Ellie May's 4H Poultry Story: Part III

After I stitched up Cherry, I became known as something of a chicken whisperer.  Friends would call me if they had a problem and I would tell them how to fix it.  One day I got a call from some friends that had a chicken with a broken leg.  I grabbed the medical bag and went to their house, and got to work.  I moved the bone back in to place and then splinted it with Popsicle sticks.  I remembered in horse club how they had told us that if a horse has a broken leg the horse would have to be suspended.  I figured it would be the same with chickens.  I mad a sling out of an old pair of boy's underwear, and suspended the chicken so there was no weight on her leg, then put food and water within reach.  In about one month the hen was healed and laying eggs again.

I had many other interesting experiences this spring.  One of our goats, Ren, had a hard time giving birth to her triplets.  I had to reach inside her to find the last one and pull it forward so my mom could get it the rest of the way out.  It was sad because the baby was dead and one of her two surviving kids got stepped on and died.  After Ren had her babies she was too weak to get on the milking stand and I had to milk her on the ground.  Mom and I would give her medicine every day and she was soon all better.  Ren's remaining baby was very sassy.  Ren gave good milk and Mom and I made lots of cheese, lotion and more from it.  (rerun here, sorry guys, forgot she told this story)  Also this spring, one of my brother's rabbits rejected her babies and all but one of the died.  He gave the bunny to me to take care of and I named the rabbit Stewy.  Since our cat had kittens the day before, I took the bunny to her and got her to accept it with her litter, and the bunny to nurse on her.  The bunny was thriving and growing for a couple of days, but was smaller than the kittens and got squooshed.  One other thing I did was when one of my chickens died, I dissected it and found out why it died, so that I could keep it from happening to my other chickens.  We had been loosing birds from a meat pen, which we usually didn't have trouble with.  Ellie asked, "Mom, can I have a scalpel?"   I said, "Um, okay, just don't use it on your brother."  She came back in the house about half an hour later and told me that the heart and lungs were underdeveloped.  After researching, she determined that we had a feed issue.  Changed the feed and quit loosing birds.

I have had a great time in 4H so far.  I have learned many things that help us every day on our homestead, and these experiences keep leading me in directions I never thought of.  For example, I recently tattooed my first goat kids, so maybe next year I will take a try at disbudding.  And Mom and I just got a microscope and are learning to examine our animals for internal parasites.  I have learned how to count Haemonchus contortus parasite eggs and to identify coccidia in goat samples, and will be learning about chicken parasites and protozoa next.  She now does about half of the fecal exams around here, and is able to identify parasites in all of our animals.  Doesn't mind running the slides, but isn't wild about collecting the samples.   I am also learning what medicine to treat the goats with to get rid of worms and other disease.  There is so much to learn, and I can't wait to find out what is next.  Some day, I might even be a vet!  Well, she got over that one.  But she has since spent a lot of time studying herbs and their medicinal uses. 

I was working on Part III the other nite when the storm hit.  I had loaded a series of pics Ellie May had taken of one of her broody hens and her chicks, that included hatching chicks and some antics as they grew.  Sorry, but it currently takes me about half an hour to load each picture.  Am just going to save that for another time. 

Will share this one, today, though.  Ellie's story had some great pictures and captions, am sorry i lost them.  Whirled Peas.  At the end of the story is a set of pictures in storyboard, like a cartoon.  We had this vile rooster--nobody liked him and he was just plain mean and aggressive.  He was a Black Crested White Polish, and Ellie originally named him Edgar Allen Polish.  When his true personality came out, i started calling him Crazy Eddy.  In the storyboard (captions in red,) the first picture is of Crazy Eddy attacking Ellie as she is walking by minding her own business.  Crazy Eddy makes his challenge.  The second picture is of Ellie grabbing him by his tail feathers.  Ellie May exacts her revenge.  The third picture is a very contrite Eddy in Ellie's arms, with no tail feathers.  Don't mess with the Chicken Whisperer.  

Ellie May Presenting Edgar Allen Polish

Truth of the matter is that Eddy with no tail feathers was a couple of days after the first two were taken.  The dogs don't kill the chickens, but that doesn't mean they don't smack the ones that need it.  When the roos get out of line, the dogs pull out their tail feathers.  Takes them down a notch or two until they grow new ones.  Apparently Eddy spurred the wrong dog.  We finally had enough of Crazy Eddy, and turned him into sausage.  Everyone cheered the morning i fried and served him.  I expected a major production when i went to butcher him, but oddly, he was very quiet, and didn't put up a fight.