What did you do with your flock today?

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

@Gammas Bearded Babies View attachment 3360374and growing and growing...
Spider lost one of his spurs, think in a scuffle, a few years back. But the one he has left keeps him @ top dog. Amazingly he has not injured a hen yet. I think about trimming or gluing a cap but I want him to have his defenses against ferals. Things can always change.

OMGeeze! I'm glad Joey's ain't that big...I'd done been stabbed to death!
How could it not hurt a hen? That's crazy!
Are we supposed to trim em or anything?

 

[TropicalBabies]

No drama here, chicken or otherwise. Yippee! Cept it is firework season/week soon to be day/night. So today I make my plan and start my pack and ready to head up Koke'e with Elliott, Mochi San and Forest to avoid the war zone. Oh, and the 12 chickens I am sitting, who's people went from possibly more than 1 week to a solid 3 weeks... They are still really fun and cute chickens ♡
So, I'll be ready to go but hope it will stay civil till closer to NYE.

Finally had time to clean up and rearrange my sewing area and get back to making bags without it being an emergency. So. Much. Better. Little sad to have my mojo interrupted with Koke'e but I'm sure I'll get over it
Lots of clean up to do up there from the tree trim. Lots of mulch to load up and bring back down here too

The mosquitos are thick after the big rains so I have been spraying the roosts with EcoVet. I'm sure the dredded pox will surface on those who have not had yet. Glad to not have little littles now.

Welp. Time to put on some water and check the news while waiting for the sun.

 

[TropicalBabies]

OMGeeze! I'm glad Joey's ain't that big...I'd done been stabbed to death!
How could it not hurt a hen? That's crazy!
Are we supposed to trim em or anything?

I think if they cause problems you can.
If we did not have feral roos I am sure I would be more willing to trim Spiders. I was real close awhile back as I thought he injurred Princess Peaches about a year ago. Ended up she was just having the molt from Hell and it had little to nothing to do with Spider. Don't know how he does not hurt them but he has not (touch wood) injurred any hen yet.
We currently have about 4-6 feral roos and their girls in adjacent properties, living in the trees.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Oh my goodness coffee is yummy this morning. A beautiful bean and Christmas gift from SIL. Such a wonderful & thoughtful lady.

So I think this is super cool. This is the hunting dog that it took me a good month to trap and broke my heart a little to let go and surrender (on many levels). He made it onto the KHS foster program ♡ which I am incredibly tempted to do btw. Till I remember he probably does not play well with cats.

Anywho, this boy made it from a cold starving and wounded orphan to a pup who has a vet, a meal and a roof and hopefully a home with his very own people servants soon. It warmed my heart on most all levels. They also kept the name we gave him ♡ Pu'u Ka Pele. Though, they misspelled it lol.
Def a feel good story ♡♡♡

 

[FBMcrazy8]

So as soon as I have a moment I will go back through all this and read your guys’ posts. But I wanted to show you guys the bottom of his foot.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I wouldn’t say it’s deep by any means, but it is kinda big. It’s more superficial. I can feel the swelling going down, at least on the bottom it does. This is the best picture I could get of it. He is standing on it more and has been crowing ALL day

It's definitely healing I'm so glad!

I know right? What more can go wrong? I have three in the house in ICU right now…but two may be ready to go back outside tomorrow. Nohope is still not comfortable standing but he does manage to move across the couch to be next to me when he wants, so he’s got promise. He also seems 100% healthy other than his legs now. His poop is more solid instead of runny, he’s eating and has more appetite, he’s crowing in the house and today he was grooming Millie while she hung out with us. She was all fluffed up and shivering yesterday so I chose to bring her in knowing today would be cold and wet. She’s much happier today and seemed happy to see Nohope.

Yeah, Miyuki is the most patient cat!! She complains but she never bites, claws or runs away. Weirdo

Yeah we got 1.5” of rain in last 24 hours and get a reprieve until Thursday, and then three more days, a break and then rain as far as forecast goes out The dampness is already out of control! Everything everywhere is wet. I built them all covered areas with tarps so all but the dumb boys stayed dry. I know we need the rain desperately but man I wish it didn’t come in these huge chunks at once! Not to mention the wind gusts!

