Hedgehog Butt!

As I mentioned - Mr. Napoleon is on the mend. He's even regrowing most of the feathers on his back! We're going to keep him on the porch until they fully "sprout" but he's looking like he will get most of them back.

As he is right now, he looks like a hedgehog!

He's been very good about being on the porch and in his crate. I know he's bored but he's been wonderful. And I think he and our kitten have a new bond. They love to stare at each other through the windows.

But I'm sure he can't wait to get back out in the coop to see his girls and scratch around.

Free Range Strauss

I'm in a chipper mood so here's a little something to make you smile too... I hope!

Napoleon Recovery - Day 14

It's been a while since we did an update on Napoleon. He is doing amazingly well. The biggest news is that he's started to grow feathers again. His back looks like a hedgehog! I think by next week he'll be ready to go back into the coop. He should be done with the antibiotics today but we'll keep him on the porch until his feathers really sprout and cover his back.

Then we'll have to see how he and the girls get on at their re-introduction.

Napoleon Recovery - Day 7

On Friday night we took Napoleon for a follow-up visit to the After Hours Vet. The good thing is that they are only open evenings and weekends, so we took Napoleon Friday night around 10pm, which worked out perfectly since he would be sleepy and easy to transport in the crate.

Let me just say the emergency vet late on a Friday night is a very depressing place to be.

All in all they said he was doing well, but the vet said that the green spots might be a bacterial infection. She wasn't sure so we decided to continue giving him the antibiotics. Since the vet admitted she is not an avian expert, she referred us to another vet in the town over. However, that vet is out until Wednesday. So that's where we will be taking him Wednesday night.

There was one big development yesterday. I walked out my door to do some errands. I was wearing a jeans skirt and some sandals and a black top. I looked out into my yard which goes pretty far back. About 50 yards or less out we have a pile of brush for a burn pile. Yeah, well, who was messing around in the brush probably chasing a rabbit or something???

IT WAS THE DAMN DOG! The same dog that hurt Napoleon.

I called out softly, "Hey Puppy." The dog looked up and took off at top speed back behind our property towards the woods which back up to our area. I dropped my bags and took off running down the gravel road which leads back to our neighbor's house which is up there.

Now, after I had come back from the taking Napoleon to the vet last week we had gone back to our neighbor's as he raises hunting dogs. And sometimes these dogs happen to get out. So, suffice it to say, these dogs were prime suspects to me from the start. But I couldn't prove anything and they had said the dogs had not gotten out.

Well, it just so happens they let the dogs out to run around and get exercise in their woods. But this dog happened to be going up onto our property since neither of us have any fences. When I got up to their house I had a little chat with the dog's owner about the whole situation.

Net result, we made it clear that not only do we not want their dogs on our property again, they would be paying for all the vet bill...which will probably end up being in the $700+ range.

It would be an understatement to say that I'm very happy we found and were able to prove whose dog it was.

Napoleon Recovery - Day 5

Hi there!

Napoleon continues to amaze us with his recovery. He's even tried to flap up over his barrier on the porch. He's getting restless and probably bored with being on the porch, away from his girls with nothing to scratch up or play with.

His back seems to be healing and he is walking better. He is getting an odd discoloration on the skin on this back, though. We are going to take him in for a follow-up vet visit tonight. We want them to look at his back and make sure he doesn't need more antibiotics.

We plan on taking him at night, since the vet is an after-hours vet anyways. This way, he'll be in his crate and sleepy. We hope!

More of the saga to follow.

Gruesome

So the pics are a bit graphic but you can see the level of injury Napoleon sustained. It's a bit hard to tell from this angle but his back is scraped raw and the puncture wounds are there. He's lost some of his balance too. Some of that is due to soreness probably but also because his tail feathers are missing.



The less severe puncture wound is the one you see here towards the back. The worse one is just at the edge of the feathers.



