Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Dr HaHa]

Good Morning! Not raining! TO been just over 3 yrs but sure doesn't seem like it been way too busy! That has to stop! FT yes the not so lil darlins are a hoot. But sometimes.......... Bigz not expecting much in the way of catchin but we'll be fishin! Cind so so sorry about Moses!

Congrats on all the hatches and sorry for the losses! CC don't know what's the H is going on think it's the site. Mine dble posted yesterday and I haven't been getting anything in my incoming E mail but it was going into my deleted and if I opened it in there the puter would freeze up. I've been having to go to the main site to get on. This morning I had to re-login to get here. It's really whizin me off! To quote my old supervisor " somethings wrong with something". Am real close to saying to H with it! OK settle down Beeker. Am so excited to be heading Nort! Normally we go up in April and at least once in May. Today is our first time.

Really hope fishin time gets tacked on at the end and when it comes it will be as pain free as possible. They have drugs for that too!

Have to go and pack in a leisurely fashion.

 

[Dr HaHa]

It did it again! It did it again!

 

[Dr HaHa]

It did it again! It did it again!

 

[PsycoPeep]

You know! Why is it always the ONE freaking time that you DON'T check on the chicks that something has happened and you may (or may not?) have been able to avoid it if you HAD?? I always go in the laundry room at night and check on the tubs of younger chicks to dump & rinse their dishes & give them fresh water. I don't always feed them in the middle of the night, but I make sure they're not drinkign water with poop & feed clouding the bottom and just check in on them in general. Well last night I had to work overtime, so I left my house at 2:30 in the afternoon and didn't get home until 1:15/1:20 this morning. Did I check on them as usual? No, I didn't. They're always fine and sometimes their water is fine and I don't even have to change it out and I didn't want to wake them up and get them riled up and I was dead tired from being on my feet and working at the factory for 10 hrs straight. So this morning DH's in the kitchen and he says "Oh, hello! What are YOU doing?" One of my Naked Necks had gotten out (there's a gap under the door) and I asked which one thinking he'd say our older partridge, as that tub's on the floor and the other tub's on the machine's. Nope. He said it's black. I jumped up and ran over there knowing that's a long fall for a bitty birdy and he was already in there checking on everyone and when he went in there he said "Jesus, it's hot in here! WTH!.....90 degrees??? You got a dead one! And another one!" (all while I was coming over there and trying to push my way in the door, grabbing the tub on the floor and dragging it outside the room to cool it down. (all alive & well in that bin). Our space heater was flashing 90, so it was probably hotter if it was flashing. Plus the friggin bulb was on on the chicks on the tub. I kicked my husband outta my way, turned the bulb off, and grabbed the tub and carried it out of the room. The tub itself was warm-hot!! ***??? Must've had a space heater malfunction because that thing is set and controlled! I have 7 dead babies and more were sprawled out w/wings out and 2 were also laying like they were dead and lifeless. I picked up all of the ones obviously alive and moved them to a box that just happened to be readily onhand. DH put in a dish of fresh water and I was scooping the live ones and putting them right next to it. Then I picked up all 9 "dead" ones one by one and that's when I found 2 were weak and lifeless but still a slight gasp. I put them in the box figuring the cardboard would cool them off quickly vs staying on the hot plastic tub. Re-checked the other 7 dead ones and took inventory of those I lost. My blue mottled bantam cochin, an unidentified rare breed that looks similar to a hawk or a speckled sussex baby (my 2 speckled sussex chicks are still alive), 3 of my new Naked Necks I just bought (BOTH of the really cool rusty-black looking ones and one of the rare salmons), and the last Showgirl. OMG! I was freaking out so bad! I grabbed one of the birds in the box that look like it was laying there dead, a sussex, and put it's beak in the water twice. It tipped it's head back and swallowed! I was extatic!!!! So I did it again a couple times and then set it upright against the water dish and grabbed the hot lifeless body of the other one (the younger partridge NN) and did the same. Lo! and behold that one started drinking, too! I raised & lowered my hand and it started flapping it's wings and I put it back by the water. She climbed up onto the dish and continued to drink with everyone else.

My kids and I are heart broken and we had tears in our eyes. This sucks! I feel completely like schlit because if I would've checked on them at 1:30 in the morning, I may have noticed it was too hot in there and done something about it. But I never thought anything of it b/c it was never on the fritz before and we never had a problem with it. And who knows when the problem started, I guess I could've gone in tehre and it was still just fine at that time. IDK. But I still feel like crap and am kicking myself in the butt because I know I didn't go check on them...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's "baked" their chicks before, but still....

 

[cuties]

Ooh noo psycho! I am so sorry! Dont beat yourself up. I work a lot of 12s in a factory also. I know what it is like to be dead on you feet. You couldnt have known. Im glad you were able to save some. :'''(

 

[Angiebubs]

PsychoPeep: I am so sorry!!! ANd your right even if you had checked, they might have been fine at that time!!!

 

[PsycoPeep]

#8 has passed away. It was the little Speckled Sussex I was so excited about b/c I got it to start drinking. Eyes are cloudy and dried out, still pliable, so it recently passed, but it's gone. I'm so sorry little birdie-doo! I could just kick myself in the arse!

I called down to the feedmill where I got those last NN's from and they sold them all already. I could totally order more, they're at a reasonable enough price, but I just feel so down right now...

