What did you do with your flock today?

[PopoMyers]

She was sober enough to try and not let me get her meds down her. She put on another show as ma placed her back in the kennel. She is quite a gal. She may always have to have a special kennel and be a pet.

Temporary wry neck?

 

[PopoMyers]

We give a vitamin E and half of a B Complex nightly. Tonight we got the little girl chicken playing possum again when I put my hand in to pick her up. I must get some video of what this little girl does now. She is getting better at her little show. She is a normal looking young 7month old pullet until caught in the kennel. She plays dead when held. I got her meds down by stroking the bottom of her neck and held her while ma changed out her bedding. Then ma took her and she still played dead with a limp body. Ma finally put her down so her feet could touch the bottom of the kennel. No response. She finally put her head and neck through some gyrations that are unbelievable and after we backed away stood up normally and went over to her food dish for a peck or two. She is a show girl if there ever was one. Not sure of her breed. She either is one of unknown crosses from a free range hen and rooster or came as a surprise from Murray McMurray. She is a class act regardless.

I've read about and have also added vitamin C to Olena's nightly doses, and black oil sunflower seeds for the selenium to help with absorption.
Hope your girl gets better. Seems these kind of injuries take awhile to heal. I can only assess the week to week improvements, albeit slow and steady.

 

[PopoMyers]

Welp, all things pass, that's forsure.

Last night, I received a panicked call from my son staying up Koke'e. "A hunting dog was in the run murdering my chickens". Seems the dog snuck in before my son shut the run door for the night. My son has never experienced anything like this and was not sure if the dog would go after him, but he managed to grab a stick and get him out of the coop. Could have been a total nightmare and it is... but I only lost 2 girls, 2 wounded, ill see what i can do ♡. One is still missing but she is probably hiding in the forest. Seems making it out of the coop was a good thing. The others I found in the forest were unscathed. Spider is ok... whew!!!
I beelined up the mountain with my pellet gun but dog was long gone. It was a wet and foggy night, glad I went up to get control of the situation.
Time to bring the rest of the flock down the hill. My son feels terrible, he loves them ♡, but it happens and can and does happen to anyone. My poor babies.

So disheartening. Bad dog! Bad owner! So sorry for your loss. Your 2 injured will hopefully recover under your expert care.

 

[PopoMyers]

Well, the short story is that I try and go up the mountain to stay cool in the summer time and take my flock with me. It is suuuuuper nice.
On August 8th, the town where my DS lived burned down. So I picked him up from Maui and plopped him into the cabin till we sorted stuff out.
I had been staying there for a little bit inbetween family visits etc. So had my flock up, but after housing him up there, I brought half of my flock home, leaving the other half up Koke'e to keep him company, help occupy his heart, provide him eggs and something to keep his hands busy.
In January, DS moves into a new place down the mountain and in a cute town close by. So, I think tomorrow I will pack up the remaining flock of 9 (I have 2 here in recovery already) and bring them down to merge back into 1 big flock. Chickens sure keep things exciting...

So happy to hear that your son is getting a new beginning.

 

[PopoMyers]

