Rudy's Update

Each morning, I check the chick cage with a sense of apprehension. Chicks are not the most hardy creature to begin with and you sometimes lose one without any warning signs of distress. Add to this, my real knowledge that we have a chick with a clear physical deformity and my chances of finding that it did not survive the night, and you can see why. I am very pleased to announce that Rudy is hanging in there.

Kristen has become her champion. (I have settled on calling it a her, since I am HOPING that this be so.) Krissy has taken over much of the daily feeding, watering, and cleaning for Rudy. Which adds another layer to my concern for this chick. The effect it could have on my daughter's emotional well-being. I love that Kristen is large hearted, colored with a strong streak of defending the weak, maimed, and outcast. I just hope and pray for both of them that a happy ending is around the bend.

To that end, we have removed all the bracing from Rudy chick. It wasn't helping at all, and it was hurting her each time we strapped on some new idea. Through researching and discussing the situation with the good and knowledgeable My Backyard Chicken Forum folks, it was suggested that Rudy might have a B2 (riboflavin) deficiency and that an avian vitamin regiment might be useful. I ordered some online from Dr. Fosters, along with a good broad spectrum avian antibiotic (for my growing veterinary medicine cabinet). This won't be delivered for several days. Willing to try anything and unwilling to wait, the girls and I picked some up at the local pet store and started Rudy on it yesterday. I cannot report any miraculous healing, but Rudy is alert, alive, and seems intent on remaining both. I second this thought whole-heartedly.

I have been remiss on capturing pictures or video for the past couple of days, but will try to make some time to do so later this evening. So, check back this posting for that addition.

In other happenings, I made another double batch of chevre cheese this week which I flavored with chives and garlic from my garden. I sent half home with Daddy Dale to share with the rest of the Twombly's and the other half home with my good friend, Nancy. I thought it was delicious, but I wanted some other opinions before I decided to keep the recipe I used and developed as one of MY recipes to offer at farm stands, markets, and the like. Since I gave away all the cheese I was using for Sean's morning bagels, I whipped up another single batch for our own use last night. It is still setting in the oven, but should be ready to drain in another hour or two.

The dreaded Japanese Beetles found Sean's grape clusters and decimated all the growing goodness on at least two of the vines. I set out some bait and traps in the hopes of saving what is left of them. We do still have a decent supply growing, but those poor grapes have had their share of being eaten by everything, but US! It would be really appreciated if we could score at least a few clusters for our table.

The tomatos are doing wonderfully well. The hot peppers are all growing and developing peppers. I am looking forward to making some salsa before too long. Our cucumber plants are budding well- so far, no trouble there. The watermelons are doing about as well as they ever do. Even with the extra heat from being planted in black rubber tires, they are still on the small size. The jury is still out on them.

We are collecting nearly 3 quarts of milk from Ellie each day. I made buttermilk, which I was very pleased with and if I am careful, will not have to buy again until Ellie dries off. I also made yogurt. It IS yogurt, and that is just about all that can be said for it. Sean loves it and eats it mixed with berries and a little sugar, frozen or from the fridge. It is too tangy for my taste, so I will continue to work on that recipe. When I think I have mastered it, I will try it out on my panel of tasters for their approval.

We have been taking the dogs to the local dog park each week. They are loving that and I will have an entire post about it, when I have the time to sit and do it justice.

For now, work is beckoning and then, I think all the Twomblys in Maine are headed to Echo Lake for the afternoon. It looks like it is going to be a great day for hiking and swimming. Thanks for stopping by!

Sonja ♥

Rudy Doesn't Look Good

This morning when I went to check on Rudy, he/she was asleep in a pile with the other chicks. This is normal, since they all sleep near each other. But, when I picked him/her up to offer water and food, the first thing I realized was that Rudy seemed colder than normal. He/She was alive, breathing, and chirping some, but definitely not acting normal. I offered some water, but she/he only took one sip and closed his/her eyes again. I offered food and Rudy pecked at it a little, but not like he/she normal does. I think the signs are all pointing that Rudy is failing.

That being the case, Sean and I evaluated whether Rudy was showing signs of pain. He/She isn't. Rudy is just tired. He/She wants to sleep. So, we at this point, we are going to let him/her do just that. Rather than return Rudy to the pen, where the other chicks would step on him/her or peck at him/her, I decided to tuck Rudy into a clean wash cloth and carry him/her with me while I go about my chores. Close to my body, he/she will benefit from my warmth and heart beat, while being left to sleep in peace. And, that is what he/she is doing right now.

We talked with Meaghan and Kristen to let them know what was happening. We will continue to offer food and water through the day if Rudy wants to eat or drink, but I suspect that time is short for this little one. I can't think of anything else we can do to help him/her. I don't want to give up, but sometimes, there just isn't anything that can be done. I am comforted to know that we tried. We are giving Rudy every chance to live, but we are also prepared that this is probably a losing fight.

And, ever present in my mind is that we not let Rudy suffer. So, if Rudy begins to behave like he/she is in pain, we will do whatever needs to be done. I suspect, that probably, Rudy will sleep more and more until she/he finally just doesn't awaken. But, I am still hoping for a "hail Mary" play at the end, you know? These little ones really touch my heart.



