The Middle Tennessee Thread

[CityGirlintheCountry]

It's hard for some dogs to defeat that chase instinct. My 10 year old Lily (boxer mix) cannot resist a chase. She routinely chases our cats (cats that she will also curl up and nap with and that she grooms). Cat chasing never ends well for her as inevitably she gets wonked on the head with a paw full of claws, but she just can't hold it in. Expecting her to not chase the chickens is unreasonable on my part. She is a chaser. I brood babies in the house and she has been around the chickens at all ages/stages for almost seven years now. And yet, she still has to chase them. For that reason she is never allowed out of the fenced yard. She will bark at and chase any chickens that get too close to the fence, but for the most part the chickens stay away from her fence zone. Every now and then a chicken will get into the back yard. Sometimes I am fast enough to get dogs back in the house or chickens back out of the fence, but we have had some fatalities as well. As she is just doing what her nature leads her to do, it is hard to get too angry with her. I generally am more mad at myself.

It seems that it is always our favorites that take the hit. It's never the chickens that are hardheaded or annoying, is it? Other people don't understand that some of these birds are the same as our dogs and cats to us and losing one leaves just as big a hole. I am so sorry for her loss and hope that SweetPea heals.

 

[DMRippy]

Troy's Wife UPDATE!

She has graduated to REG FOOD ANY KIND. Troy can bring her food from the outside and take her outside to eat. They gave him approval to help her move from bed to a chair so they don't need to wait for the nurses. He also saw her walk today. She walked about 10 TWICE. He is on cloud nine! She is doing GREAT with her therapy. She is going to have a good recovery at this rate! Still keep praying for her.

 

[DMRippy]

Now that we are recovered from being sick we are really making some headway at the farm. Today we finished cleaning a big pen outside. I cleaned most of it a few days ago but even with both of us working we go about 2 wheel barrows out and broke the ground up in the pen (mostly gravel but still was compressed in places.) and recovered the pallet under the feeder.

Tomorrow I will move the few pullets out and a roo or two will get moved too. Then I will inventory the other pen with pullets about 5 months or so old. I need to get the ones that are for sell SOLD. Chickens are broke LOL. I didn't expect to need feed this week and since I was so sick I didn't sell any chickens and not too many eggs so cash flow slowed down. I will get feed money together soon, long before they need feed again.

Once I get those birds moved we will clean that pen and move another huge bunch of pullets about 4 months old outside, maybe a few 3 months olds too. But inventorying them is time consuming. I need to empty several pens in the shop for the little chicks hatching now.

My Guinea eggs are starting to hatch! This is the first BIG batch of eggs I set so hoping to get lots of keets and to sell lots too.

 

[LoveThatChick]

Hello!
I'm new to TN, I just moved to Cerdar Hill, but I'm closer to Nashville! Lol

 

[n3kms]

Hello!
I'm new to TN, I just moved to Cerdar Hill, but I'm closer to Nashville! Lol

Welcome. Hope you like it here. What are you raising?

 

[Raven1]

Welcome to the thread we are all crazy here!

 

[BitByChickenBug]

Does this hen look egg bound? I just washed her off. There was a little bit of yellow/bright green discharge. She is standing with her legs far apart. She's been like this since yesterday. It's very squishy, can't feel an egg. About to soak her. Any suggestions?

 

[DMRippy]

Does this hen look egg bound? I just washed her off. There was a little bit of yellow/bright green discharge. She is standing with her legs far apart. She's been like this since yesterday. It's very squishy, can't feel an egg. About to soak her. Any suggestions?

I have never had a chicken that is egg bound. I did have one that had something akin to a yeast infection. She had a discharge that would cake up her vent, smelled kinda bad too. She got over it just fine.

 

[LoveThatChick]

@ n3kms, right now I am slowly switching chicken breeds to the Speckled Sussex, they were my first breed I few years ago, and they are my favorite. I also am breeding Black Bantam Cochins, second favorite!

@ Raven1, crazy is good! Lol

@ BitByChickenBug, to me, see looks egg bound, and soaking her in warm water is a great idea. I had a egg bound hen, and I soaked her a few times a day, massaging her backside to relax her & help the egg through, and she was better in no time! But, if it's an infection, I bet soaking would help too. :/

Good luck with your hen, hope she gets better!

 

[JW12]

Hello!
I'm new to TN, I just moved to Cerdar Hill, but I'm closer to Nashville! Lol

Hi again! I'm glad to see you made it over here lol. I'm here a lot even though I don't post much because the East Tennessee thread isn't very active. Enjoy your time here and we can't wait to hear about your chicken adventures!