After morning feed and turnout yesterday I was heading back to the house when I noticed Granny Rose huddled under her house, standing on one foot, shaking and looking very depressed. I caught her easily (not a good sign) and realized she was soaked to the skin, and ice was forming on her tail feathers. I assumed she'd managed to fall in to the duck pond, but later discovered that it must have been the stock tank in the garden. I wrapped her in a big wool blanket and brought her into the upstairs bathroom, a good emergency incubator in our house since it's a tiny bathroom essentially directly over the furnace. Her breathing was a bit raspy, and her throat was extending on every breath. I was very concerned that she'd aspirated.
After she calmed down a bit I sat on the floor with her and started to blow dry her feathers. Her coat was soaked too, so I had to remove that, just like you would a human who'd fallen into icy water. She let me lift each wing gently to dry under there, all the while watching my face. Once she stopped shivering and seemed brighter she started to preen, and I knew we were out of the woods. In true Granny Rose form she bounced right back, and about an hour later she'd had enough of her little room and started calling to be let out. I put a dry coat on her and she sprinted out into the yard, and under the apple trees to dig in the leaves with her awesome high kicking style. She is one resilient chook! I doubt many humans would bounce back so well after a near drowning and freezing death.
I broke up a guinea keet fight yesterday. Not sure why they started it, but two of them were basically neck wrestling almost like giraffes but with the addition of hard pecks and bites where the biter would hang on and the bite-ee would run around trying to shake off the other. They both ended up with skin and eyelid bruising, and tiny cuts. The skin peels off in thin sheets like onion skin on those funny bald heads of theirs.
We've heard coyotes twice in the last four days. One night they were so loud I could hear them through closed windows, with a fan on. We'll make sure we lock the sheep in their hard paddock each night, just in case the electronetting failed or the 'yotes decided to jump it. Not sure why Oakley wasn't doing his dragon snorting routine. Maybe they were too far away for him to be concerned, or maybe he's finally not worried about them. I do rely on him to let me know when something is around when it hasn't announced itself yet...
Lace seems a little off. Quiet and a little grumpy last night, and quiet this morning as well. I haven't taken her temperature yet, but she's got no signs of scours, no breathing difficulty. Her eyelid colour is a little paler than I'd like, so we must get them dewormed asap.
I did notice a spot on her vulva that had 'gunk' on it, and when I removed it there was a small ulcer and a little bit of pus. But I doubt that is enough to make her act so differently. I wonder if I should reduce their alfalfa to a quarter of their diet. I'll have to find more grass hay in that case, since we won't have enough for the horses and sheep for the winter.
I'm supposed to have a lesson on Oak this aft. Hope his feet are ok and he enjoys the work, and behaves even though we have high winds again...He was certainly sweet when I rode him bareback last night. I did a session with long lines on him the other day, and he was doing quite well, considering I have no idea what I'm doing and he's never had long lines on him in the past. Such a smart boy.
Winny is on meds for some mild lung issues, so I hope we caught it early enough to nuke whatever badness in there is making him so lethargic. It's going to get cold and stay cold soon, so I want the boy to be as healthy as possible. His winter coat is long enough for the cold days ahead, and we bought a raincoat for him, since he and Oak like to stay out no matter what the weather.
The ducks were not looking pleased with the damp cold yesterday--the wind chill was pretty fierce too. Just strange how beasts all covered with downy feathers faired worse than the chooks yesterday. Time to get their heat lamp up.
My to do list just doesn't get tackled when these random things distract me and require my attention!
Winter is so much extra work!
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