The Front Porch Swing

[Blooie]

Wow! NEVER?!?!?!?!

I really like to hold newborns -- I keep thinking I should volunteer at the baby ward to just sit in the rocker with them. Until they are maybe 3 months old, when everyone else says "That's when they start getting interesting." Then I want NOTHING to do with them until they are at least 12. Then you can have them back when they hit about 15 and I'd rather not see them again until they are 22 or so. Probably more like 32 if they're boys, to be honest.

Oh my very favorite ages are between 2 and 6. You can have the most interesting conversations with them, ala Linkletter. Lots of times I get us a snack sit at the kitchen table, and then just let them talk. Hilarious! This was one of my very favorite conversations with my then 6 year old granddaughter, Little Diane, shortly after we were granted full custody of her and her brother Jamie.
They had very little, if any, spiritual guidance, so when Little Diane came into the kitchen one day and asked me if I knew Noah, I was all ears. I poured us each a glass of Kool-aid, sat down across from her at the table, and settled in for the story.

"Okay, Gramma. A long long time ago before there were cars, there was a man named Noah and he lived in Illinois." Okay, this is already getting good! "Him and his family was really good, and they were nice to everybody, even mean people." I nodded and waited for her to go on. No point correcting here, let the story flow.....

"There was a lot of mean people. They were bad, really REALLY bad. They was LY-in', and STEAL-in', and CHEAT-in', and they did lots of other bad stuff."

I nodded again, smiling inside as her big, green eyes grew wider with every breath. She was so earnest, and was so into her story it was just heartwarming. "What happened, Bumbley?" I reached for my Kool-aid and started to take a big drink just as she told me,

"One day God looked down and said, (here her forehead crinkled up and she made her voice sound as deep and God-like as she could make it) 'Well, that's enough of THIS crap.....'"

Do you know how long it takes to get cherry Koolaid out of white curtains?

 

[Beekissed]

Ok, I promised a story about my grandpa.....

He pretty much raised me when I was little. We lived with them or beside them when I was little, for several years. I would go missing, and my mom would call to see if I had snuck over there...I had, and they would put me to bed at their house. So anyway... he only whipped me 2 times.... once for running from him and running across the road.... the other time, I was about 4 and was sitting on the railing of the porch. Their house was built on a hill with a walk in basement at the bottom of the hill, so the porch was a good 18-20 foot off the ground. I was balancing on the banister on my butt with my hands and feet spread out. He slid open the sliding glass door, and eased out on the porch, then slowly walked across the width of the porch. When he got close enough, he jerked me down and lit my hind-end up! I never balanced on the banister again though.

LOVE this story! Oh, if only more grandpas were like this now, the world would be a better place....

I was thinking that. It's a shame these are the birds I want to breed.

I've been thinking of how to make her a tight "saddle" to fit around her middle -- out of that plastic feed sack material. Or I could wrap her in vet wrap -- I've got lots. I just worry that would give a good place for bugs to hide ... presuming bugs found her. Or rub on and irritate the area. And I worry that it wouldn't let the wound breathe. But it would maybe help keep crud out of the area a little ... and keep toes out.

BK, You've been a nurse and a chicken keeper both, so what is your opinion about "dressing" a chicken wound. In the past I've just left any wound alone except maybe spraying it with Vetericyn and unless it is bloody and attracting attention (like a badly picked tail), I let the bird stay with the flock, hoping for the best. The side tears always healed pretty fast, even when some muscle was involved. It's the picked tails that are hard to fix! But "quick" when your in an insolation cage is not the same as "quick" when you're still with your flock.

These side-tear breeding injuries happened to a few of the Buff Orpington hatchery birds before. And now this one of the trio I bought for the Delaware breed restoration project. Both breeds have lots of loose fluffy feathers instead of more tight feathers like most of the other breeds I have. So ... it could be feathers instead of skin. Either way, self-sustaining, dual purpose, barnyard birds need to be sturdy enough to mate. That seems basic.

I don't know enough about the SOP or bird genetics to know if the loose fluffy feathers are a factor of the F4 phase of the restoration project, or if it is a breed characteristic.

The roo is big, and he's been acting more hormonal now that it is spring. He could have been a little more rough than necessary. Maybe if I gave him a few more hens to take care of he'd be more content. I've been thinking of putting some of the Cuckoo Marans or EEs in with him as then I wouldn't get confused about the eggs. I think the California Whites (white eggs) are too small for him, and WAY too independent to agree to a move.

