The Old Folks Home

[chickwhispers]

3 or 4 days off BYC and much to catch up on! I will have most of the day to do that due to snow storm of about 12 inches or so. Some say 10 to 12 some say upto 14 and 15. one says 18. I'll go with a conservative 12. The problem will be the wind and artic cold coming with it and only getting worse as the day goes. Oh fun. At least i'm not in the northeast with scg.Stay safe and warm @superchemicalgirl !

Update on the hen. Unfortunately she went down hill fast. this weekend. I was excited on Friday as she ate quite a few sunflower seeds even though she wouldn't touch anything else. Her abdomin started to get red and swollen near her vent and was very tender. she quit drinking all together. I tried most everything to make her comfortable and figure out what was actually wrong. If she had been truly egg bound she wouldn't have lasted a week. So after much more searching I'm thinking it was egg yolk peritonitis of which there is little to do at that point. So DSO culled her yesterday. I have her wrapped and protected from critters outside in the cold in a trash can and am thinking of doing a necropsy on her. Not sure, but I would like to know what went wrong. BTW, I didn't take any pictures of her vent it was just her vent prolapsed and not alot but just enough to catch all the urates on her and irritate. A bath a day wasn't helping, neither was mineral oil or bag balm although that help the rest of her irritated skin. Witch hazel and prep H was keeping it from popping out too far, but then overnight the urates would build up and it would be as bad or worse than the day before. RIP Naomi!

Thanks again everyone for your help!

Everyone stay safe! Have a great super Sunday!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I'm sorry you lost your hen.

 

[Beer can]

Arielle, I personally don't like Google Chrome. I don't like how it looks or operates. We always use FireFox, or regular Google.

 

[Beer can]

I prefer to start all seeds directly to soil, less transplant shock. Sometimes I wonder if starting seeds early and then transplanting even puts you ahead. Tomatoes and peppers are the only ones I start early, ALL others get planted seed to soil, even the squash and pumpkins. All direct seeds to the ground plants grow much more vigorously.

 

[drumstick diva]

Chick Whispers - ditto for the snow - we've got heavy, wet "widow maker" snow. I am suited up and at least prepared to open up the end of driveway where snow plow buried it. Oy!! I do it the old fashioned way - with shovel.

 

[drumstick diva]

I've got light stands with grow lights - I usually start seeds by lifting up close to the lights. Or can set over ballast on fixture. Also have trays with thick plastic domes(and adjustable vent holes) We can get frosts till June 15 - don't know if the growing season is long enough here. Sometimes I wish I lived in California but, would miss the chance to battle snow, sleet, blowing and drifting etc. etc. Yeah right!!!!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Arielle, I personally don't like Google Chrome. I don't like how it looks or operates. We always use FireFox, or regular Google.

Same here.

I prefer to start all seeds directly to soil, less transplant shock. Sometimes I wonder if starting seeds early and then transplanting even puts you ahead. Tomatoes and peppers are the only ones I start early, ALL others get planted seed to soil, even the squash and pumpkins. All direct seeds to the ground plants grow much more vigorously.

I try to have a 3 + season garden so starting indoors, at least for spring, is essential. Also, cool season crops that take a long time to mature like brassicas, celery and endive just can't be grown in spring here without starting indoors. It just gets too hot too fast and they fail.

 

[Sylviaanne]

adding pic:

Oh, poor baby. My Prince will be a year old In May or a little after and I think he hurt his leg jumping off something. He is heavy, his mother was a Cornish Cross and he's not as heavy as she is but he is still heavy. I think his leg was injured in Sept or Oct, I can't remember just when but I left town for a couple of days in Oct and I can remember teasing my son that he must have hurt Prince while I was gone but I knew he had been limping before we left. I can't find a vet that will look at him and I didn't even know there were others out there with this kind of problem or what it was called so I have just been guarding him. Now, I am finding out about all this stuff and I can't feel movement when I move his knee around, like the tendon popping around. There is another injury called a rotater something but it takes surgery to fix it and even if I could afford it, no vets. I really don't want to put him down, he's a very sweet bird and was since before his injury but I am pretty sure this hurts him. I'm not ready to put him down, don't know if I can do it for a while but at the same time, I know he is in pain.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

It's a tough call. I generally try to nurse them if they want to live - eating/drinking/pooping - but cull them if they don't or if it's unrecoverable. I'm not certain this is unrecoverable yet, but it's inching closer and closer. The other peeps in there with her are growing too big and too fast for her to be able to rejoin the flock any time soon without being 100% better. I had to put a cover on her hospital because she had visitors all night. They are going to hurt her. If I take her from the flock and don't hold her, she's inconsolable. I don't know how much longer she can stay in there.

 

[Sylviaanne]

It's a tough call. I generally try to nurse them if they want to live - eating/drinking/pooping - but cull them if they don't or if it's unrecoverable. I'm not certain this is unrecoverable yet, but it's inching closer and closer. The other peeps in there with her are growing too big and too fast for her to be able to rejoin the flock any time soon without being 100% better. I had to put a cover on her hospital because she had visitors all night. They are going to hurt her. If I take her from the flock and don't hold her, she's inconsolable. I don't know how much longer she can stay in there.

Yes, well he eats, drinks, poops and even tries to mate. The hens will hold still for him but he has a hard time balancing and then the other roosters come over to run him off. As far as I know, there is only one or two other roosters out there that bother him. It might be the same one all the time. I found that rascal cornering Prince and I grabbed him up and gave him a good shaking. I also threatened to eat him but I am waiting for them to put on a little weight. I found out I wasn't feeding them enough before winter came and since it is cold they are being slow to put weight back on.

Where do you have her? Is her hospital out with the other birds? I haven't read all your posts about her, what breed is she? She's very pretty as a baby.