My Heart's on Fire for Elvira

[holtzchick]

They've gotten so big! It's crazy how much they grew in such a short amount of time!!

 

[whitelop]

Oh my god Denise that is the craziest thing I've ever heard! hhaha. Doing surgeries at home!

I have heard peacocks and they make the most terrible noises! Eh. I would never have any peafowl, they make crazy sounds and I don't like them. My rooster makes me insane and it makes want to choke him out. He makes SO much noise. I hope the baby roosters don't start crowing while I have them, because they would never stop crowing. They like to crow to show dominance and to crow to be insane. haha.

The chicks are HUGE! Hahah. They still only weigh like 2 lbs but they look like little chickens! They're just so much smaller than their parents but look identical. Just little bitty mini's. Its so funny.

The hen still isn't feeling well and I actually have no idea what to do with her. Hopefully she won't die on me after I leave for Pittsburgh.

Denise where do you go near Pittsburgh. My husbands grandparents live in Coraopolis, I just say Pittsburgh because its so much easier than using that name. I can never remember the way its spelled and its a weird name. My husband grew up in Moon Township, which is I guess near or in Coraopolis. I'm not sure how it works up there, we have towns and not townships, its confusing to me. My husbands uncle lives in Cranberry Township and I think thats the cutest name ever for a place to live! hahaa.

I'll take pictures of Ellie when I clean her cage out. And I'll show you guys what a HUGE mess she made of a cardboard box, in one night. OMG its so bad, but I didn't have time this weekend to clean it all up. She's a ridiculous little bunny. LOL

 

[JBun]

It's really hard to go anywhere when you have lots of animals. Now that I have so many rabbits to care for, it's nearly impossible to leave for any length of time. Especially when you have ones that bite, and I have two. No one wants to bunnysit if they might get bit, and I don't really like to risk anyone getting bit besides me. I do have a nephew that would do it for me, for a few days though, if I really needed him to. It's nice to have family near. I hope your trip is fun, and all your animals stay safe.

I don't know if this is something that can help your hen, but I know that when nursing rabbits get milk fever from a sudden calcium deficiency and may die because of it, that they can be given a shot of calcium gluconate to quickly get them the calcium that they need. Or if an injection isn't possible, giving it orally by syringe, may work. You should be able to get it at a feed store. I hope she pulls through.

 

[whitelop]

I think that I'm going to have to separate her into a smaller kennel, so she will be able to get away from the rooster and so I can give her special calcium filled food without him eating it or without feeling like she can't get to it because of him.
So that means, its going to be difficult on my parents because she'll be in her own little house thing and eating different "medicated" food.
I should have known better than to keep feeding her that food, but I just didn't think about it. I don't know, poor girl.

I got some calcium supplements from the store, for people. But she can have them. I need to crush some up and put them in her food. This morning I dissolved them in water and some vitamin D and put them in her feed and added some mashed banana to help her get it down, but she hasn't eaten it. I don't know if she is actually eating. I feel so bad. I think she's eating a little bit, but she's not scratching around or pecking. Ugh. Poor baby. My big sad girl.
I keep saying it but I do feel really terrible.

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...crazy yep. I can only wonder as well about the people dumb enough or cheap, enough to let him operate in his home on their animals.
The first time we heard the peacock we were wtf is that? It sounds like something you'd hear on a jungle movie. About half a mile down the other way some lady had chickens, roosters, geese and I don't know what all kind of birds free range in the yard. Even that far away they made quite a racket. I couldn't have a roo due to the crowing. I'm not a morning person and it's bad enough I have to get up so early all week, if it woke me up early on the weekend I would be ready to wring it's neck. I'm usually a zombie by Friday since I also don't sleep well and what I get is no where near enough since I have to be up early all week.

I saw a chicken once on some pet show, they covered all kinds of pets but this chicken was some mini breed and it's name was chicken little. I thought that was kind of cute!

I used to live in a town about 30 minutes south of Pittsburgh called Belle Vernon. In the township of Rostraver. There is even an area that is the Village of Fellsburg. They are a bit confusing.

I'm sorry the chickens not feeling well. Are there calcium supplements for chickens? I used to have to give my lizards calcium which came in a powder. When I would feed them I would put some of the powder in a Ziploc baggie then put some crickets in, shake the bag and then put the crickets in the tanks and the lizards would chow down. It reminded me of shake-n-bake. Ha! I also had a small plastic container I would put crickets in that had a small door on it. I used it for feeding the lizards when they were smaller as you are not supposed to leave crickets running around the tank long as they will bite the lizards when they are sleeping and just annoy them crawling on them. When they were small they would eat small crickets which were harder to catch so I made this box and would just dump some crickets in there. The lizard would run up to the open door and start scarfing down crickets. I called it their McDonald's.

