiting for methotrexate to kick in.
My diet sucks, I am a carb eater when I am hurting. I know it doesn’t help.
The chickens and fresh air help prevent depression. No one has mentioned depression from chronic pain, I will.... before I quit working I considered suicide. I thought there was no way to stop working and I had gotten to the end of my rope with pain and fatigue. God has been so good thru all this and has met our financial needs and gives me strength to keep going to the doctor for answers and treatments. I am learning to lean on him and enjoy the little things in life. My nursing was my whole world ( empty nest ) I was so devoted and goal oriented. I felt like a failure in so many ways leaving my job as Director of an ER with 50 employees under me. God has shown me he had prepared for such a time as this and I can still serve him in little ways and have a fulfilling life. Sorry so long!