Update on Lionel Ernest
This is Lionel Ernest’s belly. He didn’t really want to show it to you but I had to hold him like this to take off his purple bandage that he got at the vet. And since his belly is so cute, I had to take a photo of it before taking off his purple bandage.
Sorry, Li Li.
Anyway, Lionel did great at the vet but unfortunately his infection is still lingering. It has improved, but it still has a long way to go. When Lionel arrived, his white blood count (WBC) was 32 (32,000). Two weeks later it was only down to 30, so we switched antibiotics. Today his WBC is down to 22, which is an improvement. But it needs to get down to between 8-13 ideally, so Lionel Ernest will stay on antibiotics for at least another two weeks.
I do think he is feeling better though. He is biting harder and he is harder to catch, which are both good signs for him! So stay tuned, and Lionel will stay on antibiotics for now.
Morning Conversation
This morning I spent time in the yard again, snoozing while the ducks and clucks foraged for bugs. Miles, Lucky and Danny girl had an hour-long conversation while I was trying to sleep. This is my translation of their conversation:
“Are you there?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Yep.”
“Still there?”
“Yeah. You there?”
“Yep.”
“Treat lady still sleeping?”
“Yeah. Ooh she looked at me!”
“Ooh!”
“She said shush.”
“Ha ha.”
“Ha ha ha ha ha.”
“Are you still there?”
“Yeah I’m here.”
“Me too.”
After finally getting some rest, we got up and took Lionel Ernest to the vet for a re-check. We had him on one antibiotic for his bum foot, and after two weeks it did not help much at all. So he switched to a new one for the past two weeks and we should know tomorrow afternoon if it is helping. He was a good patient and got a purple Bandaid to wear home.
Keep your wings crossed for Lionel, please!
staycation
This week I am off work, but staying at home and trying to stay offline. It is a week of rest and relaxation. Unfortunately the first few days have been ruled by my tonsils, but they are improving thankfully, so I hope to get some fun in before the week is through.
For now, it’s all about rest. Every morning I get up early and take my blankets and pillow out to the yard to hang with the flock.
Carol likes to get up at 5:30am, but I don’t like the flock to be in the yard unattended, so I nap out there until late morning. As you can see, Cindy Buttons keeps me company. She is a great nap companion.
The rest of the chickens tend to stand close and stare at me while I sleep.
It’s a little disconcerting to wake up to a chicken staring at you, inches from your face. But I think they are waiting and hoping “the treat dispenser” wakes up and gets them treats. They are good and quiet until I’m ready to get up.
O’Malley is good company in the mornings too, but he tends to bite to wake me up so he can snuggle. That’s not quite as restful.
In the evenings, I head back outside to spend more time with the flock. Cindy Buttons is always ready to spend more time visiting, and hops right up onto her spot on my ankle or leg or lap or whatever works. She is such a sweet girl.
Simon enjoys this time in the yard, too. He has a great time watching the little birds like sparrows, wrens and black-capped chickadees.
It’s interesting to spend this much time with the flock. They are friendlier after just a few mornings together, and I am learning even more about their communication. Here Petunia begs to be let inside this pen so she can steal some of Danny girl’s eggs. I gave her 3 of Danny’s eggs and now she stops begging to get inside.
She is too old to lay eggs herself anymore, so I thought it would be nice to share. She has never been really friendly, but lately she will let me catch her and pat her just a bit, as long as I’m nice about it.
She also sits very close to me in the yard, and will come to me for treats. It’s nice after all these years to gain more of her trust.
Everyone else is doing well and we’re having a good, lazy week.
Lionel Ernest, the adorable little pastel call duck, goes back to the vet tomorrow to make sure his latest antibiotic is helping his foot. You can kind of see that it is still swollen. It may still need to be cleaned out, but it’ll be good to see first that the infection is improving before we try to do something more invasive.
That’s it for now. We’ll be loafin’ around all week, so stay tuned.
Quacks and clucks,
Tiff & the flock
Switch to Decaf, Carol
Carol got a little crazy with the nesting today.
She was very unhappy that Olly Astro wanted to sit in her nest. She gets cranky when Janet sits in the nest next to her, so she was doubly annoyed that Olly was bothering her, too.
I didn’t even know this sound was possible, from a chicken or any other creature. But Carol is truly the master of insane chicken sounds, from the early morning wake-up calls to these angry tirades when protecting her nest, Carol really knows how to get her point across, loud and clear. LOUD AND CLEAR DID YOU HEAR HER! Okay good. Just checking.
Also, O’Malley just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Memorial Day weekend.
Quacks and clucks,
Tiff and the flock
Meditation with Cindy Buttons
Today Ms. Buttons sat down next to me on the lawn and settled in for a nap. She sat very close so she must consider me one of her flock.
This video may look like Cindy Buttons is just napping, but this is actually “Meditation with Cindy Buttons.”
While you watch the video, take deep breaths. Relax and focus. Notice the side of her face puffing in and out. That is her sinuses moving while she breathes. Notice how her eyelid closes up from the bottom. See that tuft of feathers back beyond her eye? Those feathers cover her ear. If you relax until the end of the video, you’ll hear her wake up to the sound of the neighbor getting home from work. Lastly, she alerts me with a trill sound to let me know the neighbor is home.
And that is Chicken Meditation 101, with Ms. Cindy Buttons.
