Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[vickiw]

FINALLY ABOVE ZERO!!!!

Between the rain, heavy snow then freezing cold the girls have been cooped up since Tuesday, poor chookies. Anyway, checked the temp in the greenhouse and it was above 70o, soooooooo! Opened the pophole and expected a charge but nobody came out, huh? Then, very cautiously, out came Noodle. Looked around, one step, two step, then zooooom for the greenhouse!!! Momma next. Then???? So into the coop to check things out. There stood Crockpot in the nestbox acting funny and Soup sticking her head in and walking around squacking. Huh? So, I pick up Crocker to try to figure out what was wrong because she seemed to be panting. I start to put her back in the nest and "PLOP" goes her egg!
SOUP IS AT IT AGAIN!!! Crock must have been afraid to lay her egg because Soup was laying in ambush!

Crock has been laying some thin shelled eggs lately and then I "thought" she had stopped laying but apparently, SOUP is up to her old tricks. She better watch out because I still have those Peepers that were shaped just to fit her!

Anyway, they are all in the greenhouse now (had to carry Crockpot there she just hates to walk on snow~quiet Dr.H) and at my last check they were all so busy dusting that you could barely see in there!!! Happy Chookies.

Judge~sorry for your losses, so hard, but your survivors are just adorable!!!

Terri~ you are such a good friend! I hope Peggy gets off with a stern warning and that "friend" of hers, well, what goes around comes around.

Anyone else, just too many posts to catch up on to remember. Oh, Jim. Trick we were taught by our vet was to attach (staple) a paper cup to a stick. Once they start going, stick it into the stream. Worked every time for my boys, even my little Shitsu.

BTW~my concience has gotten to me. I have decided that my coop "additions" will once again be rescues or at least ladies (hopefully young) that will be in real need of a new home or else. Just the way I roll. Even when I was a kid, I had a whole house (and yard) full of rescued animals and every animal since has really needed my help. Before that my favorite toy (for years) was a black stuffed dog I rescued from a mud puddle one day and put a bandaid over the spot of his missing ear. Even my "farm" was less a farm than a rescue mission.

Ok, everybody, say it, I'm hopeless. Oh well,

Soooo, guess I will just have to be patient. If I'm willing, God always shows me the ones that need my help. Sometimes they're human, sometimes they're critters but it's always a surprise and an adventure.

 

[Celtic Chick]

So sorry to hear about your duckies. That is so sad.

I much prefer using pine shavings to straw, especially for chicks. Straw can get moldy really fast if it gets wet, and you know how chicks can be. Mold can become deadly to their little respiratory systems, so I don't chance it. When I am getting the brooder set up, I put down a layer of shavings & lay paper towels over it for about a week. Chick starter is more expensive than layer here too. I think it is about $16.50 for the starter down here.

I hope today is much better for you, Cind.

Thank you, DrH!

Good for you, Vicki!

Rescued is my favorite breed too. And I'm sure lots of us can relate.

We've only been getting 2 eggs a day for the past couple of days, and naturally one of them always had to be frozen.

Doesn't help in the egg selling department too much. On that one day when we almost hit 60*, we had a whopping 3 eggs, but one had a weak shell and got flattened in the box. Other than that, not much happening here. Hope everyone stays warm!

 

[Terri O]

Oh Vicki--You are so wonderful! Your "farm" sounds like mine! Many of my critters were/are rescue animals too...it just seems that once they are here they get all healed and start making babies! That is how I got into my present experiment of making black and brown capped ducks!

OK friends--I NEED your help now....I had to butcher another meatie today and I found strange things and I really want some opinions on this! Here are the pics I took. FIrst I thought it was odd that the wing had a very swollen top part (I dont have a pic of this) I get the bird all plucked up and I cut open the Top part of the wing where it is all swollen...it appears that there is an enclosed cyst there (smelly, cheesy stuff) Then I see a bit of bone sticking out near the lower joint...maybe an injury?
OK--I get past that and I draw the bird out. Here is a pic of the liver with a pen for comparison:



Unfortunately I had to take the pics with my phone, send them to my son who then sent them to my computer; the quality is not great!
What is the deal with this great big liver? It is probably DOUBLE the size of the one from yesterday! I should have weighed it...

