The feathers survived the cold blast! Unlike most animals, the feathers didn’t even know there was a week of extreme cold (the lowest was -8F with wind chill), wind, and freezing rain. The feathers were moved into the vacation house (aka the insulated and heated garage of the human house) and housed with their friends and family. We often hear that animals and birds will be “fine” when it gets very cold (and very hot). We will never settle for “fine”. We can make sure everyone is cozy and comfortable so that is what we do and always do.
The feathers did well on their vacation. Although they were bored, the ducks swam and splashed in the human bathtub, the chickens looked for treats in the orchard grass, and the geese popped outside to holler to the neighbourhood and ‘help’ with chores…for about 3 minutes then they went back into the vacation home. The radio was on all day and movies played on Netflix.
In health news…
Sally Sue is continuing to do well. She is not as agile as she used to be but are any of us? Most mornings this month, she has been separated from the other chickens as she has been chased out of bed (i.e., the perch) in the morning by Lady Flo. That’s no way to start the morning so we give her some morning ‘me time’ allowing her to eat her breakfast in peace.
As a reminder, in November 2022 Sally was diagnosed with an unknown neurological problem, a heart murmur, scoliosis, and some arthritis in her lower back. She takes a daily anti-inflammatory to prevent head shacks (i.e., seizures) and falling off the perch. The vet thought she had Mareks and 1-3 months to live. She is holding strong 1 year and 2 months later.
Freddie’s foot continues to be an issue. He still has a scab on the bottom of one of his feet. We’ve tried soft and dry bedding for a couple of months but his foot is not completely healed. He’ll need to be ‘shoed’ and likely isolated for a couple of weeks. In addition, Freddie’s tear ducts have also become clogged again (the first time was August 2023) but this time both of his eyes are weeping. He is back on meloxicam (an anti-inflammatory) which has helped. His eyes are starting to look better now that the temperatures have warmed and he can swim every day.
