May 11, Day 10

Friday morning, Hilda noticed that the smallest of our Dominique chicks seemed to have an open sore on her backside. I did a quick search of backyardchickens.com and found post that seemed to describe the condition exactly--no feathers and broken skin. The recommendation was to isolate the chick to keep the others from pecking her, dab the area with diluted Betadine (dilution was not specified), and put on triple antibiotic cream with no pain killer. I only had cream with painkiller. Hilda had both, but the one without the painkiller had expired in 2006. We had an outing planned anyway, so we added a stop at a drug store to the itinerary.

Mom and Dad took us to breakfast at the Grandview Inn on Lake Geneva, followed by a few shopping stops. The day had warmed nicely by the time we got home. I doctored the chick as best I could and put her in the green storage container by herself. She cried and cried so pitifully that I soon relented and put her back with her peeps. I watched for quite awhile to be sure no one was pecking at her sore. We really have not had any of that behavior at all, and I hope it stays that way. Everyone left her alone except for one of the Brahmas, who kindly removed a pine chip that was stuck in the antibiotic ointment. 

I worked in the greenhouse for a bit, putting impatiens in a planter and potting up the Jack-in-the-pulpits I bought last weekend. I put some other plants out in the ground and spread mulch around them. I baked bread in the afternoon, and we all assembled on the deck to be sure the bread was fit to serve to company on Saturday. Hilda brought out a bottle of wine, and we had a lovely time.  It was exactly what I envisioned when I thought of the best possible day on the farm.

I repeated the treatment of the sore during the evening brooder cleaning. It already looked better. The chicks are getting farther off the ground when they flap and using the perch more. Their tail feathers are getting longer daily.

Araucana (brown) with noticible tail. The Brahma (top) is getting color on her wings



Group photo, day 10