A sad day at our house.

[Wildsky]

Wildsky I LOVE your heeler! I have 2 blue merles. Female and a male, Belle Star and Cole Younger. They are both about 13mos old. Aren't they just the greatest, so smart loving and kick .... protecters. all the best to ya, dawnlori

They are fantastic! I really love our girl, I couldn't ask for a better dog to take care of kids! She can be a bit WIRED up at times, but a quick game of fetch and she simmers down.

She's not too happy with me this evening, I got her into the bath a little earlier But she's all fluffy and sweet smelling! (she was out with me in the yard earlier trying to EAT the water coming out the hose! got FULL of water and then MUD)
She misses my analog breaks.

Oh heck, you're way up there in the north - FREEZING! I complain about how cold it is here! Well we're warming up but still!

 

[mixxy]

So happy to hear that Maggie is doing better.. and love the pictures of Ginja... she is a beauty!

 

[Wildsky]

Maggie is doing well, her chest wound is still open but it doesn't smell, and not oozing or anything.

I let her wander around the house a little bit!

 

[Grandma Cas]

So glad maggie is getting better. We had one just like her called Penny when I was young, she used to sit under the pram (stroller) & cluck like mad when anyone but the family came near.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane Wildsky

 

[katink]

Ahh, nice pics of her!

 

[Spikey]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss and glad the other little pecker is doing okay!

 

[bmacva]

I love the pics Wildsky!

Yay Maggie!

 

[Mary Kay]

The best guard dog I ever had was a pot bellied pig! Petunia was the pet of a friend, when she had to go to a rehab hospital for a broken pelvis (car wreak) I took care of the pig. The well man came one day when we weren't home and he said the dogs let him in the side fence to work on the well but the shepard guarded the house door so he couldn't get to the water main. The Akita I had at the time, all 150 lbs of him wouldn't let him near the garage with the tools and spare pump head. The pig followed him around and barked at him and bumped the back of his legs. He said the dogs didn't scare him but the pig was driving him crazy! The chickens didn't care because he wasn't carrying a food dish.
I am glad maggie is better. I should get such care if I get sick!

 

[EssEss]

New to the forum and a little late but wanted to say that losing a pet is so hard and I totally understand. How is Maggie doing? Still on her road to recovery?

 

[Wildsky]

She's still in the house its going on 11 days now I think. She's doing well, I was so tempted to let her out the other day, but the wounds on her "shoulder" are black now with scab's and the other chickens would pick those to bits.
Her chest wound hasn't totally closed up yet, I would be afraid of dirt getting into that, I'm sure the first thing she'll do is fluff around in it!

I've been taking photos of the chest wound ever few days or so, and the progression is pretty quick really. From a big HOLE pretty much to just a slit open now. She's lost some feathers around there, I actually pulled one out today, it was going yellow around the base of the feather, and it came out really easily. Once the feather was out, the yellow spot disapeared.

She'll be a little ragged when she gets back to her buddies, but she'll get back and she'll be fine!


Speaking of this, we found a dog had been up to our place again tonight - peed on my hubby's car tire and our dog went NUTS when we took her out. I think there is someone else that lets their male dog out everynight, and now and then he makes his way up here... will catch him or find out where he's coming from!!

 

[EssEss]

So glad she is doing better Sounds like you're doing a great nursing job.

Might have to call her "Maggie the Wonder Chicken" from now on

 

[Wildsky]

So glad she is doing better Sounds like you're doing a great nursing job.

Might have to call her "Maggie the Wonder Chicken" from now on

My daughter is calling her "maggie moo" it does have a certain ring to it..

 

[scyllabub]

Well, Wildsky, if you weren't sure if you'd get sympathy here, you sure are sure now! I'm glad I've come in after you know that Maggie is recovering, I'd have been worrying day after day.

Reading some of the US posts makes me realise how many worlds apart we are. All I've got is some urban foxes and my resident mice, which I can't kill - and they won't even speak to me they just run away and hide

And... Maggie has got my muesli bowl - I've got a set of them from small to huge, I love those retro pyrex-y things.

scylla

 

[Wildsky]

LOL on the bowl, I have had that thing for a long time... she's also got another fancy dish of mine in there.

Well today I opened Maggie's cage, and the sliding door to the deck, and she marched right out - she went to picking and scratching around the yard for a couple of hours, she even visited the coop.
Next thing I look up and she's standing at the door looking at me through the glass, so I opened the door and in she came..LOL
One of her buddies (Flopsie) decided to come on in to see what the fuss was about - it was pretty funny!

