Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

That is odd.
Especially as you're not using lights?

Right on. I don't use lights. The older girls should be around moult time I fear the moults will start when the temps drop an it gets cold.

 

[Candy442]

My bantam hens and pullets have gone on strike; one egg in two weeks from twelve females! My standard pullets are laying, but not real well. Only nine eggs today...
Mary

Us too, Mary. We don't use any lights at all though, we like to give our girls a break in the winter especially when they work so hard at moulting ! We have enough to give us eggs to eat until spring and then BAM, two dozen in a day

 

[ijon]

One stinking egg from a new pullet.

 

[1muttsfan]

I was down to zero eggs until yesterday, now I have one hen back in business after a general molt. One of my Delawares was half-bald for the last 2 weeks, I was quite worried about her during the cold snaps we've had, but those Deles are tough old birds. Her pins are starting to open and the skin is mostly covered now. I also had to buy a dozen eggs, from my chicken friend who has a much larger flock and uses lights.

I do put a light on out in the coop, but not until end of February when everyone has had a laying break. Eggs in the winter tend to freeze in the nest box before I get home from work anyway.

 

[Folly's place]

Happily, it's usually not that cold here, so frozen eggs aren't as big a problem for us. Sometimes, yes, but not all the time. Besides, we all love winter, right?!
Today one of the mid-sized hawks arrived in the front yard, and I gave him a pep talk about getting some of the house wrens we have here. So many house wrens!
No chickens were harmed, yeah!
Mary

 

[bigmrg74]

Bah!! They're the GORRAM Lions...

Mom has had a rough week. about last sunday she started to get one heck of a headache. Went into see her doctor and though that it was a sinus infection. She goes and gets some antibotics and whatnot. Later on she still has the headache and is throwning up, dry heaving, and very nauseous. Tried to talk her into going in Thursday to get checked out, but opted to call her doctor about her getting some anti-nausea Meds. Did notice that her eye looked a little puffy then. Friday morning the eye is worse, like she had been hit in the face. Talked her into getting checked out by a doctor and pretty much as soon as we wheeled her back to the doctor in Tecumseh he said Shingles.

All around her face and around the eye, and that she should go up to UM hospital in AA to get checked out as they would have the only eye doctors on site to get her checked out to make sure that the infection hasn't gotten into the eyeball itself, where it could lead to blindness. Dragged her up to UM and whatnot, got her some more meds to take and an ointment for her right eye as well. Saturday night she started getting puffy on the left side around the Eye, pretty much made the decision that we would be going back to UM Sunday morning. Got over there this morning and the left eye was starting to swell to the point where she was having trouble seeing out of it as well. That and it was hard enough to open up her right eye to get her ointment in on that side. Packed her up and got her to the ER at UM.

At first they was thinking that it was a bacterial infection on top of the shingles infection just from how bad everything looked. But after some testing they just said that it was just inflammation from around the right eye drawing in so much fluid into around the eye that some of the fluid just leaked over around the left eye. They gave her an IV and infused some meds into her system. Got her to feeling better and it even knocked down some of the puffiness around her eyes some. Left her overnight for observation, but seems to have gotten her appetite back now.

Needless to say, if you haven't gotten your vaccine for shingles, I would suggest that you look into that soon.

 

[aart]

Yikes!
Sounds really rough.
Hang in there.

 

[chickflick]

Hope your mother is feeling better soon, Matt.
I wasn't getting any eggs from my girls for several weeks. A couple were molting, but the young ones weren't laying either. When I picked up the rescue chicken, she has laid an egg. Didn't lay any for me. Now, think into the third week, I'm getting 6 eggs out of 7 chickens. The one hen is pretty old. I have light on, but turn it on during the day only because it's so gloomy outside and not much light in the coop. Turn it off before dark. Family is glad to get fresh eggs again.

 

[Folly's place]

Shingles is the pits! I'm glad you were there to get her the help she needed, and that it all calms down fairly soon.
Mary

 

[RaZ]

Bah!! They're the GORRAM Lions... /QUOTE]

What does GORRAM stand for?

Hope your Mom is getting better. Sounds like she had a rough spell there.
Not much new with my birds. The opossum has been out of the coop for a couple of days now. The hole to under the coop has been re-opened. So it looks like the opossums are living under the coop. The hole by the door and within the run. I've been all around the run perimeter and the fencing is intact and secure.

That's about all I've done. I fell last week and landed on my hip. The pain has been horrible. Saw the doctor and got an x-ray. Nothing broken but doc thinks I did something to the nerve bundle. She gave me a muscle relaxer and an opiod pain killer. Meds are not working. I can barely walk. I even called in to work yesterday. Might have to call in again today if the pain doesn't subside.

On a positive note, I was a winner in the BYC Mini Contest. I'm getting a calendar as a prize.