Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[scarter]

Thanks Dr. Haha for the welcome. I'm a BIG time lurker. I hop on occasionally to see what you guys are doing.

 

[babylady4]

IT'S ALIVE!!!! My cell phone that is!

I hated not having it for 2 days, it completely sucks not having that communication device right there with you all the time!


Annarie, I am a little worried about this male call. He seems tired and sits down a lot, allows his head to droop to the ground in front of him. I think he is off his food since his crop is not full at all, and I have not seen a stool from him at all lately. He seems a bit skinny but not skeletal. His breathing is normal to me, no wheezing, clear eyes and nose. Today I gave him a bit of the baby vitamins and had my DD give them some yogurt. I will give another update tomorrow morning on his condition. The kids are so attached to these little buggars, I would hate to lose one....

As far as coop construction, I am thinking about making an elevated coop that I can move around the yard. My only concern on allowing the ducks to free range during the day is that we have a Cooper's Hawk here in town. As much as I like the hawk, I really do not want to provide him with an easy meal. The enclosure we have set up right now has a sheet of bird netting over the top to discourage the hawk.

I think I better get going, I am way too tired to be posting on here and I don't think it is making much sense.....

 

[Hens and Roos]

Getting ready for the 4-H Dog show today with our DD,

Hopefully Cassie(the Irish Setter) will listen better this time around!

Birds all looked good this am and the turkeys we washed actually looked pretty good now that they dried off-hopefully it won't rain this afternoon so we can finish washing the last one she needs. You don't realize just what muscles are used until you are all done both DH and I are sore from dealing with the birds!

Enjoy the day

 

[Terri O]

I feel for you H&R! Our fair is closing tonight and I am glad it will be over for another year! Check-out in the art dept is going to be a nightmare! We had two of my big display walls go down yesterday before we could get the overhead door closed. I really wish we could move to the back of the building...this is the second year this has happened and I have big breakage of stuff. I am so glad that the pottery that was near that falling wall didnt get broken! Some of the 4Hers are awesome artists and I hate to see their faces when I tell them that there project was broken during the fair! At least I didnt lose any State Fair ones...those need to go to another venue before they are through.
Good luck to Cassie and Erin at Dane County!!!

I hope you get a blue with her and your birds.
RAIMNEL--do your kids do 4H? It is a great program if there are good leaders. I am hoping at the scholarship announcement today there will be good news for my daughter...every little bit helps! My son went to Space Camp in AL one year and he said it was fantastic. I think because of 4H my youngest will be welcome on the judging and riding teams in college. They even went down to KY to compete in horse judging!
On a "not so good note" she did not qualify for the State Show with her horse for the first time EVER! She is not taking it too hard since she will be in college during the show and also has one more year...she took the horse we birthed and trained right here on our farm and he is a brat...but oh so gorgeous! I think she will have fun in the non-premium fun classes today though!
Speaking of that--I better get myself to the fair so I can watch! Good luck on those heirlooms ladies! I have been wanting to save seeds from mine and plant them too....I do the seed-saving part just fine but I really suck at growing little plants indoors! I like when they volunteer in the garden though! This year I was ruthless with them and unless they were where I wanted them I RIPPED them out! I had so many last year that I left thinking "oh, they wont get too big and be in the way..." YEAH RIGHT! The place looked like a tomato JUNGLE!!!

OK--Off to the fair! Stay cool and have a fantastic day! Terri O

(PS)--I have another nest hatching yesterday and today!!!! Way cute!

 

[Dr HaHa]

We came home last night and pulled in the coop light was on and the doors wide open. First thought was that Donny didn't take care of the birds went right to the coop only 2 hens one was Elvis and her head had a little blood on it. Got the flashlight and found 3 more hens on the straw bales. This was around midnight, didn't have much sleep the night before and was exhausted from the drive besides. Went to bed after worring for an hour. Up at 6 went outside no sign of the slw's or the rest of the birds. Noticed that the door on the coop was propped open differently than when we left. While I was looking for the rest of the birds I found one dead slw no meat damage just the head chewed up. 6 of the slw's came out from hiding. Donny showed up and said he was here at 8:30 and 9:30 no chickens nowhere. Even went looking and calling for them with a flashlight. Then I see Brownie come out of the brush as soon as I called to her she squatted on the ground. Went and picked her up and her head was bloody. I cleaned her up and put her in a nest box where she's resting. She's eating and drinking. I lost three hens, 2 slw's, and the one that really really hurts Peaches. There are feathers in the coop and some in the yard but no bodies other than the one slw. Going to grease up and go look further but not holding out any hope for the missing. Words can't describe how I feel.

 

[babylady4]

Oh no! Dr. H I am so sorry! Not Peaches!

At least you know who to hit up for more birds; not like it will help at the moment but you have friends here who can lend a hand.



Duck is still the same. The kids tell me he has asparagus green/chopped up grass green poop. At least he is still drinking but is still showing no interest in food. Going to the local FF to see if I can get anything to help perk him up.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Oh no, Dr. H!

I'm sorry about Peaches.

I hope your little Call is feeling better soon, babylady4!

Oh, and I have a big Cooper's Hawk here too - she nests along the edge of our driveway every spring, dives at my head every time I try to walk the dogs down there, and then the young ones hang around for awhile...

I'm working on the new Call pen today...I really need to get it done, now that I've committed to bringing home 4 new Call ducks a week from today! And, since they're pairs in two different colors, if I want to separate them next spring, I need to work on new breeding pens too!

I'm going with an A-frame design (yes - I'm building a "duck tractor") - we have lots of lawn here, so I can move them around to a fresh spot every day - they get healthy grass and bugs, the lawn gets fertilized, and they're still confined and safe from hawks.

I'll post pictures when I actually get something done!

 

[Amyable]

Oh, DrH, Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Don't give up hope yet. When Julie's dog killed her chickens, some came back over the next several days, just had been hiding out somewhere. I wonder what nasty varmint it was. Will be crossing fingers and saying a little prayer to at least bring home Peaches.

 

[babylady4]

This is babylady4's oldest DD. I checked on the sick call duck and he had Pistachio pudding green poop.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
I wouldn't worry about the color of the poo too much - duck poo always looks funky. I'm worried about him being listless and not eating though. My older ducks always get very listless when they're molting, so maybe growing in his juvenile feathers is really taking it out of him?

You might want to check out this website: http://www.runnerduck.net/diseases.htm
In the hot, wet weather we've been having, a bacterial infection could be the problem...but I don't know what antibiotics are safe for ducks!

Any chance you could get him to eat some scrambled eggs or watered-down hard boiled egg yolk? I wish I could be there to help - since I have three of his siblings here, and he's the duckling I almost brought home, I feel like he's family!