Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 30 - 10/19/12 One Month

10/19/12

Well, the hay that the Bat brought home was moldy...bad moldy.  It was free, so one cannot complain..but the mold got Katy Chicken to wheezing and sneezing again, poor thing. 

To economize and make do with what we have, I will be encasing these bales in heavy duty leaf bags and using them for insulation anyway.  It won't look as pretty but it gets the job done and will make the bales easy to clean, while still sealing in the mold and providing an insulator for this open air coop. 

I found that I don't need as many bales to make this coop snug but will hold a few bales in reserve in case the cold gets more bitter this winter and I need more oomph in the coop.  I doubt I will....

Pics of Middle Sister, AKA Stumpy, and her now normal feet.  She was soaked with epsom salts for these impacted glands in her feet and resulting inflammation, 2 nights in a row, and the impaction was relieved some days before that.  I think the epsom salt soaks finally turned the tide for this chicken and she is now on the way to filling out and getting a better overall appearance and health. 

From left to right on the three WR sisters:  Raggedy Ann(no longer raggedy), Middle Sister(no longer Stumpy) and Bertha AKA Moby Dick(the only one that looked like a chicken when this all started). 

Middle Sister's feet...no longer puffy, swollen and tender...you can still see a residual redness but her scales are shiny, no more evidence of scale mites and the swelling is down.

From this pic, it's almost hard to tell which hen is the Middle Sister now(she's the one in the middle, naturally)....look below to see what she looked like at  Week 1, a mere three weeks previous. 

Pics of the new leaves added to the bedding today....and the chickens who love them.  I try to get leaves that are good and dry, after the dew has dried and the winds have done their job.  Then the open air coop will continue to let off humidity/moisture as these leaves dry out and deteriorate.

 

I have one more chicken that needs reconditioning and is not catching up with the others.  She is a little BA or a BA mutt that still looks pretty scraggly, dull feathered and kind of skinny.  She is the other chicken I found with enlarged and impacted glands in the feet, though not as bad as the WR, Middle Sister.  This bird doesn't have a name other than That Other Black Hen...we'll have to work on that.  She is not one of my original flock and I do not know her age, she is molting and she is not laying.  I'll try to get pics of her tomorrow to show her general condition right now. 

For now, I think a good soak in the warm Epsom salts may make a difference in this bird's feet, maybe dig out any debris in those glands...it just may help her gain some ground.  It sure worked for Middle Sister.  When a creature is in discomfort, you can often see it in their general condition....they won't have a healthy, bright appearance and movement and they will stand out from the rest, if the rest of the flock are doing well.  That is what is happening with this little bird...she's the last one that seems to be needing some sheen and gloss to her feathers and some pep in her step. 

After that one, I think they will all be out of the woods and moving towards good health for the winter.   Most of the legs are showing new, glossy scales ~ I don't know when they lost the old ones but there is new, lovely and supple scales now showing on most birds.  Toby still has some old scales to shed, Turkey has some and a few of the others but for the most part, most legs are new and pretty.  I'll try to get pics of the new legs/scales/feet soon. 

Winterization of the coop is done for now. I'd like to add a few features to let in more light but will have to work on that a little.  This is a weird style of coop, so the tweakings are possible but not as easy as on a wooden coop.  I just feel like natural light is so important for winter as the birds will be in the coop more and need some sunshine.  This coop is pretty dark for my liking. 

The coyotes are howling close again tonight and about in the same location.  They must have a kill down there that they are returning to and eating on. 

Soaked a chicken's feet tonight and removed some stinky stuff out of the foot glands, applied more NuStock to the scales and massaged in some bag balm.  Miss Ruby got a butt check, a wash and some more NS applied to her vent.  Her vent looks great except for ulcers at the corners of her vent.  I applied bag balm to these as well.  She lays an enormous egg and this can't be helping the healing of those corners.  The gleet looks like it is gone and she is no longer swollen and prolapsed at all. 

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 31 - 10/21/12

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 26 - 10/15/12

10/15/12

Noticed Stumpy's feet today and the swelling has gone down immensely!!!  I took pics but my camera is charging...will review the pics as soon as that is done and post a pic of her feet after just a 5 min. soak in epsom salts last night and a massage with Nu-Stock. 

