Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Elyssia001]

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. My hubby was kind enough to feed my interest by puchasing me several new gardening and chicken books, and I have been spending every spare moment reading them since I unwrapped them. I am looking forward to the snow we have coming this way tonight, though I am dreading the ride into work tomorrow.

 

[NovaAman]

Those are some HOT shoes!  I would break an ankle in them (wedges only for me!) but I would drool over them in the store just a little.


Our new silky has matted/poop-crusted foot feathers.  Do I need to bring her in for a bath, or is this kind of normal for this time of year/weather?



Also, my houdan is getting her crest feathers picked at and pulled out, and the polish we got last week looks about the same.  The houdan had a little blood on her head yesterday (presomably from all the broken feather shafts since I couldn't find a cut or peck anywhere) so I brought her in and cleaned her head up and put some blukote on it.  Is this something we'll have to live with if we're going to keep our crested and un-crested birds together?

Bring her in, clean her feet up. You can carefully trim away poop too. Use a damp warm wash cloth to loosen it. Then pick it out, or soak her feet. You'll need to keep her inside for the nite if you do the soaking, cuz her underside is bound to get wet if you do it as a one man job. If one of you hold her the other can soak the feet and get the crap off. My silkies don't have that problem. Pat did, but now that he's got a lot of space, not anymore.

 

[tjbeckman]

Nova, My Fiance doesn't frequent this site, in fact she makes fun of me for it LOL. Yesterday when we went to close up chickens she said, At least wipe the poop off before we get in the car! I had to laugh because of your tag line Made my night. She just rolled her eyes LOL

 

[gladahmae]

ok. we'll bring her in a little later. here's a pic of what it looks like. the more I look at it the more I'm convinced we should have done it the first day.


Is this leg mites? I don't really know what I'm looking for, but the BR has some raised scales on her legs. Everyone elses legs look OK (smooth, no raised scales), but if that's what she has, I'd like to start treating them asap and prevent them from spreading horribly.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Is this leg mites? I don't really know what I'm looking for, but the BR has some raised scales on her legs. Everyone elses legs look OK (smooth, no raised scales), but if that's what she has, I'd like to start treating them asap and prevent them from spreading horribly.

I can't see real well in the pic but. IMO yes it looks like a very mild / early case of mites. Myself I would go on the side of caution and treat the entire flock!!! Please keep in mind that this is just my opinion. Based on what I am able to see in the pic.

 

[SillyChicken]

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas!

I had Monday off... and was doing some last minute shopping (had more last minute guests coming, so I needed more food n stuff)...Hadn't gotten DH's gift (was shopping for that too, he always waits till the last minute too let me know if he wants something or how much we can spend) was going along fine till I got called into work for 6 hrs.for an emergency.......so I had NO time left to buy half the things I needed. ..there went my holiday....UGH! Way too much last minute stuff that could have been avoided if other people would have the courtesy to plan ahead....and not so stressful for me all at the last minute.. I was glad when it was over and I could relax with my wine.

Anyway DH gave me some cute rooster statues, 2 were antiques another was a iron door stop. And a foam deer target, so I can get my bow back out to practice with again! Yeah!! I got a pair of leather boots and a wine aerator and a Harley shirt too.

DH is getting a bee hive... when he can figure out what he wants.


And something else we found out..... DH's cousin killed someone drunk driving on Monday, I think it was........ I feel just horrible for the family who lost the loved one.... and you can bet your boots were mad as **** at his cousin. Especially after we found out he had a prior DUI in CA.........

 

[gladahmae]

the back of her ankle is kind of pink, instead of yellow like their legs would normally be (I think?) I don't know if that indicates that she's been picking at them.

so the treatment would be vaseline? or vaseline and permathrin (however you spell that)? Some kind of oil in a pump-spray bottle? what's going to be the easiest way to treat this? I'm going to put ivermectin on them as well. probably tomorrow when DH is home to help me catch them all.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

OK to my MI. friends. I hope you don't mind me sharing this. It is NOT something I am proud of. However I am sharing in hopes of helping others and I really hope each and everyone of you will read it.

OK I am going to talk very serious about something. I hope that EVERYBODY will PLEASE read this even if you don't like my posts.
I am sharing this information in hopes that it may help someone. It is not intended for any other purpose.
If by chance you notice changes in yourself or someone around you. PLEASE DO NOT just pass it off. Try to determine a cause. Now more specifically what I am talking about is mood / emotional changes. There could be an underlying cause that could be solved very easy but if left unchecked could be terrible.
OK so I guess about the only way I know how to relay this is to jump under the bus. Please try to understand that I am only doing this in attempt to help others and maybe in that some may have a better understanding of me, especially those who have met in person.
OK so here is my point. If you notice changes give a good look at things such as MEDICATIONS !!!!
See I had been on a med for NARCOLEPSY (a sleep disorder) then 9/2010 the Dr. changed that med. I was OK with that. Well I had been on a downhill spiral since. I really didn't know how bad or the cause until last week. See I ran out of that med and while waiting was forced to go back to the original. Now this is the part that is embarrassing but I feel the need to share just so others can see what kinds of things can happen and hopefully help others. See on the med I started 9/2010 I had reached the point where simple little things like just reading certain posts would cause me to become teary. I am sure many who have met me may have noticed and wondered what the heck! I was also struggling with other VERY bad thoughts nearly daily. I have now been back on the "old" med for one week. No Tears No VERY bad thoughts. My point is PLEASE if you or someone around you seems to be having problems of this nature PLEASE get help /try to help them. I was VERY LUCKY that I had a couple of AWESOME friends who on more than one occasion helped me through melt downs. While they were there for me. They didn't know me before so it was hard for them to do much more than be very supportive and I am so thankful to them for that.
I truly hope that nobody else goes through this kind of thing but I hope that this post may shed some light and maybe help others to catch things like this earlier than I did.
Hopefully you will soon see a better (more like) the "old" me that most of you don't know!
Rob

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Chicken Rustler, thank you for sharing, that had to be a hard thing to do but I hope you will be fit as a fiddle soon!

I hope all of y'all had a wonderful Christmas! I had been super busy making a lot of home made gifts but now my sewing machine is put away for a much needed rest.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

glad, I put a couple of drops of peremerithrin [sp?] with a bit of vaseline and used it on the chickens legs for a few days to a week. Wait till they are roosting at night and it is easier to apply it.