Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Something took my Josephine from me today. I had no clue until coop closing time, when my count came up short, but I believe it happened earlier in the evening, possibly even late afternoon based on where we eventually found her feathers. I'm just... devastated beyond words right now. She and Mavis had both begged for hugs around noon when I checked on them, so my last memory of her is her resting her beak on my shoulder and bawking softly. I'm just destroyed over this one. My ornery, pushy, nosy Josephine.

 

[drumstick diva]

Aw no! How heartbreaking

 

[ronott1]

Something took my Josephine from me today. I had no clue until coop closing time, when my count came up short, but I believe it happened earlier in the evening, possibly even late afternoon based on where we eventually found her feathers. I'm just... devastated beyond words right now. She and Mavis had both begged for hugs around noon when I checked on them, so my last memory of her is her resting her beak on my shoulder and bawking softly. I'm just destroyed over this one. My ornery, pushy, nosy Josephine.

View attachment 1884278

I am so sorry!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sigh.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I've been running the dog out around where we found her feathers, all day yesterday and will do all day today, too. The girls were not happy with me, but I didn't let them free-range until about 5 pm yesterday so they wouldn't be as tempted to wander so far. My biggest fear is that it was a fox, based on timing and the lack of evidence left behind. I'm hoping regular refreshing of dog scent out there will help as a deterrent. We've never had fox problems (save for a suspiciously similar loss last year, where Tiwhiri was taken and nothing but feathers remained), and I'd always contributed that to the fact that we'd always had 4 dogs or more until recently. Well, we've been down to just one dog for the past couple years and it seems my theory could have some weight to it after all.

I miss that bird. What a pest she was, but I would never have traded her nosiness away for anything! She was the first to hatch out of that batch and boy did she come out of her egg with an attitude! I knew from the get-go that she'd be a force to be reckoned with. She was the chick I posed with the chicken statues a few times, and she always had such an indignant look when I did. As an adult, she remained quite the personality, even if she did forget her own strength when pecking at my knees for my attention. Goodness, it sure feels like there's a whole lot more than just one bird missing from the flock.





Anyway... Other occurrences these days.

This morning, I awoke to Reinette crowing. Dignified, regal, ladylike Reinette... crowing. And, not to shame her for her efforts, but it wasn't even a good crow, more a string of loosely connected honks. Crazy bird.

I did end up moving her to the pack'n'play that I had had the OEGBs in during the winter. I kept puzzling over what to do with her while she healed, since the baby bin was just too small for an active, full sized, large fowl hen. Then, it hit me--DUH--I have a better pen for that!

So Reinette is better accommodated while she heals. I never got around to taking her outside for a visit last weekend, but I was just thinking this morning that it might be a good idea to ensure that she's not forgotten. Her wound has hardened over, so I think she's safe from pecking, at least.

Last update I have to post today is that Elly has begun her annual molt as of this morning. Here's hoping for a repeat of last year, when she for once didn't have crop issues during her molt!

 

[Leahs Mom]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo
Tell me about the crop issues during molt. I had an unfortunate crop event that I caught too late. The bird was molting and acting a little "off" like they often do when molting. That kept me from examining her and I didn't realize that there was an issue until it was too late.

So...what do you observe with the crop during molt on your sensitive bird?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, I'm sorry that happened! For what it's worth, it's probably how much attention Elly asks for that's the reason why I caught on to her issues.

During these episodes, Elda's crop slows down nearly to a stop for no apparent reason, coinciding with the beginning of her molt. I thought she had been eating feathers and blocking herself up, but after finding no evidence of that (watching her preen feathers off and spit them out, and never actually seeing her eat any--I know that's not a guarantee, but when I've had feather eaters before, they've tended to search them out anywhere), all I could figure is it was something related to the hormonal change that caused molting to begin.

First sign had been her slowing down and acting a bit sluggish, and her crop would feel a bit bloated, but not normal for a well fed chicken, if that makes sense. Kind of lumpy and squishy rather than firm overall. Her crop would not empty properly and would only shrink slightly overnight. What would remain in her crop by morning would not be overly large, maybe golf ball sized, and not really hard, but definitely a singular clump of something. This at first seemed like an impaction, but when I was able to catch it earlier, it would be more doughy than clumpy. Her crop also usually soured before I could get her cleared, and then required further treatment. Thankfully, last year, she had no problems with her crop and molted normally! With any luck, she'll stay normal this year, too.

 

[Fatimetta]

So sorry about Josephine!

I've been starting from the beginning of this thread, but keep getting too side-tracked so I came to the end! You have such beautiful birds! ♥ I checked out your pages with all the pics and they are soooo beautiful!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thought I'd post this for anyone interested.

Sweeter Heater is running a 15% off sale on their heaters.

https://www.sweeterheater.com/?utm_...mail&cid=618f1cf2-cd77-4098-a090-ab599abde6de

Code: August2019

Plus free shipping.

They would be kind-of like using the heat plates except they can be hung or put on a wall/pen.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Welp, it happened. Elly's crop failed to clear overnight. It's early on, though, so she's still in that doughy / squishy phase versus the clumpy phase. Hopefully that means she'll have a quick recovery. On the plus side, Reinette has company now.

So sorry about Josephine!

I've been starting from the beginning of this thread, but keep getting too side-tracked so I came to the end! You have such beautiful birds! ♥ I checked out your pages with all the pics and they are soooo beautiful!

Welcome! I definitely don't blame you for skipping to the end! It's mostly just four years of me rambling to myself about this or that. The girls say thank you for the compliment, too.

Thought I'd post this for anyone interested.

Sweeter Heater is running a 15% off sale on their heaters.

https://www.sweeterheater.com/?utm_...mail&cid=618f1cf2-cd77-4098-a090-ab599abde6de

Code: August2019

Plus free shipping.

They would be kind-of like using the heat plates except they can be hung or put on a wall/pen.

Oh, I'll have to check that out! I've been wanting to get another heating plate for chicks! One of my EcoGlows split pretty soon after getting it so the bottom part with the heating element is loose from the yellow protective cover. Still works because the legs hold it together, but I don't like the risk of dust and stuff getting up in there. Also, the original EcoGlows (like what I have) are kind of a pain in the butt with the leg attachment system they have. Too bad Brinsea didn't figure that out until AFTER I got mine!