Michigan

[RBahmer]

One what?

Ummm...... I don't remember. What were we talking about ???

 

[Opa]

Talking about our own immune systems reminds me of the fly in trips I have made to northern Quebec. We were hunting caribou just south of the arctic circle and the water supply for the camps came directly from the river or lake the camp was situated on. My son and I had absolutely no difficulties from drinking the water while the others either stayed close to camp or carried large amounts of toilet paper with them. The other hunters were all seemly healthy robust individuals and the only difference we could determine was that they were city dwellers drinking municipal water while David & I both have wells. I think the naturally occurring bacteria we possess in our bodies kept us from having problems while chlorine in city water probably kills that bacteria.

 

[Mom 2em All]

OH!
The pigeon that I lost the other day is back!
Well, most of it.

It is missing all feathers from the wings back- tail feathers too..gone. His back is a large wound- but its scabbed. I caught him- and brought him in, but that was too stressful. I put him back out.
Its hanging out under the heat lamp.
One of the polish attacked him, I snatched her up and carried her around. But, I didnt know what to do with her, so I put her down.

A hawk must have grabbed this pigeon but dropped it. Or tried to eat it in the yard, and it got away- perhaps by me letting the dogs out, or coming out the back door or something..

 

[chicken grandma]

Glad for you Mom2~
It's always so nice to save a pet.

 

[un-named543]

awwww, poor thing!
Good morning Michigan! Gonna be a beautiful weekend here in Minn too. Yay!!

OH!
The pigeon that I lost the other day is back!
Well, most of it.

It is missing all feathers from the wings back- tail feathers too..gone. His back is a large wound- but its scabbed. I caught him- and brought him in, but that was too stressful. I put him back out.
Its hanging out under the heat lamp.
One of the polish attacked him, I snatched her up and carried her around. But, I didnt know what to do with her, so I put her down.

A hawk must have grabbed this pigeon but dropped it. Or tried to eat it in the yard, and it got away- perhaps by me letting the dogs out, or coming out the back door or something..

 

[uchytil]

It is for longer than that. I can go out and sex every one of mine by that method and they are older than 48 hours.

Good deal, thanks!

 

[uchytil]

This is good to know because I was just asking my DH....what or where are gonna put the straw from the pen?

I was reading all the posts about compost, straw, etc.. I've been raising stuff for 30 years and have never had a problem spreading straw and manure (s) over my beds in the fall until spring and then tilling it in. Over the winter it seems to break down okay and some straw helps keep certain soils looser. This has worked in Maine soils, Jersey soils, and Michigan soils. My compost bin is cleaned out annually but only the bottom 33% is ready usually. It is a static bin so the top layers go down and new stuff added ob=ver a year. From spring to late fall all of my straw and manure is piled near my compost bin and left to rot until I spread it out after that last harvest. I've never had a problem with these methods that I know of. BTW, the best tomatoes I've ever grown were planted around my chicken run as ornaments and the resultant run-off sparked Jurrasic Tomatoes. While tomatoes in the garden blighted, the "run" tomatoes grew dark green plants and large blight-free fruit.

 

[DaughterOfEve]

Your chicken's manure may carry all kinds of nasties with it.  The most notable being that dreaded E.coli the media likes to report on so much.  Things to remember though: 

1) Most backyard compost piles don't get hot enough to kill E.coli (and a host of other nasties) anyway. 

2) Most veggies are not in direct contact with the soil. 

3) Your chickens only have one exit.  Every time you bring an egg into the house, you're carting in microscopic bits of feces and everything inside of it.  How many of you with kids let them collect the eggs?  How many of them then touch their faces, mouthes, surfaces in your house, etc?  Are they dead yet? 

All of the recalls and reports on food borne illness have people particularly on edge about their food these days.  Give your immune systems some credit, the very fact that you're living with and your children are growing up with livestock and garden-fresh veggies predisposes you to having a stronger one than most people.  Studies show farm kids are less likely to be ill and suffer from asthma than city kids.  The quantity and variety of pathogens they're exposed to day-in and day-out is a good thing. 

DaughterofEve - It looks like a hemangioma.  My daughter had one on her shoulder when she was a baby.  It started as a tiny speck and grew and grew and grew.  When she was four months old it was about the size of a half dollar and raised half an inch we had to have it surgically removed.  That said, the doctor had said most shrink back down on their own by the time the child is five to eight years old.  Her's was just in such a position that he was concerned when she started crawling she would hit it on something and, when ruptured, they can cause a lot of bleeding.  I'm not certain, but I would assume they would eventually shrink in a bird, too?  Try googling hemangiomas in birds and see what treatment you come up with.  Good Luck! 

Thanks so much olive. My DD is relieved though the pictures posted with the information about made her barf, he! Bottom line from the treatment info is to just leave it alone, it should disappear on its own. The treatments are steriod injection (oops all out of that) and Laser surgery . It it in a pretty projected spot on the under wing so I don't think the other birds will be pecking at it. Whew.

 

[RaZ]

I have 25 - 30 bales of hay that has rotted over the winter that I need to move around back for compost.I had used them on top of newspaper to smother a patch of vinca vine. Moving them will be a wet nasty mess, most of the baling twine has rotted away.

Sometimes being a lazy gardener causes more work.

 

[chickflick]

Wow! Finally caught up on posts. You guys were talkative last night and this morning. Looks like a pretty day, but still very cold out.
Laura, I have a double stack brooder/hospital also. We have a huge heated garage, so we keep it in there. Comes in so handy. One of my chickens would sneak in and lay her egg in there every chance she got. Also loves eating the wet cat food.
Raz, I would love some grass, please and thank you. And what ever else you got that's chicken friendly. My chickens free range in my flower garden and most things last, but there are a few things that disappeared. Use to have beautiful hostas, but no more. The first batch of chickens I got never bothered them. When I got the next batch, they went to town on them, and the first batch joined them. It was kinda funny seeing them all lined up for their afternoon salad break. Bleeding heart...gone. But, I still have lots that the chickens don't bother.
I'm waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before I head out again. Dogs want to go for a walk and I need to clean out the coop again.
Krisrose and I went to TSC yesterday and neither one of us bought chicks! Yeah. I said I'll wait till chickenstock.
Tomorrow is my baby's birthday! He'll be 32! Where did the time go???? Can't understand how he caught up to me.

Hope you all have a wonderful day.