Given that he was in the dog's mouth when we saw this happening and that he was completely in shock and limp when we rushed him to the vet, it is amazing that he avoided broken bones or worse. That he is now standing, eating, drinking and crowing is even more of a miracle.

Let's hope he keeps on improving and that the antibiotics do their work!

Napoleon Recovery - Day 2

Just a brief update.

Napoleon is hanging in there. He's being very good on the porch and seems to like sleeping in the cat crate in the dog carrier.

He's even eaten some of his feed and been drinking water. We've been cutting down on the pain shots just to try and help space them out a bit but he's been getting his antibiotics regularly.

He's walking around and crowing although we are keeping an eye on his left leg because it seems a bit wonky. We're not really sure what's up - if it's just sore or if it is hurt more than we can tell.

Last night we zipped him into his crate when he had gone to sleep and left him on the porch. We probably won't do that again because the light wakes him up far too early.

His back is scabbed over, which I think is good. It helps to heel and keeps out any dirt, dust or buggies. Not that we are really getting many since the porch is screened in.

Napoleon is outside my window crowing right now. We did not give him pain meds this morning so we'll see how he does today. I'm going to go into work but may have to come home early if he starts having trouble.

Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts.

- Poochie

Please Send Good Thoughts

I can't write this all out again. Please read it at Shoe Daydreams.



Please send your good thoughts to Napoleon. He needs them right now. We all do.

Eggbound

Eggs courtesy of Gertie and Meg

A few weeks ago we noticed that the girls laying schedule had significantly reduced. It was especially noticeable in Meg who has, so far, been a very consistent layer. Nothing was happening.

The season was changing and getting warmer but we didn't think that was likely to make her slow down so much. If anything we thought she would be laying regularly every day. She also didn't seem to be getting ready for a moult, but hey, what do we know.

I tend to worry when things happen with the pets and I'm not sure why. So of course, my mind thinks that maybe Meg is egg bound. This is when, essentially, the egg gets stuck inside the hen and can be very serious, even fatal.

I tried to get to pick Meg up so I could examine her and see if I could feel anything but she was not having anything to do with that. I was going to take her to the vet (more chicken vet visits!) but ended up asking our friends who have lots of chickens and have had them for a while.

Their response was that if she was egg bound, she'd be dead by now. Alrighty then.

This has gone on for a few weeks now and she's still out there. She's been eating well and moves around fine, especially when she gets to free range. She hasn't gone back to laying but she has gone through a bit of a moult. It's not as extensive as the Fall moult but I'm assuming that is the cause of the interruption.

We're keeping a close eye on her just in case.

A Moveable Feast

I'll admit, earwigs totally skeeze me out. In spite of not being afraid of nearly any bug and also not liking to kill stuff, well... I just can't stand them!

They're harmless, I know, but still!



So this morning before I let the chickens out I was shaking out their old pan of food and putting in fresh. When I lifted the tray there were a million of these fleeing for their lives. Gross!

I immediately let them out and they were on those bugs like white on rice! They snapped them all up.

A good morning protein hit, I'm sure.

Chicken Purrs

On a warm sunny day one of the favorite activities of the girls is a nice dust bath. The girls find patch of fine loose dirt and kick it up to their hearts content. Luckily there are a few nice patches in our yard that are ideal for a relaxing "bath". Their favorite spot is at the base of one of the juniper trees which gives them shade and keeps them from having to worry about hawks.



Once they get started rolling around and kick the dirt up and all around, it's pretty hard to get them moving until they are finished. Yesterday I wanted to move Meg into the coop with the other two, who were in their feasting on bird seed, but she was not at all interested.

Typically I let them hang out until they are done. Sometimes Napoleon will get in on the action but most of the time he just stands guard. The best part is when they get tired of kicking the dirt up and they get drowsy and start to purr.

Chickens definitely have a level of communication and there is no mistaking the fact that they are happy and content.

Back in the Pink

So just a brief update to let you know that Gertie is feeling much better. The limp is mostly gone so I guess the sprain is healing. She'll be happy to get out into the yard tomorrow and over the weekend for lots of yummy bugs, worms and grass.

