Keeping Chickens When You Have Arthritis.

[cmom]

I was keeping my feed out at the coop to save hauling it up from the shop every day but had to move my garbage cans (those puppies hold 100 pounds of food!) back down to the shop due to a raccoon trying to get into them and tearing up my work area. Got rid of the Raccoon but there are always more in the wings here.

@cmom, I'm sorry to hear that you DH has PD. We lost a dear friend to it two years ago. Not to the PD directly but to a fall caused by the PD. Does your husband see a motion specialist? I was talking to our late friend's wife not too long ago and she said that the motion (may be movement) specialist that her husband saw helped him more than any other doc that he went to.

As for being forgetful, welcome to the club! Seriously, I have note books that I stage around the house so I can write things down. The worst was when I had Lyme disease and it affected my memory horribly. I was working with my husband at the time as his office manager/nurse and had a notebook that I kept on my desk. I didn't have to write down whole sentences, just catch words that would spur my memory on. It worked quite well. We found the notebook recently and flipped through it. He was amazed how I managed to keep track of things while I was so sick.

It's tough being a care giver on top of having age related pain to deal with. I was a care giver to both of my parents for almost 20 years between the two of them. Make sure to take care of the care giver. With all you do or try to do you sound a lot like me. Promise?

@Sequel we have the frost free hydrants. The only problem we have from them is that the o-rings wear out and they start to leak. Replacing them is a pain in the back side.

How do you guys deal with opening bags and dumping them in containers? I usually have to ask DH to help and carry a pocket knife with me but they sure don't make it easy for us old folk!

Hubby is 80. In years past I took care of my father until he passed away and my mother-in-law. My mother passed away when she was 55 and my father-in-law was 69 when he passed. My father was 71 and my mother-in-law was 94. In her later years it was a struggle as she developed dementia. I'm not complaining I did what I had to do.

I have a lot of birds. Currently over 400 counting the youngsters. Going to sell some of the young males on Saturday. I leave the feed in the bags until I feed the birds. I buy around 1000 lbs of feed monthly. Before I converted the feed shed into a coop I stored the feed in it in buckets. It is easier for me to work out of the buckets. Most of the coops have 40# feeders in them and I have a dozen coops. A lot of work. Not complaining. Luckily I have people who usually buy my birds when I have some to sell. It helps to offset the cost of the feed especially selling the excess males. I do keep the best as future breeders. I don't know how many more years I can do this but will keep going as long as I can. It is a joy for me to set up my breeding pens every year and see how the chicks turn out from my breeding selections. I don't usually hatch this late in the year but I put some RIW eggs in a small homemade styrofoam incubator that I made out of a cooler. It works good. I have a cabinet incubator but didn't want to fire it up for 2 1/2 dozen eggs. I didn't have a good RIW hatch so I put another male in with the hens. We will see.

 

[cmom]

I let my 3 year old grandson scoop out as much of the bag as he has patience for. Turns out to be quite a lot! About the time he wants to do something else I can lift the bag and dump the rest. Actually I can lift the bags but my coop is up the hill from the house and garage so as long as I get it carried to the coop I’m good. I can lift the bags but don’t want to risk a back injury doing so.

I have a lawn tractor I use with a trailer to move my feed. I also have a smaller cart I use to move bags of feed with. I can't carry them far either so I put them on the cart. I use the cart for anything I can't carry.

 

[ronott1]

Hubby is 80. In years past I took care of my father until he passed away and my mother-in-law. My mother passed away when she was 55 and my father-in-law was 69 when he passed. My father was 71 and my mother-in-law was 94. In her later years it was a struggle as she developed dementia. I'm not complaining I did what I had to do.

I have a lot of birds. Currently over 400 counting the youngsters. Going to sell some of the young males on Saturday. I leave the feed in the bags until I feed the birds. I buy around 1000 lbs of feed monthly. Before I converted the feed shed into a coop I stored the feed in it in buckets. It is easier for me to work out of the buckets. Most of the coops have 40# feeders in them and I have a dozen coops. A lot of work. Not complaining. Luckily I have people who usually buy my birds when I have some to sell. It helps to offset the cost of the feed especially selling the excess males. I do keep the best as future breeders. I don't know how many more years I can do this but will keep going as long as I can. It is a joy for me to set up my breeding pens every year and see how the chicks turn out from my breeding selections. I don't usually hatch this late in the year but I put some RIW eggs in a small homemade styrofoam incubator that I made out of a cooler. It works good. I have a cabinet incubator but didn't want to fire it up for 2 1/2 dozen eggs. I didn't have a good RIW hatch so I put another male in with the hens. We will see.

