Stevie Responds to Meds

 So much to tell so I'd better get to it.

We took a mini-vacation just before Labor Day and wandered up to Mackinac City. 

See the tip of the middle finger, just south of Mackinac Island?  That's where we were.
You non-Michiganians may not be familiar with the Bridge connecting the two peninsulas of our beautiful state.

And then we turned east and stayed on Lake Huron.  Fabulous.

However, the news is not all roses.
Nowadays we hire a house/critter sitter to take care of all the menagerie and I left sick Clara in her hands.  She died while we were gone.

Upon our return Stevie started showing signs of illness.  What the double heck??

I only have three chicken vet names in "the area" (all just under an hour away) so I called one and was told, we're leaving the office soon, how quickly can you get here.  Stevie and I drove as quickly as possible to the vet clinic where she was diagnosed with an infection delicately described as "in her reproductive area".  She's on antibiotics and segregated from the other girls.  I was told she'd have a 50/50 chance of recovery, but the good news is she's definitely improving.

However I was not particularly impressed with this vet.  One example:  I was asked what I'm feeding the girls and I stated Kalmbach organic.  Oh, no no no, not a good idea, it's not nutritious because it's organic.

What?!

Just one example of things that were a red flag for me. (home remedies were poo-poohed -- I've seen them work).

BUT, Stevie is getting better.

Note: I actually called the feed store the next day and asked if they'd ever heard of such a thing.  Of course they said no and suggested I call Kalmbach directly.  I ended up speaking to a Ph.D. nutritionist at the company and feel assured the chickens are getting their nutritional needs met.

I do need more girls to fill out the ratio of Sharone to hens and have found a woman who is disbanding her flock and will give me her six 3-year olds.  However, I have to wait until Stevie is no longer segregated so I can give the new girls their own probationary space.

Hopefully more on that to come soon.  :) 

Chicken Antics and Ailments

 After publishing the last post, Henrietta not so kindly reminded me she is not two years old, but is three. 

I stand corrected.

A couple of days after I refreshed one of the nesting boxes with new shavings, the little devil sat there and carefully plucked pieces of shavings out and threw them over her shoulder to the ground.  Now that's a new one around here.  Leave it to Henrie!

 
Pippi is getting big, matching the other girls in size.  But her bravado does not match her size. 

And now for the bad news.
Clara is sick and I've tried all the tricks in my bag.  I've wormed her, re-established  ACV in one of the waterers, put DE in the feed, given her an epsom salt soak, dusted DE under her wings for mites, and most recently given her three doses of colloidal silver (anti-bacterial).  This last trick came from the moderator of a local chicken group who has had chickens for 30 years.  Nothing seems to have an effect.
She's lethargic, moves slowly and rests while the other girls are frolicking during free range time.
But her comb is a nice bright red.
Louise -- any ideas?
I'm stumped.

. And to make matters worse, we're going on a mini-vacation and I'm leaving Clara in the hands of the housesitter.  A wonderful housesitter, but...

Spotlight on Henrietta

 At this point in our little flock, Henrietta is top dog when it comes to seniority -- at only two years of age.

She was a three month old when she came home to live with us from the local feed store.

I would have said she was the biggest bully in the group but seeing the others interact with Pippi, I'm not sure.

I do know she is the first to ask for breakfast in the morning.  While I clean up donkey poo, the girls get to free range for a bit and Henrie is always the first to return to the coop and stand at the feeder, waiting.  If I'm in the middle of other chores in the coop, I bow to her request and get breakfast served up pronto.

I think she knows her name, although I'm more sure Sharone and Pippi know theirs.

 Henrietta fooling around in the hay aisle

Last month I found  6 eggs tucked away in a nicely made straw nest in the hay aisle.  Although not Henrie's handiwork, she felt compelled to join the trend.

Here's a quick clip to show off Pippi's gorgeous coloring.
By the way, she is turning into a little ankle nipper and I'm not sure how to cure her of this.  It hurts!

On a final note, the donkeys leisurely stroll to breakfast, as we all should, I guess.  

We've Moved To Blogger? and a brief Pippi update

 I'm keeping this short.

It's been two weeks since I posted and in that time, Blogpost (the hosting site I used) morphed into Blogger.  I tried repeated to access the blog and finally today I think I'm in.  I think.

I'll post just a smidge and your job is to tell me if it's public/available/accessible.

