Pipd's Peeps!

[Cluckcluck1215]

Sorry for your loss, too, Pattyhen. I think we all do that sometimes with losses. I know I do almost every time. Really, though, heat is tough on everything. In this past semester, during my Vertebrate Bio class, I remember my professor putting up a chart that showed survivability of animals at hot, warm, moderate, cold, and frigid temps, and that survivability rate just plummets when you go from warm to hot. It doesn't help that feathers are such advanced insulators that birds have a hard time losing heat from them, poor darlings. I just did a quick search on BYC, though, and came up with a good list of ways to beat the heat:

-Run fans in the coop to keep air circulating
-Freeze gallon jugs and 2-liter bottles of water and sit them in shady spots for birds to lay against (or put them in front of the fan for a makeshift air conditioner)
-Freeze smaller water bottles and put them in waterers to keep their drinking water cool
-Put out shallow pans of cool water for the chickens to stand in or drink from (I've also heard of people putting out small kiddie pools with just a couple inches of water and putting paver bricks in it for the chickens to stand on)
-Spray water on the coop (especially on the roof) to help draw away heat with evaporation
-Wet the ground in shady spots for them to stand on and cool off (my flock also ranges around the side of our house and there's a small section of brick wall that's shaded under the lilac bush, so I wet that down, too, and it feels much cooler there)
-Run a mister in shady spots -- My girls absolutely HATE misters and won't go near them, but some people swear by it, so I thought it was worth adding.
-Freeze fruits and veggies and put them out for the birds to peck at (especially watermelon!)

Yes,I did the freeze veggies,and they barly ate them .they love to lay against gallon jugs!love it!

So sorry about your lose,Kristen and more .

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Mine go nuts for frozen watermelon halves--though, to be fair, they go nuts for watermelon halves whether they're frozen or not. I've never tried frozen veggies with them before, though. I keep seeing this thing go around about freezing veggies in water in muffin tins for mini treats, but I'm skeptical about that, myself. My girls won't even eat flock blocks because they're too much effort to peck through, so I wouldn't expect them to be very interested in ice blocks with veggies in them.






Somewhat happy news? Callette is really shaping up to be like Elly with her personality. I was sitting with the babies (I know, I know, teenagers) tonight and feeling glum about losing Georgette and the fact that Flury won't stop making me paranoid with the pink in her face making her look more and more like a rooster... Well, just like Elly always does, Callette came right over and hopped into my lap for cuddles, and she even did the infamous 'sweetie face', that look that Elly usually gives me when she seems to be trying to cheer me up. As if I didn't already love Dorkings!




Not so happy news... My little Golden Sebright, Rosie, came inside to join Poggy tonight. Same symptoms, or lack thereof. I'm going with the same treatment as Poggy for now, keeping her hydrated and seeing if she starts eating on her own, and feeding her if not. Rosie's a lot older than Poggy, but also has proven over the years to be quite resilient, so here's hoping she can bounce back.

Pog is NOT happy to be sharing her space, though she has been away for almost a week now, so that's to be expected. At least she's not isolated now, and I can put fence between them so that they don't fight but can see one another if it comes to it. For now, I left the top off the brooder (which has become the hospital pen for them) so that if Poggy gets aggressive, Rosie can fly out and get away. Pog may be sickly at the moment, but she is easily five or six times the size of little Rosie--not taking chances on having poor Rosie trapped in there with her!



Oh, and Margie's going broody again. Just what I need right now!

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Mine go nuts for frozen watermelon halves--though, to be fair, they go nuts for watermelon halves whether they're frozen or not. I've never tried frozen veggies with them before, though. I keep seeing this thing go around about freezing veggies in water in muffin tins for mini treats, but I'm skeptical about that, myself. My girls won't even eat flock blocks because they're too much effort to peck through, so I wouldn't expect them to be very interested in ice blocks with veggies in them.






Somewhat happy news? Callette is really shaping up to be like Elly with her personality. I was sitting with the babies (I know, I know, teenagers) tonight and feeling glum about losing Georgette and the fact that Flury won't stop making me paranoid with the pink in her face making her look more and more like a rooster... Well, just like Elly always does, Callette came right over and hopped into my lap for cuddles, and she even did the infamous 'sweetie face', that look that Elly usually gives me when she seems to be trying to cheer me up. As if I didn't already love Dorkings!




Not so happy news... My little Golden Sebright, Rosie, came inside to join Poggy tonight. Same symptoms, or lack thereof. I'm going with the same treatment as Poggy for now, keeping her hydrated and seeing if she starts eating on her own, and feeding her if not. Rosie's a lot older than Poggy, but also has proven over the years to be quite resilient, so here's hoping she can bounce back.

Pog is NOT happy to be sharing her space, though she has been away for almost a week now, so that's to be expected. At least she's not isolated now, and I can put fence between them so that they don't fight but can see one another if it comes to it. For now, I left the top off the brooder (which has become the hospital pen for them) so that if Poggy gets aggressive, Rosie can fly out and get away. Pog may be sickly at the moment, but she is easily five or six times the size of little Rosie--not taking chances on having poor Rosie trapped in there with her!



