What did you do with your flock today?

[TropicalBabies]

Her poop has been nothing like what it was Sunday! In fact I haven't seen any runny poos in the run all week!

Well if you are seeing poop that means she is eating something. Poop is a great health gauge.

 

[PopoMyers]

Sounds like a lovely birthday!! And that sand shark adventure looked awesome

I did get the report back :-( He died from severe emaciation and tumors in his kidneys and esophagus. They couldn’t confirm specific cause, just a lymphoproliferative disease. So they assume Mareks because of its commonness, but without further testing they can’t be certain. Since I have lost almost all of my birds from one coop and mostly males—it seems like an odd presentation of Mareks? Especially since some live for months after not walking. Nohope has been inside since early December and aside from not walking he’s totally fine. Eats, drinks, his poop is slightly darker than normal but he’s normal and shows occasional signs of not feeling well. I always read that Mareks was in final stages when they no longer walk. Two months is a long time I’d think, but I can’t say I really would know I guess. But viruses are weird. How can I have so many healthy birds if it’s something so contagious with high mortality? I’ve also read that silkies are really susceptible to both Mareks and ALV and I have three that live in the Death Coop without any issues. Never more than a runny nose. So odd. Soo, I will now be vaccinating all day olds straight from the incubator just to cover all the bases.

What an interesting necropsy report. A friend's silkies had Marek's. Then a rat killed the other few she had, so, no more birds for the time being. Nohope has the best care and love until he crosses the bridge. Glad he's doing ok, considering what he may have.

 

[PopoMyers]

Today I took the Sunday as a day of rest, seriously. I got up and enjoyed my coffee and did the NYT crossword, read some news, watched my silly murder shows and took a nap! Aria got in trouble last night for throwing quite an epic tantrum—a characteristic of ADD I’m learning—so she had to earn back some time to play today by doing chores. So I didn’t even do chicken chores! I haven’t taken much of a break since starting my coops, so I chose today while it rained. Aria cleaned, collected eggs, fed and watered, and added fresh bedding to all the inside and outside birds, cleaned the cat box, and put a load of laundry in to start. DH ran errands so I didn’t even have to go to feed store or get groceries! Talk about a great day Nohope and I hung out on the couch together and napped! He now spends every day with me all day. He has a couch box that now comes in to our room for sleeping. He would get sad and upset in his kennel at night so I decided to try the box and he’s much calmer and sleeps all night now. He really hates it when I leave him alone somewhere, he literally yells the whole time I’m gone. Less stress the better! My husband just gave up…at on point Nohope was yelling, the new Cochin rooster boy Wilhelm was screaming like a horror film girl and the d’Uccle was squawking super loud while the dog barked at the mailman it was so loud it was beyond insane and I just giggled so much The house is just pure chaos right now—coops need to be done
View attachment 3397155
I too seem to have temporarily foiled the rats and while they’re clearly still around, they seem to have moved on as a larger group! No more coop breaches lately! Feed is lasting so much longer too! So happy.

Tomorrow will be more coop work and job work! But sunny all week supposedly so I’ll take it!!

Keep Aria on caffeine. Calms them down, and brain works better I can't imagine all the chicken screaming going on!

 

[kurby22]

Keep Aria on caffeine. Calms them down, and brain works better I can't imagine all the chicken screaming going on!

Yeah it’s a lot of chaos!

 

[PopoMyers]

Thanks! Yeah she actually had a pretty good attitude about it! So that was nice.

Yeah, I’m going to exist as if that is what it is and move forward :-( My birds are my babies so I don’t really have another option. Vaccinate vaccinate vaccinate.

Yeah, my goal for Nohope has been to make his life as easy and pleasant as possible. He eats french fries, chicken tenders, bread, veggies, scrambled eggs, and his own crumble. He gets baths once/twice a week, and vitamins and lots of love. If he's dying, he's dying in a comfortable hospice situation. I am going to miss him a lot though, it's hard not to get really attached to him since he demands my attention all day and loves pets and treats. Roosters are so misunderstood--I just love them and their personalities and vocalizing. Chickening has been really hard on my heart...so much sadness and loss and illness. When we near retirement, I will stop all chickening as they live out the end of their lives so when we move I can start fresh with better knowledge and awareness and biosecurity planned. Hopefully I'm able to do that seamlessly--guess we will see how it all plays out. I do think there is a lot to be said from locality immunities...so if I have to move to retire, starting a new is likely smart anyway. Anywho, new coops are needed regardless of whether they will make a difference, so they will all live in style!