Buns sure can make messes. Thumps not too bad but he does make a mess of his cage at night when he's locked up.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Morgan, hope your hen recovers, she sounds such a darling.

Denise, I laughed so much at the lizards and their drive through although it the shake and bake was funny too but a little yukky..I´d hate to have to give live insects to any animal, it would freak me out.

I remember my friend´s brother had a snake and one day I was at her house and she was showing me round and there was a little white mouse sitting in the corner of the cage waiting....well, I tell you, if I´d have been able to open the cage (it was padlocked) I would have rescued that mouse...I was having nightmares about it for days.And they used to have bugs all over as they had an iguana and three chameleons...think I´ll stick to bunnies :nod

 

[whitelop]

I don't think my hen is getting better. I think I might actually have to take her to the state vet, they'll put her down and do a necropsy. I don't want to do that, but if she has something thats contagious then I don't want it spreading to the rest of my flock. I don't think that she is contagious, since I have a closed flock but its still so scary to think I might have to put all of them down.

Oh and I got attacked by the stupid damn rooster again today. I came in and immediately took an antibiotic. He scratched my arm pretty good but its not a puncture wound like before. I cleaned it with peroxide and then took an antibiotic. That stupid f-ing bird. I'm so sick of him. I think he might be dinner tomorrow night. Not even joking.

I'm going to go try to syringe feed some calcium, baby food, vitamin d, and antibiotics into that poor little hen. But now I'm thinking it might not be the calcium, I think shes got something else going on. BUT most of the time the only way to figure it out is to necropsy them to see what they HAD. Its an unfortunate thing, but its just part of life. Maybe I can get it cleared up enough in the next few days and get her eating again.

Why do they do this right before I go out of town? I have so much other stuff to be doing and now the hen has decided to fail on me. Jeez, they could have waited.

Oh and Ellie keeps escaping from her damn cage! AHH that bad rabbit!

 

[JBun]

Sorry about your hen. Hopefully you'll be able to figure out what's going on with her. It's so hard to know what's going on with these animals that can't communicate with us.

I think that Shya has been secretly sending messages to Ellie, on how to be a 'bad rabbit'

 

[whitelop]

I think Shya has been sending her messages.
Here are some pictures of Ellie and the huge mess she's made. She's such a handful.

And what you've all been waiting for! THE PICTURES OF ELLIE!

Look at that mess!

 

[PaGal]

Chris...the bugs I could handle although I did start to really dislike crickets. They are fine outside just chirping but inside they are very loud and they are dirty and smell funny. I wouldn't be able to feed an animal to another animal though.

Morgan...I'm so sorry about the hen. It might be best if you think it's not calcium deficiency. It would be bad if it was something contagious especially if it couldn't be treated.

My husband said that roo would have been dinner after your finger attack and I know he is not joking. Sounds like you really do need that outfit! Is there any way for your hubby to feed the roo and what not since it only attacks you. Did you give up on finding someone that wanted him?

Oh wow Ellie did make a mess and for such a small bun!

I hate when animals have to act up or give youy something to worry about when you are really busy or getting ready to away.

 

[holtzchick]

Morgan, that mess looks like the one Hipster made last night too!!! He tore up ALL of the flooring in his pen because I didn't let him out yesterday... that's pretty much his way of saying "ill show you b*tch "

I absolutely adore that first picture of Ellie and I think it's my favorite one yet. She looks like she's got a bit of an rabbitude.... kinda reminds me of Phoenix really and even though she's a mis-marked dutch her marking on her face are fantastic

I'm sorry to hear about your hen! I don't know anything about hens at all but I'm assuming the calcium supplement you bought is bone meal powder? If it's not I would look into it, it's also human grade. This might be a stupid question but if you mix it with water can you syringe it to her? :/

 

[whitelop]

I'm going to give the roo until May when I go to "auction" and hopefully try to sell him. If he comes home with me, then its done; he'll be going to freezer camp. He attacked me today because I had the hen in my hands. I grabbed her off the roosting bar and she was flapping and squawking and he went at my FACE! MY FACE! He got my arm, but nothing serious at all.
Then later, I was putting the hen down on the grass after giving her some antibiotics and baby food, she wing slapped me right in the face! haha. She smacked in the face with her wing and boy did that hurt, she kind of rung my bell!
Hopefully if I can get enough antibiotics in her before we leave, she'll be well enough for me to leave comfortably. If not, she'll be going to Pittsburgh with us! JK no, my farm is officially under voluntary "quarantine", nothing leaves nothing comes.
What I don't understand is, I have a closed flock. I haven't gotten any new birds in 2 years, expect the chicks which came from my birds and I didn't lose any after they hatched. Not even so much as a sneeze from them. So I think it has something to do with JUST the hen, its something inside her and its so sad.
If she makes it through the rest of the week and through us going to Pittsburgh, and still doesn't show any improvement then I'll put her down.
But god, she's my pet and my good girl!
She sat in my lap today for 30 minutes and ate baby food and let me pet her! Then she got on the table and laid there and watched me. Poor thing. It was the outside table, I should add. She didn't come in the house! haha.

