Honey Is Sick
She can't stand and she is not pooping. I just don't know what to do. I hope this well help maybe someone will have an idea.
Sighs- Update for Dec., Jan. and Feb.
OK OK OK I apologize. I have been terrible at keeping this blog current. I like to post with pictures but once again my computer is giving me grief. I will get some new pictures soon.
My girls have been inside now since Thanksgiving. It's just too cold and wet out in the backyard. I not sure if I did pay attention last year or if this year is different but the ground is like walking on a sponge. I can barley get to my shed where I keep their run when not in use. I was able to get them outside for a week in January during a freak warm still. We had days with almost 85 degrees. Then poof back to cold and rain.
But don't feel too bad for my Chickie girls. They have been running around the house in there new diapers. Honey and Crystal don't mind theirs at all. Darby doesn't like hers. I'm not sure I it doesn't fit right or what. We have had a weird molting too. They stop laying. Then they drop a few feathers. Then they start laying again. Then they start it all over it again.
I know I talked about getting their deluxe nesting box finished before the end of January but money and time has been tight. I as of the first week of March have the building all done. Now I have moved into the decorating side of it. I'm making it look like a country cottage. I have finished the fish scale shingle roof and now I'm working of what color to paint it. I'll get pictures out I promise. Finding time to work on it has been hard. I have been volunteering a lot at my kid's schools and the time I get to myself I'm doing laundry or dishes. Sighs. I well do my best to get the next post out in the next week. :)
My girls have been inside now since Thanksgiving. It's just too cold and wet out in the backyard. I not sure if I did pay attention last year or if this year is different but the ground is like walking on a sponge. I can barley get to my shed where I keep their run when not in use. I was able to get them outside for a week in January during a freak warm still. We had days with almost 85 degrees. Then poof back to cold and rain.
But don't feel too bad for my Chickie girls. They have been running around the house in there new diapers. Honey and Crystal don't mind theirs at all. Darby doesn't like hers. I'm not sure I it doesn't fit right or what. We have had a weird molting too. They stop laying. Then they drop a few feathers. Then they start laying again. Then they start it all over it again.
I know I talked about getting their deluxe nesting box finished before the end of January but money and time has been tight. I as of the first week of March have the building all done. Now I have moved into the decorating side of it. I'm making it look like a country cottage. I have finished the fish scale shingle roof and now I'm working of what color to paint it. I'll get pictures out I promise. Finding time to work on it has been hard. I have been volunteering a lot at my kid's schools and the time I get to myself I'm doing laundry or dishes. Sighs. I well do my best to get the next post out in the next week. :)
Recap on November
Big Sighs. It's over. It's finally over. What a month! Everyone is fine now. Both human and chicken. Darby took about three weeks to recover from what ever it was she had. She laid two eggs this last week. She also is flying out of the condo to watch me on the computer. I guess I'll never know what was really wrong with her. Some people said that she was just broody and I didn't know how to tell if she was or wasn't. But Crystal did go broody about week two of Darby getting sick and I could totally tell the difference. Crystal won't leave the outside nesting box all day. She would just sit in there all puffed up and she felt very hot. When I'd pick her up to bring her inside for bedtime she'd very sweetly growl at me. Once she got out of my hands and run as fast as she could back to the nest box. Once inside for the night she'd act totally normal. I broke her from her broodiness by keeping her inside for a few days. She has not laid an egg for almost three weeks.
As for human we are all doing a bit better. My feet are starting to feel better now that I have better arch supports. Steve's feet are still killing him but he refuses to wear supports. Being heavy truly sucks. Megan got over the flu but is still wrestling with her anxiety stomach issues. Every night before bed she says she needs to throw up. Three out of five times she does. She doesn't know why and her doctor, dad and I are clueless too. She gets very upset with herself if she does throw up. She tries to relax doing yoga posses and visualization but sometimes it doesn't help. She goes in phases. Months of being fine then weeks anxiety. Emily is asserting her independence and getting into trouble. She is completely in love with books and loves going to the library. I'm blessed to have really smart children. It won't be long and I'll be having trouble helping them with homework. Ugh!
I can't believe I still haven't started work on the chicken's indoor nesting box. I'm so bad. And they really need it now because it's just too cold to go outside these days. But in my defence I am a busy mom. The pieces are finally cut and Steve will be bringing them home this weekend. I'd like to get it done by Christmas but a more practical goal would be the middle of January. It's going to be hard not to got dive right in to making it but I have a few other projects to finish first. A mom's work is never done. Sighs.
