Saturday, August 17, 2013

A Bigger Tubby for Bird


Chicken food covered the floor, 
 tossed and kicked for several feet in every direction.
Oh, the problems of having a house chicken!
I decided Bird needed a second layer of defense
as he's grown larger than I had ever imagined.


He could now just step out of the tubby,
and had done so several times.
It seems he likes to take his morning and evening stroll
through the living room
or among the bar height chairs 
or around the breakfast bar into the kitchen!


Then there was the constant sweeping and vacuuming.
So, bird got a new feeding system.
It's a larger tub that I put the smaller one in.
The crumbs are still kicked and tossed but they land
in the second tubby and not all over my floor.
He also doesn't step out quite so easily!
In fact, with this he can even sit on the porch with us
and the cats don't mind at all.


It's still a challenge to give him water,
he can't manage the waterer, mostly because he
can't see it and then gets confused and swishes
his head back and forth.
So for now, I still supplement with the eye dropper.


I hatched somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 chicks
hoping I'd find a good friend for Bird, 
but he keeps stepping on them.
Maybe when they are bigger one will stand out.
 About half of these will go to my husband's employer
who needs more layers.  Once we find the girls we'll 
send them on their way.  My husband is making a larger
chicken coop/yard for the meat birds and the balance
will go there. We'll even keep another rooster on 
that side - layers on the other side with their rooster.

17 comments:

HIBISCUS HOUSE said...

Bird is really growing! You are doing such a good job. You really hatched out a good number of new chicks too that is great, your are great at this Kathy!

Yahoobuckaroo's Blog said...

Have you determined the sex yet? He looks like a rooster to me.

Michelle said...

He has gotten really big. Great job!

Janice Grinyer said...

Bird certainly has a strong will to live!

Have you thought about using a rabbit water bottle (the one with the steel tube with a steel ball at the end) for him/her to drink out of? Since bird is doing so well with an eyedropper, a rabbit water bottle should be a cinch for bird to water from...Bird's sense of smell should be good enough too, to eventually find the water bottle tube on his/her? own...

Also, in commercial chicken hatcheries, they trim beaks all the time with a special pair of nippers - im thinking if you trimmed birds lower beak back, it would be easier for bird to scoop food in (though a little messy, but since bird already has been well, a little messy...LOL)I would even try with toenail nippers and just take a little off here and there...

Anyhow, whatever youre doing, its working, Great job!

JaneofVirginia said...

Wonderful job ! They look terrific.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Yahoo, NEVER say rooster! (making a scary face and biting my fingernails). How will I keep a rooster in the house? We really can't tell yet.

Dolly, Jane and Michelle- thank you! It's time consuming.

GWFW- yes, I have thought about some sort of water bottle. I used to have guinea pigs and that's what they used. I think he would have the concept down as long as he can find it, and it may just be a matter of repeatedly directing him there. I had the vet show me how to trim the beak but really there wasn't much to come off without hitting the vein, I think because he's deformed the beak is elongated or just plain old messed up. I'm going to give the rabbit waterer a try.


Sunnybrook Farm said...

It is too bad that it is so hard to neuter roosters, oops I said the rooster word.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Neuter a rooster? LOL I'll have to look that up. Now for the vocalization . . .

Yahoobuckaroo's Blog said...

"It is too bad that it is so hard to neuter roosters, oops I said the rooster word."

Worse than that--you said the N word! The word no man wants to hear!

Roosters are made into capons all the time Kathy. It's the only way they're good to eat. Otherwise they're too tough and stringy. But since you don't plan to eat this bird, I guess there's no point in cutting off his little golden nuggets.

Catawissa Gazetteer said...

Neutering a rooster shouldn't be that hard, ladies. Y'all do it to us all the time. Maybe we could find him a nice little hen and marry him off. That ought'a do the trick!

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Have you seen what you have to do to neuter a rooster? No thanks!

Yahoobuckaroo's Blog said...

What Tom's afraid of is that you'll like doing it more than you're letting on. You wouldn't be the first woman to develop a neutering fetish.

LindaG said...

Bird looks good. Good idea to keep the feed in, too.
Good luck with the chicks. Have a great week. ♥

Candy C. said...

Glad to see Bird is still doing well. The comments were as fun as the post! Your hubby cracks me up with his "Y'all do it to us all the time" comment! ;)

Harry Flashman said...

I'm glad Bird is doing ok. I know what it is like to have an animal you really care about and they have issues. One of my ferrets, Rowena, has to go to the doctor next week and have a medical implant. You get to feeling like they are people after a while.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Harry, poor thing! I hope it heals up quickly!

Mrs. Mac said...

Wow .. Bird is getting lots of TLC and seems to be faring as best can be. You are a true nurturer. Bless you.