Folks, we are still sick here... we are on day five.  Keith has been sick all week, but did manage to go to his office yesterday afternoon and this afternoon.  I don't know how he did it.  He is NOT a big baby, but this stuff we have has knocked us both for a loop.  We are living on Nyquil at the moment. 

I missed work yesterday and today, and am as weak as a puppy.  The little girls are going crazy with being cooped up and no one to play, so they are NOT being very easy to get along with at the moment.  Thank heavens for quiet Bessie.

I made myself go out to do chores this afternoon, because I knew Keith was exhausted.  It took me almost an hour to zombie-walk around the place, and I didn't do everything. The llama tank was nasty.. and Azzie had pulled the heater out of it again.  I did not have the strength to dump it and carry clean water to it, we'll have to wait until tomorrow.  I asked Keith to put a bucket in it, and he was able to do that.  I have coughed so much that it hurts to breathe.  Thank God it's the weekend.

This cheered me up immensely.. the buds are now swelling!

The Naughty Girls flew up to the fence to greet me.  I am praying we don't lose these little girls who are now almost a year old, as I want to make a breeding trio with Boots.  The D'Uccles are wonderful little birds, friendly, and chatter to you constantly. 

More proof we have rounded the corner to spring!

The Yard Guard was on duty all day, here she is howling at a siren as I trudged behind her.

Here are the birds from the "Black and White" flock, the descendents of our Japanese bantams, Fred and Wilma and Little Fred, who was a girl.

Here's our new little girl, ready to go in the house.  I had to walk all the way from the henhouse, because she was standing at the door and barking, because she thought I was inside.  I wanted to curl up on a porch chair and go to sleep!  I did let her in, and went back out to do water.  Here's the weird thing... the starlings are now leaving feed... but drinking the water.  It was in the high 50's today, and will be back down in the 40's tomorrow, so I guess they'll eat the feed then, too.

It's 8:15, so I am going to call it a day, take some Nyquil, and go to BED.  I hope by tomorrow we'll be back to our normal selves, or nearly so!

The Sounds of Sickness

Okay, I haven't written about this, because it has been hurting my heart too badly.  I got some advice from a poultryman who has a blog - Matt at Foothills Poultry.... and I was so appreciative of his giving me advice.  Matt, I looked at the Tylan and didn't buy it, but I think I'm gonna have to.

I'm losing birds.  I tried to write about it twice, and couldn't.  I stopped both times and never finished the posts. 

It started 3 or 4 weeks ago, when a young bird began making a barking noise.  She is a very good egg layer.... and the only symptom she had was a "bark" instead of a cluck or other noise.  Then, I noticed Sprocket, my old hen, begin to fail, and over the course of several days, she looked worse and worse.  I still didn't suspect anything.  Then one morning I went out to find her eyes swollen shut and something coming from her nostrils, and she appeared to be having labored breathing.  We put her down that day.  I remember turning to Keith and saying "I hope this isn't going to run through the flock".  Next Lola, her clutchmate, showed the same signs... then Rosemary, a young hen only a year and a half old.  Lola was put down, and Rosemary managed to get out of the henhouse the next evening, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her go in the duck house out in the henyard.  I went in and told Keith we would just let her stay in there that night, and put her down in the morning.  That night, a possum got her. 

All this time, Libby, the black hen kept "barking".  She never had swollen eyes, or anything.  Kept laying. 

Then one of the three brassy back cockerels in the little pen began showing symptoms, and I pulled him that night.  Keith put him down, and as he did (sorry for this, everyone)... the mucus came out of his nostrils. 

I began researching with the first hen, and finally realized it was probably bronchitis.  I cleaned the henhouse as well as possible... we left it unbedded for six days and then sprayed it down with Ozine to try to kill the bacteria.  All of the inside feed is being locked up in the feed cans at night, so the mice have nothing to eat. (they are going outside, believe me).  I'm poisoning the mice... I know they are opening the packets, and now that Butch and his three girls are out of the feed room, there is nothing there for them to eat.  Butch and the three girls are pretty miserable out in the pasture... it was blazing hot today, and will be the rest of the week.  There are tarps over their pen, but it was hot, hot, hot.  Their water had gotten hot by the time I got home.  Tomorrow morning I'll set it behind the doghouse for them. 

They did find the roosts finally. 

We moved the three little porcelains out last night, because we wanted them OUT of the henhouse, where they had a chance. 

Tonight, while doing chores, I heard the familiar bark, and realized it came from the juvenile pen.  I watched the birds, and realized a second brassy back rooster was on the roost, and exhibiting signs.  I reached in and caught him... he was still healthy enough to try to get away... but when I picked him up... he was having trouble breathing.  I filmed him, and will try to load it so you can hear the tell-tale sounds.  

Keith will have to put him down, and my poor dear husband has had to do this over and over and over lately.  We are not burying OR burning the carcasses here, but they are being double-bagged and going out in the trash.  

I am hoping the last brassy back cockerel is not sick already.  None of the other little birds is showing sign.  But then, I thought it was all over.  

Libby, the original "barker" is still fine and eating and drinking and showing no other signs, such as the swollen face and eyes.  

We have not had to put any bird from the little flock down ... yet. 

Matt suggested injecting each bird with Tylan 50... and I may end up having to do that after all. 

I tried to get a video of the little cockerel to upload but again, Blogger is rejecting it out of hand.  A video like any other that has loaded in the past.... but Blogger is getting choosier and choosier.  It showed how his breathing is very labored, despite the fact he is still bright-eyed.... his lungs are filling.  Keith has just gotten home from Elwood unexpectedly (going back tomorrow) and will put him down in the morning. 

A Day of Sickness

More than anything, your blogger does not like feeling sick. For the last month, I have been dragging from home to work and back again, filling my Saturdays with errands, and generally feeling worn out. It started with a cold which spread from me to husband to stepson. Finally, husband went to the doctor for antibiotics, and returned to the Land of the Living, while I dragged on. Today I finally relented and saw the doctor for ten days worth of antibiotics to get over the upper respiratory condition that has bothered me for a month. I spent the afternoon dozing with the pugs, listening to husband hammer on the new porch walls. I got much needed rest, and am looking forward to a good night's sleep.

The temperature was beautiful today, in the fifties, and we can expect more for the next few days. I spent most of the day on the couch or in the recliner, but I could see, when I got up, the hens running back and forth about their work in the pasture. They keep the manure in the horseyard broken into a fine tilth for us, so that we never have to shovel or move it out. Soon that will be a hard job, as we will have to lock up the two oldsters for a while while the grass renews itself. Letting them out an hour a day will be the drill for a while, so that the foundered mare won't hurt herself on the fresh grass. We may not even be able to do that with her, as she can be hard to catch and is now permanently being medicated.

Isis the hen is better, and we turned the light off on her so she would not get too hot today. Keith will turn it back on tonight, to keep her warm, and we will unplug it in the morning. We have noticed before that concentrating a warm light on sick birds often helps them, but this time we also put medicated crumbles in her feed. Today I slipped out there in the evening, to catch her eating out of her bowl, and was overjoyed. We collected 9 beautiful eggs, and left one under Dovey, to give her the pretense of setting. We are now finding duck eggs, huge duck eggs, in the horsebarn daily. We think it must be Maggie, as she is mature. One was so large it would not fit in an egg carton, but had to be put in the meat drawer. We should be able to take a good three dozen eggs to the food bank this week, so we are glad and grateful to our hard-working girls.

Still not feeling tip-top, so will close for the night and go listen to our new President speak to the congress, and to us about what we can expect with our economy.