Farmfresh
City Biddy
Give 'em a week! 
AL - Recording baby steps: Newest Addition
- Thread starter AL
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- #272
AL
Almost Self-Reliant
I hope so!
They HAVE picked up on how much they are eating. They have gone through the 50lb bag I bought last Monday, fortunately I learned my lesson and I bought another bag Friday! They are averaging about 10lbs of feed a day, plus scratch, oats and a few greens I pull up for them.
In other news:
Mowed the garden and had planned to let the horses in, but Skye colicked last night so nothing but pasture grass and soaked hay for her. She doesn't drink cold water in this weather, so she dehydrates and then colics. I was carrying out warm water to her when I saw her laying flat out on her side. I whistled, called and clapped my hands - nothing. Scared me to death! I dropped the bucket and ran towards her calling for her - she finally got up. She had been rolling. I walked her a while and gave her a shot of banamine. Called the vet at 10
and we decided to just give her some more time.
A year ago yesterday I had to have my 30 yr old mare, Babe, put down. 4 years ago last Tuesday my 16yr old mare, Lucy, colicked and ended up dying from it. Thanksgiving is hard on horses at my house for some reason.
ETA - she still isn't drinking enough. I went to a 24hr gas station last night and bought a couple of bottles of apple juice and poured in her warm water - no go. All I can tell that she drank was about half of that bucket of water throughout the night. I soaked her some hay this morning and this evening. This evening I also put some salt on the hay. Tomorrow I will go to the vet and get some more banamine, and to the store for better apple juice. *sigh*
So, new plan. Tomorrow I hope to set up a new hardware cloth "tractor" of sorts for the meats.
I also want to start getting ready to string fence across the front of the garden so I can let my layers in for the winter. I might turn the horses in, but I am afraid Buddy will chase the chickens and that he might catch one! (he chases my 105lb dog. They love each other - touch noses, lick each other).
I hope to find some more sugar pumpkins on sale and cook them down. I am going to do pumpkin bread for gifts at work.
They HAVE picked up on how much they are eating. They have gone through the 50lb bag I bought last Monday, fortunately I learned my lesson and I bought another bag Friday! They are averaging about 10lbs of feed a day, plus scratch, oats and a few greens I pull up for them.
In other news:
Mowed the garden and had planned to let the horses in, but Skye colicked last night so nothing but pasture grass and soaked hay for her. She doesn't drink cold water in this weather, so she dehydrates and then colics. I was carrying out warm water to her when I saw her laying flat out on her side. I whistled, called and clapped my hands - nothing. Scared me to death! I dropped the bucket and ran towards her calling for her - she finally got up. She had been rolling. I walked her a while and gave her a shot of banamine. Called the vet at 10
and we decided to just give her some more time. A year ago yesterday I had to have my 30 yr old mare, Babe, put down. 4 years ago last Tuesday my 16yr old mare, Lucy, colicked and ended up dying from it. Thanksgiving is hard on horses at my house for some reason.
ETA - she still isn't drinking enough. I went to a 24hr gas station last night and bought a couple of bottles of apple juice and poured in her warm water - no go. All I can tell that she drank was about half of that bucket of water throughout the night. I soaked her some hay this morning and this evening. This evening I also put some salt on the hay. Tomorrow I will go to the vet and get some more banamine, and to the store for better apple juice. *sigh*
So, new plan. Tomorrow I hope to set up a new hardware cloth "tractor" of sorts for the meats.
I also want to start getting ready to string fence across the front of the garden so I can let my layers in for the winter. I might turn the horses in, but I am afraid Buddy will chase the chickens and that he might catch one! (he chases my 105lb dog. They love each other - touch noses, lick each other).
I hope to find some more sugar pumpkins on sale and cook them down. I am going to do pumpkin bread for gifts at work.
ohiofarmgirl
Sipping Bacon Martinis
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yep what she said!Farmfresh said:Give 'em a week!
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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Hope Skye is ok. I lost my 1st horse to colic.
- Thread starter
- #275
AL
Almost Self-Reliant
OFG - I will weigh them again Thursday or so, that is when we have to decide to go while the BF is in town (if he is... he works in the Gulf so has an unpredictable schedule) or give them some more time and just tough it out. My friend is a very girly tough woman lol. I suppose between the 2 of us we can get the deed done.... unless of course my dad wants to relive his youth 
Thanks, Deb. She seems to be ok for now. Sorry about your horse, it is so hard to lose them
. My first horse colicked just before his 31st birthday and I had to have him put down.
