The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

UPDATE -dosed her yesterday with with scrambled egg (could never resist that no matter how bad she felt) in a bit of water loaded with nutridrench and probiotics in the main water supplies for everyone. By mid afternoon she was no longer hiding but still moving a little slow and by evening she was back to her old squawky, energetic self and ravenously hungry. She was totally back to normal this morning. Thinking now she must have been the one that had stopped laying and a combination of our humid heat and her first egg in a while just had her not feeling so well???

Oh, and favorite berry pickin' patch opens tomorrrow!

I'm glad she's feeling slightly better, hope she continues to perk up. Is her abdomen swollen at all?

Got my strawberry-vanilla bean concoction out of the canner just a few minutes ago. Not sure if it's jam or syrup topping, yet. As I was about to boil it, I reached into the drawer to get the thermometer and... it's not there. Text BF at work, oh yeah, he left it in the smoker. Had to wing it. Hopefully I got it right for jam. Otherwise it's going to taste fantastic on some homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

 

[chickadoodles]

Chickisoup I am happy she is feeling better and hope she will stay well!

SCG hopfully your jam comes out great!

 

[chickisoup]

"I'm glad she's feeling slightly better, hope she continues to perk up. Is her abdomen swollen at all?"

thanks @superchemicalgirl She's totally back to normal this morning. There had been no apparent reason for her not laying, I had checked her over well and watched her for any changes. She just turned a year, as well as her two sisters, and they had all been throwing feathers around, got rid of the pesky roo, remodel in the coop, new aussie chicks moved into coop in their brooder, new "play yard" expansion, lots of things going on about time she stopped. Any or all can throw them off their lay and we won't even talk about the weather

your strawberry "stuff" sounds yummy no matter what it turns out to be!

 

[chickisoup]

Chickisoup I am happy she is feeling better and hope she will stay well!

SCG hopfully your jam comes out great!

 

[ronott1]

UPDATE -dosed her yesterday with with scrambled egg (could never resist that no matter how bad she felt) in a bit of water loaded with nutridrench and probiotics in the main water supplies for everyone. By mid afternoon she was no longer hiding but still moving a little slow and by evening she was back to her old squawky, energetic self and ravenously hungry. She was totally back to normal this morning. Thinking now she must have been the one that had stopped laying and a combination of our humid heat and her first egg in a while just had her not feeling so well???

Oh, and favorite berry pickin' patch opens tomorrrow!

Keep a close eye on her.

Hens will do that if they have Cancer--Two weeks later they will be back to sick. The Vitamins give them a boost but will not over come the Cancer.

She may well be fine tough!

 

[chickisoup]

Thanks for your experienced, wise warning Ron

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

SCG-may I suggest a landing net? if you can get close enough to catch the guinea?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

He's gone again, so it's a moot point until the next close encounter of the guinea kind.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Predator update
I didn't see the culprit but from quite a distance in some deep grass. My wife saw it close up and identified it as a weasel when I showed her a picture. It turns out she can't tell the difference between a weasel and a mink even when looking at the two pictures side by side

Friday afternoon the chickens were going nuts and I saw it close up. It's definitely a mink, which explains why all my trapping methods for weasels yielded nothing. Everything was set up for a slightly smaller and much lighter animal. A 10 ounce vs. a 2 pound animal.

Now that I know for sure what they are and changing tactics somewhat, I'm hoping for success. I set a 110 conibear yesterday afternoon and caught a possum. I'm rearranging it a bit and hopefully will get a mink. I have a couple other ideas as well.

When we lived in a more urban area some 20 years ago, they razed about a square mile of dense forest a mile or so from my house to build an office park. We were inundated with possums and coons that year.

I noticed this morning that there's construction going on about 1/2 or 3/4 of a mile, as the crow flies where about 100 acres of woods have been bulldozed along the creek that runs at the bottom of the hill from my house. I've been catching possums and coons and now have the mink. I'm suspecting they all moved to my house and elsewhere from the razed area.

 

[ronott1]

Predator update
I didn't see the culprit but from quite a distance in some deep grass. My wife saw it close up and identified it as a weasel when I showed her a picture. It turns out she can't tell the difference between a weasel and a mink even when looking at the two pictures side by side

Friday afternoon the chickens were going nuts and I saw it close up. It's definitely a mink, which explains why all my trapping methods for weasels yielded nothing. Everything was set up for a slightly smaller and much lighter animal. A 10 ounce vs. a 2 pound animal.

Now that I know for sure what they are and changing tactics somewhat, I'm hoping for success. I set a 110 conibear yesterday afternoon and caught a possum. I'm rearranging it a bit and hopefully will get a mink. I have a couple other ideas as well.

I noticed this morning that there's construction going on about 1/2 or 3/4 of a mile, as the crow flies where about 100 acres of woods have been bulldozed along the creek that runs at the bottom of the hill from my house. I've been catching possums and coons and now have the mink. I'm suspecting they all moved to my house and elsewhere from the razed area.

Fisher Cat's, of the Mink and Weasel family are making a comeback after near extinction.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/26/mystery-creature-bronx-weasel-fisher_n_5533376.html