Wordless Wednesday: She'll be a Beauty... Someday

Ducky and her orthopedic shoes

This is Ducky.

These are Ducky's feet.

Notice how they curl?
Ducky can't straighten her toes.

In all my years of raising baby chicks, this is the first time I've encountered this.

I first noticed Ducky's feet when she was 2 days old..... I could tell she wasn't able to walk or stand very steady like the other chicks, so I picked her up and was shocked at what I saw. She also seemed to have some other problems- she was not interested in food or water and she was a lot smaller than any of the other chicks. I swallowed hard and thought maybe it was best to let nature take it's course, if you know what I mean....

But you know me- I couldn't let go without at least giving Ducky a fighting chance.

She was at once put on some drops of some special liquid baby formula (powdered vitamins and sugar water) and after spending several hours on the internet researching chicks with curled or deformed feet I found what I had been looking for. Apparently this is not an uncommon occurrence, and frankly I was a little surprised that I had never had this happen before. I'm still not sure what caused Ducky's problem, but according to some of the helpful websites I found it could have been caused by several different things. I also found the directions for making splints for the toes to correct the problem using cardboard and tape- but only if it was caught in time. I was optimistic that Ducky was young enough that her feet could be fixed- that is, if  she survived the next few days.

A day passed, then another... then another...

After three days of giving her my special formula, she seemed to be getting a little stronger.

Ducky was.... well, plucky!

I brought her into the house to fit her for her special booties to correct the toes, and had to get out my magnifying glasses because her feet were so tiny. To make matters worse, Silkies have 5 toes instead of 4 like other chickens do, and trying to cram the little toes of a squirmy baby chick onto a tiny piece of cardboard was going to be a real test of my patience. (Not to mention eyesight.)
But if Ducky was going to have a chance for normal feet it was now or never.

Lily, meet Ducky.
Ducky, Lily.

 Here are the "soles" of her booties....





Here we are with one shoe on, one to go; then it's just a matter of trimming off the excess tape and cardboard without cutting Ducky's feet. (As if this hasn't been nerve-wracking enough already...)

And here she is with her new shoes! Maybe this will help explain why I named her Ducky- she looks like she has webbed feet.

She continued getting her daily formula to build up her strength.

I waited for 3 days before taking off the booties.....

Here are Ducky's feet now!

Unfortunately, she lost the left shoe at some point without me noticing and it didn't have time to work like the other one did. You can see the middle toe is still curled some, but the right foot- which was actually worse than the left one anyway- looks great. The best part is she can walk and stand just like normal! I could splint the left one again, but Ducky seems to be glad to be rid of her special shoes and for now she is walking great so I may just leave it be.

Ducky still has along way to go... she is so much smaller than the other chicks. But she is back with the others and doing good, and I'll continue to give her formula until I'm satisfied she is eating and drinking like she should. Ducky has proven to be a tough little gal so far, so I'm hoping for the best!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Friday Farm Fotos: A little "Biddy" surprise....

If you've read this blog for any time at all, you know my love for baby chicks borders on insanity.
However, I try to contain myself so I won't become one of those people on that Animal Hoarders show that has 800 chickens running around.
I keep the Silkie population down by gathering the eggs as soon as I can because there is nothing those hens love more than to go broody and hatch babies.

But I think I've been outsmarted.

One day while cleaning weeds out around the coop I heard some familiar peeping noises coming from nest box # 3......

Surprise.

Yep, definitely outsmaah-ted.

Apparently, one of those sneaky little hens had an egg tucked under her so tightly that the egg went unnoticed during my nightly inspection of the nest boxes- even after I stuck my hand under her and felt around.

(Which I'm sure she enjoyed very much...)

*Sigh*

Well, you know me- I wouldn't want a baby chick to have to grow up all alone...

*snicker snort*

So, I let a few eggs lay around until someone got in the mood to sit on them.

(which of course took about 5 minutes....)

And a couple of weeks later-

You know what they say- chickens are like potato chips, you can't have just one.

Or twenty.

Happy Friday, everyone!

(peep!)

Friday Farm Funny: Chickie Puberty

Remember these cute, fuzzy little chickies from just a couple of months ago?

Well, that has given way to this:

TEEN-AGED CHICKIE PUNK ROCKERS!

Okay, so maybe it's not that bad....

Happy Friday, everyone!

And she lives to cluck again

If you live off the beaten path and have animals of any kind, predators are simply a part of life. They don't care that your animals have names, or that you raised them from babies... predators have babies of their own to feed and a meal is a meal.

And when you have chickens, this is the last thing you want to see...

Most days I turn my silkies out for a little 20-30 minute "recess" in the afternoon while I sit nearby underneath a shade tree with a book, keeping a watchful eye out for danger.
Friday was different- I had just arrived home from running errands and had a million things to do, so I decided to turn them out for just a few minutes while I unloaded the bags of chicken feed from the back of the car.

Then I heard it.

The awful noise of chickens under attack.... and knowing I wasn't fast enough to run up the hill in time. Smokey, however, is quick like lightning when "his birds" are in trouble, so he ran up the hill and into the woods with me huffing and puffing right behind him. In all the confusion I was trying to sort out if everyone was accounted for- the birds were upset and running for cover- but I knew from the knot in my stomach someone was missing. After doing a head count, I realized it was Pola, one of my splash silkies. Pola is named after the Marilyn Monroe character in "How to Marry a Millionaire" who was always bumping into things because of her terrible eyesight... Pola's feathers completely cover her eyes and she's been known to bump into the door of the coop and walk past the feeder three or four times before she finds it. Apparently, Pola also never saw the danger approaching until it was too late.
I followed the trail of feathers left behind and it looked like she put up a pretty good fight... and a couple of times I thought I heard her still moving around in the thick woods behind the coop, but after almost an hour of searching, Smokey and I turned and sadly walked back down the hill.

