V8 Leaves the party

It’s been a hard May for us, losing Crispy and Turbo… but then we rescued some new girls and the flock increased to 12…

… for 24 hours.

V8, healthy yesterday, has been taken by egg peritonitis.

This, from PoultryKeeper.com

Egg Peritonitis is when the peritoneum (the lining of the abdomen) becomes inflamed due to an infection from bacteria. Peritonitis can occur after prolapse or when yolk goes into the abdominal cavity, instead of going down the oviduct and out in the normal way.

The yolk should go into the ‘ovarian pocket’ (the space surrounding the ovary). This often occurs after some viral diseases like Infective Bronchitis where the disease damages the reproductive tract. A ruptured intestine can also cause this problem.

Diagnosis and Treatment.

Sometimes a ‘Penguin Stance’ can indicate an egg bound hen or peritonitis but more often than not they don’t show this and may just be swollen around the abdomen and it is often hard to diagnose this problem whilst the bird is alive. The bird can have a blue comb, and diarrhoea but no book seems to believe these are conclusive and can also indicate many other problems. A post mortem on birds will show an inflamed abdomen and there will be a very putrid smell with yolk. Some birds have been treated with antibiotics and had the fluid drawn off but the chances of success are slim and you can often have a big bill at the end of this. It is usually better to have the bird put to sleep.

All a man made problem – It’s the trouble with how they’ve been bred into egg machines. If the already dodgy internals go wrong, the blockage is often quick & serious, as they have no recovery time before the next egg follows on. Okay, it’s a bit more complicated then that, but you get the picture.

Chris was saying the other day how all other birds lay seasonally (otherwise you’d forever see ducklings at a pond etc). Chickens have been manipulated to lay daily. That’s like running a car engine on the red-line…. all of the time.

Some battery farms artificially control the light so instead of a 24hr day, the hens have an 18hr day (e.g).

This year has been pretty crap for the girls. You get used to it because, well, it’s how they are. They are so characterful & individual though, it’s obvious when one goes.

Best we can do is give them a happy retirement!

Any day spent in freedom, is a better day for these girls.

Exit Crispy, Stage Left

Crispy the Hen went today. Dammit…

She was healthy looking, but prone to quiet spells. She had stopped laying a while back – She was the oldest of the girls.

She was a bit quieter today, and retaining fluid (Chris put this down to egg peritonitis – very basically: not laying, but still producing the protein).

Chris took her to the vets to get her checked out & fluids drained.

X-Ray showed that our plump bird had a large mass in her.

As she was drained she passed away.

The vet offered to find out what it was, and Chris said that it would be fine – if she could watch.

The vet (Fred McKenzie) from Farnborough’s Pets at Home – Companion Care was very interested to find out, as they don’t often deal with chickens. Chris watched on, equally interested.

Sure Crispy was a pet – but Crispy the clucking, squawking hen had ceased to be a pet the moment she passed away, now Crispy the pet was a memory, and the vet could learn from her to potentially help others.

The vet was excellent. After dissecting her, he found that the large amount of protein due the peritonitis meant that a certain cellular disease had a wonderful playground. Excuse my language, but ‘fuck you, cancer‘.

He even phoned later, after Chris had returned home, to say he had looked further in to it. He talked with Chris and confirmed the previous discussed diagnosis, and the dissection, was confirmed by his post-op research.

Crispy – Ruler of the Garden

Once more, as with the others, she was happy right up until the end.

No pain, no suffering.

;

Fat and Fit?

I’ve posted a new blog entry on fitness and weight loss HERE – at http://www.twa2lb.co.uk

We go Day-Glo…

Alex has snot blocks…..

The end of 2008 (September onwards) was a downward spiral of, well, crap for us.  The New Year came in and nothing changed – after all, it’s just a date and nothing magic, so what do people expect?

Chris is getting over the tail end of sinusitis and Alex is deep in a really bed chesty cough that has him unable to eat properly, and keeps him coughing so much he up-chucks. Add to this his totally blocked nose and constant river of thick luminescent snot slime and you realise he isn’t a happy boy – a bit scared at times as he doesn’t know what’s going on. Poor lad has trouble eating and drinking as he can’t breath as he fills his mouth… so he starts to panic and cough… and then it’s just a mess.

Now I’m going down with it – I have lasted over a week before succumbing to either Chris’s or Alex’s illness, but it’s here now – not full blown, but still not great.

What with finances, boiler breakdowns, illness and other family news, you can see why we are looking forward to 2010!! It’ll put space between us and 2008 for starters…

Now I know some people say “life is what you make it” – and to a point I agree, but anyone can be hit by a car, regardless of how positive their outlook on life.

No, life isn’t what you make it – life is what it is, but a positive atitude will get you through it better than a bad one.

The more positive you are, the longer through a really bad period you can make it without going mad!!! We are surfing close to that edge at the moment, but we have the good fortune of being a family with a young child.