As for human we are all doing a bit better. My feet are starting to feel better now that I have better arch supports. Steve's feet are still killing him but he refuses to wear supports. Being heavy truly sucks. Megan got over the flu but is still wrestling with her anxiety stomach issues. Every night before bed she says she needs to throw up. Three out of five times she does. She doesn't know why and her doctor, dad and I are clueless too. She gets very upset with herself if she does throw up. She tries to relax doing yoga posses and visualization but sometimes it doesn't help. She goes in phases. Months of being fine then weeks anxiety. Emily is asserting her independence and getting into trouble. She is completely in love with books and loves going to the library. I'm blessed to have really smart children. It won't be long and I'll be having trouble helping them with homework. Ugh!
I can't believe I still haven't started work on the chicken's indoor nesting box. I'm so bad. And they really need it now because it's just too cold to go outside these days. But in my defence I am a busy mom. The pieces are finally cut and Steve will be bringing them home this weekend. I'd like to get it done by Christmas but a more practical goal would be the middle of January. It's going to be hard not to got dive right in to making it but I have a few other projects to finish first. A mom's work is never done. Sighs.
The road to recovery
Well it's been a long couple of days but Darby is on the road to recovery. Although she is not back to her normal wild child self. I wish if she could only tell me what she is feeling. I was not able to take her to her recheck appointment. I just didn't have the extra money. My PGE bill will not be getting paid this paycheck. I just hope it doesn't get shut off.
I have started to put her back outside with Crystal and Honey during the day. I can only hope it will pull her out of what I can only describe as chicken depression. Gosh! I hope Darby doesn't have the feathered version of Bipolar Disorder. The pain medicine seems to have helped get her through the worst of whatever she has. She has been off the medicine for a few days now.
She takes naps in the day which I don't remember her ever doing before. She doesn't fly out of the indoor condo anymore. I miss her company when I'm at the computer. She used to fly out of the condo and perch there to watch me type. She doesn't call out and "hen crow" when Crystal and Honey lay their eggs which she used to do so loudly I could hear her down the street. And she herself has not laid an egg in almost two weeks. But she is a fighter and seems like death is no longer knocking at her door. I guess only time will tell. I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for you support.
I have started to put her back outside with Crystal and Honey during the day. I can only hope it will pull her out of what I can only describe as chicken depression. Gosh! I hope Darby doesn't have the feathered version of Bipolar Disorder. The pain medicine seems to have helped get her through the worst of whatever she has. She has been off the medicine for a few days now.
She takes naps in the day which I don't remember her ever doing before. She doesn't fly out of the indoor condo anymore. I miss her company when I'm at the computer. She used to fly out of the condo and perch there to watch me type. She doesn't call out and "hen crow" when Crystal and Honey lay their eggs which she used to do so loudly I could hear her down the street. And she herself has not laid an egg in almost two weeks. But she is a fighter and seems like death is no longer knocking at her door. I guess only time will tell. I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for you support.
Oh No! Darby is Sick
Tuesday morning I watched my chickens in their indoor condo and I noticed that my Polish was hunched down in a corner. I just thought she waslaying an egg and I went about setting up their outdoor run. It ahd been raining for a few days and they have been inside since Thursday night.I put them all outside at 11 am. I checked on them at 12:30 and she was hunched down in the grass. I looked at 1 PM and she was in the sameplace. I went out at that time picked her up and brought her inside. I held her on my lap and she just settled right in and flew asleep.Normally she'd want to get down or struggle a bit but she did nothing.I put her on a blanket and covered her with a towel and she stayed likethat for 30 mins. She layed and egg in the morning, ate mealworms, oystershells and her crumbles. She did have a yellowishgreen and white watery poop.
By Thursday she wasn't getting any better. I couldn't take it anymore. I may not have money to pay the cable bill but I took her to the vet anyway. I brought her to the Medical Center for Birds in Oakley California. They say they treat chickens all the time and Darby was their third chicken of the day. A man even brought in a Hawk, an Owl and a Falcon and we got tosee them. I really liked their facility too. Everything for birds and no wet dog and pee smell as in other animal vets. Even a scale with a perch. Nice people too.
And three hundred dollars later she got X-rays, fluid, pain meds anda recheck visit next week for a reproductive track problem. Oh my god what have I done! Yes I love my chickens and I have always been more fawned of Darby but $300! And I don't have that kind of money rightnow. I did use the money I was saving for their diapers but that was only $50 of it. I am going to be putting my old jeep on Craig's list. I hope it sales fast. On the brighter side Darby seems to be feeling better with her fluids and pain meds. I got her home after an hour in traffic and she started eating a bit. She even was laying down and eating. I'm going to give her some food mixed with yogurt tonight after the kids go tobed.
