What did you do with your flock today?

[Shetland lover]

Unfortunately, The kitty was put down yesterday. Turns out that when a 13 year old cat has fluid around his lungs, it's fun stuff like cancer or heart failure. ... Like 80% of the time. 15% of the time it's kitty Corona (FIP), which is basically always fatal when they're that old. I figured I was probably in trouble when the Vet started telling me about experimental treatments....

Unfortunately, his problems had progressed enough that he has some serious problems being able to breathe.... so he couldn't eat much, sleep well, or even purr with comfort.

Thank you! I'm NGL, I'm a little surprised to have made it this far!

Thank you! As previously mentioned, my kitty didn't have something treatable.

I also never thought grass could be dangerous.

Now, I know this is a chicken forum, but let me hijack it for a minute to tell you about His Imperial Fatness, Ruler of the food bowl, The Fat One (AKA Fatty)

Fatty came to my house as a last chance at getting my other cat a friend. I had tried to find my other cat (Stupid) a friend a few times and had failed. Either The new cat and Stupid didn't have the ability to be friends, or the new cat and my husband didn't have the ability to co-exist. I found Fatty at the ASPCA. He was not the cat I had gone looking for, but He reached out his little paw at me, and tried to play through the bars on his cage... and my heart melted... His little face had most of his whiskers broken due to wanting to play through the cage and I decided that anything that was that committed to being adorable would probably do ok in my house.

That was about 12 years ago now. Fatty was dubbed Jack to begin with, he earned the name Fatty because when the kitten-ness wore off, his personality was mainly about food. (Word of advice-
Don't leave your cats at home with your cat-hating Hubs. They might start answering to names you have to explain to the vet.)

The Fat One was not a social cat, if you didn't live with him. He disappeared when the front door opened (regardless of why it was opening). He mostly hid in a cabinet when people came over. He did put up with me dragging him out to met my friends when they started wondering if I really had 2 cats. He weighed about 20 lbs for most of his life, and when I carried him, you couldn't see my torso. (He had a lot of fur. I'm pretty sure he was part Mainecoon).

If you lived with him, he loved you... almost as much as he loved food. He would happily sit and be pet for hours. He occasionally wrapped his paws around my arm so I would keep petting his belly... turns out 20lbs cats are kind of strong. He was a brother to Stupid, and did make sure I no longer got woken up at 4am to the call of my first cat being lonely. He also purred basically all the time, and was great at putting me to sleep when I did not plan on taking a nap.
View attachment 3658785

He was a very good friend, and I am lucky to have had him.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled Chickens now...

I'm so sorry you lost your beautiful boy. What a beautiful tribute.
I totally feel your pain. My boy, George, had fluid round his lungs but my vet at the time ruled out heart issues and cancer. I wanted the vet to prescribe a diuretic to help control the the fluid build-up and ease the pressure on his lungs but he refused. After 3 days of blood tests, ultrasounds and x-rays, poor George got up for a drink and dropped dead of a heart attack. He was just shy of 15. I still miss my gorgeous George every day.

 

[Shetland lover]

If reincarnations real...I want to come back as a chicken at your house

DH often said he wanted to come back as one of our cats. Since we've had cockerels he's decided that's the better option. I wonder why.....

 

[Shetland lover]

I know! I was very much hovering over their time in the yard together but when he started his zoomies and the play pose I was a bit less nervous! I'm not sure Oliver was reading it quite as playfully as Koda, but his reaction to Koda was not one of fear so much as annoyance haha. Most of the time Koda is the one tolerating the chickens haha, the other day Shadow was batting at the fluffy butt of one of the cochins and she flipped out and flew off my lap and landed on Koda's back and he was like....ummmm, what are you doing while turning in circles trying to see her on his back Was super funny!

Speaking of annoyance...I have learned NOT to wear red around my roosters after today hahaha. My extremely chill Modern Game rooster Compy actually attacked me today when I tried to pet him! He's NEVER shown any aggression at all...but seemed totally fine with me after I took off the red sweater. So funny! Aria's softball team wears red and Leaky has come after her a couple times when she goes to do chores while still wearing her red socks...but is completely fine with her if she's sockless in Crocs! So interesting to me!

Fascinating! I love behavioural observations.
One of my friends at school was pecked in the eye by an irate robin whilst on her paper round. She was wearing a red football shirt.
My chickies don't really respond to red. It's just black bags they have issues with.

 

[Shetland lover]

Koda sounds adorable! The whole red thing sounds fascinating! I'm going to have to try it here and see what reactions I get! If I have anything red....
Our tortoise Spud likes to chase hubby around when he's his wearing his tennis shoes with red laces...but for him I think his red obsessions because I feed him hibiscus flowers as treats and he loves them. We have a red jolly ball for horses that we toss in with him occasionally too. He ends up chasing it around because he tries to take a bite and it rolls away. I'd hoped chasing it would get him so he quits trying to eat hubby's shoelaces but nope...no such luck.

My FIL's tortoise is so obsessed with strawberries she'll even try to eat rock hard cricket balls

 

[Shetland lover]

Pulled some swiss chard today for critters and then just hung out with the hamburgs for bit. Such curious birds!View attachment 3659021View attachment 3659022

Such gorgeous little birds too! Your Hamburg cockerel is such a cutie!

 

[ValerieJ]

I got a shock when I got 10 eggs from 7 Bresse pullets. They will not be a year old until December 5th. This is not the norm. 5-6 is the norm. There are no other layers in the coop or that can get into the coop. Checking for fertility visually in the morning. I am anxious to set some of their eggs ASAP.