Hubby and I had plans for the evening and were gone until almost dark. We pulled up the driveway and something in the headlights caught my attention.... something was moving around the chicken coop.
I could not believe my eyes when we jumped out the car for a better look- it was Pola trying to find a way to get into the coop! She was filthy and very thirsty but seemed to be unharmed, except for a big bald spot where her little fuzzy bottom feathers used to be...*grin*...
Hubby and I both agreed it was Smokey who saved her life- when he ran through the woods it must have scared the predator enough that it dropped her and took off.

Way to go, little buddy. You're our Hero!

That night I started thinking about the conversation that could have been taking place in the chicken coop... the other hens might have noticed Pola's dirty feathers and bald spot and asked,

"what happened to you?"

I could almost imagine Pola telling the others,

"you wouldn't believe what kind of bad hair day this has been...."

Happy Tuesday, everybody!

It's a good thing she doesn't have to diaper all these babies....

Still in the hay... our barn is full but there are still more bales in the field to pick up.

(But we're almost finished! YAY!)

Have a great weekend!

Friday Farm Foto: Hello, world!

Today is not only errand day around here, but also the end of a long HOT week with record temperatures in the upper 90's. When I got back home I went up to the barn unload the feed bags and heard chirping coming from the chicken coop- I had the calender marked and thought my Silkie hens weren't supposed to start hatching for a couple more days, but looks like Sadie fooled me and got a jump on the other hens. (There are some bragging rights in the hen house for that, I'm sure. "Mine hatched first! Na-na-na!")

Thanks for your well-wishes for Lily- she is doing fine after her surgery, although this heat has been hard on her... she's been inside all the time except when bathroom breaks are necessary.

Thanks to the heat, the barn fans are going full blast right now...

(Edie likes to have her ears laid back from the fan.)

 Looks like we're in for an early hot summer.

Short post today- I'm off to visit all my bloggy friends!

Happy weekend everybody!

Friday Farm Funny: Chickie Chatter

If I happen to be just a teeny bit late with the afternoon treats,
this is the reception I get....

Happy Friday, everybody!

Thursday ramblings

Belle was fascinated by the camera on my new cell phone....

and gave it a courtesy peck following this picture.

Just a hodgepodge of a post today.... nothing really new or exciting happening around the farm these days, except for the busyness that comes with the upcoming holidays. I have alot on my to-do list for the next few days...

First off, I'm planning out my grocery list for tomorrow so I can go ahead and get my Thanksgiving items, then I won't have the traffic and crowds to deal with next week.

I have some pumpkins left over from my Fall decorations that I need to cut open and get the goods out of them. I love toasting pumpkin seeds.. do you?

Lastly from the kitchen- thanks to one of my best friends' hubby, I now have a freezer full of ground venison to make jerky with. I am going to experiment with different spices this time to see how many varieties I can come up with.... Hubby loves deer jerky and is very excited about being my taste-tester.

Up at the chicken coops, I need to do some cleaning and put out some fresh warm bedding for everyone this weekend. Here's a funny: I have 7 very broody Silkie hens right now and last night I found 3 in one nest box fighting over who was going to sit on 2 measly little eggs. They really need to take up knitting or something....

Meanwhile, in the sheep barn, we are having a hoof trimming this Saturday for the sheepies before the ground gets too wet and soggy. Hopefully they will be sweet little angels during this procedure and no one (like me) will get any broken noses. (Prayers, please?)

Well, I'm off to finish my grocery list and to clean up my sewing room... oh, and add sewing up some Christmas gifts to the to-do list...

*Whew*

Will I ever get finished?

Happy Thursday, everybody!

Spooky

 

 

 

 

 

An unwelcome visitor

There are many things about farm life that I absolutely love and cherish every day.

However, this does not happen to be one of them.

I appreciate the fact that snakes keep rats away and can tolerate them if I don't have to see them, but when they start eating eggs out of the nest boxes, we have a problem.

This one had already devoured one egg and was starting on the second one when I found it.

So.... Mr. Snake?

Meet the business end of my garden hoe.

Belle carefully examines her late house guest.

There is one little thing about snakes that really disgusts me... why do they have to keep moving so long after they're dead?

BLECH.

Sorry about the short (and slimy) post today- we are getting much needed rain and I'm going to spend the afternoon getting caught up with my indoor chores and do some blogging!

Happy Monday, everybody!

In a pickle

After a taking a little unexpected blog break to get caught up on some summertime chores, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things but cucumbers have been haunting my sleep... they seem to be popping up overnight! I only have three little cucumber plants, but the sheep manure fertilizer has turned them into blooming beasts, literally. This week I'm making bread and butters, next week dill, the week after that, who knows.

I like onion in my bread and butters- what do you put in yours?

The jars and lids are in hot water and waiting to be packed.

15 minutes in a nice hot bath!

*We interrupt this pickle-packin' post to bring you 

some fuzzy-bottomed bliss....*

I love me some fuzzy "Belle" bottoms...

Clementine has such lovely poofy bloomers...

Zsa Zsa, in her little white socks, strikes a pose...

Cute little woolie butts...

Wait...

Woolie Butts?

Sorry, Daisy- but it just isn't the same....

Happy Tuesday, everybody- I'm off to catch up with all my blog friends and see what's new with you!