July 29, 2012 A Broken Beak

If it's not one thing, it another! And, it was a terrible accident!
I went out to the coop/pen Friday morning to feed the girls and let them into the playground. Well, it seems like when the gate door is open as I enter, there is an intriguing spider web in the space between the door and the hinge-side jamb.


I always have to shoo 1 or 2 of the girls away from there so I can close the door. Did that as usual, did the morning duties...and I opened the gate to leave, shooing Gabby away from the space. But, just as I was shutting the gate, Blondie darts in to grab a spider [I think], and I CLOSE the GATE ON HER BEAK!

Blondie's boo-boo - My Fault!

She squawks and runs away. I panic...and dart after her...She is always the one who is the least friendly, so I had to chase her into the coop, shut the little door, go in and corral her in a corner.


I pick her up and she is really bleeding! I dab it off with an alcohol wipe I keep in the supply trash can... then I have to un-panic myself and think what to do. So, I put her back inside the coop where she is safe and isolated and I run up to the house, and really run...which is hard to since I am kinda still recovering from foot surgery.  I grab some goldenseal, which Steve and I always use for bleeding wounds and the cat carrier and go back to the coop.  A little more triage with putting the powder on the cut.


What to do...what to do...So, I'm here by myself with a deaf, 16 year old cat and 4 chickens as Steve is working on a landscape job in Bend, Oregon.


Okay, I call the avian vet in Santa Rosa. His office says he is leaving this afternoon, so could I come in at 10...it's 9:30-ish now; no make up, hair barely brushed and I'm in the grungy clothes getting ready to stain the front door....whoosh, a quick change of the top and I'm off with the chicken for the 25 minute ride Santa Rosa.


Oh, and let me mention, I had 2 pork butts to cook and cookies to make for my sister's company party for Saturday....Quick, turn off the oven on the way out the door.


Dr. Thorne, a very tall and quiet-spoken gentle man, says it looks like part of her upper jaw is broken, the beak is pushed over toward the other side and the lower beak is cracked but not broken. And, at least the roof of her mouth isn't damaged which means she would be able to eat and drink - drinking water being the most important thing. He says he could wire the beak back in place and epoxy the wire. Oh boy...I have to talk with Steve about that.
But he does say there is a chance it will heal fine on it's own.


He suggests isolation until the blood dries and isn't so noticeable so the others don't peck her: and that she may not eat or drink much today. Mush up her feed anyway for a while.


Home to put her in the hospital pen inside the coop. She can see her sisters and she wants out really bad! I cordon off part of the inside of the coop so she can roost inside near her flock-mates. Since the other wanted to peck her bloody beak, it is a cautionary move to keep her separated.


I finish cooking and shredding the pork butts and making the cookies about 8 pm that night, exhausted and emotionally drained from chicken crisis....remember, Dolly has only been "gone" a month.


SUNDAY update:  Last night Blondie slept in the coop with her sisters. I got home from the company party just at dusk as the others were heading in to roost. Curious was still outside in the pen, so I let Blondie out with her. They seemed to accept each other without pecking order issues, and Blondie did a few walks around the pen and then up the ramp to the roost. Curious followed shortly after and I saw that they were all on the upper perch safe and sound.


Blondie is drinking water and trying to scratch around for food. I think she does pick up small stuff, but she is having a hard time biting into things. I don't know if it is a functional problem or a still-sore problem. And, she is definitely lighter in the weight category.  She and Fearless do squabble a bit; I think Fearless wanted to move up out of last place, but Blondie wouldn't step down. Even with her beak broken, she still commands her spot in the pecking order [altho Curious pecks them all away from food].


Monday I will check in with the vet and see what he thinks about the next steps..whether her beak will be okay or better wire back into place...


Stay tuned...

July 10, 2012 Dumpster Diving

Early on in my chicken education, I read in "Chickens in Your Backyard" that some grocery stores let you take the old produce for your farm animals. So I started checking around. Well, Whole Foods turns their old produce into compost that they then bag and sell back to us: Safeway says they compost and give/sell it to farmers. BUT, I have 2 local independent stores that will let you pick through certain trash cans at certain times of day for goodies.

Free Veggies in Here!

The guy that gets first dibs on these cans has made an arrangement with the store: we chicken-feeding scroungers have to wait until 12:30 to do our diving!


I look for corn on the cob, the Girls' favorite. Then, any melons or grapes. Also, bok choy, cauliflower and broccoli. I must have the only chickens who don't really like lettuce. Another gal that dumpster-dives says her chickens love lettuce. Go figure.


One day I had a nice conversation with a gal in her 70's that makes the rounds of the dumpsters: she wouldn't give me her other source, though. And I can understand - you don't want competition from other chicken aunties cleaning out all the produce before you get there  - ya wanna keep your spots a secret!


