tunafish

2 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

During the height of Covid for over a year they only had pick up option. They weren’t open except for can pickup at curbside . They were the last brewery to open back up again. Was infuriating 

I bet. I'll pop in for a quick pint grab a mixed case and call it good.  Appreciate the tips!

5 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

You must be at Deerfield. I was thinking Charlton. They don’t have drive thru there. 

Yeah I'm in Charlton.  Must've misread the options. 

Thanks guys.  I like both but this time of year I'm winding down my stout inventory, not adding to it.  I might pick up a 2pack of stout, but they're pretty steep.  Mostly shooting for IPAs today. I see they have a drive through option.  My mom lives 2 miles away but I've never stopped in, at least since Monson.

Hey @Damage In TollandWhat's good at Treehouse these days?  I'm in the 'hood.

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

Oh I don’t give them the shell. I scramble them in a pan and just feed them like that. I won’t even do a peeled hard boil egg since it maintains the egg shape. 
 

Some people crush up the shells and feed that in place of oyster shell for calcium, but I don’t take the chance on that. Mine have been good about leaving the good eggs in the box alone. If one breaks or someone randomly lays one in the run they will clean it up. But they’ve been smart enough to separate the two. I give 18 birds about 10lbs of mealworms over the course of a month so they probably feel content with their protein. 

We've been doing that and so far so good, thankfully.  We've got a much smaller flock, and we don't give them much of a chance to be tempted to try a bite of a freshly laid egg as someone in the family is checking every hour or two.

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

I had a young one die last Feb but had a hole already dug for a different hen (who is alive and fine today lol) so I was able to bury her. If I did it over I think I would have a little firepit ritual…not sure. It’s going to look like pet sematary out in my back woods in a few years with all of the chickens I’ve had. 

ha.  I like the idea of a fire, but my kids would be happier with a burial for sure.  Fire is just convenient, no freezer space required.

8 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Permethrin doesn't really kill them directly. IIRC it makes them infertile so that they're not reproducing. Eventually the infestation wanes and they die off without a new generation.

The first few days after treating I usually don't eat the eggs either, but I have fed them back to the birds.

Interesting, because we just got her home from the vet and they said "I don't see any more mites" so it sounds like it did enough to prevent the next generation.  The other chicks were still pecking at her today, though, so I wonder if there's some other weird bird dynamic going on.  She's #2 in the pecking order but even 3 and 4 are taking shots at her neck (which she occasionally returns).  Need to figure out better dust-bathing options for winter.  Neighbor has a woodstove, might need to regularly collect ash from them.

The vet said they'd get back to us on the eggs.  I'm sure it'd be fine but just want to be sure.  They gave us a syringe for electrolytes and said to keep her separated for a few more days until her crop is better and her neck has some time to grow new feathers (of which the vet noted there were some coming in).  Keep her on probiotics and it should work itself out.

Really glad, would suck to lose a hen in year 1, not to mention having to euthanize/bury one.

15 hours ago, dendrite said:

I had an egg today with mites on it...first of the year. How are you treating them?

I loathe having to do it, but the only thing that seems to really stop them for good (for awhile at least) is permethrin. I hate powdering them myself so I have storage bins full of dirt that I use for them to dust bathe in. I add a coating of permethrin to it and mix it in and when they dust bathe they basically treat themselves.

Ugh, sucks.  We used permethrin and self powdered.  Cleaned out the coop and run, treated there as well.  We have been tossing the eggs since treatment because we can't get a clear consensus on whether or not they're safe to eat.  Hate it.  Not sure the treatment worked on her as it's been about 5 days and she's still got them.  Anytime she's around the other chicks in the yard they're constantly trying to peck them off her.

The vet had a cancellation this AM so she went in, and got the text that she's returning home so at least there's hope.  I said if they don't think there's a path forward then to put her down there.  Not sure I could bring myself to do it myself just yet.

1 hour ago, LibertyBell said:

I've read so much about the horrors of factory farming, those companies need to be prosecuted and dealt with severely.

 

None of that here.  Gave the sick one free reign of the yard for an hour before letting the others out.  She ate a ton of grass, bugs and various grit around the yard.  She's acting pretty normal, and no puke after the eggs.  Crop still pretty swollen, though.  She's got mites, too, which we treated earlier in the week.  Other chicks have been pecking at her, another reason to keep them separated. 

Good melting today either way with a high of 53 and steady winds out of the WSW.

Just now, DavisStraight said:

I met a woman yesterday that had a pet chicken she keeps in her house, she lets it out in the day into a pen but comes in every night. Didn't realize they make good pets.

certain breeds are better than others for sure.  But even then, they all have a different personality.  The one I have that's sick is the type that could do that, she's basically a puppy dog.

31 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Yikes. How’s the poop? Anything bright green? Have you been able to smell close to her open beek? Usually it reeks with sour crop. 
 