That is a lot of birds! Impressive for having arthritis and the DW with Parkinson's disease

 

[cmom]

Every year I say I'm going to hatch less but never seem to accomplish it. I look for ways to make things a little easier. I have aches and pain and most of my joints are shot but manage it pretty well. DH does ok. He likes to work in the gardens and on his tractors. He gets stuck sometimes and I have to go rescue him but all is well.

 

[ronott1]

Every year I say I'm going to hatch less but never seem to accomplish it. I look for ways to make things a little easier. I have aches and pain and most of my joints are shot but manage it pretty well. DH does ok. He likes to work in the gardens and on his tractors. He gets stuck sometimes and I have to go rescue him but all is well.

I keep moving too and hopefully that will help!

 

[Sequel]

I keep moving too and hopefully that will help!

Moving is so important! Avoiding injury is too! I had some worn out rubber shoes on and slipped on a rotten fig hiding in the grass last fall and ended up on crutches most of winter into spring. Keep shoes up to date whatever else you do!

 

[ronott1]

Moving is so important! Avoiding injury is too! I had some worn out rubber shoes on and slipped on a rotten fig hiding in the grass last fall and ended up on crutches most of winter into spring. Keep shoes up to date whatever else you do!

I do have to be careful about falling. Sometimes my right foot will hit a crack in the sidewalk because it does not lift enough

 

[microchick]

I do that also. For some reason my left foot catches on things and I wind up sprawled flat on my face.

I generally use my two garden wagons to drag things around but I admitted to DH recently that a 4 wheeler was starting to sound better and better all the time.

It was the same for me @cmom when it came to being a caregiver. I went through some health problems in my early 20s that lodged me in bed for 6 months. My parents took care of me then. When their needs arose I took care of them. No regrets either other than I would have found help if I had it to do all over again.

400 birds.....

 

[ronott1]

I do that also. For some reason my left foot catches on things and I wind up sprawled flat on my face.

I generally use my two garden wagons to drag things around but I admitted to DH recently that a 4 wheeler was starting to sound better and better all the time.

It was the same for me @cmom when it came to being a caregiver. I went through some health problems in my early 20s that lodged me in bed for 6 months. My parents took care of me then. When their needs arose I took care of them. No regrets either other than I would have found help if I had it to do all over again.

400 birds.....

What kind of 4 wheeler would you get?

 

[henless]

@cmom - Whoa! That's a lot of birds!! I hope you have them for many more years. They do bring a lot of joy.

I have downsized my coop. I've gone from 3 10x10 coops w/10x20 runs down to just one coop/run. We got a 6x8 storage shed back in April, and converted it into a chicken coop. We added an 8x20 covered run. I have 5 chickens left from last year, and they seem to really like it. Since it is smaller, I've added a poop board in the coop. I fill it with sweet pdz and clean it every morning like a litter box. I have pine shavings on the floor and this fall I'll be putting leaves out in the run.

My garden has done really well this year. I have 6 cinder block raised beds and I've been canning like crazy out of them. It's starting to slow down a bit with the hot weather we have.

Some things I use to help me with gardening or chicken raising: For my chickens, I water them with a 5 gallon bucket with horizontal nipples. I usually refill it once a week to keep the water fresh, but it could go for 2 weeks or longer with just 5 birds. For their feed, I use a clear tote that holds 50 lbs of feed. Taking out the daily feeding & watering really helps. I still give them daily treats, greens out of the garden or kitchen scraps. Not having to fill a dirty flip waterer every day really helps. Sometimes my hands don't work so well and they are hard to unscrew & carry when full.

For the garden, I have a couple of wagons. A little red wagon that was my granddaughters and a garden wagon. That thing is so easy to pull. I love it! I just wish mine had sides. I also have a couple of wheelbarrows, one has the double wheels. It's a little harder to turn, but much harder to tip over. We also have a side x side that I use A LOT. I use it to haul off stuff or bring in the feed from the suv. We have a little trailer that attaches to it when I need to haul something bigger that won't fit in the back.

It gets a little harder each year to do things, so I make adjustments all the time.