The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[getaclue]

While healthy eating does provide a plethora of benefits, including a strong immune system, like you said, it's not a force field. At least one other benefit, which you are demonstrating, is the ability to fight back, and recover more readily, on those rare occasions that you do catch something.

Don't be upset about him being in pain, and not wanting to do things. Pain, and the stress from the pain, are debilitating. Weather, increased activity, and a number of other things cause pain, and stress from it, to roller coaster. I'll go a few days that I'm fine, then WHAM, I'm down for the count for a couple days. It's the nature of the beast.

Just so you know, I am suppose to start hard chemo on the 27th. I doubt it happens on the 27th as planned, but it won't be long before I do have to start on it. I don't want to take the chemo the oncologist was wanting to give me, so I've been provided with the names of a couple others to research, and decide on. I've narrowed it down, depending on a couple things. I'll discuss it with the doctor on the 27th. when I go in.

 

[speckledhen]

Don't be upset about him being in pain, and not wanting to do things.

Oh, I'm not at all, been living with this for decades. We've been married 48 years and he's been in pain for most of that time. He knows and often says that this condition interferes with our lives and of course, it does. It's just the reality of it. It often puts more on me and I'm capable, but at times, it is sort of like I'm on my own. Since late Thursday evening, I have been struggling to get back to full capacity. Thankfully, two days were the worst of it. I shudder to think what this virus would have done to me if I was eating the standard American crap diet. This one tackled me, to my surprise. If we didn't have chickens to take care of, it would have been easier to just sleep through several days. They keep us active. We both ate more today so that's a good sign. A missing appetite just dragged on and on.

Just so you know, I am suppose to start hard chemo on the 27th. I doubt it happens on the 27th as planned, but it won't be long before I do have to start on it.

I remember you told me that was going to happen, but I didn't know the date. I hope you come through this one with flying colors. We need more strong, smart women like yourself to stick around!

 

[speckledhen]

I may lose an elderly bird or two in this weather. Screenshots how several nights of single digits in this next week, not at all normal for us here. Mina is still with me, seizing every day violently, but she snaps out of it and can get around and eat/drink on her own. She is walking on her right hock joint now, an extension of the weakness I noticed weeks ago on that side, still not sure if it was weakness from a stroke or an actual injury. She is such a tough little hen, has a lot of interest in life. I was able to get her outside in the sunshine yesterday, prompted by her insane pacing in her cage. She wanted a dust bath, but she can't dig with her right leg very well. When she begins to be depressed and tells me it's time, we'll help her on to that Great Roost in the Sky, but she full of spit & vinegar, that old lady. How can an 18-20 oz hen at 12 years old, having multiple daily seizures keep on trucking? Never saw anything like her, but these temps may be her undoing. Bash still shakes his head, acts like he's gagging and his balance is not great, but also, in regard to balance, he seems to have stiffness in at least one hock joint so it could be that. Isaac always fell off the roost because of his arthritic joints. d I guess I'd better look in his ears again. If he lives until summer, he'll turn 8 years old, but this winter may do him in if these single digits keep up. He has a reptile bulb right over his spot on the roost for a tiny bit of heat over his head. My big baby always gets special treatment.

 

[speckledhen]

They all survived, even Mina. Then, we got spring weather, then more normal for this time of year. For the first time in 19 years of keeping chickens, a rat has tunneled into the barn. And this barn is surrounded by a concrete gutter that dips low for water drainage away from the building, if you recall from seeing videos on my place. The steel barn was built on the ground on gravel and then there was a 6 mil black plastic, then we built floors up off the ground, could not afford a concrete floor at the time in this 20x24 barn. This is a RAT, not little mice, but we all know that rats are never alone. This one even ate through almost cured concrete! We are on the warpath, here's the video:

 

[speckledhen]

