The Old Folks Home

[ronott1]

Sorry, but I need to vent: I am particularly frustrated with newbie-or-not chicken owners who call me up and ask for advice (apparently I'm the go-to chicken whisperer in our village), don't follow said advice, and then call to ask me how to fix the consequences of not following said advice.
Second vent: A client (has a couple of my chickens) phones in a panic because her broody hen has vacated the nest with two chicks leaving a clutch of eggs, some of which were deposited at assorted times by other hens. Could I incubate them? (She's the type that likes to rescue.) Sure. I have a broody who won't break that I need to placate and a fresh chick or two on loan would do the trick. So said client delivers a box of eggs, stained and stinking to high heaven. "Oh, one of the eggs feels light." No kidding as that's what happens when a rotten egg spews its contents. Did she not notice the smell? Anyway, a couple of eggs dead, one with an internal pip, and several about a week behind. Great. Gotta clean up the eggs before putting them into my incubator. DH arrived back home from a week away and immediately notices the smell even though said offending eggs went out into the garbage.
(Thank you! I feel better now.)

Been busy in the yard and keeping the house together whilst DH was gone for a week. Fully intended to do Spring cleaning while he wasn't underfoot, but that fell to the wayside. Every time I turned around there was some calamity that put me 3 hours behind.

A friend who I had dinner with a couple of weeks ago died in an auto accident a few days ago. Memorial service today. This is the part of adulting I'm not fond of, attending more funerals than weddings and christenings.

Put in my application to foster a greyhound from our local rescue with the intent of becoming a foster fail. Fingers crossed on this one.

Our heat wave has abated and we're enjoying some monsoonal coolness. Wish there was more rain, which might come true as there's a chance of precip every afternoon for the next week.

Anyway, chores abound. Heigh ho heigh ho....

Nice venting!

I am sorry you lost your friend.

I hope you get to foster the greyhound.

 

[Sally PB]

I suspect that if something caused problems in all three of your hens, it was something that is over now.

My chickens began laying last August. I think I've had this egg yolk issue the whole time. I probably wrote it off to pullets getting their egg laying apparatus dialed in for a month or so.

I used to give them their eggshells, crushed up, with oyster shell. They picked out the egg shells and ignored the OS. I switched to a different brand of OS and left out the eggshells. I asked about feed supplements, and started giving them calf manna. None of this has helped.

You asked if the shells are wrinkly. No, or at least no more than what I've seen on store bought eggs. An occasional bit of a wrinkle is all.

As I said, it'll be interesting to see if my neighbor's eggs have this issue. She got hers from TSC, but has several different breeds, and none are Australorps. TSC stores around here get their chicks from Townline Hatchery in Zeeland, Michigan.

 

[lovesfarms]

I can say I see absolutely no rat activity, I have seen no dead or half dead rats...but whew! Does my yard ever smell of rotting flesh! That liquid rat poison worked like a charm! Now maybe I can level out the tunnels and sow some grass seed. I'll wait a couple days or I may need to hold my nose shut with a clothes pin!

 

[getaclue]

The little dove is a bit younger than I originally thought. I didn't see it eating anything today, so I made my own version of "dove's milk" for it, and used a medicine syringe to feed it some. It seems to have gotten a bit stronger after that. When I was feeding it, I noticed that it had a thread wrapped around it's leg, and foot. With some help from Dd #1 we got the thread cut, untied, and removed. A toe is broken, and hanging by the skin. I put some triple antibiotic ointment on it. The string could be from the towel it's on, but from the looks of it, it's been on there for awhile. It could have been part of the nesting material.

Tomorrow, I'll see whether I should maybe try to put a "boot" on it, or just leave it be. For now, I'm leaving it alone. Doing too much, too soon, on a little wild bird, that's not flourishing can be as harmful, as helpful. At least it's situation is improving.

 

[getaclue]

Upon further examination of the thread, it's highly doubtful it came from the towel. It looks like a decent length of sewing thread, which was probably part of the nesting material.

It was floundering around, and having trouble standing after it smacked into the screen, before I took it in. Now I know why it was having so much trouble standing.

 

[microchick]

@Peep_Show, I am so sorry about your friend and the challenges that got tossed your way. I'm only 67 for a few more weeks I've been seeing obituaries for High School friends lately. It's a bit disheartening to say the least. Mortality is something we don't think about when we are young and try not to think about or think about all the time when we are older.

Greyhounds are marvelous dogs. I sure hope that you get to foster one.

@Sally PB Congratulations on the rat mass murder! Ahhh yes, that unmistakable aroma of underground rot. Been there smelled that. But look at the bright side, the rats are gone, at least for the time being.

