Surviving Minnesota!

[shawluvsbirds]

Hello all.

I am alive but moving slow. I have to avoid moving too fast, or over heating. If I do my heart goes into some kind of weird beat. I finally have an appointment with a cardiologist on the 7th.

We are not going to the cabin, my children decided it was to far from a hospital and the ambulance service is non-existent in case we needed it.

I a busy but not getting much done. Holm stopped Sunday and picked up a few weird birds of mine. I gave him my blue EE pullet. She is so beautiful but I am not going to breed them next year. I need to cut back.

I have been about a week to 10 days building a pen and run that should have taken 2 days. This new speed of doing things is driving me nuts.

I hope to finish the run today or tomorrow and have a new place for the Toads and the PC's. (Ed and his girls) I have to pull a few more birds indoors to get them out of the sun. I have a Dom pullet (Holm pointed her out to me) I need to get out of the sun. I was looking at her and her off color and not her body type. He pointed out her body type. She is about perfect on body type but the black is somewhat faded because of the sun. The fade to a brownish black. I am hoping getting her into the dark will help the color. I have decided to show her regardless as long as there is no red I think I am fine, none of my doms have red. (lucky me). The skirt on her is amazing. She is one of them in my mainly pullet pen. I also have found a new White Legbar cockerel. He will be going inside as soon as I get some pens free or new ones made.

I am afraid I will be a lazy shower this year. not all my birds will get the prep they need. There is just no way I will get them all bathed and trimmed unless the cardiologist can find some miracle drug to help me out. I currently work and hour and rest for two. Kind of hard to get anything done like that.

Cuddles needs his own pen, his tail is in molt and he is ratty looking. I need him clean and in all his glory by Oct 27Th.

@MNChickMom . You need to come and get that toad cockerel I have for you. He is going into the toad pen soon. I am afraid of the toad fight when I get them together. I am also going to parole OJ, (formerly known as "the Bert). He is a beautiful bird, but I cannot have him hurting my pullets or other roosters. He will be getting on the camp bus if he does not reform. I Have thought about separating the other roosters and leaving OJ with the girls, but that is not fair to the other roosters. I may give that a try. Who knows.

The pen @MNChickMom 's rooster is in is headed to camp soon. Not many in there and they are getting large enough for the camp bus. BTW Jerry the 7 pound Legbar roosters we laughed about, I have one the white cockerel, he is huge and body type is great.

TTYL.

I hope to be on more. Take care all.

Holm Sorry to hear about your dog. MY black one has had a "fake" hip, and is 9 now, for 7 years or so. They just pushed her tendons into the hip socket after they cut the end of her hip bone off. She does fine on it.

I have kittens (3) incase any of you need a natural rodent trap. It appears the female cat (GC) decided to forgo her brother (OC) for another Tom in the area. All the kittens are blackish with boots and a tabby pattern. Poor OC!!

GC has allowed us to handle the kittens so I think they will be semi-tame. We have them in a cage now so she does not try to move them, she tried this once and it did not go well. We allow the cage to be open when we are outside with her.

The Turkeys are quite intrigued with the kittens, GC is not happy about the turkey's curiosity. She lets them get fairly close but tries to stay between the turkeys and the kittens. Her hissing goes unheeded.

RALPHY!! it's not the same around here without you!

 

[jerryse]

Ralphie I hear you on the slow progress . So frustrating for us doers .

Hey do any of you grow mystery lilies in the far north . They bloom pink and in August here . I tried to research them . Mostly listed as zone 5 and 4 . I did find a report of someone in Canada growing them in zone 3 with protection . I have plenty and thinking of trying them at the lake .

 

[DwayneNLiz]

Ralphie I hear you on the slow progress . So frustrating for us doers .

Hey do any of you grow mystery lilies in the far north . They bloom pink and in August here . I tried to research them . Mostly listed as zone 5 and 4 . I did find a report of someone in Canada growing them in zone 3 with protection . I have plenty and thinking of trying them at the lake .

i am on 5/4 line and they grow here

 

[DwayneNLiz]

@duluthralphie thanks for the update, i was going to call you later if we didnt hear anything today

 

[Elise Ferguson]

Still working on training these chicks. The rooster seems to be the most curious along with what I assume to be the top hen (she's usually quick to do whatever the Roo does). So while they aren't running at me when I call yet, if they see I have sunflower seeds they do eventually find me. And Chickzilla will eat them out of my hand if I don't flail around too much

 

[Cebarmlds]

One of my SS has a bad limp she doesn't look comfortable at all, the biggest one of coarse. I'm thinking to contain her in a dog crate and hope she can heal without running and jumping out of the way of the others.

 

[BantyChooks]

One of my SS has a bad limp she doesn't look comfortable at all, the biggest one of coarse. I'm thinking to contain her in a dog crate and hope she can heal without running and jumping out of the way of the others.

Same situation here, my best PC pullet has a bum leg... let's hope they both recover.

 

[Tfred1399]

@duluthralphie

With a little planning, I would be happy to come down from Brainerd for a day to lend a hand on any projects that need to be done before snow flies. I'm only so handy, but I take direction well.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Elise: When your Brahmas start laying eggs...they'll get really acquainted with the Food Lady. LOL. The rooster always checks stuff out for the hens to see if he can do a treat call and romance, but sometimes the girls crash by him if they are laying eggs. Protein/calorie demands get upped.

Ralphie, Thank you for setting down to the computer. Take care of that ticker. And perhaps meeting with Cardio MD's is just what you need to get some stuff back. But keeping busy and strong is also a good thing. I've seen that with Dad. He's pretty strong still, with his PT. But it was because he kept doing things. Just be careful.
Egads...this thread won't run right without ya...

MNChickMom....more farm adventures.
TFred I love that you are on here...

Jerry...I have never heard of Mystery Lilies. I'll have to google. We have Star Gazers and Tiger lilies that work up here....?

Erli any sign of bumble foot or you think more like a sprain...? Broken toe will make em limp too.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have a pullet and have had a couple with the lame leg. I am not sure what it is. Of course, I always think the worse.

I have done autopsies, thinking Maraks (God forbid) and found nothing on the liver or follicles to indicate Maraks. The livers are clear I am finding nothing inside. I a wondering if it is because my birds are inbred. I am culling all I find just to make sure I do not have a permanent problem with it.

In my studying on this, I think I have stumbled on it. I think it is botulism. It says it hits teens worse than any other age group. Why? I have no idea. I assume it has to do with the weird changes the body does during puberty and being weaker than other points in their life.

We have had so much water/rain this year, every where I look I even have standing water. There is moldy food everywhere for them, even when we try are hardest to keep it mold free, it is impossible to keep the mold away from them in this weather. If it is not raining it is 90% and hot. Perfect for bad bugs to grow in everything they eat. I have heard from so many people this year around here having the same problem. There is no other common source I can think of.

I have tried mega doses of antibiotics but it has done nothing. If a certain person who lives in Montana and has a Veterinarian for a Mom, were to bring some Excede in Oct, I would not turn it down and try it.... $253 bottle puts it out of my reach...


I have no idea how to induce vomiting and clear the intestines of a chicken with botulism. I would guess that would be the only chance we would have if that is truly what it is.

The butt is clear on the few I have had. I a not sure if that would be the case with botulism. Maybe I will have to try a laxative on the birds and see if that happens when I get the next one. Then again, it would be a weak bird and maybe should just be culled.