 

[chikenscratch]

"boom - chicka - wa wa" (cheep porn music! LOL) you guys are too funny!
I hope you're able to sleep with it. I had (am supposed to have.... the dog chewed it up!) a bite guard and it was SUPER hard to get used to. good luck.
I agree, a house is just a house, until it becomes YOUR house, and you make it a home! Excited for you! hopefully the rest of the transactions go smoothly.

IrishRover, so sorry to hear about Michelle. It sounds like you did everything you could.

Raimnel - I'm sorry that you have to go through that! How awful that they would do that to you guys! Frustrating and heartbreaking.

Well, DS finally had an afternoon that he didn't spike a 102 temp since Monday! hooray!! Tomorrow is his last day as a Kindergartener! Gosh the time flies. I can NOT believe that school year is done. a few days off then back at it for summer school, swim lessons and a week of day camp. Huh, for a moment there I thought that with summer the mom-taxi was gonna get a break! Oh well. tis the job of a mom!
I can't wait for a dry warm day.(can't the weather be wrong and it NOT rain tomorrow?) Come on Saturday!!!
So, I made a little run for the 2 big girls (Big mama and Little Bit aka Bitty) by zip tying a few baby gates together. they were just taking up space in the basement anyway, and then I put chicken wire around the top. I had their little door open yesterday afternoon and all day today, but neither have been brave enough to venture even to look out yet! I can't say I can really blame thme though for NOT wanting to get out in the chilly weather. I certainly am not liking it either

Oh, question about the FF, Can I keep it outside, like in a shed/garage? I'm trying to figure the best place for it. DH would flip if I had it in the house. I haven't even started to explain it to him yet. I think he's still just putting up with my adventure! lol Patiently waiting for the egg part to start!

Was able to sleep with it in, no problem. But to wear it during the day? UGH!!! I am sure that I'll enjoy the house more when it is mine! Thanks.

Went to reboot my computer last night to try to get rid of the constant double posting (since nothing else I tried seemed to work) and wound up losing the internet until this evening.

Now I'm 6 pages behind. And on top of all that, it didn't work anyway..............

Oooohhhh, can he now!

I agree Sandi, the dogs were all extremely well behaved at the bash. I find it hard to believe that Kasha is always looking for a bed, though. It seemed like every time DH or I saw her, she was constantly walking around. Those poor little legs never seemed to stop. I could picture her on a big hamster wheel.

She sure is cute! And thank you for posting the electrolyte recipe, Del. So sorry to hear about your chicks.

And happy to hear about the new ones.

Cind, ya lost me with Game of Thrones? MacLeods were from Highlander.

cs, sorry but I LMAO picturing your commute home from work adventure. Didn't they used to have a game like that? Ants in the Pants?

Sorry to hear about your retainer issues. Good one Zeke.

Irish, so, so sorry to hear about Michelle.

Did you try cooking up some scrambled egg for her?

Glad you like it here Amyb.

Bl4, gotta love being in the passenger seat in the mountains, hey? NOT!

No thank you! Can't wait to see pics when you can.

Nothing new here, just rain, rain and more rain. And NO internet!

Ticked me off. The only good thing was that DH sold 13 dozen eggs this week and has to take 2 more in tomorrow. It was supposed to be 5 for tomorrow but my girls just can't keep up. Guess I need more layers? Whistle, whistle.

Good thing I've got 4 chicks in the brooder & 2 eggs pipped.

So far 2 chocolates, a black & a lav. Still waiting on 2 more chocs & a gold laced.

CC-thanks for laughing at me. It was pretty funny, but I did feel like they were crawling all over me.

PsyPeep-sorry to hear about the chicks. How old are they? I don't know what your set up is, but I think the space heater added into the mix with the heat lamp is too much. Each week the temp on the birds should be reduced by 5-10 degrees. So at birth is ~95 degrees, 1week is 90-85 degrees, 2 weeks, 85-80 degrees, etc. I often find that my birds NEVER go by this standard as they usually are way under (eg. at 2 weeks they were at 75 degrees). The birds kindof tell you the temp that they need. Watch the rest of them closely to see if any of them are directly under the heat lamp. If the are just in the vacinity, move the heat lamp up higher to reduce the temp! Also, what type of container do you have the birds in? Does it have ventiliation? We always have ours in a container that either has hardware cloth on all sides and top, or this last time we had a 4-5ft long, 3ft tall, and 2 ft wide plastic box with hardware cloth covering the top. Then we had the heat lamp hanging from the ceiling (using 2 different methods to secure it) from a study wire that we just shortened as we needed to reduce the temp. Our thermometer was in the center of where the heat lamp was directed. But there has to be plenty of room for all of the birds to get out of the heat (eg. if the direct source is at 90 degrees, there must be an area that gets down to ~75-80). I hope this helps a bit and reduces the chickie deaths!

 

[chikenscratch]

PsyPeep-also get PolySol vitamin addition and put it in the water. The birds have been under extreme stress from too much heat and need extra help. Once you reduce the heat, increase air circulation, decrease the number of birds (they create their own heat too), and add vitamin water you will notice that the remaining ones will stable out. But I do not recommend getting more birds at this time. When you are first starting out, it takes time to get your set up right.

 

[Angiebubs]

I agree with chickenscratch_I would wait to get more chicks....plus the small numbers allows you to handle them/make them more friendly (if that is important to you). Plus you will continuely want to add/see a new breed you want. If you add in small numbers, you will have room to grow/add to your flock. Also agree: If you have PolySol, Save a chick, or any electrolytes I would add to their water.