I didn't know you could check for fertility in an egg. I thought you had to break the egg and look for the little white circle. How do you do that?

Yep, l do. The mere mention of chicken lice or mites makes my flesh crawl! In fact, it is right now. Weirdly, things like fleas don't have the same psychological effect.
If you can house everyone elsewhere for 24 to 48 hours, you could try an insecticidal smoke bomb? I find it much more effective than hosing coops down, especially when it's colder.

I read on BYC a long time ago of a lady's experience using a bomb in her coop. She didn't let the birds in for 3 days, but lost all of them the first night. I don't know the particulars, like if there was enough ventilation, etc. Just a word of caution on that. As an alternative, I would spray the coop down with pyrethrin or permethrin. Both are safe to use directly on chickens, so there is no need to keep them out of the coop at all. Pyrethrin is the natural form and permethrin is the synthetic. Otherwise they are the same and work the same.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Unfortunately, The kitty was put down yesterday. Turns out that when a 13 year old cat has fluid around his lungs, it's fun stuff like cancer or heart failure. ... Like 80% of the time. 15% of the time it's kitty Corona (FIP), which is basically always fatal when they're that old. I figured I was probably in trouble when the Vet started telling me about experimental treatments....

Unfortunately, his problems had progressed enough that he has some serious problems being able to breathe.... so he couldn't eat much, sleep well, or even purr with comfort.

Thank you! I'm NGL, I'm a little surprised to have made it this far!

Thank you! As previously mentioned, my kitty didn't have something treatable.

I also never thought grass could be dangerous.

Now, I know this is a chicken forum, but let me hijack it for a minute to tell you about His Imperial Fatness, Ruler of the food bowl, The Fat One (AKA Fatty)

Fatty came to my house as a last chance at getting my other cat a friend. I had tried to find my other cat (Stupid) a friend a few times and had failed. Either The new cat and Stupid didn't have the ability to be friends, or the new cat and my husband didn't have the ability to co-exist. I found Fatty at the ASPCA. He was not the cat I had gone looking for, but He reached out his little paw at me, and tried to play through the bars on his cage... and my heart melted... His little face had most of his whiskers broken due to wanting to play through the cage and I decided that anything that was that committed to being adorable would probably do ok in my house.

That was about 12 years ago now. Fatty was dubbed Jack to begin with, he earned the name Fatty because when the kitten-ness wore off, his personality was mainly about food. (Word of advice-
Don't leave your cats at home with your cat-hating Hubs. They might start answering to names you have to explain to the vet.)

The Fat One was not a social cat, if you didn't live with him. He disappeared when the front door opened (regardless of why it was opening). He mostly hid in a cabinet when people came over. He did put up with me dragging him out to met my friends when they started wondering if I really had 2 cats. He weighed about 20 lbs for most of his life, and when I carried him, you couldn't see my torso. (He had a lot of fur. I'm pretty sure he was part Mainecoon).

If you lived with him, he loved you... almost as much as he loved food. He would happily sit and be pet for hours. He occasionally wrapped his paws around my arm so I would keep petting his belly... turns out 20lbs cats are kind of strong. He was a brother to Stupid, and did make sure I no longer got woken up at 4am to the call of my first cat being lonely. He also purred basically all the time, and was great at putting me to sleep when I did not plan on taking a nap.
View attachment 3658785

He was a very good friend, and I am lucky to have had him.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled Chickens now...

Awww, you had me at fatty

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Shuster lost the last 3 tail feathers and now has a little tutu looking start of a new set. He sure looks funny parading around the way he is. Maybe he will let me photograph him while he looks so funny.

Pics or it didnt happen!!!

 

[Shetland lover]

I didn't know you could check for fertility in an egg. I thought you had to break the egg and look for the little white circle. How do you do that?

I read on BYC a long time ago of a lady's experience using a bomb in her coop. She didn't let the birds in for 3 days, but lost all of them the first night. I don't know the particulars, like if there was enough ventilation, etc. Just a word of caution on that. As an alternative, I would spray the coop down with pyrethrin or permethrin. Both are safe to use directly on chickens, so there is no need to keep them out of the coop at all. Pyrethrin is the natural form and permethrin is the synthetic. Otherwise they are the same and work the same.

How awful! The smoke bombs I've used are pyrethrin or permethrin based and haven't had any issues with them. I tend to use them in the spring clean to reach any mites deeply hidden in crevices as the smoke has the advantage of reaching parts of the coop the sprays can't. My coops are very well ventilated though, and they are opened out as much as possible on a daily basis from letting everyone out to just before bed. I alternate using a permethrin based spray with one that has a mechanical action on the red mite every other week or so throughout the year. Just have to be careful not to expose my cats to pyrethrin and permethrin or any beneficial insects for that matter.

 

[ValerieJ]

How awful! The smoke bombs I've used are pyrethrin or permethrin based and haven't had any issues with them. I tend to use them in the spring clean to reach any mites deeply hidden in crevices as the smoke has the advantage of reaching parts of the coop the sprays can't. My coops are very well ventilated though, and they are opened out as much as possible on a daily basis from letting everyone out to just before bed. I alternate using a permethrin based spray with one that has a mechanical action on the red mite every other week or so throughout the year. Just have to be careful not to expose my cats to pyrethrin and permethrin or any beneficial insects for that matter.

I didn't know about the permethrin based bombs. That's actually a great idea.