The Old Folks Home

[Puddin Fluff]

Maybe he needs a small hat?

Don't forget a scarf to cover the wattles!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Heel Low:

A great big THANK YOU to Chicken Canoe.

Medusa just won the Cushion Comb contest and if you had not advise me on The Old Folks Home that I should enter, I would have never known about this.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/923862/winner-announced-comb-contest-2014-cushion#post_14838447

Thank you for your generous kindness.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

It looked like most of the other 'cushion' combs were much larger. I bet that helps the Chantecler adapt even better to extreme cold.

Hey, did you know our mutual Chantecler friend moved to the Northwest?

Bama relax, I don't have firearms

Really?

Maybe there but I doubt it. Animal control in our area won't touch anything but a dog or cat. I also know of no government type agency that will relocate a pest type animal.

Turkey or deer perhaps but not raccoons or opossums.

technically

Opossum vs. possum

The term possum covers about 70 species of marsupials native to Australia and surrounding islands. Opossum covers over 100 species of marsupials living in the Western Hemisphere. Opossums are often referred to colloquially as possums (or ‘possums), but in scientific contexts, possum and opossum refer to different groups of animals.

in that I just learned something. There are more marsupials in the western hemisphere than I knew about.

deb

Interesting. Colloquially almost everyone in MO calls them 'possums even though we know the true name is with an o.

sleeping too much... kind of frazzled and way too sensitive. Riding herd on two angry old women is taking its toll. I need to get out of here for a couple of days.

Hey we did get some rain the past couple of days... The hills were already starting to yellow... So maybe they will green up again.

Also Waiting for payday so I can buy some pvc pipe to replace a valve I need to remove from the big water tank. The valve that is there was supposed to be hooked up to a timer... As usual everything here was made of used or salvaged stuff. The valve used to allow water to pass... now its stuck in the closed position... I want it out of there. So a section of 1.5 inch diameter pipe has to be excised along with the valve and a straight pipe glued in its place.

There is a manual valve below it... I am toying with the idea of replacing that along with the electric one and replacing the whole section of pipe from ell to ell. That pvc should be getting old even though its covered they didnt do a good job of it. This means i need to pre-assemble a length of pipe with a valve in it all ready and have it ready for the job when I go up.

I am facing drilling a new well if this drought doesnt ease up. All the wells up here are down a hundred feet. And that's just from the drought not use. So If I can set the water to trickle after the big tank is full the draw on my well will be less. My big water tank holds 3000 gallon and I can switch the horse water over to the big tank. So even if the well goes dry for a few days she will have water no fail..

Drilling a new well is daunting to me to say the least. at least 30,000 dollars. A hundred dollars per foot and were talking maybe 600 feet. The new equipment will be around 20,000 so right there were talking 26,000 Provided the new location has water at all.... oddly the water higher up closer to the house may be more abundant... Aquefers follow the geology.... The house above me had a well done about five years ago and they hit water at 100 feet and they still drilled down at least 500.

My well as it is now has been pumping water for 30 years it was put in in 1984. They do calcify and you can have that fractured to allow more water... If it were in granite... But its in Sand. And any kind of recovery could cause it to collapse outright. and Yes it is cased with pipe.

seven more days till payday.

deb

For that kind of money maybe you could build a pipeline to a river near Puerto Vallarta and pump water from there.

On a serious note there are a lot of links to free stuff here.
https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/street/refuse/recycle/materialsexchange.cfm
Most are local but some nationwide and global.

I have always had to do for myself... but I know my limitations... Plumbing I figured out pretty quickly... Light electrical stuff like replacing a switch for a dimmer or putting in a new light fixture... Demolition yep...

I get help where I can. My neighbor Tom is a roofer and pretty handy too. I try not to pester him too much though.

deb

I have a bunch of outdoor plumbing to do. It's supposed to creep over 40F today so I hope to get it done.

Beer, you need a webasto. Or a block heater.