She still looks a bit uncomfortable but she is eating and the vet said I needed to get her to eat in the next 24 hours or she may not make it. Dr. Olsen explained that she has some soft tissue abnormalities in her reproductive track that maybe the cause of her troubles. Darby's first two eggs were soft shelled eggs but I didn't remember to tell him that until after I saw the X-rays. If she gets better maybe she'll start laying gold eggs for me. LOL well it would help!
Happy Halloween!
I have found yet another cool point to having chickens in the house. With two small kids, a just as messy husband and four pumpkins to crave my kitchen floor looked like a pumpkin had been murdered. I looked at all the wet and sticky seeds and strings and thought sweeping this up is going to suck. Then "BING" and light went off in my head. Let out the chickens! I opened their condo door and they went crazy. I didn't even have to sweep until the next morning. I did have to pick up three piles of chicken doodles but that is easier then sweeping up pumpkin guts. They didn't eat the big seeds but they dried out over night and were easily swept up. I read somewhere that pumpkin seeds are a natural de-wormer for chickens. I also took some pumpkin guts, seeds and flesh and put it the fridge. I will be grinding it up and freeze it for the chickens as treats during the rainy winter days where they are stuck in the house for a few days. Maybe next year I'll dress as a farmer and go to my kid's school with a chicken on my shoulder. Now that would be a hoot.
New Pictures of Our Girls
HONEY
My beautiful big girl. Honey is a very brave girl. She'll be the first one to investigate something new. Honey is a smart girl and it shows by how she approaches every situation. She is also the only one that is trust worthy. She is the only one that I let walk by herself at night into the house. I still carry the other two girls. Honey's eggs are gorgeous brown ones. They are not quite as big as the large eggs you buy at the store. Honey is my lap chicken. She'll sit with me and watch TV at night after everybody has gone to bed. But I have to watch out sometimes because she has a bad habit of trying to peck at my eyes. What a naughty girl but I love my Honey girl.
My beautiful big girl. Honey is a very brave girl. She'll be the first one to investigate something new. Honey is a smart girl and it shows by how she approaches every situation. She is also the only one that is trust worthy. She is the only one that I let walk by herself at night into the house. I still carry the other two girls. Honey's eggs are gorgeous brown ones. They are not quite as big as the large eggs you buy at the store. Honey is my lap chicken. She'll sit with me and watch TV at night after everybody has gone to bed. But I have to watch out sometimes because she has a bad habit of trying to peck at my eyes. What a naughty girl but I love my Honey girl.
CRYSTAL
It's official Crystal is a girl. She layed her first egg a few weeks ago. They are small little things with a light brown shell. I use one Crystal egg and one Darby egg to make a "large" egg. Crystal is true to the silkie nature. She is sweet, gentle, and oh so cute. She uses that cuteness to get what she wants too. Darby and Honey take really good care of Crystal. If there are treats to be had they always make room so she can get her share. The only treat that this does not apply is for mealworms. For those treats I put Crystal up on the top of the indoor condo and hand fed her the mealworms. Megan loves to hold Crystal and she calls her "My sweetie". Megan also loves that Crystal has bright blue "earrings".
It's official Crystal is a girl. She layed her first egg a few weeks ago. They are small little things with a light brown shell. I use one Crystal egg and one Darby egg to make a "large" egg. Crystal is true to the silkie nature. She is sweet, gentle, and oh so cute. She uses that cuteness to get what she wants too. Darby and Honey take really good care of Crystal. If there are treats to be had they always make room so she can get her share. The only treat that this does not apply is for mealworms. For those treats I put Crystal up on the top of the indoor condo and hand fed her the mealworms. Megan loves to hold Crystal and she calls her "My sweetie". Megan also loves that Crystal has bright blue "earrings".
DARBY
Being able to lay eggs has really changed this once skittish and scared little chicken. Now she enjoys a bit of cuddling and a good shoulder to sit on. I also trimmed away a few feathers around her eyes so she can see better now and I think that helped too. I have to keep Darby's nails trimed too or they look like the belong to a T-Rex. When she or the others lay an egg Darby will let the whole neighborhood know. Yet still both my neighbors say the don't hear her. Good for us I guess. Emily can't hold her like I was hoping she'd be able to do but Emily doesn't seem to mind. I love Darby's quirky attitude and even though she "belongs" to Emily, she is my buddy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)