All the chickens are still alive so far. Bash still has ear issues, treated again yesterday after he was scratching and shaking his head, but so do I after being sick briefly in December. My ears still feel underwater part of the day in spite of treating to dry them out using drops and decongestant/antihistamine. Guess me and Bash have something in common at the moment.
I do have some lice/mite spray, though I don't believe it's related to that for him. I have seen no evidence of any external pests on him, nor on Brandy and Cora, but I did think maybe I missed something and ear mites were present; again, I've never had any real issues with external pests in my flocks.. I did float out cheesy stuff from his ears once or twice, but I can't keep treating him every day and having it not work. I'm at a loss and overloaded with stuff other than Bash at the moment.
No sign of rats for three days. We concreted the floor that was exposed so they couldn't get back in, then put on a new door seal at the bottom of that stupid roll-up door, put out the slow killing baits we mixed up as well as sprinkled the rat repellent granules (those are very aromatic so I have to be careful around the birds because of that quality). The combination of tactics seems to be working, though I have no idea how many are still living under the floor. The bait was been sprinkled down in there and the openings sealed off so I guess we'll see. Makes me disgusted that rodents are in with my chickens, but I've cleaned out any interior hiding places, found no holes in the floors or where the wooden side walls meet the floors-checked all around in every pen, zero gaps. The one place I literally cannot seal up is the 2"x 6' gap at the top of the roll-up door, but can they climb a slick, steel building to even get up there? I don't think so, but they are persistent critters.

 

[h2oratt]

All the chickens are still alive so far. Bash still has ear issues, treated again yesterday after he was scratching and shaking his head, but so do I after being sick briefly in December. My ears still feel underwater part of the day in spite of treating to dry them out using drops and decongestant/antihistamine. Guess me and Bash have something in common at the moment.
I do have some lice/mite spray, though I don't believe it's related to that for him. I have seen no evidence of any external pests on him, nor on Brandy and Cora, but I did think maybe I missed something and ear mites were present; again, I've never had any real issues with external pests in my flocks.. I did float out cheesy stuff from his ears once or twice, but I can't keep treating him every day and having it not work. I'm at a loss and overloaded with stuff other than Bash at the moment.
No sign of rats for three days. We concreted the floor that was exposed so they couldn't get back in, then put on a new door seal at the bottom of that stupid roll-up door, put out the slow killing baits we mixed up as well as sprinkled the rat repellent granules (those are very aromatic so I have to be careful around the birds because of that quality). The combination of tactics seems to be working, though I have no idea how many are still living under the floor. The bait was been sprinkled down in there and the openings sealed off so I guess we'll see. Makes me disgusted that rodents are in with my chickens, but I've cleaned out any interior hiding places, found no holes in the floors or where the wooden side walls meet the floors-checked all around in every pen, zero gaps. The one place I literally cannot seal up is the 2"x 6' gap at the top of the roll-up door, but can they climb a slick, steel building to even get up there? I don't think so, but they are persistent critters.

Rats are very persistent. We have alot of problems here with them getting under the hood of our cars and eating the wiring. We have huge delta rats.

Sorry snout you and Bash ears. I too have a chronically plug eustation (sp) tube. Can’t hear well out of that ear.

 

[speckledhen]

Sorry snout you and Bash ears. I too have a chronically plug eustation (sp) tube. Can’t hear well out of that ear.

At least I don't have long Covid like my poor husband. He's not getting completely back to normal yet after two entire months.

 

[h2oratt]

I did have it. It is terrible. Then I got a bad cold lasted two weeks. I seem to be better still coughing.

 

[h2oratt]

Has he tried any alternative medicine. I did the nicotine patch. It seemed to help.

 

[speckledhen]

Has he tried any alternative medicine. I did the nicotine patch. It seemed to help.

That's a new one on me, nicotine patch for lingering cough? Never heard that one, Julie. Nope, he hasn't tried that, but I'm sure he would never do it. It's too reminiscent of his smoker family who mostly died or have serious health issues due to smoking they never got under control. He does have AFIB, supposedly, and there is evidence that about 6 weeks post Covid, older folks have increased risk for myocarditis. He's past that point now. I think it's just going to take time, but he's so tired. Coughing and difficult breathing wear you out badly.
I still don't believe that what I had was Covid but some other thing that was floating around contracted from someone at the dinner. Tom had to already have been exposed to Covid before the dinner since he was sick so fast after the dinner, probably the strain of traveling and being "on stage" for a family visit brought on the actual symptoms. I didn't feel ill until the following Thursday night and by Friday afternoon, I was back out in the barn with my chickens. If he brought Covid home before that weekend, he wasn't feeling it yet or we would never have gone to visit anyone and I would probably have not gotten sick. After the fever broke, I just felt tired and now have the lingering fluid in the ears. Though it is certainly a big coincidence for both of us to get sick at the same time, especially since I had not been ill in over two decades, but even the media was saying there were several nasty viruses floating around at that time and some folks got both simultaneously (oy, how awful!).