For all of you who thought we were crazy to take a chicken to the vet, just hope I'm not responsible for your health care in the future.

That's all I'm saying.

Trauma Center

We had a bit of trauma here today. I let the gang out to free range yesterday because it was such a lovely day... finally a Saturday without rain! Everyone was happy to get out into the sun and the grass.

But then I noticed Gertie was favoring her right leg. She was limping along, trying her best to compensate for something.



I don't usually pick the girls up because they really don't like it but I had to look at her foot. So I put Meg and Napoleon outside and cornered Gertie so I could get her. Once I picked her up I felt all around her foot and up her leg. I couldn't see anything stuck in her foot anywhere and couldn't feel anything wrong. We decided to wait to see if it cleared up by the next day.

But when I let them out this morning, she was still limping. Even though we are in a semi-rural area there do not seem to be a lot of vets who'll treat farm animals and chickens in particular. I guess chickens don't rate health care generally. Well screw that.

So we found an After Hours vet, wrapped Gertie in a towel and drove her in.

She was actually better in the car than the dogs and cats. She seemed to like looking out the window and had a funny habit of flinching when we went under and overpass. I think the shadow freaked her out a bit.

The good thing is that we got to the vet okay and she got examined by a vet who has chickens herself. She said that Gertie did not appear to have a break or mites or something in her foot. She thought it was just a sprain. She gave her an injection for the pain and we were able to bring her home. We were worried that the other two chickens might hurt her when she came back in but all was well.

I hoping that she will be feeling better in the morning.



The chickens are watching you!

Moving On Out

I did more reading on chicken yards after all of the rain made the coop yard a mess. I found out that you should rotate their yard area 2 to 3 times per year. Well, we've had them in the same yard for about eight months. It was time for some extreme measures!

So our solution to the soggy sloppy coop yard was to create a new annex to the yard. Just next to the current coop yard is a very large maple tree and a bunch of messy brush that I had been meaning to totally clear out. Instead, we decided to make a loop off of the current fence, incorporate the tree into the perimeter and attach it to the side of the other shed we have.



We were hoping that they chickens would really like this because the currently like to scratch around under our other bushes. They would also be protected from hawks and shaded from the sun. We added a door to have access to the area as needed and we just cut a "doorway" into the existing fence panel.

So far its been working out well. They've limited their time in the current yard and seem to like running around under the bushes. We need to block off the old yard area so we can sod or seed it, so it will grow back. We have yet to do that but plan on doing it soon.

Lime Away

It has been raining here for over a week straight. Because the chickens have eaten all of the vegetation within the pen yard, a normal rainfall causes the yard to turn into a muddy mess. This constant rain has created a stinky slop.

These conditions have caused a lot of angst for me. I like to maintain the best possible conditions for my pets. We always make sure they all get great care, high quality food, lots of attention and security. So, the mess of a pen yard goes against everything that I want for them. Plus, it isn't too pleasant for us either.

The rain kept them from going out last weekend, so I made sure to let them out both days this weekend. The rain was still going, but not as bad. I'm sure they were happy to get out. Luckily their coop has been keeping them warm and dry and I can put their food in there. But, by staying inside so much I had to do a full clean out this weekend. Three big contractor bags were filled with their bedding and 3 bags of fresh shavings went down. I also added some hay for them to nest in. At least their coop will be warm and clean.

But the pen yard still sucks! We're going to try sprinkling lime. Other than that I'm not sure what else to do. They'll just ruin any sod that is put down before it gets a chance to root and they'll eat any grass seed put down.

Other than totally moving the pen yard, which would be a major nightmare, I'm not sure what else to do. We'll have to hope that when the sun comes out and the temperature heats up, it dries it out some. Between that and the lime addition, I hope it will be okay.

Supporting the Songbirds

An unintentional side benefit of having the chickens is that we are also supporting, to some degree, the local songbird population.

