I couldn’t find Albert this morning. I called and called, looked in all his regular spots. I finally spotted him, sound asleep in Ruby’s favorite nesting spot. It’s just a rusty old dishpan lined with hay, set up on a high shelf. I had to make a nest up there after finding a hoard of eggs on top of the wall. Ruby has been laying in that old dishpan since I set it up for her. I wonder what she will do if she finds Albert there when she’s ready to lay her egg tomorrow…
The hens want me to hurry up and feed them. Every day they crowd around me while I mix up their wet mash. They pin me with their eyes. They have a look that is half starved/abused animal straight out of a PETA commercial and half pharaoh commanding his slaves. They want to arouse my pity so that I will rush to rescue them from certain death by malnutrition. At the same time time they want to ensure that will not dawdle or forget my duty in serving their favorite repast. Six against one. The sheep will yell at me over the gate to hurry me along. The hens use this harsher tactic. It can be very intimidating, especially when they start flapping up onto my chair or the feed barrels to oversee my work.
Luna seems to be fully recovered. She can walk a straight line, she can turn her head to the right, make a right turn. And, now that she isn’t being poked with a needle 3 times a day, she has forgiven me and lets me give her scratches again.
Whatever was going on with Georgia seems to have fixed itself. She’s been strutting and pecking like normal the past 2 days. I hate when they start acting weird and you don’t know why!
I don’t know what is going on with Georgia lately. The other hens take 15-20 minutes to lay their eggs. Georgia will sit there for 2-3 HOURS before she produces an egg. Sometimes she moves around like she can’t get comfortable. Sometimes she appears to be asleep. Sometimes she breathes with her beak open, as if she is doing Lamaze. Is there such a thing as chronic eggstipation?
OK, the most hilarious thing happened in the barn tonight. However, I fear that some people will think it’s a case of TMI. So, I am warning you now, if scatological humor is offensive to you, DO NOT read this post. Really.
I was doing chores tonight when my tummy suddenly felt very upset. I was “caught short”. I had to poop. Right now! I knew there was no way I could make it to the house without an accident. It was an emergency situation. I had to squat over the gutter, quickly! (We do not have a bathroom, or running water for that matter, in the barn. We do keep a roll of cheap paper towels there, though.)
Sooo, as I am squatting there, trying to keep my balance, the hens all come running to see what I am doing. They have never seen me in this particular position before, with my pants down, no less. So here are all six chickens gathered around me, staring at me intently. When chickens are REALLY interested in something they will turn their head to the side so they can focus with one eye. Six eyes fixed on my backside, unblinking, bobbing around to ensure the best possible view.
When the… ummm … deposit exited my body and landed in the gutter, the hens all drew their heads back and collectively said bucka-buck! They seemed so surprised! I think maybe they thought I had laid some kind of a weird egg. When I stood up they all circled around it, giving it their one-eyed intense concentration. After a few minutes they lost interest and wondered away. But their reaction to the actual evacuation was hilarious. The whole situation was hilarious. I was literally laughing out loud as I squatted there.
I remember my dad being sick when I was a kid and we had the cows. Farmers can’t call in sick. Cows need to be milked, even if you have a fever, bronchitis, or a stomach virus. I remember dad having vomiting/diarrhea, having to use the gutter, leaning against the cows because he felt so weak and miserable, but needing to keep working. I, too, have done chores many, many times while sick. Hacking my lungs out with bronchitis, dizzy with fevers, walking slow and stiff from back spasms… . But I never thought the gutter squat would happen to me! Nor did I ever imagine that I would be laughing out loud if it did.
It must have been something I ate disagreeing with me, because I felt better immediately after “the deed” was done and I feel fine now. And, as embarrassing as relating this has been, I am still chuckling to myself as I recall the one-eyed intense gaze from all 6 hens as they ogled my bare behind and then their heads whipping back with their synchronized bucka-bucks. I figured if I can laugh at telling about it, as embarrassing as it is, then other folks would probably get a good laugh out of it as well.
Like I’ve said before, every day is an adventure!