I don't want to over think it, though.

LJ, this thread and this page just had a mini tutorial about the importance of feathering and if you go back a few pages, look for Fred's posts on the same topic, particularly in regards to the breeding pens: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/811228/the-plymouth-rock-breeders-thread/1690#post_13019544

My new dsg ointment of choice right now is the Castor Oil...as a nurse I'm duly impressed with its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties as well as the antimocrobial, antifungal and antibacterial properties it seems to have. I wish I had known about it throughout my nursing career...could have done some minor miracles with that stuff.

I've been experimenting with it here on fresh wounds(the cat), old and non-healing wounds (cat and the Bat), and on mild frost bite on those free roosters when I got them and couldn't be more pleased with the stuff.

For deep wounds and if you are inclined, you can flush them with iodine solution, Dakin's solution or even peroxide initially. If you have to flush and clean it more later I'd skip the peroxide unless you are trying to remove dead tissue. Then I'd use the Castor Oil or NuStock on the wound and leave it open to air. The CO will cling better and seal out contaminants better and has the added benefit of being able to soothe the pain and inflammation in the tissues.

I've had a wound or two in meaty chicks like you describe(one completely scalped and had a flap hanging off the flank with muscle exposed and the other had a puncture wound in the neck that bubbled when it breathed) and I just rinsed them with the jug of ACV I had in the coop, slapped some NS on them and gave them a kiss for luck. The next day Mom saw Jake giving them a good licking and within a day or so I couldn't tell which were the injured chicks....found one of them when I processed and saw a scar in the muscle of the flank.

Could have been the miracle of a tongue massage with dog slobbers that affected the fast healing, but I'll never know.

 

[Triple Willow]

I'm finally caught up. Turn my back on you guys for a minute and I just get left behind! lol Great stories and great games. Brought back a lot of memories and made me smile til me cheeks hurt.

Hello and welcome to all the new folks!!!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Oh my very favorite ages are between 2 and 6. You can have the most interesting conversations with them, ala Linkletter. Lots of times I get us a snack sit at the kitchen table, and then just let them talk. Hilarious! This was one of my very favorite conversations with my then 6 year old granddaughter, Little Diane, shortly after we were granted full custody of her and her brother Jamie.
They had very little, if any, spiritual guidance, so when Little Diane came into the kitchen one day and asked me if I knew Noah, I was all ears. I poured us each a glass of Kool-aid, sat down across from her at the table, and settled in for the story.

"Okay, Gramma. A long long time ago before there were cars, there was a man named Noah and he lived in Illinois." Okay, this is already getting good! "Him and his family was really good, and they were nice to everybody, even mean people." I nodded and waited for her to go on. No point correcting here, let the story flow.....

"There was a lot of mean people. They were bad, really REALLY bad. They was LY-in', and STEAL-in', and CHEAT-in', and they did lots of other bad stuff."

I nodded again, smiling inside as her big, green eyes grew wider with every breath. She was so earnest, and was so into her story it was just heartwarming. "What happened, Bumbley?" I reached for my Kool-aid and started to take a big drink just as she told me,

"One day God looked down and said, (here her forehead crinkled up and she made her voice sound as deep and God-like as she could make it) 'Well, that's enough of THIS crap.....'"

Do you know how long it takes to get cherry Koolaid out of white curtains?

I'm sure that is very, very much more accurate than the PC version we've all been told. After all, you'd have to be pretty exasperated to flood the whole planet.

I'm all for clear communication.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh my very favorite ages are between 2 and 6. You can have the most interesting conversations with them, ala Linkletter. Lots of times I get us a snack sit at the kitchen table, and then just let them talk. Hilarious! This was one of my very favorite conversations with my then 6 year old granddaughter, Little Diane, shortly after we were granted full custody of her and her brother Jamie.
They had very little, if any, spiritual guidance, so when Little Diane came into the kitchen one day and asked me if I knew Noah, I was all ears. I poured us each a glass of Kool-aid, sat down across from her at the table, and settled in for the story.