Well I had a totally miserable day. Today was the day I saw the new rheumatologist. Turned out to be a real piece of work. DH was with me. She strolled into the room, walked right past my husband who had his hand out, past me, never introduced herself, never met eye contact, set down and then the fun began. She was rude, curt, insulting, condescending. Wouldn't talk to me about my history with joint pain, wouldn't look at my feet which is why I was there. Kept saying to me 'you have osteo, it doesn't matter'. I finally stripped off my shoes and socks. She still didn't check my feet. Did range of motion on my wrists, elbows shoulders hips and knees then announced that people with osteo were always coming to her for narcotics. I erupted at that point and said I did not want narcotics from her, I was there about my foot pain and my DO managed my pain needs. She then rambled on about a pain specialist which I told her I had already seen. Once again, it doesn't matter, you have osteo. Wanted to know if my previous rheumy had ordered hand or foot MRI's or xrays. I told her no. Well she was going to order them see you back in 4-6 weeks.

I refused to re-appoint told them if they wanted to order anything order it at my local hospital because I was going home and left. Spent most of the hour + ride home staring out the window. Broke into tears when I got home. Even my Doctor husband said he had never seen such bad behavior or lack of compassion in a doctor before. Neither have I.

So I have on one hand a rheumy I like and staff I can't stand and on the other staff that I like and a rheumy I absolutely hate.

Some days you get the bear some day the bear gets you.

Came home, called my podiatrist and made an appointment with her. Can't get me in till the first of August but they put me on a call list in case of a cancellation. Plus I have an appointment with my DO next week. Poor guy better duck when he comes into the room.

I've been waiting almost three months now. Whats another month anyway?

 

[pennyJo1960]

Crap well cannot say what I want to so just crap

 

[Hayden Goseek]

Well I had a totally miserable day. Today was the day I saw the new rheumatologist. Turned out to be a real piece of work. DH was with me. She strolled into the room, walked right past my husband who had his hand out, past me, never introduced herself, never met eye contact, set down and then the fun began. She was rude, curt, insulting, condescending.

I am SO sorry. Life is too short to suffer STOOPID Drs or nurses. I didn't think the new interns were arriving until tomorrow.

edit; Could this have been her last day? Was she a resident? She really needs to be reported. My DW, also a RN went through something similar with 2 urologist.

 

[getaclue]

When going to a new doctor, or trying to find a new doctor, I try to use 2 sites. 1. https://www.healthgrades.com/ 2. https://www.ratemds.com
Don't hesitate to leave a review about your experience.

I'm so sorry you had the experience you did.

 

[CapricornFarm]

@Peep_Show, I am so sorry about your friend and the challenges that got tossed your way. I'm only 67 for a few more weeks I've been seeing obituaries for High School friends lately. It's a bit disheartening to say the least. Mortality is something we don't think about when we are young and try not to think about or think about all the time when we are older.

Greyhounds are marvelous dogs. I sure hope that you get to foster one.

@Sally PB Congratulations on the rat mass murder! Ahhh yes, that unmistakable aroma of underground rot. Been there smelled that. But look at the bright side, the rats are gone, at least for the time being.

Well I had a totally miserable day. Today was the day I saw the new rheumatologist. Turned out to be a real piece of work. DH was with me. She strolled into the room, walked right past my husband who had his hand out, past me, never introduced herself, never met eye contact, set down and then the fun began. She was rude, curt, insulting, condescending. Wouldn't talk to me about my history with joint pain, wouldn't look at my feet which is why I was there. Kept saying to me 'you have osteo, it doesn't matter'. I finally stripped off my shoes and socks. She still didn't check my feet. Did range of motion on my wrists, elbows shoulders hips and knees then announced that people with osteo were always coming to her for narcotics. I erupted at that point and said I did not want narcotics from her, I was there about my foot pain and my DO managed my pain needs. She then rambled on about a pain specialist which I told her I had already seen. Once again, it doesn't matter, you have osteo. Wanted to know if my previous rheumy had ordered hand or foot MRI's or xrays. I told her no. Well she was going to order them see you back in 4-6 weeks.

I refused to re-appoint told them if they wanted to order anything order it at my local hospital because I was going home and left. Spent most of the hour + ride home staring out the window. Broke into tears when I got home. Even my Doctor husband said he had never seen such bad behavior or lack of compassion in a doctor before. Neither have I.

So I have on one hand a rheumy I like and staff I can't stand and on the other staff that I like and a rheumy I absolutely hate.

Some days you get the bear some day the bear gets you.

Came home, called my podiatrist and made an appointment with her. Can't get me in till the first of August but they put me on a call list in case of a cancellation. Plus I have an appointment with my DO next week. Poor guy better duck when he comes into the room.

I've been waiting almost three months now. Whats another month anyway?

That's inexcusable. Hugs.