The Front Porch Swing

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I tried that with my mom once..... She took a baseball sized rock and used it as a Door knocker..... Needless to say after that she didnt come over again. Love my mom really ..... Just dont like her sometimes.

deb

 

[Searsmom]

Well, my past 36 hours have been taken up trying to figure out what's wrong with one of the ducks. It still might not survive, but I've given it the best chance it can have. After research, looks like the umbilical may not have been completely in when it hatched. Could be infected. It's being soaked in epsom salts, has bacitrin put on to heal anything and keep the area moist, and had ACV and sugar in water squirted into its mouth. I found fresh poop this morning, so there's still a chance.

The rest of them are fine and growing, this one is still the size of a 2-day old duckling. On a better note, the lil BCMs and BOs are in fine health and making happy little cheep noises and running around scaring each other.

Bee, I'm sorry about your toe.
Blooie

 

[Beekissed]

Good morning afternoon everyone!

I lost a chick this morning.... It was the one that the others kept pecking. It was away from the others when I went down to check on them this morning. Everyone was huddled up under the light, except that little one. I brought it up to the house and was warming it back up, but it never really came back around. Everyone else is doing well, though. We did lower the light a little bit, because it is supposed to get colder and possibly snow this evening into tomorrow. They seem to be doing ok, they go eat and scratch around, then when they get cold, they go huddle under the light. Anyway, they should be ok and this will toughen them up I guess!

I noticed your light was kind of high in that brooder but didn't know if you had it all in hand. If they are huddling under the light most of the time, the brooder needs a top to hold in heat or needs to be a bit smaller to hold in heat. Either way, they should be able to move around freely within the area of the light but not huddle directly under the hottest point.

Could be they were pecking it because it had something you couldn't see that resulted in death, so don't feel like it was your fault. The flock can sense these things better than us and when they are all attacking one bird, it's a natural instinct to drive out the sick/abnormal bird. It's something to see it in birds so young, though.

For outside brooders I like to keep the light on one side of the brooder and point it at an angle towards the other wall...then they get the heat and the radiated heat, making for a larger area of walking around warm zone. Here's a pic of one of my setups...

This brooder had a plywood topper that got put back in place when I was done fooling with the chicks. You can see how close the lamp is and how it's tilted toward the corner of the brooder. This is day one for these meaties and the outside temps are still 40-50s in the day and 30s-40s at night.



In this pic, the brooder has been opened up to allow them out into the coop and just the one corner and topper left behind for night time, when the lamp would get turned back on.

 

[lindz8504]

I noticed your light was kind of high in that brooder but didn't know if you had it all in hand. If they are huddling under the light most of the time, the brooder needs a top to hold in heat or needs to be a bit smaller to hold in heat. Either way, they should be able to move around freely within the area of the light but not huddle directly under the hottest point.

Could be they were pecking it because it had something you couldn't see that resulted in death, so don't feel like it was your fault. The flock can sense these things better than us and when they are all attacking one bird, it's a natural instinct to drive out the sick/abnormal bird. It's something to see it in birds so young, though.

For outside brooders I like to keep the light on one side of the brooder and point it at an angle towards the other wall...then they get the heat and the radiated heat, making for a larger area of walking around warm zone. Here's a pic of one of my setups...

This brooder had a plywood topper that got put back in place when I was done fooling with the chicks. You can see how close the lamp is and how it's tilted toward the corner of the brooder. This is day one for these meaties and the outside temps are still 40-50s in the day and 30s-40s at night.



In this pic, the brooder has been opened up to allow them out into the coop and just the one corner and topper left behind for night time, when the lamp would get turned back on.

I am thinking that there was something wrong with that chick to begin with. It was always trying to huddle under everyone else, even in the house and it was the only one that was getting pecked. The light was about 18" from the floor, but we lowered it to about 10". All the other chicks are doing well, they go to the feeder and scratch around the coop... then when they get chilly they go back under the light. I opened the door and they scrambled all over the place! LOL... I will keep playing with it and see what seems to work the best.

 

[lindz8504]

Oh, have I put up pictures of the new coop and nest boxes?

Most of the girls do prefer the bottom or the middle boxes, but Hershey always lays hers in the top box next to the wall!

 

[TheDownyChick]

Y'all are funny! I have laughed and laughed. I love Book's poem about chicks in pockets.

I am proud of my bravery! Last night we had a roo in the main nest box with his tail feathers sticking out. Odd place for him, but there four eggs in there I had to get. I was able to sneak between his legs and get them all, even though he was giving me the stink eye and hanging on to one egg with his toe!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I never answer the phone. I only answer the door to one person, and only if I know she is coming. I'm better at answering e-mail ... comparatively. But I go through phases where I don't even do that.

I'm so glad I don't live during the age of "calling on" people. I'd have really stunk at all that.

 

[Beekissed]

I hate answering the phone!!!

I was raised without a phone...even before we went off grid and homesteaded, we didn't have a phone and that was pretty common for a lot of people out in the country back then. Even when they had a phone it was a party line.

So, now when the phone rings I check who is calling and decide if I will answer or not, but my poor mother will run like a chicken from outside to try and get the phone before it stops ringing. I'll tell her over and over, "Ma...you have caller ID and an answering machine...don't kill yourself to get inside to answer that phone!! You can call them right back!" but she just feels like she MUST answer every single call.

She's learning, though, from my example...we don't have to be slaves to that ringing and we are not forced to answer that summons. We can still pick and choose to whom and when we will speak with another human being. Thank God.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

It's exactly that ... the odd priority/knee jerk puppet jump people give to that alarming ring. For what? My alumni association looking for donations?

I forgot to mention ... I also don't open my mail. But that has more to do with not being able to read it cuz my vision sucks. I have my regular bills on auto pay ... and sometimes I can find someone to help me read my mail ... every couple of years maybe someone will help me with that.

 

[Beekissed]

We are born hermits!

I think it just becomes a way to self protect in a world so over loaded with stimuli that a person cannot think clearly.

It's just pouring the snow here...and yesterday was in the 70s and sunny.

Dontcha just love March??? It may look like winter but it's just not convincing any longer, so it huffs and puffs to put on a show, but the buds pop out anyway. Spring is waiting in the wings, waiting to dance onto the stage and enthrall us with her beauty and song. Poor ol' winter will walk off to grateful applause and pack its tattered bags, headed to Australia.....