South Carolina

[AKsmama]

Hey guys! Thought I'd pop in and complain a bit about the weather. Good grief, who turned the oven on? I really shouldn't complain- I despise cold weather, hate it hate it hate it. But this is awful. So far everyone is handling it ok, but I am going to get our old fan and plug it in in the coop in just a few. I can't do ice water bottles, because Cassie, our dog, will abscond with them

She digs herself out a spot in the cool dirt under the deck and stays there most of the day.

Susanne, I hope your MIL is going to be ok. Please keep us updated on her condition. And I am so sorry about your dog

Kimberly, I have migraines as well. What do you take for yours? I take Zomig. It works fairly well, but is expensive, like any other decent migraine med out there. My GP says hold on another year or so and then the generics will start coming out and bring the prices of all of it down. I hope so.

Jackie, I am sorry about your JG girl.

Yancy, how is the chickie today? Dr. Chappell has been practicing since I was young, he deserves some nice retirement time. I dread when my vet retires, but since we have a friend who just started up her own mobile veterinary service (Dr. Teri Worl of Upstate Home Veterinary Care, tell her I sent you

) we have a great fallback. I will probably have Dr. Teri come out and do Cassie's stuff once she is spayed next month because she is already almost too big to fit in my car!

OK, y'all try to stay cool. Going to check on my crew now.

 

[tiffanyg2]

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Oops....

so not Nadine it's Amy??

Hahaha

 

[Joycats]

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That is the most adorable picture I have seen! He is so proud of that duck! I hope you do not mind that I copied it and saved it to my computer? So where was brother? I thought maybe each one would be holding a duck.

A bit too much to handle, probably?

That pair looks so small on your big pond! They look so happy!

What did the other duck think of them? Still scared and waiting to get to know each other? They usually get along pretty good. My ducks do so much better than my chickens about accepting new ones.
Although I saw my first female duck fight yesterday afternoon. So many babies running around with moms and they are very protective. Unfortunately, Khaki Campbell mom ran her baby to death and it died. I was afraid she would not make a good mom but she tried.

Thank you for the update, Nikki! That made my day!

Edited to add that Rouens do look a lot like Mallards but they are bigger and can't fly away. They may walk away but they won't fly away. Or if like Joys, they just fly over the tree tops and back home to where she will feed them. I think hers are spoiled!

I know what you mean about too many baby ducks! My poor ducklings get confused about which Mama to follow and some of them gave up on their own mother and just picked another one of their choice. So funny, but I'm having trouble keeping up with them all. Some days one hen will have 12 babies, the next day she'll have 20!

 

[pinkwindsong]

ok I just cant figure out what happened..

put my girls up last night and my gold comet girl was hesitant to get up to her favorite roosting place. so I petted her a while and put her up there..

today had bunch of running around to do.. and I dont like them out if im not home.. so had them still up in the run.. Colt went and let them out around1pm.. and i said wheres whynonna.. he said shes dead..?? What??? sure enough she was laying dead on the ground.. everyone else walked around her to get outside.

here's another weird part.. on the outside of the run.. there is all kinds of her feathers and a bunch of one of the Barred rock girls feathers. looked the Barred girls over and cant see which one lost all those feathers and cant tell what Whynonna died from..

could they have pulled on their feather because of the heat.?? or maybe something got into the run and killed her but didn't take the body? or eat it? they had water and food.. it was hot but totally shaded in the run and open for air to get in but I have a blue tarp as a ceiling..

everyone seams a bit nervous today too.. I was pulling weeds during a brief overcast of clouds and checking on everyone .. ever since the hawk i do several head counts a day.. anyway out in the garden and Tippi my fav. barred girl came out and was bugging with me.. and as soon as the sun came back out .. she was gone like a shot.. could that hawk have gotten a hold of them through the chain link and their all just scared of it now? ( this might be a bit overboard, im just trying to think of what in the world would cause all the feathers on the outside of the run and a dead chicken in the center of the run?)

any ideas..