I was thinking tonight, I probably have the most hectic lunch break of any of my coworkers. During my 1hr lunch: I went to the store for apple juice, home to feed the meaties, count heads in the layer house and close the big door, water Skye (she drank about 2gal), haul more water to Skye after Buddy picked up the bucket and dumped it, change shirts after buddy slobbered down my back, went to my folks to get Buford (14yr old Lab), gave him his pain pill and walked him up to my house to let him in, then finally grabbed a glass of milk and some leftover turkey on my way out the door to come back to work.
When I get home tonight I will replay a lot of this... and other than my animals being sick or in pain, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Thanks, Deb. She seems to be ok for now. Sorry about your horse, it is so hard to lose them
. My first horse colicked just before his 31st birthday and I had to have him put down.I was thinking tonight, I probably have the most hectic lunch break of any of my coworkers. During my 1hr lunch: I went to the store for apple juice, home to feed the meaties, count heads in the layer house and close the big door, water Skye (she drank about 2gal), haul more water to Skye after Buddy picked up the bucket and dumped it, change shirts after buddy slobbered down my back, went to my folks to get Buford (14yr old Lab), gave him his pain pill and walked him up to my house to let him in, then finally grabbed a glass of milk and some leftover turkey on my way out the door to come back to work.
When I get home tonight I will replay a lot of this... and other than my animals being sick or in pain, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Farmfresh
City Biddy
Isn't it just the way. Some horses are so picky about their water. I hope she improves.
Have you tried feeding her soup instead of her grain ration? We had an old picky mare that we kept going that way in winter. Hot soupy mashes morning and night and warmed her water in between.
Do you have a heater on the tank? Some horses have a problem even with those. Our Cayenne likes to pick up a tank heater by it's cord and fling them to the ground. :/ It is a miracle (even with a GFCI outlet) that she has never been electrocuted. Then again Cayenne and our old mare Kelly lived on snow alone for three days once!! (circumstances beyond our control) POA ponies are descendants from native American wild ponies so they seem to be able to endure things that would put the average horse down for the count.
Have you tried feeding her soup instead of her grain ration? We had an old picky mare that we kept going that way in winter. Hot soupy mashes morning and night and warmed her water in between.
Do you have a heater on the tank? Some horses have a problem even with those. Our Cayenne likes to pick up a tank heater by it's cord and fling them to the ground. :/ It is a miracle (even with a GFCI outlet) that she has never been electrocuted. Then again Cayenne and our old mare Kelly lived on snow alone for three days once!! (circumstances beyond our control) POA ponies are descendants from native American wild ponies so they seem to be able to endure things that would put the average horse down for the count.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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I always have to watch Misty if I take her to something overnight where she's in a stall. She neither eats nor drinks properly. In fact, the first time I did it, she hardly ate or drank the whole weekend. And, she dropped weigh real quick. I had people asking me what I fed her. Of course, as soon as she got home, she was fine.
Farmfresh
City Biddy
My aunt had a Tennessee Walking Horse plantation show horse that would not pee if they were away from home. EVER! She was attentive enough to discover his problem and used to pack him a sack of peed on bedding from home. She would put the bedding into the show stall and ... the fountain of gold!
He had lots of problems till she figured him out. Horses can be weird.
He had lots of problems till she figured him out. Horses can be weird.
lorihadams
Always doing laundry
Hey, what sex are your birds cause the roos will get bigger faster too. I always end up doing the hens last. Just seems like they need an extra week or 2.
The other thing I can suggest is to start feeding them some cracked corn mixed in with their feed. It will add a lovely layer of fat and help them keep warm at night. I started about a week ago with a 50-50 mix of flock raiser and cracked corn and now they are at more like 80-20 corn to flock raiser and they have been getting scraps from the kitchen. My layers are jealous but they aren't laying so tough cookies!
I withhold feed at night cause mine are outdoors in a tractor and I don't have a light on them. I feed mine once in the morning and once in the afternoon at about 3pm. Between then they forage on fresh grass. I will never do them in a fixed pen again. I spread the feed out on the ground cause if I put it in a feeder they just trample each other. I pour it in a straight line (about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket twice daily) straight on the ground but they are always on fresh grass. I don't worry about parasites, honestly they have never lived long enough for it to be a problem. They also learn that grass is a food source that way. The ones we processed yesterday were full of grass and the meat was clean and beautiful.
I just took some pics and I will post them on my journal for you.
The other thing I can suggest is to start feeding them some cracked corn mixed in with their feed. It will add a lovely layer of fat and help them keep warm at night. I started about a week ago with a 50-50 mix of flock raiser and cracked corn and now they are at more like 80-20 corn to flock raiser and they have been getting scraps from the kitchen. My layers are jealous but they aren't laying so tough cookies!
