Our hen Chili is doing very poorly. This morning between chopping ice in water buckets and rushing around feeding everyone I tubed her some electrolytes, massaged her crop that isn't emptying and then gave her some subcutaneous fluids as well. Off to TRC, late. Some fun patients to keep my mind off of things. A northern goshawk and a barred owl that kept hooting at me (after he was biting me of course).
When I checked on Chili late in the day I found that she was not absorbing her fluids. So that means her blood proteins are too low. I brought her upstairs and wrapped her in a towel, left her in front of the glass doors looking out onto the deck and the backyard. She seemed to perk up a bit watching the Flan crew and the ducks tear around during their late day mission for dinner. When I came in after dark she'd only moved a foot, to stand in front of Captain Jack's cage. I'm concerned that she's going septic, with her guts just not moving right. She will see my vet friend on Sunday evening, if she can make it that long.
There is a wind storm set to hit around midnight. So when I got home from TRC I put up some greenhouse poly over two of the three chook palace doors. It will be a south wind that will blow straight in. Hopefully that will help a bit. I caught the special needs guineas in the dark with the help of a fantastic red light setting on the headlamp I bought for G. They are now safe and comfy in their garage coop. A heavily pregnant deer mouse scurried along the top of their condo, stopped and watched me a bit with whiskers twitching. I hate what they do to the garage, but they sure are cute. I set two traps in new spots along the floor, but couldn't bring myself to set one where I knew she'd be.
We are set to receive some heavy snow on Monday. (4-8") But maybe we will be lucky and it will hit just south of us.
It's my birthday on Sunday. We will have a busy weekend of winterizing coops and getting all of the appropriate heaters and heated waterers up. We are also headed over to Wisconsin early in the morning to pick up G's latest farm auction winnings. Hopefully I will get to skype with my parents.
I wonder how my friends back home are doing, and if we will ever move back there.. Time keeps ticking away, and connections seem to be slipping away despite my efforts and best intentions. How to live in both places at the same time?? G's company went through another major change this week, and it's a reminder to me that in his industry things are not always stable. The project could be terminated tomorrow and he could be out of a job. That's the way it is. There's nothing to indicate that it will happen like that, but it's always in the back of my mind.
I looked at property listings in BC today. I found a place with 94 acres that looks amazing.
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| November 2013. Happy days I will always remember! |
Well I'd better try to go to sleep. The wind is already starting to pick up and howl out there. At least G and I went out and did night check together, so my subconscious won't wake me up at 3 am wondering if I closed the sheep gate or forgot to lock the ducks in. The horses had taken shelter in their stalls, and got a late night hay snack as a reward and to help them stay calm in the storm.
These are definitely the Gales of November!
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