"Okay, Gramma. A long long time ago before there were cars, there was a man named Noah and he lived in Illinois." Okay, this is already getting good! "Him and his family was really good, and they were nice to everybody, even mean people." I nodded and waited for her to go on. No point correcting here, let the story flow.....

"There was a lot of mean people. They were bad, really REALLY bad. They was LY-in', and STEAL-in', and CHEAT-in', and they did lots of other bad stuff."

I nodded again, smiling inside as her big, green eyes grew wider with every breath. She was so earnest, and was so into her story it was just heartwarming. "What happened, Bumbley?" I reached for my Kool-aid and started to take a big drink just as she told me,

"One day God looked down and said, (here her forehead crinkled up and she made her voice sound as deep and God-like as she could make it) 'Well, that's enough of THIS crap.....'"

Do you know how long it takes to get cherry Koolaid out of white curtains?

About as long as it takes me to get this cranberry cherry juice off my keyboard and monitor!!! Oh, please, please, put these into a book!!!!

You could make a fortune and I'd buy it right now! That is a classic story...I literally laughed out loud in this quiet old house. Made my day!

I'm wondering who told her that version of the story....... can't you just hear God laughing and holding His sides on that one???? Oh, how I love the little children.

 

[Triple Willow]

Oh my very favorite ages are between 2 and 6. You can have the most interesting conversations with them, ala Linkletter. Lots of times I get us a snack sit at the kitchen table, and then just let them talk. Hilarious! This was one of my very favorite conversations with my then 6 year old granddaughter, Little Diane, shortly after we were granted full custody of her and her brother Jamie.
They had very little, if any, spiritual guidance, so when Little Diane came into the kitchen one day and asked me if I knew Noah, I was all ears. I poured us each a glass of Kool-aid, sat down across from her at the table, and settled in for the story. "Okay, Gramma. A long long time ago before there were cars, there was a man named Noah and he lived in Illinois." Okay, this is already getting good! "Him and his family was really good, and they were nice to everybody, even mean people." I nodded and waited for her to go on. No point correcting here, let the story flow..... "There was a lot of mean people. They were bad, really REALLY bad. They was LY-in', and STEAL-in', and CHEAT-in', and they did lots of other bad stuff." I nodded again, smiling inside as her big, green eyes grew wider with every breath. She was so earnest, and was so into her story it was just heartwarming. "What happened, Bumbley?" I reached for my Kool-aid and started to take a big drink just as she told me, "One day God looked down and said, (here her forehead crinkled up and she made her voice sound as deep and God-like as she could make it) 'Well, that's enough of THIS crap.....'" Do you know how long it takes to get cherry Koolaid out of white curtains?

hahahahah Love that story and it's faaaiiirly accurate. LOL I agree, 2-3-4 year olds for me - love them! Before that they scare me, after that they think they know more than I do. LOL

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Wow. Feather Quality. There is SO much I don't know about chickens. I can sense another spell of research coming on.

 

[Beekissed]

hahahahah Love that story and it's faaaiiirly accurate. LOL

I agree, 2-3-4 year olds for me - love them! Before that they scare me, after that they think they know more than I do. LOL

I love 'em in all ages until they hit over 18...then you can have 'em. I love kids and they seem to love me for some reason, so that works out well. I love their smell, their laughter, their energy, the way their skin feels, the little feet and hands, the innocent eyes and stories and all the things they are learning for the first time...simply fascinating. I miss babies and when my boys were little..we had so much fun just being a family...we still do but it's more complicated now.

 

[Blooie]

hahahahah Love that story and it's faaaiiirly accurate. LOL

I agree, 2-3-4 year olds for me - love them! Before that they scare me, after that they think they know more than I do. LOL

Truth is that any more they probably do know more than we do. <sigh> What the heck every happened to that marvelous concept of "childhood"?

Sorry about the cranberry juice. I should have pulled up the 'story pulpit' and given a warning.

 

[Beekissed]

Truth is that any more they probably do know more than we do. <sigh> What the heck every happened to that marvelous concept of "childhood"?

Sorry about the cranberry juice. I should have pulled up the 'story pulpit' and given a warning.

It's under control...most of it went up my nose. <wipes watering eyes and pink snot from upper lip and smiles bravely> I wouldn't have missed that story for the world...it will be duly repeated over dinner with the family tonight but I don't have a prayer of doing it justice like you did. You are truly amazing, Blooie.