Oh, and Margie's going broody again. Just what I need right now!

Yeah,mine never go crazy for the treat blocks ether

Cute withe little miss callettt!!

So sorry about Rosie!!

Haha,pog,be nice and share.

Oh great!just what you need,Margie broody!*says karcasticly*

 

[pattyhen]

It sounds like you can't get a break. Pog then Rosie and Marge now broody. So sorry I hope they get better and Marge is determined to hatch more babies. Do you have a broody buster?
That is so sweet that Callette jumped up on your lap. It's almost like they feel when you need to be cheered up.

Have a great day and I hope things get better.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah,mine never go crazy for the treat blocks ether

Cute withe little miss callettt!!

So sorry about Rosie!!

Haha,pog,be nice and share.

Oh great!just what you need,Margie broody!*says karcasticly*

Haha, picky chickens! The only block I've ever gotten for them, they spent a few weeks on before they finally finished it. I decided then that it wasn't a good investment for my girls.

And no worries, Pog is sharing pretty well now. It must have been the stern talking to that I gave her.

It sounds like you can't get a break.  Pog then Rosie and Marge now broody.  So sorry I hope they get better and Marge is determined to hatch more babies.  Do you have a broody buster?  
That is so sweet that Callette jumped up on your lap.  It's almost like they feel when you need to be cheered up.  

Have a great day and I hope things get better.

You know, I was going to disagree with you and say that it hasn't been too bad, but I think you're right, Pattyhen. I can't get a break! Tonight as I was getting the chicken coop closed for the night, I noticed that Skua was on the floor instead of roosting. Upon looking her over, I discovered that she had fly strike. If ANYONE here has never heard of fly strike, I suggest you look it up so you know what to look out for and what to do if you discover it on one of your birds, but if you have a weak stomach, be warned--THERE WILL LIKELY BE A LOT OF UNPLEASANT PICTURES!!

So Skua is in my room now as well. I guess this is what I get for saying my room will be lonely when the chicks move out.



I do have a broody buster, so I'm set to take on Marge when she goes full broody on me. She's at the point where she's sitting at night, but not fully committed during the day. I just keep putting her on the roosts for the night for now. She does seem to like hatching, though. Not so much the chick rearing part, but definitely the hatching part.




So, anyway, I did get pictures of the babies teenagers today at 9 weeks, but I'm exhausted at this point, so I will post them tomorrow.

 

[pattyhen]

Are you sure your not trying to move the big girls from the coop to your bedroom?

I've heard of flystrike but I've never seen it. I'm glad you caught it when you did. Is Pog and Rosie feeling any better? Good thing you didn't take the brooder down.

Looking forward to seeing their pics. I can't believe how much they grow in just one week.

Have a great day and I hope the rest of your flock stays healthy and happy.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha! No, if I was trying to move the big girls inside, fly strike would be the LAST ailment I would choose to do so! Now THAT is one of those ailments you hear about and hope never to see it in your flock! Skua seems to be well this morning, and I see no more evidence of fly strike in her remaining wound, though we're going to clean her up again and check it over a little later to make sure.

As for Poggy and Rosie, Rose is no different, but Pog seems pretty chipper. I think it's a combination of treatment and now having a buddy with her that has her in such good spirits. She was all alone for about a week there, and that's no way for a chicken to live. I need to weigh her to see if she's put on any weight. She and Rosie both feel so skinny to me, if there is any more weight on them it's hard to tell.

Yep, a very good thing that I dawdle when it comes to taking pens down. It worked out in this case, anyway.



I will work on the baby pictures in just a moment. For now, here is a picture from yesterday of Poggy being cute. "Share? What does that mean?"

 

[pattyhen]

Poggy you have to share with Rosie she's not feeling well either. Poggy looks so cute in that pic.

I'm glad Skua is doing better. I can only imagine the maggots.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's pretty bad. There must have been some eggs we missed, too, because a bunch more emerged from Skua's wound and we had to clean her up again. As a precaution, we trimmed any even slightly poopy feathers off of all the girls. We definitely don't need a second one to come down with this.




Anyway, sorry it took so long, but here are the babies' pictures from yesterday!

Callette:

Cazzie:

Donnie:

Endymion:

Flury:

Izzy:

Lydda:

Rooska:

And Umru, who looked away in this picture, but I never got a better shot.

A few more pictures from yesterday. First off, Dorking cuddles!

Callette:

Lydda:

Here's Rooska being pretty

Endymion is pretty, too

Flury is just floofy!

Callette preening:

"Do you mind?!"

Donnie and Lydda sitting together Aren't they cute?

And to finish off, Cazzie on her rock.

 

[pattyhen]

Great pics of all of them. They all look so serious in the pics. It must be the heat mine are not to happy about these temps in the 90s.

I hope that was the last batch of those nasty things on Skua. Poor baby.

How are the silkies doing? Is Ben behaving now? The little stinker.

Have a nice day and thanks so much for sharing the pics. I know it must take a lot of effort to pose them and get the pics. I really appreciate it.