It's an interesting dynamic to hop out of the SUV in my nice clothes, walk up to a large plastic garbage can and start picking through the throw-aways. You can get some pretty good looking stuff, and in the back of my mind is the thought..." okay, this is almost good enough for humans not cows and chickens!" Maybe only a bruised spot, or a little damage,  and you could cut around it...who would know?   I actually have a family member who lived for a while making visits to dumpsters for food. It must be a very humbling experience.


And I remember when an episode of Top Chef Masters had the chefs using food that was going to be thrown out or disposed of. I don't remember all of it, but I do know they got some pretty amazing stuff and were, themselves, enlightened on what has to be thrown out in this country that could actually be eaten. You know if you visit a foreign country that they are less cavalier about what is thrown out.  I guess, tho, if it goes to cows, pigs and chickens at least it doesn't go to waste.


Today's haul: an over-ripe canteloupe, a couple of bunches of kale, some brussel sprouts and carrot tops.  Salad anyone?

June 24, 2012 Good-bye, Dolly

Nurse Stella

Fifteen year old Stella kept a vigilant watch over Dolly all month; never once saw her as dinner or tried to be agressive. So curious, in fact, that one day she touched nose to beak while Dolly sat in my lap!








The last couple of days Dolly had gradually lost her will to fight. I could see it in her demeanor - she wasn't trying as hard to stand up; she also was eating less and shook her head when I tried to give her an eyedropper of water.


Steve humanely put her down Sunday and cleaned up the hospital room for me while I was at the grocery store. What a great husband! I don't think I could have participated. 


I had lost my devotion to the other 4 with my foot surgery restrictions and Dolly's illness.  I saw a questioning "look" in Fearless's eyes as though she wondered where her sister is and what's going on. Since she is the low girl in the flock, I am giving her a little more attention for right now. Even though Dolly and Curious would peck Fearless away from tasty morsels, she would still surreptitiously follow Dolly around the yard! 


Saturday I cleaned the coop and changed-out all the hay. The girls have fun jumping up into the wheelbarrow to see if something good is getting thrown out. Gabby clucks and follows me in and out of the coop house, always chattering about what I'm doing. It was just what I needed to make me happy, since I knew what was going to happen Sunday. 


I have to say that the Golden Lace Wyandotte [Dolly and Fearless] is a beautiful breed. The rose comb is crinkle-y, rather than the typical chicken comb, and it gives them the look of a cute little 'hat' positioned on top of their head. The feathers, carmel and dark brown/black, are beautiful and so far my favorite pattern of all the feathers in my coop!

June 19, 2012 Update on Dolly

Well, it has been a tearful month worrying about Dolly and hoping she gets better.


It is almost certainly a nasty chicken disease called Marek's Disease. Most flock owners cull a chicken who contracts it because it is contagious; even though new chicks are vaccinated against the disease, sometimes it doesn't take. And by now they should have a fairly good natural immunity.


So, last week, Steve and I agreed to send Dolly to the Happy Coop in Heaven. Friday, amid more tears, I dug a grave on a nice part of the property in back of the barn and below a group of olive trees.  Darned if Friday afternoon she looked like she was getting stronger and really trying to stand.  So, we had a "stay" and decided to give her more time to recover.


I have been treating her with Astragalus [a good general immune booster even for humans!], echinacea, baby vitamins, and a homeopathic remedy called Causticum. As well as the foods she wants to eat right now which are red grapes, oatmeal, mealworms and some of her chicken pellets softened with water.
This web site has wonderful homeopathic and natural treatments for chickens: it is out of the U.K., but ... hey ... any help from any source is appreciated!       Homeopathic Treatments for Chickens


It is Tuesday and I can say that she is in good spirits, has a very good appetite, and keeps trying to stand up.


I dunno....I might be grasping at straws to think she will pull out of it. Although, it is possible to recover, it takes a long time and she will then always be a carrier....does this mean the others won't get sick - I don't know that either, but it is possible. Normally Marek's attacks early in their lives, like under 2 months old: if it was also what Fearless had in December, then it took 5 months for Dolly to come down with it....hummm.....


SO far the other 4 are hale and hardy, and doing the business of eat, scratch, poop and lay eggs....


As for Dolly, I am not sure how long to keep going because I hate to see her suffer, but I'm being selfish in that if I give her enough time, and she doesn't develop any possible tumors, that she will get back to her old self.
Deep down, I am prepared to let her go.


Oh sure, chickens aren't near the top of the intelligence list, but as she looks at me I can see in her a spirit not ready to give up yet, so neither will I.


Stay tuned....