Hehe I know! I just had to get a picture

I found coop plans that made me feel confident I could probably build without screwing up TOO badly…so I think we are going to take down my original prefab coop and replace it with something more solid and waterproof.
View attachment 3360273

I’m not going to stop worrying until that coop is gone and all these mysterious lameness issues go away. I knew it would be temporary but didn’t know it would cause health issues! For the type of coop, I’m really happy with it and the quality…I just think it was a poor match for my soil drainage. Anywho, it’s been fun looking at ideas for ways to modify the structure and it will be way cheaper than the fancy built coops I hope I am trying to decide if I want to just make it simple white with black trim and door, or if I want to add some color! Bright teal blue or Kelly green or yellow! Or maybe white with black trim and a yellow door. So many ideas! I found sticky linoleum tiles with black and white patterns for the flooring inside too! I’ll probably be on here complaining about it real soon Planning to start as soon as the rain lets up!

Todays chicken shenanigans!

That's a good looking coop! I've never built a pretty coop . I'd go with any color but white...white shows all the poop and dirt too well! Teal blue or Kelly green sound wonderful Love the sticky linoleum tiles too. Excited for you!
Hope you enjoy the labor for it! I know for me getting started is sometimes an effort but the work is always exciting and the pleasure when done is just a perfect thing...even if my build isn't perfect...lol.

Rain here's the same...gentle rains are rare. I keep reminding myself that the wild flower show should be amazing this spring though! Not that it helps me today...but at least I can anticipate future smiles

That last picture where she's checking out the take out ...you have such lucky babies lady!

Your babies look fabulous, healthy and happy in their habitat. What a treat!

I have not heard you mention snakes in a long while. Sorry to go to the negative . I was just wondering if they attracted to that gorgeous little pond of yours?

Really happy to hear about the chicken health upswing @kurby & @fbm. Love when things head in the right direction.

Snakes disappear here over the winter!

When it's warm, we do get garter snakes in the pond but they're harmless. I don't think I've seen one though since we got the ducks come to think of it.

Most of our snakes are harmless and welcome. We get coach whips, bull snakes, night snakes, king snakes, glossy snakes, garter snakes, thread snakes, and one with gorgeous red stripes that I forget the name of. Harmless constrictor though. That's just a list of what we find in the yard ! No idea how many types AZ has. O...and of course the awful rattlers.

The last two years though we've mostly been seeing king snakes and the occasional rattler. We had several king babies in our yard last year and this year we've seen a large king over and over. Thinking it's eating the other snakes. Still found two rattlesnakes this year though. King snakes even eat rattlesnakes so hoping those babies are permanent residents now... though this year I'm pretty sure I'm only seeing one king.

My garden that I can't live without is the real snake attraction. All the moisture and plants attracts everything living here. Birds galore, lizards, couple types of toads, rabbits, squirrels etc. Then the coops attract mice...so food and shelter heaven for lots of things. I move planters with care because I've found snakes curled under them more then once.

OMGeeze! I'm glad Joey's ain't that big...I'd done been stabbed to death!
How could it not hurt a hen? That's crazy!
Are we supposed to trim em or anything?

Give him time and they will be! They shed them periodically though. My kids have a bag of rooster spurs...they save them if they can find them when they shed. We had one little boy with huge 3-4" spurs that curled just right. My oldest watched him like a hawk cause she wanted to make a bracelet from his spurs. She found one when it shed but the other took so long that she missed it. I always wondered how he managed to roost with those poking him in the tushy!

 

[FBMcrazy8]

I know right? What more can go wrong? I have three in the house in ICU right now…but two may be ready to go back outside tomorrow. Nohope is still not comfortable standing but he does manage to move across the couch to be next to me when he wants, so he’s got promise. He also seems 100% healthy other than his legs now. His poop is more solid instead of runny, he’s eating and has more appetite, he’s crowing in the house and today he was grooming Millie while she hung out with us. She was all fluffed up and shivering yesterday so I chose to bring her in knowing today would be cold and wet. She’s much happier today and seemed happy to see Nohope.