Now is a really odd thing I found in the same bird. This is a picture of the stuff I pulled out. I decided to cut the bird into pieces (glad I did cause then I found this) because I was not going to consume that wing with the cyst in it.

This is the split breast. Right down along the keel bone I saw something odd. There was some white material that was kind of stringy. I reminded me of cooked chicken but real dry. Places had a bit of a greenish tinge. On the left you can see the hole I got it out of. Then I sliced along the keel bone on the right side and got a whole bunch out of that side! It didnt have any smell at all and felt kind of spongy. The only thing I can liken it to is the weird feathery "lung things" in a lobster. (weird I know) It was INSIDE the bird not under the skin like a breast blister would have been.

OK--does anyone have any ideas on this? Three things in one bird that I have never seen before...and I have butchered many birds...please advise if I should even eat this bird?
Thanks a bunch!!!! TerriOnotwantingtopoisonherfamily

 

[CasieD]

TO - I have no idea what any of that is or what could have caused it. That being said, if it's something you've never seen before I wouldn't risk it.
Don't eat it. Not worth the chance. Could you send some better pictures to a state vet or something, just to see if they have an idea??

 

[Terri O]

No all is gone now except for the meat...I will seeif I can edit the pics on my computer to make them clearer. That is a good idea though to send them. TO

 

[Celtic Chick]

I agree with Casie. Don't eat it. I would send that off to a state lab & see what they have to say about it. That way you would know for sure one way or the other if it was safe or not if you came across it again. And you could educate all of us too.
Maybe start a thread to see if anyone else on BYC has any insight?
Too freaky weird.

 

[babylady4]

"When in doubt, throw it out". You can feed uncooked chicken bones to your dogs, so I would just toss it to them.

ODrH, cute babies! I miss my ducks....

If you think those ducks are cute, you should see miniature ducklings..... Call ducklings win hands down on the adorable scale. This is one of Amyables pics of some of my babies...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/100480061/ducklings-baby-animal-nursery-print-duck?

No babies for me this year. I think my in-laws are looking forward to fresh eggs.



Getting ready to party at my SIL's place tomorrow. Making a spinach salad, and a German Chocolate cake.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Finally got some pics to load! Here are some of my hollyhocks.

very pretty color, the first picture seems similar to what we have except ours is mixed with white.

 

[JustJohn]

TerriOnotwantingtopoisonherfamily

Well, not with a chicken anyway. It would be too ironic

 

[GhostRider65]

Hey all,
had some cumputer trouble after I caught up and now I can't remember what I wanted to reply too sooooooooo, guess I just go from here........

TerriO I would not eat it........... no way no how............ To me it is pointing at something very weird going on inside that chicken, so I would suggest Not eating it. I have never seen anything like that either, Maybe Jim will comment, he has butchered more chickens than all of us I suspect....if anyone would know of weird internal thingys in chickens I would guess he has seen some in his experience. Don't cook it till he has a gander at them photos. I would also look into sending the photos to the state lab and seeing if they know what the heck........ Just for an FYI I never eat anything I don't kill, so no road kill no dead creatures of any kind, unless I was the reason they died.....LOL

So we had a good visit, and Adam is back at it, since last night, he's in Des Moines this morning meeting a couple of team drivers that are taking his load to Cali, while he delivers theirs to Il, somewhere. He said roads south slowed him considerably, very icy, snow covered, yucky roads to the SW of wis, and Iowa 80 and 161... wish it would warm up enough for that crap to melt off, it isn't so good around here either, half these outland roads are covered with sheet ice, then snow, from drifting and the dusting we had over night. everything is salted but the wind freezes it about as fast as it melts....... yucky weather........... anyway nothing else new here just bored now and cleaning, gonna sew maybe later....... make a few shirts or a quilt or something.......... to keep me busy......... Later all Kim