Put the chickens out by themselves for a bit, then added the guineas to see how they'd get along. Very well, I must say.
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| Birds-eye view of guineas and the Marans |
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| View of the Buff Orpington |
He and the Buff Orpington both has a swollen eye last weekend. I don't think it is a mechanical issue now - it has affected too many of the birds. So I took them out of the rubber water trough and put them in a large cardboard box.
After talking to my horse vet, I started them on some liquid antibiotic in their water. The Orpington made a faster recovery. Or maybe not - its eye was swollen a couple days before the Marans' and was better sooner as well - I should have noted on a calendar so I could track the duration. Anyway I started to think the problem might be environmental, so I changed their housing to the box. That and/or the antibiotic seem to be doing the trick. The guineas don't seem to be affected, nor has the Wyandotte.
The birds enjoyed their day outside, but had to spend the next day inside as it was dreary and rainy (and somewhat cooler) and the coop isn't done so they'd be soaked. I'd rather not chance it until everyone is back to being healthy. Hopefully by next weekend they'll be out of the garage fulltime.
My Sheltie-Collie cross was fascinated by the birds - hope that is a good thing but fear he might be too excited by them and want to play with them....which would not, I think, be a good thing!
While the birds were in the yard, we were up on the deck enjoying a coffee. Once Nigel saw them moving in the tractor, he was very antsy. I put the leash on him and took him down for an intro and he was pretty good about that, but I could feel the tension in his body. Then went we went back up onto the deck (its about 18 steps up) he snuck back downstairs....he is usually very obedient about staying up on the deck with us. Need to find some ideas about training the dogs not to chase the chickens...........just in case.
