Sdwd

[PepsNick]

Quote:
Aww so sorry! How is she now? Lethargic at all?

 

[speckledhen]

She is less than two years old. She is a bit lethargic, yes. I think this molt is taking a lot out of her for some reason. What concerns me the most is her bad purplish color in her face and comb--that isn't a good sign.

 

[NellaBean]

I had one of those. She molted midwinter and after her feathers were mostly grown back, her comb turned "blue". She eventually came out of it and is fine and dandy now.

[eta; she is a young hen.....was less than a year old at time of molt]

 

[speckledhen]

Maxie was one of two Dels who had a hard time in their 9 month mini-molt. Usually, you don't notice that particular molt because it's rarely more than a few neck feathers and they rarely stop laying completely then, but when Maxie and another hen had theirs, they lost weight, tons of feathers and quit laying. It was really puzzling.

I have some who are going through that age molt now and they are not acting odd at all, just have thin areas on the necks where they lost some feathers and those are growing back in now. So, I'm not sure what is wrong with Maxie, but she acts just so tired right now. She didn't even protest being in the hospital cage above Zane even though she has never been in there overnight. She just sat down and closed her eyes. They have plenty of protein, in fact, I'm using 22% layer just because of the condition of some of the girls and them growing back tons of feathers right now, so that isn't the issue. Hopefully, she is just tired and will pull out of it.

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
Now that is really blue! I have read that stress can cause that. Molting is sure stressful.

Cyn, I sure hope Maxie snaps out of it. Nelda doing ok, after her hiding incident?

LadyHawk, I hope you are feeling better. Nothing worse than tooth pain.

Brandon, That is one cute chick you have there. Don't ya just love the lavender color?

Amy, I hope you had a good day. I know you are so busy there. What days are you going hunting? I have never eaten Elk or deer. I only eat beef, pork, chicken, and turkey. Nothing wild or from water for me. The rest of my family enjoy wild meat and fishy things, but I don't. I have eaten buffalo though. We used to have an annual, "Buffalo Days," in our small town in Iowa. There was an entire block used just for all the cooking. Ohhhhh, those were the days ....

 

[Serrin]

Well, my personal preference is for Elk first and foremost. Followed by a very close second of Mule Deer. There is no finer eating deer than Mule Deer! They are the Rolls Royce of deer! Especially if they've been feeding in the sage brush. The meat tastes for all the world as though you've prepared it with a sage seasoning rub prior to cooking. And that's if I do nothing at all in the way of seasoning. In fact, I can't remember the last time I needed to actually season venison when it's a Mule Deer cut. They're just naturally tasty! About all I do put on them is just a wee bit of tenderizer, of the unseasoned variety, and then slow cook the meat.

Elk on the other hand is a completely different proposition. Since successful hunts for elk have been few and far between [dang their hides, but they are tremendously elusive animals!] we tend to treat each roast, steak and pound of burger to be as precious as gold! I always take extra care with the preparation of Elk meat!

Usually, I will soak a roast over night in a marinade of one sort or another, depending on the type of dish I'll be preparing. One of my favorites is a concoction of liberal amounts of a good dry cooking sherry, roasted garlic cloves, just a pinch or two of seasoning salts, and tenderizer.

Mix that all up and place in a shallow glass pan just big enough to keep at least half or more of the thickness of the roast submerged in the marinade. I cover it and put it in the fridge the day before and turn it over about once every 2 hours or so. The next day, the roast comes out of the marinade and gets lightly patted down with a paper towel. Then into the oven it goes for about the next 4 hours [depending on thickness and weight of course] I start out good and hot to sear the outer 1/4 inch of the meat and then reduce the heat to around 300 for the remainder of the cooking time. It usually comes out just falling apart it's so tender. In the last hour - hour and a half, I add the taters, carrots, onions and a turnip or two. The whole thing is absolutely HEAVEN!!

Oh great! Just great! Now my tummy is rumbling!

And it's all your faults, LH and Kathy! Y'all got me talking about game meat and the preparation thereof, and look what happens! Power of suggestion I suppose.

