Yippee! I'm back in net land and not a moment too soon - things were getting ugly for me without my beloved computer! My fingers are happy again now that they can tinker away at the keyboard.
My computer decided to have the hissyfit of all hissyfits, apparently the Ram and hard drive both failed. Thank goodness for extended warranty though and now my precious little one is being all fixed up at no expense to me except my sanity as I fret for its return. Dramatic much? Obviously my moaning about being computerless made friends pity me, as I was lent a lovely little laptop to tide me over.
I know I rely on it way too much, but it wasn't until I didn't have it that I realised that I may be relying on my laptop just a little too much. Just as an example, I had to make a call to Tas and instead of jumping on the computer and looking up the number on Whitepages.com I had to do it the old fashioned way. Problem was, I couldn't for the life of me remember the directory number. Now I really should have just checked in the phone book, but forgetting about this archaic resource tucked at the back of the cupboard, I text a friend in Tasmania to look the number up in their phone book. All up this little exercise took way longer, thanks to my lack of Internet access.
Apart from not being able to look up things, being offline meant I was a little lost with what to do of a night once the kids are in bed. Normally I'd sit on the lounge flicking between websites and researching my latest fads. Instead I returned to watching TV, and with a few exceptions, most of it is crap. After not watching it for ages, I really noticed how violent and horrible some of the shows are and couldn't believe that a lot of the ads for these shows are shown at time that kids may be watching. Thank goodness my kids only watch a few select shows very rarely. Some weeks pass by without the Tv even being turned on before the kids are in bed. I have been letting that watch idol of a Sunday night, even though Casey got the boot last week and Grace is devastated! I have discovered the show "United States of Tara" and have set up my recorder to tape that each week.
Anyway, I'm back online now and have had a lovely time catching up on all my blogs, paying dreaded bills and trawling through facebook updates.
My computer decided to have the hissyfit of all hissyfits, apparently the Ram and hard drive both failed. Thank goodness for extended warranty though and now my precious little one is being all fixed up at no expense to me except my sanity as I fret for its return. Dramatic much? Obviously my moaning about being computerless made friends pity me, as I was lent a lovely little laptop to tide me over.
I know I rely on it way too much, but it wasn't until I didn't have it that I realised that I may be relying on my laptop just a little too much. Just as an example, I had to make a call to Tas and instead of jumping on the computer and looking up the number on Whitepages.com I had to do it the old fashioned way. Problem was, I couldn't for the life of me remember the directory number. Now I really should have just checked in the phone book, but forgetting about this archaic resource tucked at the back of the cupboard, I text a friend in Tasmania to look the number up in their phone book. All up this little exercise took way longer, thanks to my lack of Internet access.
Apart from not being able to look up things, being offline meant I was a little lost with what to do of a night once the kids are in bed. Normally I'd sit on the lounge flicking between websites and researching my latest fads. Instead I returned to watching TV, and with a few exceptions, most of it is crap. After not watching it for ages, I really noticed how violent and horrible some of the shows are and couldn't believe that a lot of the ads for these shows are shown at time that kids may be watching. Thank goodness my kids only watch a few select shows very rarely. Some weeks pass by without the Tv even being turned on before the kids are in bed. I have been letting that watch idol of a Sunday night, even though Casey got the boot last week and Grace is devastated! I have discovered the show "United States of Tara" and have set up my recorder to tape that each week.
Anyway, I'm back online now and have had a lovely time catching up on all my blogs, paying dreaded bills and trawling through facebook updates.
I figure that me having access to the Internet actually saves us money. Yep, if it wasn't for google and all its wonderful information I wouldn't have been able to practice my veterinary skills on Henny the chook. Ok, probably not a very smart move, but I think we have had success and saved $$ from not having to go to the vets.
I noticed last week that Henny had been limping a bit, upon closer inspection I realised the reason. Her foot had a huge swollen lump that was hot to touch and looked very uncomfortable. I called the breeder and she suggested that I put her on some ab's to hopefully fight of the infection, she also advised not to eat her eggs whilst she was on the Ab's. Luckily I had an un-opened bottle of liquid ab's in the fridge (no idea why it hadn't been tossed already??) from when Grace was having tummy pains. I'd gotten the script filled and was waiting to see if a uti was confirmed until I gave it to her, luckily she didn't need it. Getting henny to take them wasn't too much trouble, she loves rice bubbles so I soaked it in a bowl and sectioned her off from the other chooks to eat. We did this for 2 days, with no signs of improvement.
So after getting access to a computer, I consulted Dr Google and diagnosed Henny with a case of "bumblefoot". Apparently its a staph infection that is fairly common in poultry, usually entering the system through a cut/scrape or bruise. After a bit more searching, I came across step-by-step instructions on how to perform the surgery yourself. Now I'm generally quite squeamish about things involving a mixture of cutting, blood and pus, but the thought of saving myself $300++ at the vets was very appealing. The website promised that it wouldn't hurt the chicken and the vets don't even use an anaesthetic for it.
So, the surgery area was prepped, hands were scrubbed and the Penney theatre was opened. Duane went and plucked Henny from her night time sleep and she was bought in. I'd read (thank God for Google!) that flipping the bird (literally!) over onto their back and stroking the breast bone would put them in a slight trance, making the surgery easier. Duane was on chicken holding duty and under strict instructions to keep beaks and claws away from me, he was to take the wrath of any chicken crankiness.
I scrubbed her foot pad with betadine, then went in for the first step - cutting it open. Ok, this was a little tricky to start with, but soon enough we had an opening. Pus poured out, it was both disgusting and satisfying knowing that I was ridding Henny of all the horrible poison. I had to massage around the opening, trying to get all the pus out and also to look for the abscess. After much squishing around, finally a little white kernal thing came to the surface. I got it to come out, along with more pus and blood. I figured then that it was all out, so started to put on the tea-tree oil but started to come over very dizzy. I had to leave Duane to finish off as I contemplated vomiting up in the bathroom or passing out on the floor. I finally staggered up to my bedroom and layed down to fight of the overwhelming urge to purge.
Duane doused the wound in tee tree oil, then put her back out in the hen house. After half hour or so, I was feeling better so went back on trusty google to double check that I had done everything right. Seems I should have bandaged up the wound to stop other infection from entering, so the theatre was set up again and once again Henny was dragged from her sleep.
I re-checked the wound and realised that another abscess kernel was in there. According to my instructions, these all had to be removed to ensure the infection cleared. I then realised that another area of the foot looked like it was infected, so I went in for the second cut and clearing out of the wound. Cutting this one was a bit tougher, so I soaked her foot in a salt water solution for 10 mins to make it easier to cut. Finally it was soft enough, so the incision was made and all the gunk cleaned out. After all the gory bits were over and done with, it was time for the bandage to go on. Now, trying to get a bandage to stay on scaly chicken legs is not that easy. My first attempt fell straight off as soon as Henny stood up, so it was time to bring in the big guns. Masking tape and kiddy bandaids. I bandaged all around the claws, then went round and round and round and round and round with good old reliable masking tape. This baby was staying on.
So, there is my first attempt at chicken surgery. I wont start offering my services until Henny has made a full recovery, which hopefully happens by next week.
~~Henny not looking too impressed with her flower bandaid~~
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