Anyway, I think Maggie's wing was broken, seeing her outside walking around I noticed a huge difference in how her wings hang.. one is tight to her body - the other one is hanging down a little bit. I'm no vet, I just hope its not painful for her and that she'll be ok with a messed up wing. Poor girl.
She's back in her cage in the house for the night, I'll see if she wants to go out again tomorrow... a nice slow introduction back into the flock.

 

[Wildsky]

I'm amazed at how quickly Maggie has recovered from all this. These are some pictures I took today.

LEMME IN!!!

Her wing seems to be ok, there must have been some minor damage, but she can move it - she's actually spent some time on the deck sunbathing. Spoiled brat! She's still living in the house - I'm slowly introducing her back to the flock.

 

[scyllabub]

Maggie is adorable and has cheered my morning (here in the UK). Thanks so much for taking the trouble to post the pics

scylla

 

[Momof3]

Pretty girls. We've got 18 now, but that should drop a bit after the little ones get old enough to tell what's what.

On fencing on the cheap, have you thought about posts and field fencing. We've got the metal T posts and a couple rolls of it around the garden right now to keep the chickens/dogs/rabbits out. We remove it in the winter, but it can be made more permanent and attractive. Goes up fast and will keep dogs out/in. If you want to make it permanent and pretty it up, plant box shrubs or vining type plants at the base. Once it all grows up and around it's quite nice looking. You don't even see the wire fencing.

If you use the metal T posts, you could do as much as you can afford now and then just move around to expand the area as you can afford more.

 

[Wildsky]

On fencing on the cheap, have you thought about posts and field fencing. We've got the metal T posts and a couple rolls of it around the garden right now to keep the chickens/dogs/rabbits out. We remove it in the winter, but it can be made more permanent and attractive. Goes up fast and will keep dogs out/in. If you want to make it permanent and pretty it up, plant box shrubs or vining type plants at the base. Once it all grows up and around it's quite nice looking. You don't even see the wire fencing.

If you use the metal T posts, you could do as much as you can afford now and then just move around to expand the area as you can afford more.

Our whole back yard is fenced off, kinda..... the house is on one side, the horse barn and coop on the other and the two sides are closed off - but the fence is low, 4ft. The chickens found their way over the fence etc...(I think the guinea's were first) and every day I'd see them pacing on the other side, I'd have to run out to let them back in.. every day more than once.
Finally, I lifted one corner on one side of the house, its right against the house and there is a cinder block to hold it just wide enough that the chickens can squeeze through. on the other side we had a kinda gate, and I left the bottom of the gate open, they squeeze through that as well.
So now they free-range all over, they LOVE the front yard, there are a few black walnut tree's and apparently there are lots of bugs under those.

Anyhoo - we'd have to fence the entire place - right now there is barbed wire all the way round the outside, I don't let my horse get near barbed wire, so their (horse and goat) pasture is fenced with field fencing - we have to use those big wood posts, the sandy soil doesn't hold those t-posts very well, not well enough for a horse with an itchy tush! 8-o
I also actually cut a hole into the horse pasture, just big enough for chickens and the ducks - they're in charge of spreading horse poop! 8-o and eating bugs in there.

Out of all my pets and animals, the chickens are by far the hardest workers, and then they give us eggs as well - there is no better pet on the planet!

 

[Topso]

Maggie is so beautiful ! Hope shes feeling great and having fun

 

[Momof3]

Darn. Too bad. We can't go over 4ft in the front. We resorted to clipping wings and are moving to breeds that are supposed to not have the same issues. Can't say that's working well yet because our full grown hefty Brahma roo has flown over trying to evade capture. Can't clip his and don't want to encourage him going over so we have to trap him to the back. The hotter it gets I'm thinking I won't miss the nightly chore too much after he's gone. Ugh. 2 more months.

The silkies are progressing nicely but I'm afraid they're all going to be roos save 1. Need any silkie roos? Silkies are supposedly flightless, not sure whether that means they simply can't jump that high or not. Guess we'll find out when we turn them out with the general population or they do it themselves.

DH just loves to laugh about me being on the phone with him and telling him someone else in the neighborhood had chickens and they were loose in the alley because I could see what I was sure were chicken legs milling around out there. Then it hit. Crud, they're ours.