I’ve never dealt with it, but I buy much different feed than many people so I’m not sure if that makes a difference. I went soy free years ago because I don’t want it in my food and I think it disrupts their hormones. I’ve had no egg peritonitis issues since the switch (never say never though). I’ve gone corn free in the past year because corn has a low nutrient density. I’ve been using the soy/corn free pellets from New Country Organics. Every night I give them a cooked sweet potato once it’s cooled off. When they’re in the store cheap I’ll buy a bunch (69 to 79¢/lb). They get a lot of dried mealies too. They’re just lacking the greens this time of year so the egg yolks are looking a little pale. 

It’s tough when they get sick. I swear it seems I have better success leaving the sick ones alone versus treating them. I wish your girl luck.

Thanks man, I really appreciate that and all the advice. 

I haven't smelt her yet, poop is liquid but nothing bright green.  More of a muted brownish light green.

That's interesting about the feed, we'll have to look into soy free.  And anytime we have some leftover sweet potatoe they crush it. That and eggs are their favorite people food, but never thought to incorporate sweet potatoe into their everyday diet. 

1 hour ago, LibertyBell said:

forcefeeding is never a good idea.

They're not eating that stuff for a reason.

 

Yeah, just tried giving her some yolk and meal worms. A few bites and immediate puke.

6 hours ago, dendrite said:

I try not to forcefeed them even though some say to do it. I try to find something they want to eat. Maybe a simple diet of mealworms for a bit would help. Does she like mealies?

She does for sure.  Haven't offered those yet, though, and will tomorrow.  Ironically enough the thing she likes most is cooked egg yolk, so we've been offering her that, which she'll eat. 

She had mites pretty bad, too, at the same time so we cleaned and treated the coop, run, and other hens.  Ive read conflicting info on eating their eggs after treatment, so we're playing it safe and tossing them for now, which sucks but we don't need any more ill birds.

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

Sorry to hear. I’ve never had to deal with that before. If you’re sure it’s sour crop then you’re dealing with a yeast infection in the crop. There are some OTC yeast meds people use on their chickens that are meant for fish. I wanna say ketoconazole, but you should research it. Do you have any vets nearby that will treat chickens? We have Weare/Hopkinton animal hospital, but it gets pricey and I’m usually left feeling underwhelmed when I leave. 

Thanks - yes, that's what we have her on.  We do have a vet nearby, but they don't have anything available for another two weeks.  We are, at least, on the cancellation list in case something comes up soon.  Hoping it kind of resolves itself before then and she recovers, but she's not eating a ton at the moment.

@dendriteI'm sure you've dealt with sour crop before.  One of our hens has a pretty bad base of it right now.  We've got her on a probiotic, apple cider vinegar, and some crop massages but it might be too late, doesn't seem to be helping.  Not sure if you've had success with other interventions.  We have her quarantined right now as to not put the flock in jeopardy.  I hate to be pessimistic but I'm starting to think about what I might do with her if she passes, given that the ground is frozen and all.

Good, euro can keep it's QPF. 

Last thing I need is an inch of rain on top of a glacier (4" depth with 1.5" QPF locked up in it).

anyone tell @PhineasC that was an earthquake that woke him up this AM?

5 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

We're going to need your liquid it looks like, because the PWM precip sensor is hosed. Claiming over 5" for the day.

I did swap guages as soon as it flipped around 145 this AM, so feel confident in my amounts.

3 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

We're going to need your liquid it looks like, because the PWM precip sensor is hosed. Claiming over 5" for the day.

Ha. That was supposed to be 0.62" rain, not 0.61" but I can give you guys a rundown when I call later just to make we have it all straight.

Just now, PWMan said:

The funny thing is that it may last longer than last Saturday's fluff bomb.

Finally some sad little flakes mixing in....

certainly will!  It's double the QPF this go around.  The pack went, per daily 7AM obs, from 11" to 9" to 8" to 7" to 4" to 2" before we started accumulating again.

11 minutes ago, PWMan said:

Not a single flake of snow here; sleet of varying intensity all day with surface temps in the low 20s. Maybe an inch of accumulation?

yeah my last measurement brought us up to 1.5" sleet on 0.88" liquid.  And that was on top of 0.61" rain.

disgusting.

41 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Getting a big push of WAA right now.

Will that push east or is cold air starting to drain down the coastal plain?

1 minute ago, Lava Rock said:

I get 3" sleet. Sweet

Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk
 

just think, that's like an extra two weeks that you don't have to deal with your lawn!

13 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

GFS is probably the fastest at 9 PM for getting sub-freezing, and NAMs/HRRR/RAP are all closer to 11 PM/midnight.

Earlier than I thought.  Late night on the couch instead of an early morning alarm it is!  Thanks.

1 minute ago, OceanStWx said:

It's for the combo. Basically frozen precip adding up to 1 inch of QPF.

Still looking at 1-5AM for the flip down here?  Gonna set my alarm an hour earlier than the goalposts just to be sure.