Random musings
Some people have said they have trouble telling Cindy Buttons apart from Carol. So here we have a side-by-side comparison. As you can see, Cindy is lighter in color and doesn’t have a tail. Carol has a small head and is darker than Cindy. What you can’t see is that Cindy will steal food right out of your hand and Carol screeches like a banshee in the early mornings. These are very individual traits that make them very easy to distinguish in person after you get to know them. Carol is a bit skittish but she loves to have her face petted. Cindy will sit on you and visit any time you sit down. Every chicken is an individual with a full, robust personality including likes, dislikes and funny quirks.
In other news, Lionel Ernest asked me to tell you that he is not a buff duck but a pastel call duck. They do look a lot like buff ducks but are of course smaller and have that distinguished dark brown chest. Lionel will sleep better now that you know he’s really a pastel.
He is doing well and likes to hang out with Danny girl, but I’m afraid he might be a little too short for her.
Lionel is still favoring his left leg since his foot is infected, but he is in good spirits and is harder to catch each and every day. You can also see in the background his nemesis Miles is favoring his right leg. Bum legs are all too common in little ducks, and that’s how they end up at our house.
O’Malley and his girls are doing well. Ramona is nesting again, so he spends most of his time with Petunia. I have told Ramona that we don’t hatch ducklings, and even if we did, there is a fat chance in hell that I’d ever let her hatch a Ramona-O’Malley baby. Can you imagine how monstrous and bitey that little duckling would be? I shudder to even imagine it.
Petunia is beyond her egg-laying years. She’s probably about 8-years-old now. It’s hard to say for sure since she’s a rescue, but I think she was young when she came to live here in 2006.
Olivia is our oldest feathered resident right now. She came to live with us three years ago and we think she is almost 11-years-old now. She is a tough cookie but I like that about her. She doesn’t trust just anyone, so it’s quite a compliment that she trusts me to pick her up and chat with her sometimes.
Well that’s about it for the random mid-week musings from ducks and clucks. Simon says “I love you” and wishes you a very good week.
Oh! We finally implemented a “like” button on our posts, so if you like ’em… “like” ’em.
Thanks and quacks,
Tiff & the flock
Carol the Alarm Clock
For anyone considering chickens, I give you… Carol the Alarm Clock.
Do you like getting up at dawn every single day of the year? Then chickens are for you! Carol used to be really loud when she was cooped up in the… well the coop, so I arranged for the coop to have an automatically-opening door at dawn so she could get out without me having to get up at dawn. But it turns out Carol doesn’t just want out of the coop, she also wants out of the aviary, because 800sq feet of aviary is cramping her free-wheeling spirit. It’s nearly 3-times larger than the smallest apartment I lived in when I lived in New York City, but Carol has a big personality that cannot be contained in such meager accommodations. We have to be very careful letting the chickens out in the yard when we’re not out there with them as we have raccoons in the neighborhood. So we really prefer the darkness of December when chickens sleep ’til 8am or later.
Let me leave you with this last thought if you’re considering chickens. In mid-June, the sun in Seattle rises at 5:11am. That means it’s light outside even before that, which means Carol and I will be awake around 4:30am every day for a few weeks.
If I’m cranky, just know it’s because I really need a serious nap.
Oh! Check this out.
Someone nominated us for a blog award from BlogPaws and we made the finals! We’re up against two ferret blogs and Pua the tamandua anteater, which is tough competition. We’ll find out in late June at the BlogPaws Awards if we’ve won. Check out their site here: http://awards.blogpaws.com/
Saturday routine
It’s a Saturday so of course we’re at the vet. Today Lionel Ernest went to the vet for a check-up to see how his foot is doing. I love taking new rescues back to the vet because they suddenly realize I am the best thing around, compared to everything else. Lionel stuck close to me at the vet’s office when he otherwise will have nothing to do with me. See Lionel? I’m not so bad after all.
“Get away from me, chicken!”
Olly Astro also came to the vet today to have a quick re-check after her sneezing and swollen belly from a few weeks ago. She is all better, which is great. She is a very good chicken and I’m glad she’s feeling better.
Lionel was briefly wrapped up like a burrito so the vet could draw some blood and make sure his infection is improving. He looks like he’s smiling here, but he was very angry and bit me when we finally unwrapped the Lionel burrito.
Lionel’s foot swelling is improving, but he’ll stay on antibiotics. He may need to have his foot opened up and cleaned out, but we’ll wait a few more weeks before resorting to that. For now, he has gained weight (1.1kg 10-days-ago and 1.3kg now), he’s feeling better and we’ll have his blood results on Tuesday.
Once we were back home, all the kids enjoyed the sunshine. Miles and Lucky look especially cute in bright sunlight with their stunning green heads.
Lucky is a perfect little domestic mallard.
And he loves his buddy Miles. “Yoga stretch!”
Together they spend most of their days and nights staring at Danny girl, hoping to get close to her. Unfortunately she is a little too handicapped and fragile to handle these two, so their unrequited love will always be just out of reach.
At least it gives them something to do together.
That’s it for today. Here’s hoping your weekend is a good one.
Quacks and clucks,
Tiff and the flock
Thief!
Jeez, Cindy Buttons. I was going to share my pizza slice with you if you’d just give me a minute. Turnabout is fair play at least. Olivia stole the piece from her and hid under a shrub and ate it all by herself.
Celebrate All Mothers
This Mother’s Day, our friends at Liberation BC are sharing information about what really happens to mothers on dairy farms all over the world.
Please take a moment to learn more about what happens to baby cows on dairy farms by reading “Why a cow ribbon?” And then get your own ribbon to help support mother cows everywhere.
You can also read up on some very cute rescued cows when you’re done.
Oh! And remember to have a very happy Mother’s Day!
Thanks and quacks,
Tiff and the flock