I had an old Detroit diesel that didn't have glow plugs so I used a magnetic oil pan heater that helped a lot in cold weather.

He can't stop shaking his head, his wattles are so swollen and heavy. I'm going to flush the open wound with peroxide again once it warms up in here. He drank some water but it's hard for him to eat because the wattles are getting in his way.

Don't use peroxide after the first day as it delays healing because it destroys new cells. You can use it around the wound but not in it. A better alternative is Betadine or any brand of organic iodine/Povidone-iodine . It's available at any drugstore. It disinfects without delaying healing.

We have nothing available except neosporin, peroxide and otc NSAIDs. I'm trying to keep it clean but food gets in it when he tries to eat so I'll need to flush it out again. If he doesn't stop shaking his head he's going to end up wringing his own neck. He's still as long as I keep him covered up in his box.

If he gets food in it, just flush it with a saline solution. You may be able to change what you feed him in to keep the wattles out of the food.
If the wound is deep, eye type ointment melts at body temperature and will flow deep into the wound.

 

[tnspursfan09]

He is the only rooster to get frost bitten this badly. His father was a leghorn. His comb is huge, and his wattles are always in his way when he eats or drinks. You could almost tie them up.

 

[Arielle]

Hope DOby gets better soon!!! Peroxide is good for initally cleaning, than a healing salve as Felix suggested.

THermometer read -7 before 6 am. Was -7 at 7 am. COld but only a bit colder than 10!!! Occassionallly hte temps drop to near zero and 5-10 is not unusual, so we are ok. Temp should be about 40 on some days here , but no such luck this winter.

Sorry you folks further south are having to deal with the cold-- hard on everyone there as you are not used to it.

 

[tnspursfan09]

I'll try the saline solution, cc...thanx. I tried giving him some crumbles but it kept sticking to his wattles so I fed him some scrambled eggs by hand. He is very thirsty and wants water more than anything else. He is being very patient wit my handling of him.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Talk about huge combs and wattles.












For those who have baby chicks in their future, I highly recommend these ceramic emitters. They're more efficient, less prone to breakage and allow a daily light and dark period.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161139800976

You can get them from 25 to 300 watts depending on the size of the brooder.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Talk about huge combs and wattles.












For those who have baby chicks in their future, I highly recommend these ceramic emitters. They're more efficient, less prone to breakage and allow a daily light and dark period.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161139800976

You can get them from 25 to 300 watts depending on the size of the brooder.

Awsome roo!

The emitters just screw into a regular light socket? Cool. I may have to invest.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Awsome roo!

The emitters just screw into a regular light socket? Cool. I may have to invest.

Yes, use them in place of a regular heat lamp. They still need a ceramic or other heat resistant socket.

That's 3 different roosters. I have 7 now and need to figure out which 4 I'm keeping I have a 4 week old cockerel and am planning on doing a lot of hatching so I'll be getting replacements.

 

[CanuckBock]

It looked like most of the other 'cushion' combs were much larger. I bet that helps the Chantecler adapt even better to extreme cold.

Hey, did you know our mutual Chantecler friend moved to the Northwest?

In truth, I think many of the entries were more Rose comb (the pointy end is suspect) than Cushion...the Silkie entry was Cushion combed but I think the breed term for their cushion comb is "walnut?" We call pea and rose comb genetics; walnut, strawberry, or cushion combs...all with minute differences--sorta like how rose combs in some breeds follow the curvature of the skull and other leaders on the roses don't--big bumps on them or more smoothish. The contest entry, that was truly fun and I thank you for the heads up. I'd never have entered Medusa and never have had the chance of throwing her head gear in the ring!

Yes, our Chanti friend, she has been planning that move for a while now and we conversed just over a week or so ago. She said that she is really enjoying it. Many more like minded farmy type persons for them to mingle with. I am very glad for her and she is indeed, a bit closer now to me now, geographically speaking.

Tara

 

[vehve]

tnspurs, as long as he's inside, why not feed him mash instead? That won't fly around as badly.