The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: You would use olive oil for applications where you don't add heat. It will oxidize when heated, so use for salad dressings, etc. Coconut oil is stable under heat, so you use it for frying and heated applications (like you would use lard).

Coconut oil is solid at temperatures below 76 F., and becomes liquid at temperatures above 76F.

 

[Mrs.SB]

I put out the summer wading/cool-ff water pans again for the season... GLASS (!) After we watched that video with the guy and the bricks, I thought I'd try them, but ended up with pot saucers instead of bricks as they fit better in the pan. I just turned them up-side down. They are under the water so it's not quite the same as what he was doing, but they do stand on them! Last year I just put out the pans for them to stand in without the adobe. Here's one of my hatchery girls enjoying the foot spa.

I've been meaning to do that too after watching that video. Good to see it worked for someone else too! Looks like she's enjoying that

 

[Mrs.SB]

Double post

 

[Mrs.SB]

You would use olive oil for applications where you don't add heat.  It will oxidize when heated, so use for salad dressings, etc.  Coconut oil is stable under heat, so you use it for frying and heated applications (like you would use lard). 

Coconut oil is solid at temperatures below 76 F., and becomes liquid at temperatures above 76F.

Gotcha! I've used it to make lotion bars before but never quite knew when/how to cook with it.. I think I still have some in the fridge! May have to try it out with eggs in the morning

 

[Eggcessive]

I have charged my camera battery, set up a clean necropsy station, and checked on the bird constantly. It is still alive. Has swollen up even more! I can not believe my eyes that this bird's skin could stretch even more! It passed poo two or three times of normal consistency and color. It's closing it's eyes more and stretches it's neck and opens it's beak to try and breath. I'm going to end it's suffering this moment. It will be some time before I check in here until it's over. I just can not imagine what is wrong with it. The theory of an injury to trachea or leak is the most logical. Thank you Kassaundra for something to look for. I will do my best to take pictures and thoroughly examine this poor creature.

Mumsy, when I read your initial post, I thought of this. In humans they call it dissecting interstitial emphysema from perforation of the trachea or lung. It can be caused by blunt trauma, aspiration, or severe coughing. The bird can get better if the leak is small or seals itself.

 

[armorfirelady]

Quote: I put it in the run then went to work on the big girls bucket. It was getting late & I was tired. They have another water source so I figured I would show them tomorrow. Usually if I show Edie the tots pick it up from her.

I put out the summer wading/cool-ff water pans again for the season... GLASS (!)

After we watched that video with the guy and the bricks, I thought I'd try them, but ended up with pot saucers instead of bricks as they fit better in the pan. I just turned them up-side down. They are under the water so it's not quite the same as what he was doing, but they do stand on them!

Last year I just put out the pans for them to stand in without the adobe.

Here's one of my hatchery girls enjoying the foot spa.

I meant to do this today as well. However the pan I got to use for it is currently the tots dust bath container. They really could of used it tho. I came home to all chickens panting and it was 85 with a nice breeze. I ended up opening one side of the tiny coop & opening the top roof to get some air in there. I just set the wood back against it for the night to block any drafts (yeah right it 78 degrees now) They all had water and shade. I put in more water containers & told them to get used to its only May

Maybe tomorrow I can catch a garage sale with glass pans to use instead. I have the brick already. Do you think the tots would drown? They arent the most coordinated bunch (besides Edie)

 

[Mumsy]

Mumsy, when I read your initial post, I thought of this. In humans they call it dissecting interstitial emphysema from perforation of the trachea or lung. It can be caused by blunt trauma, aspiration, or severe coughing. The bird can get better if the leak is small or seals itself.

Thank you. That is very interesting.

I am so thankful for all of the kind words directed my way. This was a tough one.

My husband just came home and I could not describe what happened without showing him the photos of the necropsy and explaining in every detail what I saw, did, and experienced today. His jaw dropped when he saw the photos. Then he gave me a big bear hug and told me I'm an incredible person. He buried the remains out in the raspberry patch. The poor Balloon Chicken will now nourish the ground that our food is produced from.

We talked through the events of this chickens last hours of life and feel this bird had some kind of catastrophic event happen when it gorged itself with feed this morning. We may never know exactly what happened but we feel it was a rare and unusual event. My husband is very proud of me for dealing with this all by myself today. I told him I wasn't alone. I had my friends here on this thread to see me through it.

Thank you truly. You all are a great group of folks.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you Mumsy for the educational necropsy photos. I can't believe you did all that today by yourself, an posted it too. So sorry for the loss of your chicken. I have some of those same HRIR chicks from Ron, so I was very interested in your findings. Hugs to you, an hopes for no more chicken illnesses.

 

[Sally8]

Mumsy, I'm understanding that we don't know 100% exactly what happened other than something horrible did. If it were to happen again to anyone, do you think there would be anything that could be done to save the chicken? Or should we humanely end the chickens suffering quickly? Again, thank you for sharing. I'm one that needs visual aid to understand things and you do such a good job of explaining.

 

[zinia8]

Mumsy
Sorry for your losses Thank you for the pictures. The good the bad and the ugly.
I have learned so much from everyone here.