Maine

[lazy gardener]

My flock's pop door has been closed for 3 days now. No sense opening it up, since the snow is up to the door, and if they came out, they'd end up being totally buried. Hubby still working in the yard. We have a guy who does our plowing, but he does not come reliably, and he does a poor job. After he got done, we had a 5' high combing in front of the house that we had to bust through so we could get out to work today. Tomorrow, I'll continue with the snow blower, and do the paths to the coop.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Hilton where are you.

Ran the blower and shoveled about 5 hours today. Got to the kitchen door. Successfully completed hostage negotiations over my dryer vent and the snow bank. Shoveled the chicken coop roof. Widened the driveway with the blower. Got the mailbox dug out. Dug out the spigot and to the front door. I am ready for tomorrow. I'm bushed.

 

[Hiltonizer]

South China

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I told my bf I wanted a bucket loader for my birthday.

 

[Hiltonizer]

The wife said I had a childish glow watching the machine. It's a serious piece of equipment... may have to take a mortgage out on the house to get one myself.

 

[buckabucka]

The roof of my chicken run broke under snow load today! It didn't entirely collapse, but a rafter snapped in half and it is hanging low. I shouldn't really be surprised, as the roof is quite flat and was hunky-junky construction. We shoveled it off, to prevent total failure. We'll need to build a stronger, steeper roof come spring.

I also have a rooster in my basement. The hens are always pulling feathers on his legs and feet, so it has become routine to spray his feet with blue kote. This time, though, the bleeding did not stop. We tried putting cornstarch on the wound and wrapping it, but this morning there was an alarming amount of blood all over the roost. DH caged him in the basement and bought some New Skin, but hadn't treated him yet.

This afternoon, we pulled him out of the cage and he didn't appear to be bleeding anymore. We soaked his feet for a bit and put some New Skin on him, but it was hard to tell where the blood had come from. Yesterday it looked like either the nail itself had broken, but it also looked bloody where the nail enters the skin. He refused to eat, so I left him alone.

An hour later, (after roof shoveling) he had totally devoured his food, but was bleeding again, blood dripping from his toenail. I tried more cornstarch and New Skin. Maybe the bleeding slowed down a little.

Tomorrow I plan to get some blood stop powder and super glue. If someone has a better idea, please speak up! I had hoped it would clot last night, but there was blood everywhere. We'll see how things look tomorrow morning.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I had a hen with a foot injury a few years back and I thought she was going to bleed out. Nothing stopped it but pressure. What I ended up doing worked - cut some gauze or a wash cloth up, cover with very tight vet wrap to keep pressure on it. You will likely rip the scab off and start it bleeding again once you rip the gauze/wash cloth off. What I did was wrap it real tight for about 8 hours, then just took the vet wrap off and rewrapped less tight for 2 days or so.

 

[CoopChick719]

I hope it's done snowing for a few days!!! DH was out plowing from 6AM Sun. to 6PM Mon. with about 4 hours of sleep if that. They just couldn't keep up w/that snow. We are fortunate to have a friend w/a bucket loader to help push back the bankings. DH is still cleaning up the driveway as I write this. I filled up feed & water Sun. night not sure if I'd be able to get out to the coop Mon. Tues night was nothing but roof raking & plowing until about 9Pm. Happy Valentines Day to us

Sorry to hear about your roo & pen, bucka!! Hope he's feeling better!

 

[buckabucka]

Now that I've purchased every blood stop, glue, and bandage, my rooster seems to have stopped bleeding. I'm going to give him one final clean-up tomorrow and put him back out in the flock. At least I will have a full range of treatments available for his next episode. DH picked up some "blue lotion" today, which appears to be like blue kote that you dab on, rather than a spray. I like that idea, since my spray has been frequently clogging and shooting out in random directions!

 

[lazy gardener]

4 weeks, 4 days till spring.