I am so excited! Ruby laid an egg for the first time since she got sick back in May. She has recovered from “the bug” and been acting fine, just no eggs for a month and a half. I honestly didn’t care about the eggs, have just been glad she’s better. Advice from fellow chicken keepers has suggested that she probably wouldn’t lay for the rest of the season, maybe next spring.
This morning she was being more vocal than she has been in a long time. She kept strutting around in the feed room, eyeing what used to be her favorite nesting spot. I was thinking “maybe, maybe”. Finally she flapped up on top of the shelves and got into her pan. She got right down to business as if there had never been a problem.
It’s these little moments of joy that make it all worth it.
Here’s the history of here illness if you’re not familiar:
May 15 2017.
Poor Ruby is not feeling well. Snotty nose, crusty eyes, very lethargic. When I brought the chickens inside from the rain Saturday, she was standing in the splash zone from the gutter downspout. Didn’t want to come in. When I did chores yesterday she was like this. Full-blown chicken cold. She won’t scratch, she won’t peck, just stands there, hunched up and looking miserable. Called cousin Sandy, who has a lot of chickens, for advice. She said there’s not much I can do for her. Just keep her warm and dry. She will either fight it off or she won’t make it. I did wipe the crusty boogers out of her eyes and nostrils. She did not care for that much. Today I took a syringe and gave her some water so she won’t dehydrate. My poor girl. She did seem to enjoy sitting in the sun after that. Didn’t want to any part of the bed I made for her. But once it started getting dark she came to me. I put her back in her bed and she snuggled right down under the blanket. Any other chicken “moms” have any advice for me?
😢
 May 17
I am cautiously optimistic about Ruby today. Gave her a dose of penicillin orally yesterday on the advice of one of Karen S Roberts co-workers. Obviously won’t help with the viral cold infection, but did seem to help with her secondary bacterial bronchial infection. I have been using a syringe to force water, broth, juice, etc. down her beak. Has not been fun for me or Ruby. But, as she has not been drinking or eating on her own, I wanted to make sure she did not become too weak or dehydrated. I have also been mixing a tiny dose of children’s Similason in with her liquids to help with her congestion. Yesterday she did drink water of her own volition. Stood in a patch of sunlight with her feet in the runoff from the water tub and kept dipping her beak in over and over for almost an hour. I took that as a good sign. I also saw her poop for the first time in days. But, when I went in the barn today, she had not gotten out of bed yet. She did have the blanket off, but had not eaten or tried to get up. Her eyes were less crusty and she was less snotty, but she had been getting herself out of bed until today. Well, since giving her antibiotics yesterday, I knew her little tummy bacteria were probably all out of whack. So, I mixed some applesauce with some yogurt and syringed that into her. The yogurt will help re-balance her digestive system. And it’s the most solid thing she’s had since this started. After getting a few mls into her I put her out in the sun. When Levi got home from school he was very insistent on helping me take care of her. He got a little dish of chicken food and every time she moved he put it right in front of her. And finally she did eat some. I am thinking that’s a good sign. I have also been giving her over-the-counter homeopathic pink-eye drops and I have noticed she was mostly keeping her eyes open tonight, instead of keeping her third eyelid closed. I gave her some more yogurt/apple sauce mixture as I was finishing up with chores. Put her down while I fed the rest of the hens. She actually joined them and helped herself to some scratch. She is definitely not herself, you can tell she does not feel good, still congested and lethargic, but she is acting better than she was. And if she is eating, that has to be good, right? Put her to bed, covered her with her blanket, and she did not snuggle right down and go to sleep. She actually pecked a little bit at her food dish before going to sleep. Fingers crossed that she has turned the corner!
May 18
Ruby is definitely on the mend. She was scratching and pecking, eating and drinking on her own today. Snot and eye crust are cleared up. She is still a bit weak and rests frequently, but seems much, much better! She even went to roost on her own, no hay-lined box and blanket tonight. Will still be keeping a close eye on her, make sure she does not relapse, but I really think she is going to be OK.
Farmer Keen 