Grossest Day Ever!! (Not for delicate Stomachs!!)

[vejemom]

Well, the title says it all. My day started with noticing that the hen who had been setting eggs had gotten up off the nest and was sitting on the floor with her two chicks. I stupidly wondered why and made a closer inspection of the nest. The culprit? A half hatched egg that hadn't quite worked out. That had been sitting under a hot chicken butt and was rotting. And crawling.with.maggots. :sick:

I cleaned up the nest and tried vinegar. Maggots 1-vinegar 0. Threw caution to the wind and sprayed the empty nest boxes with the horses' flyspray. Problem solved.

Because that wasn't bad enough, more grossness ensued after lunch. We had gone to the feed store to pick up the baby turkeys DD#1 was eagerly anticipating. They had some broiler chicks, so I bought 10 of those on a whim. Dropped DD#1 off at preschool. Back home, I went to drag out the second brooder to put the chicks in. I picked up the horse blankets lying in it, and got quite a surprise. A nest of rodents. Gross enough. A nest of 6 rat pups? Off the grossometer. Fortunately, DD#2 was asleep in the car, so I dragged the brooder out into the barnyard and committed raticide.

I just cleaned the whole barn, even though I have a sinus infection and the dust was killing me. When the babysitter gets here, I'm going to the farm store for some Just One Bite and a piece of sheet metal to cover the rat hole momma rat has been using to get into what I thought was the reasonably rodent-proof tack room. Even more fun, rats eat chicks. So I need to figure out a way to put the brooders up on tables or something.

Remind me why I have animals? I thought it was supposed to be fun for the kids to grow up on a farm. Mom is NOT having fun today!!:ROTFLMAO:

[Indianamom2]

Whoa!

And I thought my last two days with Ds had been gross. He vomited at Bob Evans yesterday and today, I found him sticking his hand in the toilet and then putting it in his mouth to drink...over and over.

But you win. And I'm sorry.:hug:

[misshollygolightly]

Gag-a-maggot! That's disgusting! So sorry you had to deal with it all...but you do sound like one pretty awesome mama!

[bubbaray]

If ever I dream of owning a farm and abandoning city life, I plan on reading this post again.

OMG. I would have barfed at the first incident and completely passed out at the second.

I :heartbeat: the city.

[ThreeofUs]

Oh, what a beautiful mooorrrniiinggg.... NOT.

Catherine, you've had quite the day, haven't you? Wow.

[vejemom]

I took a glass of wine with me and finished cleaning the barn. Our wonderful babysitter helped me drag the patio table (which has smooth metal legs) into the tack room and we put the brooders up on that. Then I sprayed the table legs with silicon spray in hopes of making it too slippery for momma rat to climb up and eat the chicks. I feel bad about her babies because they're pretty intelligent animals. But I just couldn't turn 6 rat pups loose!

hoping the turkeys survive the night. this is my first try at them, and DD#1 is so excited. and they were dang expensive. Cross your fingers for me!!!

[StantonHyde]

The only time I can remember being truly homicidal was when I opened the grain can and an entire army of mice popped out at me. ARRRRRGGGHHH. I can handle rodents in the house better than in the barn for some reason....... And RATS--uh, uh, no way.

[twowhat?]

I can stomach a lot of things. A lot. But maggots...they make my skin crawl....

[niccig]

This brings back memories of growing up on a farm...I will say though, I can handle a lot of gross stuff, better than DH unfortunately, so I always get the dirty jobs.

If you have brooder lamp to right temp, they should be fine. We raised a lot of chickens/guinea fowls.

[dcmom2b3]

If ever I dream of owning a farm and abandoning city life, I plan on reading this post again.


:yeahthat:

I grew up in the country and loved it. But without my dad around to handle the stuff you dealt with today? No. way. no. how.

[cue theme song to Green Acres]

[vejemom]

Well, everyone made it through the night. The turkeys were a little chilly because I had turned off the brooder light, but they perked back up. It is soooo hot in that room, I don't know why they want the light. I'd turned it off last night because they were panting. I'm used to the broiler chicks, who don't need a light this time of year. But the turkeys are so gosh darn cute. They seem to have more personality than chicks do, and were lined up for their pats :love-retry: Even maggot hen and her chicks are adorable. She had them out in the barnyard pecking and scratching. Every once in awhile, she would get sick of tripping over them and would shriek and shake her wings at them. Then everyone would fall in line and resume being one happy family for a few minutes. I guess it's kind of like how I feel taking the girls to the grocery store with me :rotflmao:

[ThreeofUs]

Glad everyone made it! I love turkeys; they can be really smart (which also has its downside).


Every once in awhile, she would get sick of tripping over them and would shriek and shake her wings at them. Then everyone would fall in line and resume being one happy family for a few minutes.

And I LOVE this description of the hen!

[MamaSnoo]

I have just lost all desire to ever have a farm. Or chickens. Definitely rats (wait....I never had the desire in the first place).

Oh..............but I still :heartbeat: want :heartbeat: my goats!

It will get better. :hug:

[veronica]

Um...wow....I give you all the credit in the world.

I'd be sitting in a bathtub filled with bleach right about now.

[doberbrat]

I'd be sitting in a bathtub filled with bleach right about now.

:yeahthat: infact, I only read the story and I want to go bathe in bleach.

and here I thought I'd love living on a farm too. .....

[Toba]

Wow, that was *some* day!! I think you deserve more than one glass of wine for that!! Glad everybody survived and I would *love* to see pictures!!!

DH grew up on a farm until he was 9 and he's told me some lovely stories. His dad is a bit of a tyrant and liked to make the boys (DH is second oldest out of four) do the gross things. Ugh. His family lives up North and my MIL, BIL and SIL all have some sort of farm on their properties (chickens, pigs, horses, dogs and a donkey or two). I have no desire to live the farm life ... I get way too skeeved out and I have an irrational fear of roosters after being chased all over the yard by one at MIL's house. That one was killed, BTW, immediately after attacking my nephew a few days later. BIL just came over and snapped its neck. And pig poop SMELLS ... BAD!!! Yeah, farm life is not for me.