Yeah, Miyuki is the most patient cat!! She complains but she never bites, claws or runs away. Weirdo

Yeah we got 1.5” of rain in last 24 hours and get a reprieve until Thursday, and then three more days, a break and then rain as far as forecast goes out The dampness is already out of control! Everything everywhere is wet. I built them all covered areas with tarps so all but the dumb boys stayed dry. I know we need the rain desperately but man I wish it didn’t come in these huge chunks at once! Not to mention the wind gusts!

Hehe I know! I just had to get a picture

I found coop plans that made me feel confident I could probably build without screwing up TOO badly…so I think we are going to take down my original prefab coop and replace it with something more solid and waterproof.
View attachment 3360273

I’m not going to stop worrying until that coop is gone and all these mysterious lameness issues go away. I knew it would be temporary but didn’t know it would cause health issues! For the type of coop, I’m really happy with it and the quality…I just think it was a poor match for my soil drainage. Anywho, it’s been fun looking at ideas for ways to modify the structure and it will be way cheaper than the fancy built coops I hope I am trying to decide if I want to just make it simple white with black trim and door, or if I want to add some color! Bright teal blue or Kelly green or yellow! Or maybe white with black trim and a yellow door. So many ideas! I found sticky linoleum tiles with black and white patterns for the flooring inside too! I’ll probably be on here complaining about it real soon Planning to start as soon as the rain lets up!

Todays chicken shenanigans!

That does look like pretty simple plans! I don’t blame you and I would want to change the environment too knowing that the soil is killing them. I hope when you start it it goes smoothly and beautifully! And they look like they are enjoying inside time. They are just so pretty!

 

[FBMcrazy8]

That looks a whole lot better than it did and good news the swelling is reducing. Great, too, that he's using it more. I'd just keep doing exactly what you're doing

I just hope it continues to get better. I’m not sure how much better the swelling is on his arm/joint area but I’m hoping it is getting better. It must not be bothering him too much since he is able to stand on it. I can’t even ship him back out because it is still open and everything is going to be muddy with the snow finally melting and the rain we are supposed to be getting. If it wasn’t for that I think he would do great.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

@FBMcrazy8 I'm so glad you caught his foot issue when you did! I'm horrible with adult feet and being able to identify a problem vs normal unless it's gushing blood like Joey's has been when he knocks off a toenail.
Speaking of ole bootyhead I was luving on him yesterday and got poked really hard and looked and his spurs are ginormous!!!
I didn't realize they would just keep on growing and getting pointyier!

@kurby22 I'm so sorry yall are having such wet conditions. Nohope is gorgeous!!! And I'm so jealous of Millie's feet feathers!!! All my d'uccles feathering on their feet are breaking off and I don't understand why!
Bluey is the only one with ginormous feet feathers and not a one is broken!
I even accidentally stepped on em yesterday and he just stood there pulling n grumbling til I realized I was on his feet feathers lol.
That coop does look nice too! And colors...OMGeeze I still hadn't gotten mine finished painting!

I think I was just lucky. I was scared to look but I knew if I didn’t I could loose him and I was for sure not ok with that. And since he was a dodo head and stayed out during that horrible weather I knew something had to be wrong. I just hope I can save his foot (depending on what it is exactly) or even his life.

I have heard they can get big like @TropicalBabies. I was reading one thread where they had a rescue rooster and the talon was so long it was curving into his leg. So, if you can clip it I would if it gets out of hand. My guys so far is just little stubs. Thank goodness right now it is like that, I would be so scared to handle him with those things lol. I would be careful obviously but I also read a thread where someone rooster attached them and the talon went right into their wrist and broke a bone in the wrist. This person stopped paying attention and he got this person.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

Your babies look fabulous, healthy and happy in their habitat. What a treat!

I have not heard you mention snakes in a long while. Sorry to go to the negative . I was just wondering if they attracted to that gorgeous little pond of yours?

Really happy to hear about the chicken health upswing @kurby & @fbm. Love when things head in the right direction.

Thank you! So far so good!