Sdwd

[Cetawin]

You get by just like us... and if that fails, get 2 uhauls...1 for birds amd 1 for you and tom and Kess, come on up and take over the basement. Bring your soapstone stove for down there......bedroom bathroom and a separate entrance. We can be broke together.

 

[joletabey]

Cyn, my dear, I have an empty 12 x 12 stall.

Just kidding! I wish I had an answer, but this county is going you know where in a handbasket - I ended up taking a third job this week - paperwork for a construction company- I want to get debt free as fast as I can before it gets worse.
Is there any part time anything you or Tom could do in your part of the country?

 

[Serrin]

Oh Cyn!

I'm right there will ya sweetie! It's shameful. And don't even get me started on the crap with Medicare with relation to TriCare!

Why they gotta go and screw up something that wasn't any great shakes in the first place? But at least with TriCare, Denny could still go to the base for all of his medical. Once he turned 65, it was a mad scramble to find a private doctor willing to take Medicare. And they only did that because we still have the TriCare for life because of me!!

It's just totally messed up! And the worst part to me, is when I think about the fact that medical was something Denny was supposed to have, full ride, to the end of his natural days. I was supposed to get it too by virtue of being his wife.....They LIED! That, I think, was one of the very first benefits that we lost. Good bye Madigan AMC, hello Group Death and TriCare!

I'm guessing that commissary privileges will probably be next!

God help 'em if they ever decide they're not going to pay their debt to the career military vet. They may be old, and getting older all the time, but I think the powers that be would soon discover just how much P&V is left in these old codgers! **Insert evil grin here**

Well, for anyone interested, here's a GeeGee update. She's happy. She's content. She's having a ball getting to know her little goober!

No sign of any other chicks yet. I could have sworn last night that I was hearing two different little voices coming from under GeeGee. If nothing shows itself by tomorrow night, I'm going to go ahead and candle the remaining eggs and see what gives.

I wish I had known how much fun a broody with chicks is to watch. I wish I had thought about the fact that I could have gotten fertile eggs from Anderberg's down the road, when Gimpy and FussyButt went broody several years ago. Those two would have been the best mamas ever! *sigh* C'est la vie and Que sera sera! I have GeeGee to enjoy right now, and Great Spirit willing, Maggie will go broody sometime this spring or summer as well. I think I've found a new passion in my chickens!

I think I was meant to be a Chicken Grandma!

 

[PepsNick]

Cyn, that is just horrible. You've had to give up so much. I really feel for you, and I hope that this will get better soon. Maybe, even though you've said that you don't want to, start to ship del or BR hatching eggs? With your quality birds, maybe that could help you a little? ;idunno

These chicks are huge! I haven't been able to get pics lately, but will be sure to this afternoon! Jess and r
Prince Jay-Z are the sweetest right now.

 

[speckledhen]

With gasoline costs, it would cost more to go to work and back from where we are than it would be worth. For Tom to travel to a job that would utilize his skills and bring in anything over minimum wage, he'd have to drive over 30 miles one way every day.

This year, we get a federal refund of a small amount (which will pay our annual car and truck liability insurance in July) BUT, Georgia got $300 from us through withholding and still wanted $2 more.

I think if you don't owe federal tax, you should automatically not owe state tax.

 

[joletabey]

Property taxes are what bug me. YOU pay for the land, you buy it, and yet you have to pay taxes on it. Under that principle, all land might as well just be rented from the government. No one can afford to own anything anymore. Car taxes every year, license fees to drive what you own, blah blah.

 

[speckledhen]

The dropped the homestead exemption a year ago and our property taxes went up 70%! The tax on the extra 3.15 acres stayed the same, of course, since it has no house on it.

The hock issues continue with Georgie's babies--hatching hers alone made it plain whose chicks were having the hock issues. One in this batch can't stand up and last night, a second one had it's hock go out on it. Tom put a splint with a piece of that rubbery shelf liner as a pad, and it's walking with that and doing well. Whether or not it will correct it, I have no idea.

William said it could be that Georgie isn't processing the a nutrient ( like biotin, specifically ) which affects some of her chicks. That's where the info Kathy posted comes in, a missing nutrient in the parent stock. He said it couldn't hurt to add some now and see if it helps these babies. They have Avia Charge 2000 in the waterer and in desperation, I put a drop of RedCell right into the beak of the two affected. It's worth trying since, if it doesn't work, we may have to put them down anyway.

The next three eggs are in the hatcher, but none of those are Georgie's. The last batch, however, contains three of Georgie's. I guess I'll let them hatch, knowing I may have to cull one. I am sooooo tempted to take them from the bator, even though they are on Day 13 now. What would you do about those last three eggs, guys? I have already decided not to allow her eggs to be hatched again. That leaves me with Ellie and Ellie's 8 week old daughter, Tasha.

