Tuesday morning Tabby brought her white Silkie Bantam named Nicole into the house. She said something was wrong with Nicole. That she was squatting/walking with her tail dragging. And something seemed stuck in her crop. Tabby massaged the crop and that lump went away. But Nicole still couldn't walk normally. Tabby thought she must be egg bound. (This means that an egg is stuck inside a hen and if it doesn't come out within a few days, the hen will die.)
Unfortunately for me, my chicken expert had to leave soon for school. So that meant the boys and I had to play vet! Tabby told me what to do but said I should double check in our book Fresh Eggs Daily by Lisa Steele. (Lisa also has a blog by the same name which is very useful.) She then put Nicole in a little dog cage that we use sometimes for injured animals.
After taking Tabby to school, I re-read the egg bound treatment section in the Fresh Eggs Daily book and then watched a couple YouTube videos. Then I got out our supplies and enlisted Hunter's help.
We had to get Nicole to soak in a bath with warm water and epsom salts for about 20 minutes. She seemed to enjoy it though we had to keep her pushed down into the water, instead of standing in it.
Next I toweled off Nicole and held her while Hunter blow dried her. She liked that too! Then I rubbed olive oil all over her vent and worked a little inside. Neither of us liked that very much. I put her back in the cage and gave her some water and (uncooked) oatmeal. After awhile, she seemed like she was feeling so much better that we took her outside, so she could rejoin her flock.
Later that afternoon I found what I think was the egg in question. Nicole is doing great. :)
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| some of Tabby's chicken collectibles |
I really am grateful for how easy it is for us to get whatever information we need quickly these days!
Day 25 - My washing machine and dryer:
Really! Have you ever thought about how easy we have it with laundry? Throw stuff in, I add a bag of soap nuts for my detergent, and then push some buttons. When it's done - I throw it in the drier (or ask one of my boys to) and push another button. How easy is that? Just a century ago, it was so much more involved to do laundry.
I love my Samsung washer and dryer. They even sing to me when they are finished! Schubert's "Trout Quintet." Ha!
Day 26 - Traditions:
I used to be super into holidays and loved decorating and sending cards for just about every one. Now they really don't mean much to me anymore. I'm not sure what happened. Still though, I have two Thanksgiving traditions I really like.
The first is for my kids to each do a turkey handprint. Then I save them in a notebook.
The second is to look at my Lilly Thanksgiving pictures. These are from 2011:
Day 27 - An extra day:
The day after Thanksgiving always feels like a "bonus day" to me. I do NOT go to the stores - the crowds of Black Friday do not make any money saved worth it to me. Instead, if we are not traveling, I like to use it to get some extra stuff done. Today I am headed up into our (scary) attic to clean out. I can't wait!
This calendar picture turned out weird. But I'm not taking the time to re-do it.(Smiley face is pointing at the date for today.) Gotta get up in that attic!
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