One of my little hens hasn't been feeling well the past few days. At first I thought she may be egg bound, but she laid an egg so don't think it is that. The first day she wasn't feeling well she hid in a corner with her head tucked in. Hmmmm, not a good sign. Then she went into one of the cat carriers that is in the hen house for them to lay eggs. Well, she is eating and drinking, but still isn't acting right. She walks kind of like it hurts to stand . Her feet and legs appear to be fine. I suppose time will tell.
And Little Inger's tail feathers are well, just plain gone. None of her other feathers are missing, just the tail ones. I don't know if the two chicks she is raising are picking them off or what the heck is going on. 
Oreo goat appears to be pregnant, but I don't know for sure. Old Dick, the buck, is between 12 to possibly 14 years old. I have had the goats for 6 years and not a one baby. Not that Old Dick doesn't try, because bless his heart, he sure gives it his all. And Old Dick is the only buck here. No other bucks close by either. This is the first time Oreo's bag has filled up. I am going to call my sister today and ask her about Oreo. My sister raises the most beautiful Boer goats. 
I know, not a very pretty picture. 
And look what I found under the eave of the house today! Great. I try not to use any insecticides because of the chickens. I don't want them eating the insects that have been sprayed. However, this time around I may have to use 'the spray'. Maybe a hard spray with the hose might do the trick. Of course that would be done either at night or really early in the morning. Sometimes cohabiting with Mother Nature is a bit tricky.
Oh, last night a mama coon brought her small babies up to eat the cat food. Did I remember to grab the camera? Nope. Maybe tonight I'll get some pics.
Better get more chores done before it is too hot.
Betsy goat is still here with no word from the neighbor.
Until next time................
Huh, raising chickens is all fun and games...'til their dang tail feathers fall off! I sure hope your sick hen recovers. They can be so frustrating to figure out when they're sick.
ReplyDeleteI will remember this post for when you start complaining about the weather this winter, lol!
Never a dull moment with animals, always something that could happen and does happen. It makes me feel so anxious when one of them gets sick or is not feeling well, because like your chicken, they can't tell you what's going on. Hope she gets better soon...as for Inger could something have grabbed her and she got away?
ReplyDeleteWow, baby goat...amazing what these old guys can do when they have the urge...gets me every time at the DSC too...donkeys can barely move, but a femaile is in heat and they go nuts, despite being gelded....must be a guy thing. lol....Hope he didn't overdue it , like poor Boris the turkey did.
I hope that your sick chicken is ok. But, she'll get the best of care, I know. If it's any consolation, you're not the only one ready for winter. I have dreams of being snowed in, and not being able to see two feet because of the blowing snow. Ahh, bliss. As long as I can stay inside, that is.
ReplyDeleteOh crud, lost what I had written!
ReplyDeleteOreo looks pregnant, can you feel anything? Do goats have false pregnancies, like dogs and cats?
Them's some nasty stingers there! Best of luck!
Have you ever tried to hang a fake hive. A friend uses one and it's doing the trick.Wasps think it's real and will not make a new one. It's worked for two years now. Now where to get them? I'll ask her and let you know.
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy! Wow, that sure looks like a pregnant goat to me! How exciting!!! Good luck!!! I think that's good news!! :D
ReplyDeletePoor Little Inger with no tail. One of my hens (Lucy, my favorite gal!) has the same issue, but it's caused by my roosters. I have bought aprons for all (that will be a fun blog!), and am awaiting their arrival!!
My hens don't like the hot, hot days, and have been telling me about it. Our egg numbers went way down, they hens have been listless, Singer is STILL limping for no known reason, Raspberry still has bumblefoot. I did the carrot tonic several times, then the garlic water. I'm thinking of just giving them Echinacea in their water next - that always fixes me up when I'm starting to get sick. But that'd have to be alot of Echinacea!!! On a good note all the chicks & keets are doing very well. I think the keets like it hot (they are alittle nuts anyway to start out with).
But still, after all this, I don't like winter. I'm so sorry, I just hated that snow this year! I will never forget snow up to my chest. It took me an entire day to dig a path just to the chicken coop to make sure they were all still alive! So go ahead with your snow dance, but please don't make the snow gods angry or encourage them to "bless" the east coast again! :)
~Lynn
PS - I need coonie baby pictures, please !!!
I'm dreading winter. We got down to -13 last year. It was brutal.
ReplyDeleteI hope your hen is feeling better. She sure is pretty. And I'm excited about the baby goat - it will be fun to see the pictures. Any idea when she's due?
Don't know sis...didn't she do this to us last year? Except the udder looks larger than last year. The rumen is on the goat's left side and I can't tell from the pics if her left side is larger than her right. Does she start out smaller in the morning and get larger in the evening? The would be a productive rumen. If she acts uncomfortable it might be bloat (but I seriously doubt it's bloat). False pregnancies are common in goats. It's hard to tell from the pictures...maybe I should fly to Oregon to help you out? lol
ReplyDeleteI am like you, I do not do hot very well. Maybe you little chook is the same.
ReplyDeleteAs for your goat, it looks pregant to me, although I was never sure until the babies came.
Sending you some cool thoughts, its very cold here.
take care
You better tell all your chickens that no one's allowed to mess with Little Inger's tail feathers!!!--Big Inger
ReplyDeleteHope the chickies are doing better. It certainly looks like Oreo is going to have a baby. That would be fun!! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteYour goat looks on the very expectant side to me:)
ReplyDeleteNever, ever a dull moment for you! :) I totally want to see some raccoon babies. Please. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, Oreo looks preggers, but your goats are like some of my sheep and are always looking 'due any minute' even if they aren't! ha... How old is Oreo? Has she ever kidded before? It would be kinda cool if she had babies, as long as everything went well. We used to use gasoline thrown on a wasp/yellow jacket nests. Kills them instantly. Not sure the chickens would mess with the bodies either since they smell strongly. Of course it's a big mess too and you have to deal with the smell for awhile.
ReplyDeleteTammy
Best wishes for the chicken. About the hive....one of you gets a baseball bat, the other stands below holding a garbage can lid poised over the can. Are you with me so far? Oh, I just remembered, that didn't even work on t.v. Never mind! Thanks for the enjoyable reading material.
ReplyDelete