The NFC B-Day Chat Thread

[DigMyChicks]

The other tactic is to plant "sacrificial plants", ones the bugs like even better than the ones you want to keep.
As for heartworm treatments, my dogs have an annual injection. I think it costs about $50.

What is the injection?

 

[DigMyChicks]

There's Iverhart. If your vet doesn't carry it you can order it from places like Foster and Smith with a prescription from your vet. I've got 5 dogs, heartworm preventative is pricey, but worth it.

Thank you! I don't remember seeing it there. What do you use for fleas and ticks?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you! I don't remember seeing it there. What do you use for fleas and ticks?

I personally don't use a flea and tick product. We don't generally see fleas here, Here ticks get picked off daily. A few of my dogs have had lymes from deer ticks though, and it became pretty bad there for a few years in this area.

My poultry has helped to knock down the tick population in our yard so I don't think I saw more than 5 this year. The colder winters help too.

If I were to use a topical treatment I would choose a better product as the cheap stuff stinks and is greasy.

 

[DigMyChicks]

Hey there DMC! Hurricane Hattie...I like that! She is growing for sure. I'm not up on the Nexgard or Heartgard stuff for dogs but @oldhenlikesdogs may very well be able to help you out.

Yuck on the mosquitoes! 9" of rain sure would bring them on. Ours seem to be mostly gone with the cooler weather. We have been in the midst of fly season but maybe/hopefully, this cold weather knocks some of them out.

And YES! I am enjoying the lighter schedule very much Just another 27 days until the course is closed for the season...yippee!

Thank you! One positive of having Hurricane Hattie is I have not lost another chicken due to all the extra activity around here. She chases them but so far has done no harm other then ruffling their feathers. They were so unhappy being locked up all day. I hope I didn't just jinx myself

 

[DigMyChicks]

I personally don't use a flea and tick product. We don't generally see fleas here, Here ticks get picked off daily. A few of my dogs have had lymes from deer ticks though, and it became pretty bad there for a few years in this area.

My poultry has helped to knock down the tick population in our yard so I don't think I saw more than 5 this year. The colder winters help too.

If I were to use a topical treatment I would choose a better product as the cheap stuff stinks and is greasy.

The one Hattie takes is chewable(she's a good chewer)$21 for one which is monthly. I need something more affordable. Thanks for steering me to that website. She goes back to the vet to be fixed in November/December so I will ask her about alternatives. Hattie was vaccinated for Lyme.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The one Hattie takes is chewable(she's a good chewer)$21 for one which is monthly. I need something more affordable. Thanks for steering me to that website. She goes back to the vet to be fixed in November/December so I will ask her about alternatives. Hattie was vaccinated for Lyme.

Unfortunately the Lyme vaccination doesn't guarantee they don't get lymes. I had been vaccinating but stopped. My Lyme positive dogs have stopped having flare ups since I stopped. There's lots of controversy over the effectiveness of the Lyme vaccine. So any shifting leg lameness, get a lymes test.

 

[drumstick diva]

They sure have made it expensive to have pets

 

[JaeG]

View attachment 1140350

Can't see much yet, 7 baby bunnies in their fur nest. Still doing okay.

Wow - 7 cuties! I'm sure we all look forward to watching them grow!

I thought I'd update with a photo of Squeak, who I now call Squeaky Bird. She chirps three syllables as if she's trying to say "Squeaky Bird". For those of you that don't know I finished hatching Squeak's egg in our incubator as she was a few days behind her siblings, it had turned bitterly cold here and I knew the egg would chill and die with her mother already having hatched two chicks. So she's very much hand reared and I tell her "Squeaky Bird's a cheeky bird" because she really is (I think she's a 'she'). She has almost weaned now but still likes to demand formula when we get her out of her cage.

We got her out with the cockatiels today but she was a little wary as they are twice her size. She preferred to sit up on the Lego Elves castle or on us.

Earlier today one of our fluffy cats got up on the couch with the cockatiel chicks and the youngest chick, who we've called Cricket, decided a fluffy cat was a great place to snuggle up and sleep.

I couldn't trust the cat if the birds were fluttering around but she's quite a maternal cat and only gave them the odd, gentle pat with a paw. The chicks are, for the most part, unconcerned with these strange fluffy beings. They've been introduced to balloons and don't seem overly fazed by them either. They'll be bomb proof by the time they leave us - Squeak sure is!

I was looking for ways of reducing the mess at feeding times as the formula I'm using seems to stain the white ones feathers and they look so mucky. Someone said they punch a hole in a paper towel and make a disposable bib. I might have to try that one as they really are messy eaters!

 

[DigMyChicks]

Unfortunately the Lyme vaccination doesn't guarantee they don't get lymes. I had been vaccinating but stopped. My Lyme positive dogs have stopped having flare ups since I stopped. There's lots of controversy over the effectiveness of the Lyme vaccine. So any shifting leg lameness, get a lymes test.

Our old dog has never had any vaccinations except the ones he'd gotten before we adopted him. I understand a rabie shot. One of the guys I clean for was bit by a dog a couple months ago and had to do the shots as the dog wasn't vaccinated. He's 88 years old and was out for a walkI doubt we'd be putting all this money into Hattie if we hadn't paid so much for her. Bear has faired very well over the years just being fed and roaming the farmI have a friend with Lyme disease. She suffered for a long time and still has flare ups of muscle pain.

 

[DigMyChicks]

Wow - 7 cuties! I'm sure we all look forward to watching them grow!

I thought I'd update with a photo of Squeak, who I now call Squeaky Bird. She chirps three syllables as if she's trying to say "Squeaky Bird". For those of you that don't know I finished hatching Squeak's egg in our incubator as she was a few days behind her siblings, it had turned bitterly cold here and I knew the egg would chill and die with her mother already having hatched two chicks. So she's very much hand reared and I tell her "Squeaky Bird's a cheeky bird" because she really is (I think she's a 'she'). She has almost weaned now but still likes to demand formula when we get her out of her cage.

We got her out with the cockatiels today but she was a little wary as they are twice her size. She preferred to sit up on the Lego Elves castle or on us.
View attachment 1140729

Earlier today one of our fluffy cats got up on the couch with the cockatiel chicks and the youngest chick, who we've called Cricket, decided a fluffy cat was a great place to snuggle up and sleep.
View attachment 1140730
I couldn't trust the cat if the birds were fluttering around but she's quite a maternal cat and only gave them the odd, gentle pat with a paw. The chicks are, for the most part, unconcerned with these strange fluffy beings. They've been introduced to balloons and don't seem overly fazed by them either. They'll be bomb proof by the time they leave us - Squeak sure is!

I was looking for ways of reducing the mess at feeding times as the formula I'm using seems to stain the white ones feathers and they look so mucky. Someone said they punch a hole in a paper towel and make a disposable bib. I might have to try that one as they really are messy eaters!

Love the pictures!