A single person living on their own just doesn’t have the same drive to survive as a family member – especially the head of a family.  I’ve been there and to me there is no argument here, and I don’t care what anyone says – If you are a childless single person, it is very likely you have no idea of the pressures to not go under.

I know you still have bills and issues, but then add the children to the mix and you have to protect them as well – so it isn’t just your house you could lose – it is their home. It isn’t just your face you have to feed – you have them as well.

This focus does help keep the fighting spirit going though. We aren’t alone in our problems – and we are much better off than countless others in the world, but it is the worse we have seen and as such it is quite a load on us. We will just stick at it and get ourselves out of the other end.

There are no other options but to keep forging onwards.

Downhill from here

Not downhill like this blog thread, but downhill as in racing.

Alex got an early Christmas treat today as Granny and Grandad (Chris’s parents) came up to visit us.

Alex received a loop the loop gravity race track. He’s played with one before when he visited His Granny and cousin Ben was playing with his track.

Alex has been playing on it pretty much non stop since it was set up! He’s quite content to play on his own, or scream out loud as he passes me cars to launch for him!

It’s always good when we see Granny and Grandad – Alex loves them and is really chatty and cuddly with them…and also quite mental! A little bit of cheer that did us all good!

Kane unable, stubble and watery visions

Not a great deal to blog about at the moment…well, lots of “bitsy” stuff.

Firstly, I shall take this blogatunity to wish Jon Kane a very happy birthday. A great chap who among other things has opened up a few more computing and net options to me – all giddyingly exciting stuff! (honest!). His blog can be found in my links to the left (his blog is called “Writersbloc”).

Why is there not much going on? Well it’s my back. Getting better in leaps and bounds (not actual leaps and bounds, as that would really hurt still!). The main problem is sitting and twisting. I have reduced upper mobility and am not able to drive – even if I could sit long enough! As it is, I can passenger in a car (with only slight pain) for about the same distance I can easily walk… so I walk (much better for me and Mother Earth!).

The Leki “Speed Pacer Vario” Nordic poles are getting a fair bit of mileage, and it’s getting me in shape. If ever I get a serious injury or illness, I do my best during and post recovery to make sure it doesn’t happen again. In the case of my back, as it gets better I shall do all I can to make it better than before because I don’t want to be in this situation again.

The side effects of the bad back have been benefical – although the same results would have been obtained without a bad back! The physio and Nordic Walking are giving me cardio and fat burning exercise which has resulted in me reducing my waist line by an easy 5 inches! Yup, that much!

Over 10kg lighter and getting trimmer to go along with that weight loss – at least that’s a good thing! It’s also less weight for my back to carry – hurrah! That’s what I mean about being better than before: I am strengthening my back, but also reducing load on it. I’m not going to have this injury happen again.

I’m glad the lake is so near though, as a good view really helps with making a long walk that bit more enjoyable.

It may have been a blog entry of bits and pieces, but it does come around on itself…. You see Jon introduced me to WordPress as a blog host, and also pointed me at Twitter. He also gave Will King some internettery ideas (www.shaveforum.com), of which I play a part (I admin and/or moderate a few web spaces in my spare time). I met Will through sharing feedback about his Azor – which in turn lead to me being introduced to Jon. The King of Shaves site and my new blog home, along with my need for a new phone, lead me to the iPhone (good for web admin and blogging on the go). The iPhone in turn has kept me relativly sane during my recovery as I can use it without having to sit at a computer (I am horizontal as I write this!).. General surfing lead me to Green Tea which has been very benefical, and it also lead me to Nordic Walking and more sanity saving freedom with the ability to go for a walk…and in turn getting my blog followers 10% discount at “The Tortoise and the Hare” sports store (see top left for details).

So it’s all interlinked in a gumbo of bits and bobs. All things that if they hadn’t of happened would have me not blogging, not walking, and going insane with lack of mobility and some form of mental and physical respite from my bad back!

It’s a strange wave we surf when the butterfly flaps its wings…

“Happy Birthday” Jon!

Alex hits the City

DSCF7478, originally uploaded by L.B.

Canary Wharf Tower – and the yellow maniac at the bottom is Alex, being followed by Chris.

He loved running around the Canary Wharf fountain…as you can see!

I was in London for Business, Pleasure and a head shave for charity (see previous blog entry), and I took Chris and Alex with me.

Alex had a whale of a time in the Docklands area – luckily it wasn’t overcrowded. I was surprised at how great the area looked. I’m so used to London being either old or dirty – I still love the place as a living breathing city, but did not realise that such a modern and airy build had happened.

Alex made lots of friends – patrons of restaurants….local police officers with dogs….heads of industry…. the usual toddler type things!

He even tried sushi – and loved it…. He never fails to surprise me.

He managed to stay awake and very active all day, but once in he car…and also back at home he was so tired he just fell asleep. Early night on his own choice!