I know the changes are subtle and hard to detect in these pics, but as a nurse I'm pretty adept at noticing when something is swollen or has become less swollen...in the first few pics you can see that Stumpy AKA Middle Sister has swollen ankles and toes, with a shiny and puffed appearance of the ankles in this first pic.  You can see a crease at the bottom of the swelling that shows the edema is so tight it has created a roll or crease in her flesh at the bend of the ankle.  

In this bottom pic you can't see the shiny puff at the top of the ankle joint and a more smoothly flowing line of the foot.  I still see redness around the toes but the foot has become more uniform in shape and size...no more skinny legs and big feet as in the second pic on this page.  Now she has nice, thick legs flowing down into more normal sized ankles(no puffy or shiny roll of flesh at the ankle) and the feet look more in proportion to her legs.  We are getting there.....another soak tonight perhaps and this time a massage with bag balm.  

In these two lower pics you can see a better stance and a better stride, she no longer walks or stands hunched over with her neck pulled down into her body.  If you see a chicken with this stance or walk at all times, this usually indicates some discomfort in the chicken.  That's one of the things I look for in my flock when I do a daily looky lou...everyone moving good?  Everyone standing proud?  Now, you can't count the times when they are just resting...often times you will see them with their neck tucked down and just standing still.  When it's cold outside and they are resting you will often see this and it's just conserving heat.  Sometimes it's just a bird resting while standing up.  But..if they walk that way or stand that way all the time, you know something is up. 

I think she still has tired eyes.... you can see an almost weary look in her eyes.  That, to me, is a sign of pain, discomfort or weakness.  When this flock arrived they all had that look around their eyes. 

This is another thing I look for when assessing my flock each day... bright eyes.  Their eyes need to be wide open, bright and sharp...almost beady.  If their eyes look heavy lidded ~ like Miss Stumpy here ~ or sleepy looking, I always give that bird a second look.  She really could be a little sleepy, standing there all hunched over and droopy eyed... but if I see her looking like that several times a day there is something wrong with a chicken. 

Stumpy always looks tired around the eyes.  I know how she feels... I'm in pain pretty much all the time now and some days it's worse and my eyes look just like that.  Tired of dealing with it all. 

Here is the Gnarly Bunch ranging on this overcast fall day.... the leaves are the most beautiful they have been for many a long year:

 

Gnarly Bunch had a lovely day in the beautiful fall weather today.  I can't remember when I've seen a more beautiful fall...it's been many years since.  We got 2 good eggs with nice hard shells.

GOOD:  Stumpy got soaked in epsom salts again tonight but I think that will be the last time.  Her feet and ankles look so much better..it will remain to be seen if they stay well.  All other flock members continue to gain wt. and feathering and look so content and bright eyed. 

BAD:  Ruby's butt still looks a little tender and swollen.  I gave her another dose of OLE but cannot tell if it is helping.  I may try the miconazole/lotrimin cream right inside the vent and see if it has any effect on that area.  After that, I don't have much left in my arsenal.  Eventually a person has to realize that either the bird is healthy enough to thrive without chemical intervention or not...if not, she doesn't belong in the flock. 

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 27 - 10/16/12

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 25 - 10/14/12

10/14/12

Gnarly Bunch Update:  Two very large eggs today.  I'm not real satisfied with what I saw on Ruby Crockett's butt last night and am thinking this is still a gleet issue.  She is mildly prolapsed... her cloaca is swollen, red and protrudes a little when she is under stress.  Just a little.  I put Preparation H on her last night again and also dosed her with some Olive Leaf Extract, which I hadn't gotten around to doing on an individual basis with this hen.  I'll be dosing her again this evening with the OLE and looking at the vent for any progress. 

I must be getting soft, going to all this trouble for one hen and ordinarily I guess I would not.  But that is the nature of an experiment... try things to see if they work.  Can't really see if they work unless you try them first and then can report on if they worked.  So far, the Nustock was great and did wonderful things but this hen, of all the rest, seems to need a little extra booster to kick this gleet/thrush out of her system.  Not being one of my original flock, I have no way of knowing her immune system development or genetics, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants on this one.  

It would be a shame to cull such a pretty hen...who is still laying huge eggs when her butt looks and feels this way, and she is fighting an infection.  What a trooper!  

Middle Sister, whom we have nicknamed Stumpy, due to her swollen ankles, is looking better each day.  I'll be looking at her feet this night as well, to see how that gland looks and to smell it.  Yes, I said, to smell it.  Now, I don't often smell chicken feet but it behooves one to smell any areas that are suspicious looking and may have harbored infection.  As a nurse I've got a pretty good nose for infection and can often tell when someone has a sinus infection or allergies just by talking to them.  I can actually smell it on their breath.  Yeah... not my favorite gift, but I have it all the same.   

