A Sprained Leg Can Spell the End for a Chicken

Author: Meera, October 12, 2016

Foxes have been routinely prowling my property and have claimed two chickens from my neighbor over the last few weeks. Thank goodness, they weren’t my hens. That said, one of my White Leghorns, a breed that originated in Tuscany but is widely raised here, developed a sprained leg, making her extra vulnerable to predators.

 

 

white chix lg web

 

I noticed she was having trouble standing a few days ago. Then yesterday, I found her cowering under the hen house steps because the flock had been attacking her. I immediately removed her and tried to find a solution that would allow her time to heal without simultaneously having to find off foes.

 

 

My poultry run has its fencing wire buried into the ground and pieces wired together over the top. It’s built that way to prevent entry by raccoons, coyotes, and foxes that dig as well as hawks that hunt from the sky. But what to do with a flock of chickens that will peck to death another hen that get sick or injured?

 

 

 

 

Hawks like this one enjoy perching atop pine trees in the neighborhood

Hawks like this one enjoy perching atop pine trees in the neighborhood

 

 

Yesterday, inside the secure run, I built an inner circular area using poultry wire. Locating a large cardboard box, I filled it with nesting straw and stapled part of an old sheet as a curtain over the doorway. Then I put heavy blankets on the box for warmth (it’s been getting cold at night). I put a water dispenser and food outside her box and hoped for the best.

 

 

When I checked on the hen this morning, she was standing upright on both legs. She explored the inner run and then hopped back into the box to wait perhaps for the sun to warm the run. As quickly as she is healing, I might be able to integrate her back into the flock in a few days or a week.

 

 

The rains are coming tomorrow–another threat for the poor creature–so I’ll have to figure out another option to keep her dry and warm and safe. Still, she seems to be on the road to recovery and I hope returning to her scratching and foraging soon because she has stopped laying during this traumatic period. And she was one of my best egg layers; she’d lay an extra-large egg almost every other day. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leghorn_chicken

 

 

 

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If you enjoy reading about farm topics (including gardening, beekeeping, and delicious recipes), check out my cozy mysteries A BEELINE TO MURDER and also THE MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE in the Henny Penny Farmette series (from Kensington Publishing).

 

 

 

These novels are available through online retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books, and Walmart as well as from traditional bookstores everywhere.

 

 

The first novel in the Henny Penny Farmette series

Find more info or to order, see, http://tinyurl.com/hxy3s8q

Now available in mass market paperback, this debut novel launched the Henny Penny Farmette series of mysteries and sold out its first press run.

 

 

 

 

The second cozy  mystery in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available Sept. 29, 2016

See, http://tinyurl.com/h4kou4g

The Murder of a Queen Bee is the newest offering in the Henny Penny Farmette series. For more information, click on the link under the image.

 

 

 

 

 

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Pumpkin and Squash–Dealing with Vine Sprawl

Author: Meera, August 31, 2014
A squash plant will grow well in small gardens up a teepee of three poles or on a fence

A squash plant will grow well in small gardens on supports such as a teepee of three poles tied together  or on a fence

 

 

 

With the California drought looking like there’s no end in sight, I began pulling what I could from the garden. A lot of the space was taken up this year with squash and pumpkins. Vines are everywhere.

 

It’s my own fault for not keeping a better control over the direction of the vines. I could have grown them up and over a support, but I didn’t. Once ignored,the vines took over the whole garden, more than 25 to 30 feet in almost every direction.

 

 

My small harvest is in--anyone for pumpkin pie?

My small harvest is in–anyone for squash or pumpkin pie?

 

 

I grew mainly heirloom varieties of squash and the French sugar pumpkins. One pumpkin plant reseeded from last year. Those vines climbed up into the five heirloom tomato plants, two apricot trees, and headed out toward the Lady Banks Rose and the Climbing Sally Holmes roses that border the garden. Inching even further, the squash vines moved out of the garden into the back yard.

 

No doubt about it, I’m going to have to pull on work gloves and a straw hat and get out there to dig out those dried vines and pull them out. Next year, trellises and supports for everything. Water is a commodity in crisis right now, at least in  this state and everyone has to do their part. We’re just going to harvest the squash and pumpkins early and pray for early rains.

 

 

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