Cetawin, we would if we could....hunt elk first that is....but Washington State Dept. of F&W have their heads so far up a certain orifice that that will never happen in the remainder of our lifetimes. Deer season has always come before Elk season....always has, and to the best of my knowledge, always will. And believe me! If I had enough led in my pencil, so to speak, I'd surely hunt with bow. Unfortunately, regulations require a minimum of 35 pounds let off for Elk and 25 for deer. My arms being the nearly useless skin and bone that they are these days, just can't pull the dang thing back far enough!! I just keep hoping that someday they make cross bows legal! That would be a dream come true for me!

Well, I had Evie slated to undergo her surgery this evening. I even lined up the neighbors son, Morgan, to come over and give me a hand. Turns out Robin is terribly squeamish about participating in any kind of veterinary procedures. So much so, that she just couldn't handle it. So, Morgan was to come over at about 7:30 to give me a hand in holding her tight and such.

At a quarter past seven I got a call from the dear boy. He was full of heartfelt apologies, but regrettably he was running out the door in response to a summons to the fire station where he is part of the volunteer firefighter and EMT response unit.

There went my only capable and compassionate set of extra hands!

So, poor dear sweet Evie has been shoved to the back burner once again!

Oh please Great Spirit. Give me a break! Help me here to get Evie well and back on her feet. The poor little darling is in such pain, and it's growing worse by the day. I don't know who feels the worst for the whole situation. Her or me!

I just want my little baby girl to be all better and this nightmare to be behind her...soon to be completely forgotten!

Hang in there my little angel. I'm doing everything I can. Some things are just beyond my control.

 

[NellaBean]

Amy, once you get her covered up, you probably won't need an extra set of hands. They are nice, but not needed. My CRAAAAAZY hen laid relatively quietly under my sweatshirt. Had I had a towel where I could have wrapped and covered her a little better, it probably would have been perfect. But as it was, I was able to use both hands to work on her foot nearly the entire time.

I'm pretty sure my blue combed hen is the same one in my avatar. Avatar was pre-blue season. Not sure if I have a current picture of her now. She is perfectly fine. And even when her comb was blue she acted pretty normally.

Oh, here is a pretty recent picture

She is Stew #1, my first chicken ever

I added another RIR girl soon after her, so I named her Stew #2. Then I added two more, Stew #3 and Stew #4. I started banding my chickens last week. Their band numbers match their name numbers.

I am such a nerd.

Hey LH, remember the blue cochin I tried to pawn off on you and Cheyenne?

Here he is with his dad....they are great co-roosters. He is definitely a keeper here. For an idea of his size, those are adult bantam cochin hens in the back behind his dad.

 

[Cetawin]

Nella he looks wonderful! I really did like him a lot and he was actually a sweet boy too. I am glad he is staying with you and his dad...he does rock.

Amy...re: Elk *grabs her, shakes her and points her East* WOMAN Idaho is a couple hours thattaway the Elk there make Washington elk look like babies....Go getcha one. You will pay a little more for your weekend license and tags being from out-of-state but it is still worth it. That is where we went elk hunting every year...flew in from Florida and spent a weekend there hunting.

I prefer to marinate the roast and put it in a crock pot with seasonings, wild rice and such a cook it nice and slow all day.

 

[speckledhen]

Am losing Maxie. Her abdomen is hard as concrete and she has developed a bit of sour crop. Not looking good for her. I never thought it would be an egg issue since I had an egg from her maybe three or four weeks ago and she was molting, hence it would be normal for her not to be laying, but something is very wrong in there.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Quote:
Cyn....that's HORRIBLE, again. Is Maxie one of your BR girls? Only ones I have molting right now are Maya (splash rock) and Sugar (uncolored Del)

Seems my "teenagers" are in a perpetual state of juvenile molt.

Cyn, again, my heart goes out to ya. You definitely need a break from all the bad that has happened to you in 2010. PRAYING for better things to you and Tom....you deserve it!