Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[JerseyHen]

"Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."



Today we lost our beloved boxer, Max. He was the most amazing creature (and biggest clown) I have had the pleasure of spending time with and he was always by my side. He will be sorely missed. He trained himself, at 9 years old, to be on the lookout for hawks and anytime he heard one he would race outside and chase it away and then check on the girls. They all shared his water (and occasionally his food) dish with him.

 

[HippyChippy]

[COLOR=141823]"Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."[/COLOR] Today we lost our beloved boxer, Max. He was the most amazing creature (and biggest clown) I have had the pleasure of spending time with and he was always by my side. He will be sorely missed. He trained himself, at 9 years old, to be on the lookout for hawks and anytime he heard one he would race outside and chase it away and then check on the girls. They all shared his water (and occasionally his food) dish with him.

I'm so sorry Christine, it is so hard to say goodbye. I'm sending you a big hug.

 

[Carolyn252]

I quickly went out yesterday and changed all the wood shavings in the coop so they were nice ans dry, added some herbs and chopped straw to the nest boxes, cleaned and refilled all waterers and stocked up on the food. It is so windy and gusty! I am so glad that I wrapped the run with plexiglass on the ends, polycarbonate on one side (leftover from building the greenhouse) and extra thick plastic sheeting on the last long side. When I scooch down, there is very little wind.

One of my EE, Ivy has started laying again. I am hoping that the rest of the girls jump on the bandwagon soon. I have missed their sumptuous yolks and silken flavors. This is my first year with a sand floor in the run. It worked quite well throughout the year and seems to be OK in the winter as well. I did put some straw on the far end where they like to hunker down.

FYI......Chestnut Vale in Hicksville is now carrying a Non-GMO organic feed. It is about $10.oo cheaper than the other organic brand that they carried. It is made in Vermont and is called Green Mountain. (for obvious reasons) They also have a Non-GMO and No Soy Organic feed as well. I am giving it a try!

Hope you are all doing well and keeping warm. The older I get, the less I go out in bad/nasty/snowy/icy weather. Last thing I want to do is to break something.

taying inside gives me more time to check out BYC more often too!

Carolyn....I still go and pick up my free shavings at Jonathan Arnold in Oceanside. This is still one of the best deals ever!

Some Pictures of the girls from this summer.





Happy New Year to you all!

Hi, Irene. It's almost 7 in the morning in the midst of this incredible snow blizzard and the world outside my house is white, white, white. Haven't been online here at BYC in weeks and weeks. Finally finished redoing the kitchen: new wallpaper, embossed tin ceiling, electrical update, new vintage sconces. Fun. My eight hens are thriving still. No eggs for about THREE months, but then two of them started laying again about two weeks ago. Glad to see that you're still getting those free bags of wood shavings for your coop. Me too. Sweet! Stay safe and warm.
-Carolyn252

 

[Carolyn252]

Let me know if no one wants her I'm sure I can find her a home.
I could have sold her this weekend for big bucks. Just need to be sure they all don't have a crazy disease that can be passed on.

On a different note, all of you Lyme disease sufferers, especially Carolyn252. If I don't see you have read this I will email to you.
I have been miserable since getting Lyme back in 2001. Last year it had gotten so bad that I was having anaphylaxis and was considering giving up all of my chickens.
I went to an allergist and was told I am not allergic.

I have been trying to get in with a Dr. well versed in Lyme for 3 years now. Finally after January 1 she takes my insurance.
They have recently found a new factor in Lyme cases transmitted by Lone Star ticks.
I am allergic to red meat.
Yay.

Hi, Roberta !! So sorry you've been suffering so with Lyme. And now you've got to avoid red meat. That's got to be annoying. My Lyme testing came back negative and the Rheumatologist's test showed Polymyalgia Rheumatica. The prednisone has helped enormously and I am now quite and completely pain free. Over the past year and a half, I've been weaned off the prednisone, from 60 mg every day, down to my current regimen of alternate days of 3mg and 4mg. A few times in the weaning process I had flareups and had to go back up to a higher dosage, but weaning more slowly seems to have worked out ok. I also went to an allergist. I specifically asked for an allergy test to show if I am allergic to chicken feathers, and it came back negative. Well, look at this: it stopped snowing. Now have to hope the neighborhood's roving teams of snow shovelers show up before Dear Hubby wakes up and decides to clear the sidewalks and driveway himself.

How's your new parcel of land down south doing in this snow storm? Covered in snow? Light dusting? No snow at all?
-Carolyn252

 

[irischick]

"Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."



Today we lost our beloved boxer, Max. He was the most amazing creature (and biggest clown) I have had the pleasure of spending time with and he was always by my side. He will be sorely missed. He trained himself, at 9 years old, to be on the lookout for hawks and anytime he heard one he would race outside and chase it away and then check on the girls. They all shared his water (and occasionally his food) dish with him.

JH I am so very sorry for your loss. I recently lost my beloved shepherd in November who had the same qualities. So sorry.

 

[irischick]

Hi all, been busy but good here. After losing my beloved German Shepherd in November, I am happy to report that I have a new girl. Her name is Tracy; she is a 4yo retired German Shepherd. She was a show dog and mother. The owners are downsizing there kennel and wanted her to go to a home with a yard to play in instead of living out her days in a kennel.She is learning a lot and coming along nicely. Her first day of really running and playing was amazing. I will post a pic when I get my photos back on my computer. I needed a new hard drive so I have to reload everything.

On a sad note, we lost our bantam Mille Fleur roo last week from a hawk attack. Our girls are a little confused but figuring things out. Yucky weather today - took a snow day even though my district did not close. The risky commute wasn't worth it. I hope everyone is warm and safe today. I am really looking forward to spring. Started looking at all my seed catalogs - started planning.

Have a great day everyone.
Karen

 

[Carolyn252]

Dear friends on the Southern NY forum, It's so much easier to trust the people that I've come to know here, so

I'd love to hear from you in response to the question that I posted this morning in the Emergency/injuries/cures forum.

It's a thread of four postings and my question is in red in the fourth one.

Here's the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...h-each-breath-in-4-year-old-hen#post_14750748

Thanks so much.
-Carolyn252

 

[ChickenAl]

Dear friends on the Southern NY forum,  It's so much easier to trust the people that I've come to know here, so

I'd love to hear from you in response to the question that I posted this morning in the Emergency/injuries/cures forum. 

  It's a thread of four postings and my question is in [COLOR=FF0000]red[/COLOR] in the fourth one.

Here's the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...h-each-breath-in-4-year-old-hen#post_14750748

Thanks so much.
-Carolyn252

Hi Carolyn, I let two weeks go by when I used any worming meds on the girls. It does take a while for the meds to be eliminated form their system. You certainly would not want to be having antibiotics with you morning breakfast. Lol. Also, and I know this is obvious, don't feed the eggs back to the for,a for that time period as well.

Good luck. Glad things are better. Hope this helped.

 

[ChickenAl]

Hope you were able to read through all my mispellings. Auto spell is no help!

 

[Carolyn252]

Hope you were able to read through all my mispellings. Auto spell is no help!

Yes; No problem, Al. Thank you SO much for responding. And yes, I am tossing the eggs and not feeding them back to the hens. Happily, this is all happening during the season of low production; only two of my eight hens has given us any eggs at all in the past three months. And the two that are producing are only laying once or twice a week. One of the EasterEggers and the big white Delaware that started this whole noisy-breathing problem. Tossing two eggs twice a week is sad, but not heartbreaking.