I'll keep you posted.

-Sonja ♥

Post-Script:
Sooo.... Rudy may not be ready to throw in the towel just yet. The girls wanted a turn caring for Rudy, so I let them. I just had them bring Rudy back to see would he/she need to eat or drink and to my surprise, Rudy heartily wanted BOTH. She/He spent a good ten minutes gobbling feed and chirping cheerfully the entire time. I put him/her back in the pen with the others and Rudy is doing fairly well right now.

I guess, we'll just wait and see.

Rudy Gets a "Cast" and "Shoes"

Rudy's legs have been strapped in the proper position for the last few days. Though, we have been exercising the knee joint and some progress has been made, Rudy is still unable to stand unassisted. On the positive side, Rudy IS eating and drinking regularly. On the negative side, without getting those knees unbent and moving properly, Rudy's future life prospects are dim.

Since we are able to straighten Rudy's legs more, almost three fourths of the way straight, we felt it was time to try casting each leg in a soft cast around the knee joint. This completed, we added band aids to keep Rudy's legs the right distance apart. This left us with the problem that Rudy's feet, having never been used for standing, were flexed in a horrible position. What to do? I cut a template from index card stock around Rudy's toes and taped his feet to it. This created support and stretched his toes into the correct position and made a larger surface area to balance on... in theory. In practice, Rudy has never stood before and has a hard time finding his/her balance.

We are giving him/her some time to flounder with this new contraption taped to his/her legs. To see if he/she will be able to figure out how to stand and move properly. An hour later and Rudy can lean properly to get food unassisted, but tips over frequently. I think we may need to revise our design some, but I think we are on the right track.

Please, keep sending your positive thoughts and prayers this way. This little guy sure can use all the help he/she can get at this point. We are improving, but we are nowhere near "out of the woods" yet. I am so touched at how scrappy this little one is! I just want him/her to win this fight and walk, really walk someday. Sooner, than later.

When we were not busy thinking up new ways to help Rudy, feeding the other critters, taking Fenn to the dog park (for the first time today) milking Ellie, or making cheese, we spent a few hours today removing the unsuccessful wooden fencing not securing the dog yard and replaced it with six foot tall chicken fencing. This only took a few hours, but working in this 90 degree weather in the hottest part of the day made it feel like it took much, much longer. We hope that this new fence will allow the pups to be able to come and go as they want through the day without allowing them to escape into the neighbor's yards or anywhere else.

The dogs did not seem impressed with this turn of events, even with getting their yard freshly mowed thanks to Daddy Dale, but I think they will appreciate their new freedom to come and go, in time. We have the intention of extending the size of the yard later, but for now, it gives them a safe place to tussle with each other in the fresh, green grass and bark menacingly at any geese or chickens who might wander into their line of vision.

"Do not think this will contain me." -Buster

Thanks for visiting with us today.

Sean & Sonja ♥

Poultry Physical Therapy?

Occasionally, a chick will develop inside their egg so that they are not ideally situated. One of the results is that when they hatch, they have a condition known as "Spraddle leg". The condition can also appear when the chicks are unable to get a good footing after they are hatched. The danger of this condition is that the chick is not as mobile as it should be, decreasing the ability to get to food and water, resulting in its death. It can also increase the chances that the other chicks will peck it to death. Neither result being good to the chick or the growth of our flock.

When the condition is caught early, it can be corrected by aligning the feet properly and affixing bracing to the feet/legs. The guy pictured above is a classic presentation of spraddle leg. This chick was reported to have healed in braces over a matter of days and none the worse for it, recovered completely.

We discovered one of our chicks with this condition on Tuesday, though, our little guy presented quite differently. In our chick, the legs were not splayed so much as the joint connecting the knees were stuck in a "laying down" position. He/she moves around by flapping its wings and swimming across the bottom of the pen. Our chick has use of its feet and can move the toes, so we feel the problem is localized with that fused knee joint. We searched for solutions, and decided our best course of action would be to apply the brace (we used a band aid, cut length ways in half) to keep the legs aligned under the chick. And, follow that up with physical therapy sessions meant to articulate the knee joint several times a day. Using the pattern set by my own physical therapy for my shoulder, we hold the chick and gently move the knee joint as far as we can without causing the chick distress  and hold it there for a count of 5 and release. This is repeated 3x each session, with several sessions occurring each day. It is our hope that as the joint is worked and used, it will have more mobility and eventually we able to align to a straight leg position. When/If that happens, we will then apply a different sort of brace to help the chick to stand on its legs properly. At least, this is our hope.

The real concern now, is that though the chick is drinking and active, I have yet to see it take any meaningful quality of food. If we can't get it to eat, all this work will be for naught. Sean suggested watering down some of the medicated chick mash and offering that. It is worth a try. The little guy doesn't seem in pain and is alert and active. It would be a shame to lose him/her at this point- we are desperate that this be a "her" after all this work, I won't have the heart to rehome or eat "him" and we will be in possession of a 5th Roo, which would not do at all!



I have been playing with the video edit funtion on my computer- I did warn you. I think the video shows what we are doing better than words can. As always, we will keep you informed of Rudy's progress. We hope you will join us in rooting for Rudy's success.

Thanks for stopping by,
Sonja ♥