What did you do with your flock today?

[Shetland lover]

Well, I'm now certain Penelope had a severe roundworm infestation and has tapeworm. She passed a tangle of them and a few tapeworm segments this morning. At least it's easy to treat unlike the other options I was worrying about.
Everyone has now been wormed with the ivermectin and I'll give a second dose in a week to catch any eggs that hatch in the meantime. And it means they're also protected against most mites and lice for the next 12 weeks.

I've NEVER had worms in the flock before. I know how many different sources carry them - worms, slugs, snails, rodents, wild birds shedding oocysts etc - so I do a lot to try to control them. Its been a wet and mild winter so far, so slugs and snails are still very active. My girls absolutely love them. Additionally, Penelope and Gladys in particular are master mousers - better than the cats! - and Penelope has killed 3 small rats that I know of. So, I can see how she's become infested. The only part of my worm management I've slacked on is watering the run and drenching the coops with bio-oocyst. I've not done it for a few months because the ground has been saturated with rainwater. I think that's been a major factor in keeping the worms under control so as soon as we have a dry spell, I'll start using it again.

 

[kurby22]

Well, I'm now certain Penelope had a severe roundworm infestation and has tapeworm. She passed a tangle of them and a few tapeworm segments this morning. At least it's easy to treat unlike the other options I was worrying about.
Everyone has now been wormed with the ivermectin and I'll give a second dose in a week to catch any eggs that hatch in the meantime. And it means they're also protected against most mites and lice for the next 12 weeks.

I've NEVER had worms in the flock before. I know how many different sources carry them - worms, slugs, snails, rodents, wild birds shedding oocysts etc - so I do a lot to try to control them. Its been a wet and mild winter so far, so slugs and snails are still very active. My girls absolutely love them. Additionally, Penelope and Gladys in particular are master mousers - better than the cats! - and Penelope has killed 3 small rats that I know of. So, I can see how she's become infested. The only part of my worm management I've slacked on is watering the run and drenching the coops with bio-oocyst. I've not done it for a few months because the ground has been saturated with rainwater. I think that's been a major factor in keeping the worms under control so as soon as we have a dry spell, I'll start using it again.

So glad that you figured it out and I hope this means she starts feeling better soon and no more worries for you! Reminds me that now that mine are all through molting and weather change stress I need to deworm too!

 

[kurby22]

Today was a bit of a rollercoaster…I went out to let the new puppy play and try going potty and decided to give out some treats since the sun was shining. As I went to each run I discovered that my one bobtail girl that I’ve been fighting with to quit brooding, is not well and has lost a bunch of weight :-( Then I noticed Willy, Aria’s favorite Bobtail rooster is limping and won’t use one foot. Then I found a huge cache of eggs that my kids had not collected even though they claim to be checking each day The “nest” was right next to the door so I know they didn’t even look at all. Then I sat down with my breeding cage birds and realized the boy I was looking at was the wrong boy. I had sold my favorite young dAnver cockerel, Fennel, by accident. So that was the straw…and I just started sobbing. We lost Alfredo too, our one black Watermaal rooster on Sunday…found him head first in his feeder like he’d fallen dead right off the roost bar. And yesterday we also learned my husbands cousin lost her battle with cancer and passed away. It’s been a rough few days emotionally and the dam finally broke. So I sat there and felt sorry for awhile…vented to a chicken friend for a bit, and then started dealing with all the issues. Just to add to the fun, when I checked everything at bedtime, I found a door wasn’t closed because it was blocked by wet muddy shavings, another one wasn’t closed because a bird was blocking the door, Parmesan was just out sitting on a fence top instead of inside her coop, Oliver was wandering around the yard, and the Watermaal coop door won’t close all the way and leaves a rat sized gap at the bottom. BLAH.

So I chopped up organic greens, scrambled some eggs with mashed up egg shells, poultry cell and flax seeds and fed the broody girl, I cleaned out the clogged doors and put away naughty chickens, and then contacted the person I sold Fennel to and she agreed to swap him this weekend for the one she was supposed to get.

Then I sat down and a friend texted me in a panic because she’s chicken sitting for her neighbor and came out to THREE bobcats feasting on a couple of the chickens, some injured ones laying in the yard, and a bunch more missing or in the trees So I spent the next hour helping her treat the injured ones via phone. These bobcats look super healthy too! Zoom in and you can see a couple of them.

I’m feeling emotional and drained and sad tonight…chickening is hard sometimes.

