The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[weezilgirl]

I know that feeling.

I bought a dying puppy for $75 once and we fought for and got 7 years together.

 

[Beekissed]

Excellent story and an even funnier picture! I love this!!! I wish you could have gotten a pic of the dog and the birds...what a great advertisement for people who have so-called prey driven breeds around chickens and other fowl.


We caught Jake licking a group of meaty chicks one spring and the rest were all cuddled up to his side. What big babies! Don't ya just wanna hug them so hard their eyeballs pop?

 

[galanie]

  Excellent story and an even funnier picture!  I love this!!!  I wish you could have gotten a pic of the dog and the birds...what a great advertisement for people who have so-called prey driven breeds around chickens and other fowl. 


We caught Jake licking a group of meaty chicks one spring and the rest were all cuddled up to his side.  What big babies!  Don't ya just wanna hug them so hard their eyeballs pop? 

 

OH, my. I have heard from so many so-called "dog experts" (they've loved them for years! They must be right!) telling me about "prey drive" and this and that, mostly flat wrong. Sure, some breeds are more likely to do well than others, but since I learned long ago to keep an open mind, I've since learned that many, many breeds are good with chickens. Not just this or that one. *does her best impression of a hawk and a spit*

 

[Bulldogma]

Excellent story and an even funnier picture! I love this!!! I wish you could have gotten a pic of the dog and the birds...what a great advertisement for people who have so-called prey driven breeds around chickens and other fowl.


We caught Jake licking a group of meaty chicks one spring and the rest were all cuddled up to his side. What big babies! Don't ya just wanna hug them so hard their eyeballs pop?

Oh - I ran like a bat out of you-know-where to get my camera when I saw the guineas sitting on the dog. Of course they had moved when I got back!

 

[Beekissed]

Yes...all emphatic statements are best punctuated with the hock and spit. I can just hear Al doing it when he posts, can't you?

I am also amused with the dog "experts" who claim that only LGD are fit to guard livestock and all other breeds are worthless for this chore. No matter that you tell them you've been using Lab mutts for this purpose for some many years now, they will still claim that it's just not as good as a true LGD breed. Phooey to that...I say use what ya have to get the job done. If all you have is an ugly brown mutt and he does a good job, then in my thinking that makes him a livestock guardian dog. He may not have the proper breeding but he has the credentials.

 

[Pozees]

Keep in mind these folks are old farmers that have been raising sheep, cattle, horses and chickens for years. This does not mean they know just HOW to raise them...they've just been doing it for years. Apparently didn't learn any vital stuff along the way.

I had a very good friend years ago who used to say, "Some people have 20 years' experience, and some people have a year's experience 20 times."

Just started back at the beginning of your thread; having read some of the later pages I had to read the whole story! I am a long way from the end but saw this and thought of my friend.

Truly a compelling read sprinkled liberally with very useful information. Proof positive of the will to live in your little feathered friends.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh - I ran like a bat out of you-know-where to get my camera when I saw the guineas sitting on the dog. Of course they had moved when I got back!

Same thing happened to me!!!

Twice! Once with the dog licking the chicks...he jumped up, for all the world like a guilty kid with chocolate on his hands and a facial expression that said, "Who? Me? I not licking dose chicks!". And again when one of my chickens kept riding on my black sheep. Every darn time I ran to get the camera to snap a pic, they would move. I saw them many times, both when she was standing and when she was laying down, and never could get that picture. Grrrr!

 

[NikkiMiChickie]

Can't get my iPad browser to load pics onto this, but below are links (hope they work... They take you to my fb pics, which are set to private..) to my two pit bulls hanging with their chicks. The first is a great shot of my youngster (about a year old in this shot) with his favorite peep sitting on his leg. He's admittedly not much of a protector to the flock, as he would rather play with them... But the second pic is of my "pit bull Pyrenees" (although clearly a staged photo - yes, I'm one of "those"... Sent out Easter cards this year which included this pic.) Anyways, she's a beast when it comes to protecting those chicks. Got herself a Tom cat and an opossum 2 days apart. So far, nothing else has even attempted to raid her coop.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=434875873194585&l=84e7d860d6


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=428545563827616&l=70cc26ff68


Love this thread, Bee! I don't have any unhealthy birds right now, but I'm learning so much for any future endeavors with doctoring worthy birds. Also following the FF & OT threads, can't get enough! Thanks for documenting your experience and sharing your wisdom to a newbie who can't get enough chicken info!!

 

[Daisy8s]

Yes - it's amazing the way smell brings back memory like no other sense!

You're right! My husband wondered aloud if they make Nu-Stock or Bag Balm scented candles that I could light when I'm needing a bit of nostalgia for the old days. (Somehow I can't see Yankee Candles adding THAT scent to their stock!)

 

[Beekissed]

Daily update on the Gnarly Bunch: No eggs. Not one, darn it. But, I see much evidence of good nutrition and the loss of the parasitic infestations paying off. More and smoother feathering, the chests are definitely filling out..even on the skinniest bird, and I noticed several legs with old, damaged scales trying to slough off.

I have my eye on the Middle Sister, the one White Rock that still looks skinny and pretty scraggly. She is the one with the swollen joints in her ankles and toes. I'm going to give her time but I'm wondering if that joint swelling, which is not going away on her new diet and environment, is symptomatic of arthritis and could be causing her to not thrive. Of all the birds, she has made the least progress. She is probably almost half of her normal size and weight and, whereas Raggedy Ann is making great strides in recovering, Middle Sister isn't.

Her poop is good, she is moving and eating good, and she has spunk....but her feet look swollen, though she does not show disability there. She is not putting on good flesh and feathering like the rest of the White Rocks, who are the same age and genetic make-up. I'll try to get pics tomorrow of what she looks like now so you can compare with what she looked like at one week.

If I do a cull before colder weather, it will be this hen. I know what it feels like to have arthritis pain when cold and damp weather sets in and it isn't fun. I see no reason to make her suffer through the winter just to prove I can nurse her back to her former self, if I even can...I'm not so sure on this one.