 

[Serrin]

And then if you live in a state like Washington, you aren't even given a choice about how much insurance to carry on your vehicles. There are compulsory minimums!

That made the insurance for Annie's car nearly double what it would have been if we were allowed to choose for ourselves, the level of coverage we wanted! I'm so fed up with being regulated, taxed, and wrapped up in wool batting!

We didn't have all of this crap in the 30's and 40's. Didn't need it. Why the H-E-Double Toothpicks do we need it now?!?!? Because now, we live in a litigious, self interested, self serving, entitlement mentality society! THAT'S why!

Who says one bad apple can't spoil the whole bushel? Maybe one bad apple can't, but boy, one bad attorney sure as heck can!

OK, rant over!

Sometimes it's good to just get that poison out of the system!

Alrighty then, those of you with experience with broodies, listen up please. I need edumacating again. How long can I reasonably expect GeeGee to continue to brood the remaining eggs under her? She still has just the one chick. I candled the night before I moved her. At that time, there were only two eggs out of four that I felt real good about their chances. And Monday night, I could have sworn that I was hearing cheeps from two different eggs. Now? Nothing! Not so much as a peep or a pip out of any of the other eggs.

But GeeGee continues to be completely content to sit on her nest and keep company for her wee one.

I'm also very concerned that she doesn't appear to have had any kind of bowel movement since I moved her and the eggs into the brooder last Saturday night. I've heard that they can sometimes save those up to an amazing degree, but 3 and a half days?!?

I fear what I may encounter some morning in the not to distant future.

I'm seriously considering investing in a hazmat suit, just to be on the safe side!

How long can she actually go in holding that in? Would holding up a poop cause her to loose her appetite? Granted, she's not what you would call a beehive of activity lately and therefore doesn't really need that many calories to keep everything running smoothly, but I would expect her to be eating more than she has been.

So, this brings me to my ultimate question, for those of you with vast stores of knowledge and experience with broodies

: Should I just pop her butt outside for a few minutes, wait till she poops and then return her to the brooder? Or should I just leave her be and trust that she and Mother Nature know what they're doing?

Please, give me your thoughts and insights folks! I need 'em!

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
Cyn, that's always such a tough call. Especially at 13 days or more. You know they're getting so close.

I think if it were me, I'd go ahead and hatch them out and see what I get. If I got more of the wonky legged chicks, I think I'd try what Tom has already done and that is to splint the bad legs. Then I think I'd do some serious reading up on these deficiencies that Kathy found out about.

In what you've read so far, or discussed with William, has there been any indication that their situation can be improved with supplemental nutrients? Kind of like how vitamin C can stave off scurvy, or vitamin D can keep rickets at bay? I did a little bit of reading myself and found this interesting, from the standpoint of the list of animals that CAN NOT produce their own vitamin C within their bodies as other animals can do. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurvy Maybe all the wee ones need is some oranges?

As for hatching any more of Georgie's eggs, I think I still would. But I would do it only after say three or four weeks of intensive diet control to bring up the trace elements levels in her body. That way she should be producing a top quality egg. And it just stands to reason that a top quality egg will produce a top quality chick. Doesn't it?

I'd at least try that and see if it makes a difference. It would probably, at the very least, tell you if the condition is dietary or genetic. If it's genetic......well, I'm certain I don't need to finish that sentence, do I?

Other than this issue with the hocks, Georgie makes beautiful babies, doesn't she? It sure would be a shame to loose that aspect of her genetics by not breeding her, if it could be solved relatively easily with diet and supplements. Hope you can get this issue figured out soon Cyn. The world needs more trouble making Dellies!

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, Georgie's other chicks are strong as they can be. The one with the splint was walking fine at first, just sitting a big more than the others, till last night, then it was so obviously upset that its leg went all weird. Here is a short video of it walking with the splint. The other one cannot stand and hasn't taken one sip of water on its own, though it is thumping around the brooder on its hocks:

http://s673.photobucket.com/albums/vv95/Mtnviewpoultry/Video Clips/?action=view&current=DSCN1052.mp4

The one on the turtle's leg is the one who cannot walk at all. Splints probably won't fix that one.



Hey, this is Smoky's egg from today, post-butt-fluff-trim. See what I see? Meg's was not fertile, but Dusty's seemed to be (though hers are a bit harder to be sure). I know it's not the best picture, but the ring is definitely there. Had DH confirm in case I was just indulging in wishful thinking.