 

[ChicksnMore]

My heart would definitely be saying 'stay' as well
I don't know how you have the strength to let them go, even if it's to a 5 star home. It's a good job DH is sensible and practical or we'd be knee deep in fur and feathers by now

It makes my heart sing to know they are doing so well.

They're doing wonderful Exhausting little buggers...think I'm getting too old to raise newborns anymore . Since these might be the last I raise myself...I think I'll let go and just let myself love them. Any future newborns will have to be passed to younger caregivers...it's easier to go without proper sleep when you're younger!
The yowling tot is Boo...she's always impatient for food

I got up this morning to a huge pile of poop from Penelope. It was bigger than any broody poop I've ever seen. There were 5 or 6 lumps of a pinkish-red, fleshy material (almost like raw chicken thigh) scattered amongst it. It wasn't quite like salpingitis tissue (my big worry given her past laying issues) but I have seen similar matter in poop photos following the expulsion of roundworm. Given that she started to pick up so soon after the ivermectin, I'm praying that's been what's ailing her. Hopefully now it's just a case of fattening her up!

O I'm so glad!

 

[ChicksnMore]

Today was a bit of a rollercoaster…I went out to let the new puppy play and try going potty and decided to give out some treats since the sun was shining. As I went to each run I discovered that my one bobtail girl that I’ve been fighting with to quit brooding, is not well and has lost a bunch of weight :-( Then I noticed Willy, Aria’s favorite Bobtail rooster is limping and won’t use one foot. Then I found a huge cache of eggs that my kids had not collected even though they claim to be checking each day The “nest” was right next to the door so I know they didn’t even look at all. Then I sat down with my breeding cage birds and realized the boy I was looking at was the wrong boy. I had sold my favorite young dAnver cockerel, Fennel, by accident. So that was the straw…and I just started sobbing. We lost Alfredo too, our one black Watermaal rooster on Sunday…found him head first in his feeder like he’d fallen dead right off the roost bar. And yesterday we also learned my husbands cousin lost her battle with cancer and passed away. It’s been a rough few days emotionally and the dam finally broke. So I sat there and felt sorry for awhile…vented to a chicken friend for a bit, and then started dealing with all the issues. Just to add to the fun, when I checked everything at bedtime, I found a door wasn’t closed because it was blocked by wet muddy shavings, another one wasn’t closed because a bird was blocking the door, Parmesan was just out sitting on a fence top instead of inside her coop, Oliver was wandering around the yard, and the Watermaal coop door won’t close all the way and leaves a rat sized gap at the bottom. BLAH.

So I chopped up organic greens, scrambled some eggs with mashed up egg shells, poultry cell and flax seeds and fed the broody girl, I cleaned out the clogged doors and put away naughty chickens, and then contacted the person I sold Fennel to and she agreed to swap him this weekend for the one she was supposed to get.

Then I sat down and a friend texted me in a panic because she’s chicken sitting for her neighbor and came out to THREE bobcats feasting on a couple of the chickens, some injured ones laying in the yard, and a bunch more missing or in the trees So I spent the next hour helping her treat the injured ones via phone. These bobcats look super healthy too! Zoom in and you can see a couple of them.

View attachment 3732496

I’m feeling emotional and drained and sad tonight…chickening is hard sometimes.

What a hard time you're having!
I'm glad you're getting Fennel back and sure hope your other babies get better soon. Tomorrow surely will be a better day

 

[ChicksnMore]

I went outside to do my normal rounds and found my puppy Goose had stolen two goose eggs...guess he figured goose eggs belong to Goose . Went and checked their nest and found there's still 3 eggs in it and the call ducks have decided to nest with the geese. I'm not sure how that will go...but they seem happy and they're not trying to steal each other's eggs. I'm going to leave them be and see how it goes for now.

We've had days of rain here but the runs are dry and the birds are all happy. Rain means clouds so it keeps it a little warmer overnight which is nice.

I have two hens brooding...ones brooding a single ceramic egg , and the other was sneaky and hid her nest. I'm just leaving them be for now and will worry about broody breaking when times more plentiful.

 

[RedwoodCoastChick]

Always looking for more fun "run clutter" things to entertain the girls, especially when the weather's been so very wet & gloomy lately and they've been sheltering under the tarp-covered area and under the coop a lot. We finally had a break in the relentless rainstorms and the girls were out & about in the open run.

Fortunately the cheap plastic "shower mirror" I'd ordered for them arrived this morning and I wired it to the fence at chicken height, then stood back to watch the show.

