The Front Porch Swing

[Blooie]

In the beginning I had 40 guinea Keets. Raised them up till they had feathers but were still Bacon Heads. I got them out to the coop with a little extra element protection.... Something got in and killed about half..... I patched holes that I didnt know existed....

Then I got them up to the Point where they were growing Wattles and the wattles were getting red.... a sign of maturation. I got hit again by predators. Ripped a hole in the roof tarp and beheaded about six. So now I am down to four tween agers and about six adults. the final hit from predators killed two more tween agers ..... I found one on the ground and disposed of it.

Under the saw horse I used for a perch was one I thought was dead. But she layed there going Pweep Pweep Pweep very softly. I looked and tried to catch her but Guineas are pretty wild. she flapped and struggled to get away. She was missing a leg all the way up to the hip socket. No blood.... no blood at all. except what was on the perch....

So I put her in the brooder cage with food and water close enough so she wouldnt have to move and shavings. Each time I went to look in on her I was fully expecting to see that she had passed. Each time she was stronger and more active.... No infection No maggots.... By the end of the month she was strong enough to be put back into the flock.... By the end of two months she could hop along the roosts with the rest. She made it a year before she got trapped in the wire and I found her dead.

I called her Miss Peggy.....



deb

What a remarkable story! Her tenacity is what legends are made of! Did you ever find out what was causing the mayhem?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: LOL.... have had them since 1967.... I was trained cavalry style by a woman who ran boarding stables all over the world. She was a tyrant in many ways. for the most part to keep us safe but the rest was just "control".

Anyway I have no brothers and sisters. I have no Aunts and Uncles. the only child of an only child. So I was pretty danged shy when i got my first horse.... That stable and all the other youngsters that boarded there provided me a family I would never have known.

When we moved to San Diego I was twelve and my parents gave me the choice of a Surfboard or a Horse.... it was a no brainer for me. My dad was raised on several farms being the son of a Sharecropper so he knew what a well conformed horse should look like. We found this beautiful Black (like Fury) gelding for sale for 200 bucks.... Back then that was alot of money. We made arrangements to board at Helens place. When we unloaded Relampago off the trailer Helen looked him up and down and asked where we got him.... when she found out she kind of smiled and walked away Presumably to show us which corral to put him in.

I started lessons on a babysitter horse. Old enough to be calm but wise enough to teach me the basics. Those horses are worth their weight in gold by the way. Helen called in her daughter Millie to ride my horse and give him exercise till I was ready to rid him myself. So after a couple of weeks they let me ride Relampago and we hit it off famously. My very first trail ride was about a month later.

They put us in the middle of the group so someone behind could keep an eye out for trouble on each end of the group. I believe there were about eight horses. A good size for a first trailride. I was in heaven.... I had my Black "Fury" with a Spanish name of Relampago. BTW Relampago means Lightening in Spanish.... I had saddled and bridled my very own horse.... I was living a dream come true. He was very well trained too neck reined like a dream.... Light touches from your legs made him go....

Then we started home. He began prancing.... i loved it.... I didint see the faces of the others who were ridign with me... Tenser more observant. They rode closer to me.... There was a barbed wire gate that we had to stop and wait for one of us to open. Relampago didnt want to wait and he kept backing up. I tried to follow Helens suggestions.... And one of the other riders tried to reach of one of his reins.... But he backed into the barbed wire and it was as if he had been poked with a pitch fork. He took off.

Down the hill through the gate all the while my saddle was slipping to the side.... (girths should be checked after riding a few minutes some horses puff up) I rode till I couldnt hang on any longer. I came off in a pile of rocks about the size of a baseball. Relampago ran all the way home with the saddle hanging underneath his belly. I got up and while my back was scraped up I felt OK> and I refused to ride anyone elses horse to go back home which was about a three mile walk. They were afraid I would never ride again.... And I didnt ride HIM again.

Come to find out Relampago had a reputation in this valley as being somewhat of an outlaw. He was an ex cutting horse meaning he was trained to spin and do rollbacks in order to chase cows. One hint was he was only shod on the front.... often the sign he was on the reservation for some time. Helen Knew about him but was one of those people that wanted to prove that she knew better alwasy so she never told my dad this.

Instead she brought in her daugther to ride him out Get a feel for him. Helens Daugher Millie was a steeple chase rider in her younger years. OH MY GAWD she was a good rider or equiestrian. She was the one that would take rough stock and break them out to be solid citizens.... Or take abused ones and bring back their sanity.... Relampago knew this respected this and "waited'. One day Millie was riding in the arena area and turned to ask for a light for her cigarette from another rider. Relampago took the "offbalance" oportunity and spun a 360 dumping Millie right there.

Dad packed him up and took him to a horse trader and traded straight across for Dobbin. A baby sitter...at least 25 years old and before I got him he was probably ready for the dog food people, We fattened him up as much as we could and I had him as my horse for a year.... He taught me the basics.... and suffered the stupid stuff. At the tender age of thirteen I had to make the decision to put him down. It was alot to learn in my first two years of riding.... a lifetime worth.