I withhold feed at night cause mine are outdoors in a tractor and I don't have a light on them. I feed mine once in the morning and once in the afternoon at about 3pm. Between then they forage on fresh grass. I will never do them in a fixed pen again. I spread the feed out on the ground cause if I put it in a feeder they just trample each other. I pour it in a straight line (about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket twice daily) straight on the ground but they are always on fresh grass. I don't worry about parasites, honestly they have never lived long enough for it to be a problem. They also learn that grass is a food source that way. The ones we processed yesterday were full of grass and the meat was clean and beautiful.
I just took some pics and I will post them on my journal for you.
- Thread starter
- #280
AL
Almost Self-Reliant
Skye is doing fine, now that it is 70* and the low tonight is 69*. It is supposed to get cold again, maybe even in the low 30s upper 20s later around Wed / Thurs.
Skye is a 28yr old Tenn Walker / Arabian x and will NOT drink cold water in cold weather. We don't have waterers with heaters here, but I ordered a bucket online that had a heater. All it did though was come on long enough to keep the water from freezing - not good enough for the queen. Once I get caught up again on $ I will buy a new garden hose to run from my water heater in the house to her trough so I don't have to carry buckets all night
I feed her Equine Sr - put a scoop in her pan and cover it with water (when it stays cold weather I will use warm water). By the time I feed Buddy, Skye's feed is a mush. I add a little more water, some salt and give that to her. All of the hay, even Buddy''s gets wet down good.
I saw the pics, Lori! Those were some big chickens! I toss a handful or so of scratch out for mine, have been for awhile. It is literally only a handful for 21 birds - do you think that will make them too fatty?
I gave them some wormy squash today and also made a tiny extension so they can get to a little grass until I can do better. Crazy birds sat in the grass with their beaks through the hardware cloth looking at the backyard.
I can definitely see why folks recommend putting them in a moveable tractor.
I put a wheelbarrow load of dirt in one side of the pen because it was getting slimy. Now I have to shovel out the front of the shelter for the same reason. Oh well, good compost.
Speaking of compost - I have a pile made up of litter from the meaties when they were in the totes, then the pool, and some from the shelter. It also has a couple of wheelbarrows of cleaning out the chicken house and horse stalls over the summer.
This morning I tilled the garden lot under. Now I am trying tto decide if I want to spread the compost, along with leaves from Mr Ms house and till it under to let the garden "rest" until February. Or do I want to plant english peas? Or do I want to compost AND plant?
Have any of you used the innards / blood etc from butchering meaties in your garden? I have heard that you can, but that sounds like an invitation to vermin and predators?
Reminds me I have to call the Game Commission... something has got to give with this hawk killing my neighbors chickens. Too many houses close by to dispatch him on my own.
and it is only a matter of time before it decides my chickens are on the menu. The other day he was sitting in a tree not 30ft from the backyard my hens roam.
It is supposed to get cold again, maybe even in the low 30s upper 20s later around Wed / Thurs.Skye is a 28yr old Tenn Walker / Arabian x and will NOT drink cold water in cold weather. We don't have waterers with heaters here, but I ordered a bucket online that had a heater. All it did though was come on long enough to keep the water from freezing - not good enough for the queen. Once I get caught up again on $ I will buy a new garden hose to run from my water heater in the house to her trough so I don't have to carry buckets all night
I feed her Equine Sr - put a scoop in her pan and cover it with water (when it stays cold weather I will use warm water). By the time I feed Buddy, Skye's feed is a mush. I add a little more water, some salt and give that to her. All of the hay, even Buddy''s gets wet down good.
I saw the pics, Lori! Those were some big chickens! I toss a handful or so of scratch out for mine, have been for awhile. It is literally only a handful for 21 birds - do you think that will make them too fatty?
I gave them some wormy squash today and also made a tiny extension so they can get to a little grass until I can do better. Crazy birds sat in the grass with their beaks through the hardware cloth looking at the backyard.
I can definitely see why folks recommend putting them in a moveable tractor.
I put a wheelbarrow load of dirt in one side of the pen because it was getting slimy. Now I have to shovel out the front of the shelter for the same reason. Oh well, good compost.Speaking of compost - I have a pile made up of litter from the meaties when they were in the totes, then the pool, and some from the shelter. It also has a couple of wheelbarrows of cleaning out the chicken house and horse stalls over the summer.
This morning I tilled the garden lot under. Now I am trying tto decide if I want to spread the compost, along with leaves from Mr Ms house and till it under to let the garden "rest" until February. Or do I want to plant english peas? Or do I want to compost AND plant?
Have any of you used the innards / blood etc from butchering meaties in your garden? I have heard that you can, but that sounds like an invitation to vermin and predators?
Reminds me I have to call the Game Commission... something has got to give with this hawk killing my neighbors chickens. Too many houses close by to dispatch him on my own.
and it is only a matter of time before it decides my chickens are on the menu. The other day he was sitting in a tree not 30ft from the backyard my hens roam.