 

[huckleberryfarm]

Did she have any injuries or damage? I've had three chickens dead in the run and all three were missing heads. Could it be from the heat? I had five die from heat a few weeks ago. We had moved the waterer and I guess they didn't figure it out. It could be any number of things. But considering how hot it is right now and if she otherwise looks unhurt, that would be my guess. Sorry you lost her!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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I can't imagine all those baby ducks running around! All mine are sold now. This weekend will be a busy time of everyone picking up Cayuga mixes and Runner babies. I hope more hatch out soon or I will go into duckly withdrawal!
I have left the Muscovy eggs with Penelope in hopes she will gather her nest together and set but she has 6 eggs and doesn't look interested. She has already set once this year before I got her. I guess she is waiting to get 10 or more to make it worth her while.

Hey, Joy! Now is a good time to get that pool fixed up for all the duckies! Little duckie ladders, maybe a diving board and slide.....Your cute little pond can't hold all of those babies! And I am imagining your pool could not hold them all either. Time for a bigger pool!

I bet it is adorable. I love seeing them out with the moms here. Ducks are so different than chickens in raising them and they are just too cute running to keep up with mom. Tripping over the grass and getting in and out of the little pans of water.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Gosh, Pink, there are a few possibilities.
Did she have any slime on her? I had a snake try to eat a half grown JG once. It, of course, could not but I caught it with half of the girl down it's throat and of course, she was deceased. It was a big black snake and though there weren't any marks on the bird, there was slime. The snake "spit" her out and left her because her shoulders were just too big. It was early morning so I assume the snake caught her by surprise. Freaked me out. I now use sulfer all around the barn and shed.

A hawk will go up to a fence and reach through with a claw but the chicken has to be fairly close for it to catch them and you would see wounds maybe. Those claws are sharp. I am not sure if it could just grab a few feathers but it could happen. Stranger things have been seen.

If something spooked them like a dog or a sudden cat fight on the other side of the run then they could have all crashed into that side, flaying enough to lose feathers and if she was hurt badly enough she could die from her injuries or from shock.

So many possibilities!

I hate hearing about that. I'm so sorry for you!

With this weather it is bad enough to worry over heat stress, much less all the other things that can happen.

 

[Joycats]

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I lost 2 of my heavy breed hens to the heat today

a jersey giant hen and a blue cochin hen (of course they were two of my favorites). They were out in the yard and had plenty of water. It's just to bloody hot. My thermometer registered 105 in the shade this afternoon.

 

[Joycats]

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I can't imagine all those baby ducks running around! All mine are sold now. This weekend will be a busy time of everyone picking up Cayuga mixes and Runner babies. I hope more hatch out soon or I will go into duckly withdrawal!
I have left the Muscovy eggs with Penelope in hopes she will gather her nest together and set but she has 6 eggs and doesn't look interested. She has already set once this year before I got her. I guess she is waiting to get 10 or more to make it worth her while.

Hey, Joy! Now is a good time to get that pool fixed up for all the duckies! Little duckie ladders, maybe a diving board and slide.....Your cute little pond can't hold all of those babies! And I am imagining your pool could not hold them all either. Time for a bigger pool!

I bet it is adorable. I love seeing them out with the moms here. Ducks are so different than chickens in raising them and they are just too cute running to keep up with mom. Tripping over the grass and getting in and out of the little pans of water.

I have muscovy ducklings hatching again too!

One nest hatched yesterday and one little duckling got lost and I found him sitting in the middle of the polish crested yard. It was only a few hours old and those chickens were just standing around wondering what to do with him. Not a single one even thought to peck at him. I LOVE my polish, they are great birds. The little duckling was fine and I put him back with his Mom. All the polish watched me to see what I was going to do with him.

 

[Moonchild]

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OK a 24hr UPDATE...Well the Chick is doing great!!! She's walking and even running with the others

She is about 70% better so 30% more to go

and I'm so Happy!!! And I found out you can buy capsules of selenium and add it to their food. But the injection works alot faster! SO if she gets 100% better then remember to help the chicks with the Wonky Leg!!!!