The Old Folks Home

[Alaskan]

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....

That would roast me...

Sheesh



And yes, condolences ... that time of life.

 

[lovesfarms]

97.5° is totally uncalled for in June. Only going out to check water levels for animals. Not a day to be outside.

94° and feels like someone forgot to close the oven door

 

[Hayden Goseek]

Then again... I hear it keeps ya young. He is pretty impressively spry.

Still looking for that kid. Mine was is great kid and she Wore Me Out!

 

[CapricornFarm]

We got a sprinkle of rain and it dropped the temp 10°!

 

[Hayden Goseek]

We got a sprinkle of rain and it dropped the temp 10°!

We're 86f and only 67% humidity with t.storms popping up. We are usually in the high 90's T&H by this time of year.

 

[H-B-O]

We're 86f and only 67% humidity with t.storms popping up. We are usually in the high 90's T&H by this time of year.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We made it home from our trip to town cleaned my coops dogs just got fed I am done till dinner

 

[CSolis]

Hang in there. It takes time to recover and no, things won't be the same again but you can make what you can do better. The key is to ease back into things, rest frequently, stay active and do things that you are used to doing and that your therapist has given the okay for you to do.

It will take weeks and months but you will slowly start to feel stronger as your body recovers and your nervous system repairs itself.

You've just got to be patient with yourself but you can do it.

How is your injured little girl this morning?

My little loverly is doing fantastic. Still holding her head funny, but the wound has healed nicely. I found a secondary pustule like node below the nasty one.. No clue as I've seen no poisonous snakes here, not saying there are any. Spider maybe? Who knows.

Found Millie nesting on the ground this afternoon. I approached and she didn't move so I picked her up as I noticed water dripping from her beak. Yup, sour crop. Squishy balloon like crop, so I brought her in and made 1/2 ACV water mixture and added a few drops of, yup colloidal silver. Great antibiotic, antibacterial, antifungal. She's in a cage with no food or water for the moment. I'll report back when the situation improves.

 

[CSolis]

Speaking of heat/hot weather. Seem like you guys up north/out west are worse off than we are down in the sunny south.

Temperature	88.8 °F	68.5 °F	77.4 °F
Dew Point	78.0 °F	67.0 °F	72.2 °F
Humidity	97 %	62 %	86 %
Precipitation	0.53 in	--	--

That rain just had to hit while I was out feeding/gathering up the hen with sour crop. Towels are handy.

 

[ronott1]

Dang. I know I'm not going to give away or cull my flock; I'm adding 3 chicks (sexed as pullets )in a few weeks. They're from a breeder; the originals were from TSC. We'll see what their eggs are like when they lay.

Just for reference... if they got a virus from the soil, how would you sterilize it? This is next to our house.

I guess what might give me some more info is when my neighbor's flock begins laying. If she has the same issue, that indicates a wider problem.

Viruses usually come from the parent flock and is passed through the eggs or from wild birds in your area. They can come from new chickens added to your flock. Chicks from TSC are not usually a carrier but they can catch something if it is in the flock.

Bio security and quarantine is good to do. Is it possible to keep the new pullets away from the older flock until they are laying eggs? You do have to follow a sanitation routine and order that you use to visit the flocks. Go to the new ones first and then the old ones each day for example. Get a shallow tub and put pine sol in it mixed with water. Step into it before going out to the flock.

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

It could also be from the heat like was posted-- especially if the eggs got better with the supplements.

I plan on getting some new pullets in the Fall...But could hatch some from trader joes fertile eggs!