YES ELLIE IS A MESS! She's still in there tearing stuff up!

 

[whitelop]

Morgan, that mess looks like the one Hipster made last night too!!! He tore up ALL of the flooring in his pen because I didn't let him out yesterday... that's pretty much his way of saying "ill show you b*tch "

I absolutely adore that first picture of Ellie and I think it's my favorite one yet. She looks like she's got a bit of an rabbitude.... kinda reminds me of Phoenix really and even though she's a mis-marked dutch her marking on her face are fantastic

I'm sorry to hear about your hen! I don't know anything about hens at all but I'm assuming the calcium supplement you bought is bone meal powder? If it's not I would look into it, it's also human grade. This might be a stupid question but if you mix it with water can you syringe it to her? :/

It is a human supplement.
Ellie is so bad! Hahaha. Obviously Hipster is too! What is getting into them?!

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

Ellie is a mess! I loved the pictures of her. She's grown so much since you first got her. I think you should find a picture of her as a baby, and get a picture of her now and put them side by side together so we can see how much she has grown.

Those chicks have grown so much. They are no longer chicks any more

 

[agnesthelion]

......

 

[whitelop]

This might be a long one, pre-warning.
Even though Ellie is a mess, she is the cutest bun. I walked into the kitchen this morning and she was standing against the door of her cabinet waiting for pellets or to be let out. So I let her out and gave her some pellets. Now she's in the kitchen doing something. I think I'm going to go sit in there with her in a moment.
I didn't clean her mess up! ahaha. How bad is that, its been there for days but I was so busy this weekend and then yesterday I was tending to chickens and then last night I was totally exhausted AND I had to go to the bank at like 9:30 at night. My husband didn't get home until like 8 and my son took a really late nap and didn't wake up until like 7:30 pm, because he had a really long day Sunday. So I went to the bank and at home and pretty much went to bed, I didn't feel well.
So my husband put my son in bed while I was at the bank. I know, I know, it was SO late for him to be going to bed. But his regular schedule is WAY off because of being at grandma's house. Anyway, so my husband got him dressed for bed. Now, when I fold his clothes, I fold his sets of pj's together in a bundle so I don't have to search for tops and bottoms. Well, my hub, unbundled the bundle to get the shirt and didn't put the pants on AJ! I went to change AJ this morning and was like, those pants don't match! He unbundled! ahahaha. Silly man!

So as many of you know, my FIL has some mental issues. He's crazy and a jerk and loves his prescription meds. Well, this passed weekend, its reached a new level of crazy. Its gotten really bad. My MIL thinks that she needs to put him in an assisted living facility and sell their house. He is confusing AM with PM and thought that I left AJ at their house for 36 hours and called us at 10 on Sunday morning and yelled at my husband, because he thought it was 10 at night!
The whole time we were there Sunday, he kept asking my MIL if they were doing anything that day, if anyone was coming over. He asked, no joke, 15 times in a few hours. He's hallucinating conversations he's having with people. He thought that he talked to my MIL about buying a car and he didn't, but he bought the car anyway. He didn't want us to rent a car so be bought a car for us to drive to Pittsburgh. WHAT?! He thought that he talked to my MIL about ordering a pool table, he didn't. But he doesn't remember if he ordered it or not, so he may or may not have. I guess we'll find out soon if there is a pool table. But if he did order one, it wouldn't be like a cheap pool table, its going to be a slate top billiard table and expensive. I told my MIL that she needed to limit his money limit to like $300 a week! hahahaha. He obviously has access to TOO much money! And access to the internet.
On Sunday he thought it was my son's birthday, thats not until June. He didn't know what month or day it was! Its getting so sad. Like we kind of kid around about it, but the sh*t got real. We tried the whole, go over there and make sure he's okay and hang out with him thing, but that didn't work. He got mad and then my husband was exhausted from going over there and helping him and whatever. But we have a life and can't uproot our whole lives because my FIL won't take his meds right! Ya know? So my suggestion, which hasn't changed in months, is that my stupid SIL comes and lives with him and helps him out. Her and her boyfriend broke up (awww tear *sticks tongue out* its so sad! boo-hoo) they dated for like 6 months. She's 27 and works at a craft store in Chicago, she has NOTHING going on in her life, so taking care of her parent should be top of the list! But no, she hates him and is rude and nasty to him, its ridiculous. So once again it falls to us because my MIL is the definition of an enabler. If you look it up, my MIL's picture is there. So she won't make anyone do anything, she won't make my SIL come down here, he won't make my FIL come up there, she won't put him in a home. SO whats going to happen is he's going to kill someone or kill himself or have a heart attack and die in the house and my husband will find him. He has a porcine valve in his heart and its reaching its expiration date and he doesn't take care of himself.