The way the roof of the coop yard is designed, the local small birds can fly in and out. I have seen lots of these smaller birds come into the chickens' space to drink from their water bowl or snap up a bit of seed or bird feed.

One of our favorites is the cardinal. We love their color and their personalities - both the males and females. We often use cardinals to represent our home.



We're fond of all of the local birds and make sure to keep shrubs for them to hide and nest in, as well as keeping the bird feeders filled all winter long. Because of this we get all kinds of blue jays, robins, doves, chickadees, finches and woodpeckers. Many of them have become used to us and don't fly off when I am sitting outside letting the chickens free range.



Some things you can do to support local birds are to provide cover (shrubs and trees), water and keep your cats indoors. Not only is this better and safer for your kitty, but it will prevent many of these birds from getting killed.

Saving Face

One of the things I've noticed with Napoleon is that he is very aware of his surroundings and how in command he is of the area.

I've mentioned that Napoleon does not like men. At all. Especially the hubby but really any men, or strangers. When we are alone out in the yard, he is totally fine. And he can be down-right cute and almost affectionate (at a chicken level). He hops in my lap, hangs out and, sometimes, even falls asleep. And he jumps up onto my hand every chance he gets.

But when a man comes around, forget it. He herds the two girls away from the new person and absolutely will not jump onto my hand for anything. I think it's because he wants to feel and appear more in command. Even though he would be higher up, he is effectively within my control at that point. And I don't think he likes that in front of the others. With the hubby, at least he can charge at him but a male stranger is an big unknown.

I'm not sure if this is all roosters or just my Napoleon. And it's kind of hard to find out from the few other people I know who have chickens. Nobody really has their rooster as interactive as mine is.

I think it's a male thing.

I Can Haz Laughs

I know this is a silly pointless site...



but it still cracks me up and I love it.

Enjoy!

Curiouser and Curiouser

We had some very rainy days last week but this weeked was just lovely. I let the chickens out today to have a good run around the yard. They actually didn't play as much in the compost pile like they normally do. I was sitting closer to the house so they decided to kick up the leaves right by the side of the house and dig in the dirt of the garden area.

I'm not sure if it is due to the soil there or all the leaves but it seems like there were a ton of worms in there because the chickens had quite a feast. It was actually good for us because they're feet are so good at turning up the dirt. Its so fun to watch them. They just get so into it. You have to be amused by their purposeful digging and scratching.

I had some fun playing with Napoleon in the yard. I was sitting on the ground and he was snuggled up on my lap falling asleep for a while. And actually Gertie came really close by me. She was standing right next to me looking me over. I think she is intrigued by the fact that Napoleon likes to sit on my lap. She has done this a few times. I'm hoping that she will want to jump up on my lap too. I tend to talk to them all them time and sing to them some. They know my voice and by getting them used to me, it will be easier to get close to them if I need to. And they will sort of come when I call them.

It was a good day. They got some sun, ate some seeds and greens and ran around. There's more rain expected this week, so sogginess to follow.

Today's Feed: Egg Mash, spinach, cukes, zuchinni, clementine
Today's Eggs: Just one, but we had two each day for the last two days
Today's Temperament: Warm and full

Baby, It's cold outside

I feel that I've been remiss in writing about my chicks. Mainly because this first winter has been a learning experience and I'm just trying to find my way with them and making sure they stay warm and healthy. One of the biggest issues has been the cold. We've had to make sure the water doesn't freeze. We've actually had an egg crack from freezing in the cold.

But overall they've been weathering it really well.

The other thing that I find challenging is the fact that it's dark way before I get home. I'd like to get home and let them out more often to run around and get some exercise. As it is now, I have to wait until the weekend and hope for good weather to let them out. Poor kids only get out for a few hours once a week.

Hopefully as the days progress I can get home to give them some fun time in the evenings.

Today's Feed: Egg Mash, lettuce & tomatoes
Today's Eggs: Two
Today's Temperament: Sleepy and a little cold