That fall off Relampago crushed part of a vertibre I didnt find out till I was about 24. I was thrown over a hundred times in my first years of riding.... It never put me off horses. I been bucked off, jumped out from under, giggled off, bolted out from under, Thrown throug fences, Bit ,kicked, dragged and Rolled on My horse now has Tossed me off when I was riding.... and Trampled me while pulling a carriage.... All of those were mistakes I made Poor judgement on the circumstances.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Nearest guess was Raccoons. I fixed the coop using Aviary wire.... havent had trouble since. My coop rebuild will have my Ten gauge avairy wire panels as the exterior walls.... anything that can get through those will be "edible'.... lol.

deb

 

[wyoDreamer]

HA!! I wish you'd have been with me then! We could have gotten our apples AND evaded Old Man Van der Linde! Well, except for one teensy weesy detail. <confession> I'm absolutely terrified of horses. There, I said it.

Wow, how do you survive in the Cowboy State?

No need to feel ashamed, I am afraid of cows. I worked for a County Conservation department at one time, guess what I did? I designed feedlots for dairy farms.

Welcome to the Front Porch, Attila the Hen! Wonderful group of people here. How about some meringue cookies, those are gluten free. I have vanilla and cocoa.

When I was a teen, we would go out and "coon" corn from the fields after dark. Well, I always felt too guilty about stealing, so I was the lookout.
I also had an uncle (my cousin's uncle actually) that grew white sweet corn. That stuff was so good when it was almost ripe and picked it straight out of the field, still warm from the sun.
I was lucky to grow up in a neighborhood well populated with kids. Kick-The-Can; Red-Light, Green-Light; Red Rover; mowing the abandoned field for a baseball diamond, swinging on the wild grape vines, itching from the poison ivy, sand flies at the lake, mosquitos and gnats everywhere.

We had the best porch swing up at our cabin on the lake. It was 7 feet long and 3 feet wide, with a 2" thick mattress and hung from the ceiling from springs.

 

[LindaB220]

Sad day for me. My Calico Cochin Bantam rooster named ("G") has a broken thigh. I notice a couple days ago that he was hurt and couldn't walk but was hoping he would get better. But upon examining him today it is defiantly broken. All I can figure is the horses either kicked him or stepped on him. We had to put him out of his suffering tonight. Makes me so sad he was truly a beautiful rooster and so gentle and sweet. Luckily I had just hatched some of his babies and there is one really nice blue calico roo. I'm going to miss my G man.

That is so sad. Sorry for you. But you do have one waiting in the wings. That's got to bring comfort to you.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'm just trying to be consistent. I can't complain about other people making me do their research if I'm too lazy to do my own.

I have 36 dozen chicken eggs and 3 dozen duck eggs in the egg refrigerator tonight. I have a big delivery to make later tonight. It will clean me out of duck eggs, but take only about half of the chicken eggs.

We got almost 90 eggs yesterday. I haven't counted today's yet. The weather has been gorgeous. The eggs were so clean.

Also found a breeding injury on one of my Delawares today -- they are the only three birds I'm "serious" about. A gash down one of the hen's side from his claws. Really hard to see in all her fluff. I've seen this kind of thing before, and this type of injury can easily heal very well and rather quickly. Chickens are amazing. But I had to separate her so it has a chance to close up, and boy is HE upset about it. He is quite the leader, and he only has two hens to fuss over. But he is a BIG boy. If only it weren't one of my breeders. The Delawares do NOT like to be handled.

Maybe if you guys pray for her ... It's just a chicken, but it would be nice if she healed quickly and we could let her out soon to restore flock harmony.

Make sure you check inside the wound for any feathers that may have gotten in. I pulled 3 out of my hen and swabbed the wound out several times with iodine on a q-tip. Keeping it clean will help it heal faster.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Have you thought about removing his spurs? They grow back so its not a disfigurement.... Look on youtube there are a couple of demos on how to do it.

deb

I had it happen on mine and the rooster was young. His spurs were still stubs, not sharp yet. I'm pretty sure it was caused by either the inner toe nail or the back toe nail. When they wear the feathers off your girls and the skin gets exposed, its pretty easy to tear them. Their skin is so very thin, its unbelievable.

 

[ocap]

Now it's all everyone's fault here with your hospitality and offer of sweets that I am compelled to make corn bread that hopefully will resemble angel cake and I will slather it with Amish butter.
You are invited.

I am standing in line for the corn bread, would you all mind if I get a huge glass of sweet whole milk and dunk a few chucks of the corn bread and eat with a tea spoon? I also have a habit of mixing butter and honey at the dinner table.

 

[lindz8504]

I am standing in line for the corn bread, would you all mind if I get a huge glass of sweet whole milk and dunk a few chucks of the corn bread and eat with a tea spoon? I also have a habit of mixing butter and honey at the dinner table.

Me too! My grandpa used to mix butter and honey or jelly. He was an amazing man and I miss him terribly. Remind me to tell you all some stories when I am on the computer and not my phone.

Bee the only way I can give them more room is to move them out to the old coop..... think they would ok? They are a a few days old and then the whites are a week and a half....I can run a light down there but wasn't sure they would stay warm.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I am standing in line for the corn bread, would you all mind if I get a huge glass of sweet whole milk and dunk a few chucks of the corn bread and eat with a tea spoon? I also have a habit of mixing butter and honey at the dinner table.

LOL.....I always use sweet milk, but my parents ate theirs with buttermilk! And my dad always mixed his butter with King brand table syrup, which used to come in a metal "paint" can!!