Ferdy had a traumatic day today. First, there was the green and white monster that appeared beside the kitchen door seemingly overnight (AKA our 'still wrapped in white netting' Christmas tree). No-one dared pass it to come inside and poor Ferdy was beside himself as he could see I was cooking crumpets for breakfast. The noise he was making was beyond ridiculous . I eventually took pity on them and carried the boys through. The girls, being less silly, immediately followed and peace was restored.
Then onto the next event! A bit of background - my friend sent me a dog toy in the shape of a bantam cuckoo Maran because I've expressed a desire for a real one. It arrived in the mail mid-morning and is firmly ensconced in the dining room, next to my desk. Ferdy let himself in at lunch to remind me I was unforgivably late feeding everyone by a whole 10 mins (they have free feed available all day but insist on their special lunch ). Anyway, he took one look at the new 'house chicken' and ran as fast as his little, stubby legs would take him whilst shrieking . I was still laughing 5 mins later when he returned and proceeded to deliver a kick to it worthy of Bruce Lee, which sent it flying across the room!
I certainly wasn't laughing when he came in for t.v and snuggles.
He was happily enjoying a few sunflower hearts when one went down the wrong way. He started making choking sounds and within a few seconds he started going cyanotic and it was obvious he wasn't breathing.
I had no idea what to do! All I could think was to swing him upside down like you would a new born lamb that is not breathing at birth. Fortunately, it somehow worked and the offending seed flew out and he gave a huge gasp.
He's absolutely fine now, I'm relieved to report and is currently falling asleep on my shoulder after sharing a tiny bit of veggie lasagne . It could have been so different.
It made me wonder what you should do if a chicken is choking . I did a quick internet search which gave me no straight answers and a lot of predictable results for 'choking the chicken' . Will do a more thorough search tomorrow.

You are so smart! Time to post that solution, but there really isn't any time to do research whilst in the middle of choking. Thank you for telling us.

 

[Nomadicus]

I've read about and have also added vitamin C to Olena's nightly doses, and black oil sunflower seeds for the selenium to help with absorption.
Hope your girl gets better. Seems these kind of injuries take awhile to heal. I can only assess the week to week improvements, albeit slow and steady.

She's getting vitamin C in the B Complex with C tablets. Her neck shows no physical sign of injury. She can turn it like a contortionist at will. We can't find any evidence of an injury to the bones in the neck at all. During the day we can be working with the brooder and she struts around in the kennel as normal as can be. Look at her wrong and she puts on a contortionist show. She puts her neck down on you when you pick her up and closes her eyes. I've never heard of wry neck from the trauma like she experienced but it might be so. I thought at first they had broken her neck.

 

[ChicksnMore]

She's getting vitamin C in the B Complex with C tablets. Her neck shows no physical sign of injury. She can turn it like a contortionist at will. We can't find any evidence of an injury to the bones in the neck at all. During the day we can be working with the brooder and she struts around in the kennel as normal as can be. Look at her wrong and she puts on a contortionist show. She puts her neck down on you when you pick her up and closes her eyes. I've never heard of wry neck from the trauma like she experienced but it might be so. I thought at first they had broken her neck.

Poor baby. Sounds like overall she's doing pretty good though.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Lost another mail order egg. Down to one possible chick. But....that one egg now has an internal pip

 

[Nomadicus]

I've got to stop hand feeding on of my big pet roosters. He is so tame and loving but doesn't know his own strength when he pecks after food you are holding for him. He missed the food and took a layer of meat out of one of my fingers this afternoon. Maybe I can do it with gloves on. He is a Cornish Rock Cross and weighs in excess of 15lbs the last time he was weighed.

 

[PopoMyers]

It is possible to get hurt without any apparent reason. Yesterday afternoon I was in the kitchen just doing easy stuff, and lo and behold I feel this pop in my foot. Went to urgent care this afternoon, nothing broken, but a sprained ankle, so I have to avoid putting weight on it for awhile. That is hard to do, but at least it does not hurt to walk, only when trying to use the front if my foot for pressure necessary action, like pressing the gas pedal or removing my left shoe with my right foot.
Meanwhile on the nursing front, Olena managed to back her feet out of the sling and fall into the rear hole while I was gone. Came home to a chicken sitting on her tail, and her feet had kicked the pad away, and she had pooped, too. Had to find a new box to put her in, which is now plastic. Took a bit to adjust everything, but now she is all good. She acted like she wanted to run, and was alerting to something she had seen go by outside. We start week #7 tomorrow.
When my son comes in town next week, she will be sleeping in the pantry closet downstairs, her own private room.
Meanwhile, Alfa, my BSL has begun laying again. Now I know which chicken had been giving me eggs with sandy calcium deposits on the shell, which easily wash off.