- Thread starter
- #31
The teacher is great. The material is easy but the homework website is just driving me crazy. Very slow, often down, and almost no information on what you did wrong and how to fix it - which is something a professor would explain if they graded it manually... sometimes it comes down a simple typo and poof - wrong!
But anyway.
Nothing showed up today. We put 4 hot wires across the back just in case, and to keep the ducks from escaping and going into the woods, which puts them at risk. I know they love playing on our yard but until it's safe, it's not worth it. Unfortunately, prolapse hen went downhill very quickly today and had to be put down... but I learned she didn't have a prolapse after all!
She had ascites.. but she swelled up in a way that her back end got swollen first, resulting in the puffy appearance of her vent and the difficulty pooping. Yesterday, she was inside most of the day, perched on the bar. She let me pet her and was alert and calm, so I assumed she would be fine. Prior, she had been walking around with no trouble (just a dirty butt, swollen vent, and awkward stance), eating, foraging, drinking, and just being a chicken... she was dust bathing the day before!
Today, I got home from class and saw a chicken lying in the dirt, not moving. I knew it was her as soon as I saw it, and thought she was dead. Her eyes were closed and she didn't react to me approaching, but to my surprise, she was alive. She had gotten pecked half to death from the other chickens, and her comb was bloodied and her face had wounds... chickens are awful to each other. When she tried to stand she stood directly upright (like a penguin), but gradually slid to the ground, too weak to stand, drooping. I tried to get her to drink and I heard some weird noise like a squelch, and all the water bubled back up out her nose! Poor girl must have been completely plugged up with fluid and food.
We culled her tonight. She had a massively swollen belly today, seemingly overnight. It was so big she couldn't walk.
At least she got a few more weeks at a good life before she went.
We did get the meat from the 3 boars... all my favourites... pork chops, pork shoulders, and delicious ribs! Also can't forget about the ham. Bacon and sausage are at the bottom of my favourites, honestly... I know. It's sacrilege. I like them both but I never crave them like I do with the other products!
We defrost and heat up the back fat to give to the chickens once every month. They love to eat the fat.
Also... there's this strange tiny bird out by the wall of one of the pig pens... I noticed her first the other day, and then again today when I walked around to check the woods for any sign of a predator. She's extremely tiny, smaller than our english game bantam hen had been. She shoots out of the ground, runs past me, and just freaks out. Her wings are spread when she runs around and she glares at me with an open beak as she goes past! So strange... She looks like a fish out of water sometimes with the way her wings are spread (like a triangle).
Today, I just happened to look down, and saw a hole in the ground with acorns. So I took a closer look... those weren't acorns! They were baby birds. 3 little baby birds, about the size of acorns. She is their mama.
I'm just not sure what species they are. My best guess after tons of searching is that she is a Winter Wren...
Our turkeys are going to be coming early, at the end of the month, instead of in July. I can't wait to raise some turkeys. I've never raised any before.
The ducks were quiet today. The females barely quacked and they mostly laid around, not doing much. Opie was very protective and was going after any chicken that went by. He seems very angry today, and I understand why. Something (a dog most likely) took one of his girls, and although it wasn't his favourite girl, it was still his girl!
Hopefully things look up from here.
But anyway.
Nothing showed up today. We put 4 hot wires across the back just in case, and to keep the ducks from escaping and going into the woods, which puts them at risk. I know they love playing on our yard but until it's safe, it's not worth it. Unfortunately, prolapse hen went downhill very quickly today and had to be put down... but I learned she didn't have a prolapse after all!
She had ascites.. but she swelled up in a way that her back end got swollen first, resulting in the puffy appearance of her vent and the difficulty pooping. Yesterday, she was inside most of the day, perched on the bar. She let me pet her and was alert and calm, so I assumed she would be fine. Prior, she had been walking around with no trouble (just a dirty butt, swollen vent, and awkward stance), eating, foraging, drinking, and just being a chicken... she was dust bathing the day before!
Today, I got home from class and saw a chicken lying in the dirt, not moving. I knew it was her as soon as I saw it, and thought she was dead. Her eyes were closed and she didn't react to me approaching, but to my surprise, she was alive. She had gotten pecked half to death from the other chickens, and her comb was bloodied and her face had wounds... chickens are awful to each other. When she tried to stand she stood directly upright (like a penguin), but gradually slid to the ground, too weak to stand, drooping. I tried to get her to drink and I heard some weird noise like a squelch, and all the water bubled back up out her nose! Poor girl must have been completely plugged up with fluid and food.
We culled her tonight. She had a massively swollen belly today, seemingly overnight. It was so big she couldn't walk.
At least she got a few more weeks at a good life before she went.
We did get the meat from the 3 boars... all my favourites... pork chops, pork shoulders, and delicious ribs! Also can't forget about the ham. Bacon and sausage are at the bottom of my favourites, honestly... I know. It's sacrilege. I like them both but I never crave them like I do with the other products!
We defrost and heat up the back fat to give to the chickens once every month. They love to eat the fat.
Also... there's this strange tiny bird out by the wall of one of the pig pens... I noticed her first the other day, and then again today when I walked around to check the woods for any sign of a predator. She's extremely tiny, smaller than our english game bantam hen had been. She shoots out of the ground, runs past me, and just freaks out. Her wings are spread when she runs around and she glares at me with an open beak as she goes past! So strange... She looks like a fish out of water sometimes with the way her wings are spread (like a triangle).
Today, I just happened to look down, and saw a hole in the ground with acorns. So I took a closer look... those weren't acorns! They were baby birds. 3 little baby birds, about the size of acorns. She is their mama.
I'm just not sure what species they are. My best guess after tons of searching is that she is a Winter Wren...
Our turkeys are going to be coming early, at the end of the month, instead of in July. I can't wait to raise some turkeys. I've never raised any before.
The ducks were quiet today. The females barely quacked and they mostly laid around, not doing much. Opie was very protective and was going after any chicken that went by. He seems very angry today, and I understand why. Something (a dog most likely) took one of his girls, and although it wasn't his favourite girl, it was still his girl!
Hopefully things look up from here.