Yes, I even smelled Ruby's butt the last time we examined it... that's another reason I know the gleet is diminished a great deal.  When we first discovered it, her butt smelled like a real rotten deer that had been out in the sun for three days.  Very bad.  Now, I can not detect that rotten odor and she doesn't have any drainage but she still has this edema inside her vent, so I don't want to get lax on this infection.  Getting out the OLE and going to see if it works miracles like it did in my family.  I've dissolved 3 capsules in water and olive oil and am giving her 1/3 of this mix each night for 3 nights and will see if that helps at all. 

Evening Update:

The Prep-H really worked!  She is not so swollen and red inside her vent and I cannot see her cloaca tonight.  I just hope it stays that way.  It doesn't help that she lays such large eggs.  Went ahead and applied more Prep-H for good measure and also some NS on the rim and corners of the vent, just for kicks and giggles.  Gave her OLE dose and put her back on the roost... I bet she is getting pretty fed up with people touching her butt! 

I crushed the contents of 3 OLE capsules and dissolved them in water and a little olive oil and gave her one third dose the last two nights.  Tonight will be her last dose and then I'll wait to see if it is having any positive affect on her. 

Soaked Stumpy's (AKA MS) feet in Epsom salts tonight and massaged that gland, removed a little debris and reapplied NS.  Her legs now show no evidence of scale mites and are nice and yellow...no more pale legs!  

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 26 - 10/15/12

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 24 - 10/13/12

10/13/12

Y'all wanna see pics of The Bat I took today??  This is totally off topic of the thread but it will give you an idea of from whence I come......   She is dressed up here for a re-enactment at a local historic site that does fall tours of the Blennerhassett Island and mansion here locally~she is one of the servants in the show and does clogging around a bonfire.  Jake does no clogging whatsoever...he's more of a butt-sniffin' dog.  Dancin' is fer sissies. 

 

I made her try to look stern but she is incapable of pulling it off properly....in my great-granny's pics you could FEEL the burn of her gaze.

Gnarly Bunch Daily Update:  Two eggs today...one was from my Little Red Hen.  She is 6 yrs old and is laying nearly daily now, right in the middle of molt and natural slow down.  What a trooper!  She is the most inquisitive and friendly one of the bunch and is also Toby's fave...which also leaves the back of her head a little thin on feathers but she's holding in there. 

Middle Sister's feet and ankles are definitely less swollen and inflamed in appearance today.  Not my imagination.  I really observed her today and watched her feet and her walking closely...it's really happening.  She is also looking more...I don't know how to describe it exactly but I guess she looks more at ease and active.  She even looks more smooth in her feathering and has a more upright stance.  No hunching when she stands.  I'll take pics soon so you all can see the difference.  She just might have missed the cull on this one. 

I looked at Ruby's butt last night and noticed she was a little prolapsed...put some Preparation H on it and will check it tonight.  I think she has had to strain so much to get around all the swelling from the gleet.  She wasn't real prolapsed but did have the end of the cloaca visible in the vent and it was swollen and inflamed looking.  She has a very large egg, so I'm not surprised she has had some trauma there after all the tenderness from the gleet.

Funny thing is that this chicken looks the most healthy and beautiful of all the hens and I just don't know how when you think of what she has been through.  But she just gleams in the sunlight and her comb is so red now... she sure is a pretty hen. 

Actually, these birds have been laying real steady for all this time until at the end of this summer... which is normal slow down for molt.  The folks that had them reported getting "buckets" of eggs..and I believe them ~ this is a well-honed flock of layers that I spent a long time developing.   They had cartons upon cartons of eggs in their spare fridge and said they couldn't use them all...knowing what condition the birds were in I can't imagine how anyone would want an egg that came out of them. 

It remains to be seen if they will snap out of this slump of molt, considering what has been done to their systems.  These birds are pretty old to be laying steady anyway, though I've had 7 year olds in my flocks that laid steady too.  I always plan and cull for egg laying and laying longevity... I don't like having to replace hens all the time.  Just when you get to know your flock you'd have to get all new ones.  Just not my thing... I like the old tried and true gals. 

Gnarly Bunch - Chapter 25 - 10/14/12