The 8 girls all came swarming over to check out the new weird thing, but most lost interest pretty fast as they couldn't get close enough for a good look. Flock Queen Pauline the Buff and her beta/enforcer Jill the Delaware were hogging the mirror, staring at and pecking their reflections as if warding off new interlopers, giving the reflections "stinkeye" and looking annoyed that the newbies didn't run off. Pauline started peering around the mirror as if looking for the rest of "that hussy Buff Orp" she was pecking at, but only seeing the empty yard beyond the fence. Jill eventually left her to it, having decided there was no threat she needed to deal with, but Pauline obsessed over the stubborn newcomer several more minutes before giving it up to go preen herself on a stump in a rare beam of sunshine.

It'll be fun to watch when the others get a chance to meet their reflections! Chickens are way better than TV any day...

 

[Shetland lover]

So glad that you figured it out and I hope this means she starts feeling better soon and no more worries for you! Reminds me that now that mine are all through molting and weather change stress I need to deworm too!

This spell with Penelope has just reinforced for me how important managing worms is for a flockeeper. Because I took my eye off the ball and became complacent, she has become aenemic and lost so much weight. God knows how her future wellbeing has been affected. The rest of the flock is sure to have a significant worm load too.

 

[Shetland lover]

Today was a bit of a rollercoaster…I went out to let the new puppy play and try going potty and decided to give out some treats since the sun was shining. As I went to each run I discovered that my one bobtail girl that I’ve been fighting with to quit brooding, is not well and has lost a bunch of weight :-( Then I noticed Willy, Aria’s favorite Bobtail rooster is limping and won’t use one foot. Then I found a huge cache of eggs that my kids had not collected even though they claim to be checking each day The “nest” was right next to the door so I know they didn’t even look at all. Then I sat down with my breeding cage birds and realized the boy I was looking at was the wrong boy. I had sold my favorite young dAnver cockerel, Fennel, by accident. So that was the straw…and I just started sobbing. We lost Alfredo too, our one black Watermaal rooster on Sunday…found him head first in his feeder like he’d fallen dead right off the roost bar. And yesterday we also learned my husbands cousin lost her battle with cancer and passed away. It’s been a rough few days emotionally and the dam finally broke. So I sat there and felt sorry for awhile…vented to a chicken friend for a bit, and then started dealing with all the issues. Just to add to the fun, when I checked everything at bedtime, I found a door wasn’t closed because it was blocked by wet muddy shavings, another one wasn’t closed because a bird was blocking the door, Parmesan was just out sitting on a fence top instead of inside her coop, Oliver was wandering around the yard, and the Watermaal coop door won’t close all the way and leaves a rat sized gap at the bottom. BLAH.

So I chopped up organic greens, scrambled some eggs with mashed up egg shells, poultry cell and flax seeds and fed the broody girl, I cleaned out the clogged doors and put away naughty chickens, and then contacted the person I sold Fennel to and she agreed to swap him this weekend for the one she was supposed to get.

Then I sat down and a friend texted me in a panic because she’s chicken sitting for her neighbor and came out to THREE bobcats feasting on a couple of the chickens, some injured ones laying in the yard, and a bunch more missing or in the trees So I spent the next hour helping her treat the injured ones via phone. These bobcats look super healthy too! Zoom in and you can see a couple of them.

View attachment 3732496

I’m feeling emotional and drained and sad tonight…chickening is hard sometimes.

Aww, I not surprised with that catalogue of disaster! Big hugs coming your way . You coped with it like the warrior you are.
I'm so sorry to hear about Alfredo, I bet it was an awful shock. Condolences on losing your husband's cousin too, it's never easy to lose family.
What do you think the deal is with Willy's leg/foot?
At least one bright spot though, being able to get Fennel back
Your poor friend too! What a horrible thing to happen on their watch. Marvellous photo, though. They really are magnificent animals.
I don't even try to break Penelope and Pru when they go broody these days. They are incredibly stubborn and get very distressed if I do.. I just offer them room service two to three times a day to keep weight loss to a minimum. I'm lucky in that I work from home so I can make time to do that.

 

[Shetland lover]

They're doing wonderful Exhausting little buggers...think I'm getting too old to raise newborns anymore . Since these might be the last I raise myself...I think I'll let go and just let myself love them. Any future newborns will have to be passed to younger caregivers...it's easier to go without proper sleep when you're younger!
The yowling tot is Boo...she's always impatient for food View attachment 3732510

O I'm so glad!

They are utterly adorable!
I think you're in love with them already! Just give yourself permission to enjoy them.
I know what you mean about getting too old to go without sleep. Even 15 years ago, I would take a train to London straight from work, be out with friends all night and be back at my desk the next morning by 8 am. The thought of doing that now just fills me with horror!