So thats what we dealt with this weekend. It was rough and its been stressful and sad and we're all kind of at a loss. Well, I'm not, i have a great solution but no one listens to me. LOL
Sorry that was so long. I like to tell you guys this stuff because I think I may be one of the younger ones in the group and you guys are more knowledgeable and wise than I and you guys always help me and tell me that I'm not wrong its them! hahah. Just kidding. What would you guys do about your FIL if it was him? Are there any suggestions I could make to my MIL? I know what I would do, but she and I are different! She's a pacifist and I'll pass a fist across your face. I have very little patience for this kind of thing, I am very caring and I will take care of you all day everyday, but I will complain about it. But right now, its my sister in law, that brat. Ugh, my husband and I just went on a rampage on her the other night, because its such BS.
Anyway, and now I'm done. Sorry this was so long! Ugh.

 

[agnesthelion]

......

 

[whitelop]

Yes addiction does effect everyone. He has been committed twice and both those times were because he tried to kill himself. It probably wouldn't be that hard to have him committed again. Trust me, we've thought about it.
See the thing with him is, he'll be crazy like this for a while, then my MIL will try to take him to the doctor to show them whats going on and he'll straighten up and act right for the doctor and the doctor is like "oh everything is fine" but its SO NOT FINE. Nothing about any of this is fine. I mean jesus, you'd think about 20 solid years of dealing with the total insanity my MIL would have mentally snapped and just killed him herself, but no. She works out of town and doesn't have to deal with it.
Its not my bag, but I feel like we're the ones who everyone is looking to to make this "right" or "okay". Like since we're here, we're supposed to do whatever with him. I just don't feel like it should be all us who have to go over take care of him and we're not going to go over there and dispense the right amount of pills like damn nurses because we aren't.
I don't know, I think its just ridiculous, the whole thing. I mean, she hates confrontation so much and she never talks about anything and its so annoying. I don't understand how she stays so collected and composed. I don't know how she doesn't just get mad! You know, sometimes you just have to get mad at something to make it make sense in your head. You can't just lay down and take certain things, you have to get mad! Sometimes I don't know how she can function from day to day, unless she's secretly medicated; but I don't think she is. I would have already committed myself if I were her.

Sometimes you just have to get mad! Thats how I make it through life, you have to get loud sometimes and you have to get your blood pumping and you have to feel something other than contentment. Thats just how I feel about it!

 

[PaGal]

As far as him straightening up when it's time to take him to the doctor to show proof, could you video tape him. I think you could do it over time so you could show it is an ongoing problem. If you do that he may not realize he needs to act right. If you take your son with you when you are over and he's acting up you could always just pretend like you are only video taping to get your son and every one just like millions of people do. Your FIL doesn't need to know the real reason for recording and that might keep him from acting like he should.

I bet you just want to shake some sense into your MIL! That's the hardest thing for me in opur situation, when people do wrong I want to fight. I want to do whatever it takes to fix the problem and if it's a person you just can't change and they are causing harm then I say cut them out of the picture but we can't with what we deal with. It leaves us feeling our hands are tied and I don't know sometimes what to do with my ready to fight and fix it energy.

Some people just have a way of keeping theirselves from really seeing the truth in front of them. Your MIL is aware but at the same time she seems to refuse to really face the hard truths and just buries her head in the sand. Or at least that's the experience I have with people like her.

 

[whitelop]

Thats pretty much what she does. She puts her head in the sand. She just gets on a plane and goes back to whatever city she's supposed to be in that day and forgets that she's leaving a crazy person in the house alone. Oh well. I've told my husband many times that I don't want to deal with it, but it always comes back to us in a round about way. Like, its not REALLY our responsibility but his mom will call and be like "go check on your dad" so she puts us in the middle of the mess that she refused to try to clean up 20 years ago. She just doesn't know how to put her foot down and get a handle on things! How do people live like that? I get my sh*t handled and she just walks away and pretends like it isn't happening? OMG!

Anyway, I'm done with that! Its stressing me out and making my face break out. On top of the animal situations making me stress. Jesus, I just need to catch a break! haha.