Where would you move to? Real estate is ridiculous on the West Coast. Of course, with what you could probably sell your place for in Cali, you could pay cash for another elsewhere. My hubby said if the crazy political climate here gets much worse, we may be forced to move inland, as hoards of folks have. Texas and Tennessee are looking better, but I'd miss the ocean and all it has to offer.

 

[kurby22]

Where would you move to? Real estate is ridiculous on the West Coast. Of course, with what you could probably sell your place for in Cali, you could pay cash for another elsewhere. My hubby said if the crazy political climate here gets much worse, we may be forced to move inland, as hoards of folks have. Texas and Tennessee are looking better, but I'd miss the ocean and all it has to offer.

My dream is to own property in Western Oregon south of Portland. I grew up in Idaho and my heart has always felt better near the ocean and cold temperatures so it’s been my dream since our first family vacation there as a kid. Not sure how things will be when we are actually ready to retire, but we could sell our place here now and buy about 5-10 acres up there depending on the area. My husband and I both work for the government—me federal him State…so we have decent retirement pensions (makes it worth dealing with the crap working in the government!!) and my husband will inherit some stocks and land from his parents in the Napa Valley so I’m hopeful it will be enough to live comfortably while staying close to where our kids settle down! I’d also like to continue engagement with kids and land management so being near Oregon State would be nice

 

[PopoMyers]

I wanna live there... well there and that big fat coop in England that @Shetland lover showed us.

Is England weather similar to Washington's? If so, @TropicalBabies get ready for rain and cool temps, clouds and not tons of sunshine like Hawaii.

 

[PopoMyers]

$150 MORE! ♡♡♡!!! The first money drop off I did was a bag of $1's and change for about 500 hours of my work and foot work efforts lol. I called it chipping away- Today my chips are bigger and I hope one day soon she will tell me we hit the $1000 mark. That will be some cat food and cats getting flown to the mainland to their new homes etc!

I think your flock is lovely and you have breeds that some people only dream of. Lots to enjoy and perfect ♡
I'm a little sad about my brooder being empty but love being able to spend more time reconnecting with my crew. With the pandemic my flock goals changed and now that we are doing better with less insecurity I can take a step back and go back to my original plan. 12 hens ok. Maybe I can never go that far back. I'm happy to not have to part with any of my sweeties and just breathe in their loveliness. That feels really good.
Speaking of which. Spider needs a leg spa day and I look forward to it ♡♡♡

So, update on the cement pedestals that I did. View attachment 3397800View attachment 3397802View attachment 3397803
Passed the chicken inspection. Put them on a bench to further cure. Would like to find the time to mosaic these. It would be fun and prettty.

That's fantastic! What a great cause, and so much work you're doing. So happy to hear of the success.

 

[PopoMyers]

My dream is to own property in Western Oregon south of Portland. I grew up in Idaho and my heart has always felt better near the ocean and cold temperatures so it’s been my dream since our first family vacation there as a kid. Not sure how things will be when we are actually ready to retire, but we could sell our place here now and buy about 5-10 acres up there depending on the area. My husband and I both work for the government—me federal him State…so we have decent retirement pensions (makes it worth dealing with the crap working in the government!!) and my husband will inherit some stocks and land from his parents in the Napa Valley so I’m hopeful it will be enough to live comfortably while staying close to where our kids settle down! I’d also like to continue engagement with kids and land management so being near Oregon State would be nice

Hope it's enough to pay all their taxes, even if there's no sales tax, they always get their $ somehow. We have no income tax, but pay for it many times over in other ways.

 

[PopoMyers]

Oh no! Takes the fun right out of this right of passage. It is so hard being a parent . Then they grow up and leave and never call and you stay racked with guilt with all of the stuff you could of should of done better lol. Then you get more chickens or go on a vacation.
I have been thinking of the https://tahititourisme.com/en-us/island/marquesas-islands/
And
https://www.kiribatitourism.gov.ki/kiribati-pacific-ocean-location/

It is pretty much dh's and YouTube fault

Let me know when you go, I might just join you. I've gotten past the guilt. The kids have to do themselves. I can do me, now. Yes, chickens, and more vacations! Tahiti is beautiful. I went there in "82.