The big news is Pippi was integrated into the flock last Saturday evening when everyone was in bed and settled for the night.  I simply opened the yellow door separating the two coop areas.  There have been scuffles - the only non-bullies are Sharone (in fact one of his jobs is to break up squabbles) and Clara.  It's slow but progress is being made.  She doesn't skitter away every time one of the big girls looks at her (a slight exaggeration).  And in fact they have roosted together, although not every night.

Pips is the only one sitting, 2nd from left

In order l-r: Clara, Pippi, Storm, Sharone

I'm going to leave it at that for the moment, EXCEPT to say Miss Pippi has turned into a helamonster for Grubblies (Grubblies are oven-dried black soldier fly grubs),  Like mealworms, but not.  In the morning she is literally under my feet for every step and pecking at my shoes until she gets her treats.  She is a bit obsessed.

Dingbat Donkeys

What an odd sight awaited me yesterday morning when I approached the gate for morning feed.
Three dingbat donkeys were napping -- before breakfast!

I'm actually not sure I've ever seen them do that before.  It was odd.

And then we have the episode where I thought little donkey feet were going to step all over me.  No, I was not happy.  Let's not forget they're 300# or so.

I have always thought Gabby to be my beauty girl.  To my eyes, her looks are striking.

 The shape of her face, her coloring, her markings.  I've thought all the donkeys -- Luigi, Francesca, Alice, Sugar, Spice were/are winning in their own way.  But Gabariella is my beauty girl. 

I Am Smitten!

 On July 5, little Pippi joined the wonderful(?) world of our teeny tiny farm.

She was picked up by the Michigan Humane Society, apparently wandering the side of the road.  They estimate her age to be two months and she's such a little thing we're wondering if she's a bantam.  They named her Pippi because she's a pipsqueak.

When I picked her up from MHS the staff person put his hand out, as you would for a parakeet and she climbed on, after which he took his hand to his shoulder and she hopped off.  I tried it too. 

She chatters all the time in a soft voice.  Except when she's provoked by one of the big girls.

She's been with us over a week and she's been kept segregated with the usual screened division in the coop so the big girls (+Sharone) and she can see, smell and talk with each other.  When the big girls went out for free range there was some fresh air visiting.

Last weekend I let her out to free range for an hour each day.

 Oh my, what a grand time she had.  And how hard to get her back in!  It can be difficult to sneak in, grab her and get her back to her side of the coop without having the thundering herd come running to investigate.  And I'm not referring to the donkeys!

Heat Abates But Flies Have Not

 Here in Michigan, the heat wave lingered a long week as it did in the rest of the country.   Although certainly not to the degree as in the west.  As you might guess, the animals suffered more than we did.  Although surprisingly the chickens didn't seem too affected.  Perhaps because we didn't reach mid-90's.  And we do have big windows.  And had fans going constantly.  To assist the chickadees I served up frozen blueberries

and electrolytes.

The donks preferred the barn much of the time with the fan going full blast 24/7.  Not only did that provide a bit of relief from the temps but also a bit of relief from the flies.  And they are brutal.

Don't know if I've mentioned, everything is happening about a month early.  The pasture opened a month early, the flies arrived in force a month early, shedding started a month early.  Gabs has her sexy summer look and usually she isn't this sleek until mid July.,

This girl sums up the state of affairs last week (seen from the kitchen window).

In other news, Clara adjusted to her saddle pad nicely.

I was a bit worried the heat would affect her more than the other girls, but that did not seem to be the case.  So the question is, will those back feathers grow back when they all molt in the fall.

I am puzzled as to why people seem to find Sharone's name so hard to remember.  You'll remember she was Sharona when she arrived last July.  That name was chosen for two reasons -- the character in the TV series "Monk" and the song by The Knack.  I just changed the 'a' to an 'e' when we discovered his true identity.

And JoannieLu is still acting wonky.  Perhaps it's time to try another pain remedy now that the weather is "normal".  There's no way I would have subjected her to the stress of catching her and applying the essential oil during the high temps.

Here's a fun thing we tried with a neighbor/egg customer.  I suggested we barter eggs for homemade strawberry jam.  She agreed so she has been supplied with three dozen eggs while we got a quart of gorgeous jam and some homemade bagels.  What a deal for both of us!

To conclude let's get a short lesson in donkey tail action.  Sometimes when non equine folks meet the donks they think tail wagging is similar to dogs - a sign of friendliness or happiness. 
Au contraire mon frere. 
It can be a warning sign of  displeasure or, this time of year, it's a fly swisher.  And those tails have been going nonstop lately.

 Stay cool my friends.