Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[Tomtommom]

Well Rhonda didn't make it. My little guy is crying and The girls are upset but she is out of pain now. She had been used like a tug toy unfortunately. Now I have to figure out how the heck she got out. I just went through the whole court thing and all I can advise is wait until it is over before starting to help the poor little boy who sounds a little lost.

When you said there were no visible wounds I feared internal damage. Sometimes it's better for an animal (or even human) to pass, rather than have to fight an extreme uphill battle. When checking their area, look UP. That's how my girls used to get out, they figured out they could hop from the rain gutter on the roof of the coop! I figured it out when I found one on the roof, squawking at me.

The court thing... egh.... the whole situation is a mess. I'm from a broken home, so I tried my hardest NOT to add to the drama in his life, been there, you know? He's lived with us for two years now and you can see the difference in his whole being. He's got some issues, but we work through them. He's a good kid, loves to learn, loves helping around the house.. I try to get his mom to tap into his wanting to help, but they rather park his butt in front of the TV all weekend

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Arielle]

You summed it up perfectly, my kids had to learn real quick not to be mad at the dogs because that is what they bred to do and help me make Rhonda comfortable and today we will bury her next to the old cat Felix. They are sad but having 11 and counting chicks being born at same time helped. I told my little guy that if one of the new babies is super sweet I bet Rhonda ' soul lives on he was happy to hear that. Today I figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again

Life moves on and it helps us heal . . .

I'm sure it was a releive to solve the mystery.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I can't imagine coping with this situation. . . . my son has a good friend that lived in foster care for a few years and the couple were finally able to adopt him. Had a big party to celebrate. Complete separation for this boy as he no longer is required to see his biological parents. To give him a better enighborhood to grow up in they sold the family home and moved to another street . . . that is love. In the time with the new parents this boy has bloomed as they understand his fears and take it slow.

 

[Tomtommom]

Circle of life.... Today I discovered two baby Mollies in my step-son's fish tank and his ghost shrimp is heavily pregnant

The partridge rock I posted about possibly culling two days ago miraculously joined the flock and her comb is pink. I SWEAR they're spying on me... She was eating this morning at the feeder, with the other birds, which she hasn't done in months. Funny enough, it was her 'sister' that got pecked at twice, trying to eat. Those partridge rocks are nothing but trouble magnets. I am still thinking about selling the two of them, once they're back to laying.

*sigh* These birds.....

 

[chicken junky]

Well I fixed all possible escape routes so one less thing to worry about. Rhonda is buried and my son dug the hole and blew her a kiss then covered her, he then decided she needed a big stone so we found one and put it up. In month will put some flowers around(his idea too) What a sweet boy I have, then we go inside and I find him inspecting a dead chick who was upside down in egg in garbage, boys will be boys! I just went through the court thing and my daughter's father got real ugly but it passed and although there is damage my girls are doing pretty good but now their father refuses to speak to them, so immature and hurtful. Just keep on loving them and show them the good way to be and they will usually turn out fine. Hang in there

 

[jajeanpierre]

Good were both sick! On a bad note my barred rock pullet Rhonda got loose somehow and became a toy for 9 labs. She has feathers missing on her back and seems to be in shock. I cleaned her up put some hurt-free antiseptic on and she is wrapped in towel resting on my lap, what do you think her chances are?

She might just be fine in a few days. Don't feed her. When they get hurt like that they go into shock and their intestinal tract shuts down. Feeding them can give them even more problems.

 

[jajeanpierre]

THis is called a learning curve-- we no longer have elders to teach us how to care for the farm animals like in generations past, so we do our best and learn along the way.

One of my most memorable moments was a beautiful sunny summer day when a white chicken entered the dog pen by flying over a 6 foot picket fence. I heard a commotion: excited dogs working together kind of dog speak, and I rushed to see my Angel spitting out white feathers like he had ripped open a feather pillow!!! He's looking at me all pleased with himself for having brought home the bacon! To this day I waffle between wanting to laugh at that dog and the sadness of loosing one of my girls. How can these two opposite emotions be rolled into one moment in time? Animals and children do this to us.

I'm sorry, Chicken Junky, that Rhonda didn't make it.

I've cared for a lot of different animals over my life and am surprised at the husbandry problems I'm having. I read a lot about keeping chickens--and I've had many parrots for years, so I understand some of the subtleties of keeping birds--but without someone to teach me hands on, I've made mistakes. I'll be glad when my learning curve flattens out.

 

[chicken junky]

Thanks I have only been raising chickens for 4 1/2 months and I am learning real quick. I'm glad for new fuzzbutts while one left good to have new life. Now if I can help my two special needs babies I can relax. One has yolk out and one was stuck dried in egg in middle of zip when humidity took a 25% nose dive. One human error and one I think from 10 chicks drying all at once. Who knows but my yolker will not stop crying.

 

[Tomtommom]

Well I fixed all possible escape routes so one less thing to worry about. Rhonda is buried and my son dug the hole and blew her a kiss then covered her, he then decided she needed a big stone so we found one and put it up. In month will put some flowers around(his idea too) What a sweet boy I have, then we go inside and I find him inspecting a dead chick who was upside down in egg in garbage, boys will be boys! I just went through the court thing and my daughter's father got real ugly but it passed and although there is damage my girls are doing pretty good but now their father refuses to speak to them, so immature and hurtful. Just keep on loving them and show them the good way to be and they will usually turn out fine. Hang in there

Boys crack me up... We're expecting a girl in April and I have NO idea what that's going to be like

My parents did the whole ugly divorce thing. My mom was a mess to begin with, easily swayed, unstable. So they fought and fought, throwing plates at eachother, stuff like that. Then they remarried a few years later, only to do it all over again.

My dad wanted to co-parent, live close by so we could visit whenever we wanted. Then he got a new girlfriend, moved far away and it became every other weekend. The stupid manipulation game between the two never ended and eventually we stopped going to my dad's.

Didn't see him for 10 years, then he writes me. I write back, and he takes the information he got out of me to sue us to get child support back, because I told him we had summer jobs. The judge pretty much tossed the whole thing out, but it was crappy to see my dad in court like that. That was the last time I saw him... I moved to the US a few months later. I have no contact information for him, and I don't know if he's alive or dead.... Sad mess, that. It's been 10 years since I saw him in court. He has no clue that he has grandkids, or that my mom has passed away. I've tried Googling him.... but he apparently doesn't exist in the digital world.

In amusing news, I found an active warrant on my step-son's mom.. again ... I have the feeling she's not going to come to court on Tuesday... again. If she does, she will likely be arrested.

Sometimes you just gotta sit back and laugh at the madness in the world.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks I have only been raising chickens for 4 1/2 months and I am learning real quick. I'm glad for new fuzzbutts while one left good to have new life. Now if I can help my two special needs babies I can relax. One has yolk out and one was stuck dried in egg in middle of zip when humidity took a 25% nose dive. One human error and one I think from 10 chicks drying all at once. Who knows but my yolker will not stop crying.

Find a tea cup for the one that needs to absorb the yolk and leave the chick for a day in the incubator in the cup. the cup needs to be shaped so that the chick cannot get out of it. You may need to treat the navel with vetricyn or non pain killer anti biotic to keep it from getting infected.

The stuck one may need help. If so, moisten the membrane with a wet Q tip.

Problems like this usually happen because the incubator Temperature was a bit too low. you may want to increase temps for the first 18 days by .5 of a degree next time and see if they hatch better.