Dealing with Animals - Pets & Barnyard

Does anyone have words of wisdom on dealing with animals during recovery? I have house pets and a small scale chicken farm - I sell hatching eggs and laying hens in the spring.

I have a snuggle-buggle dog (15 lbs of love and who gets a bath nearly every day to combat ticks - & yes, I put frontline on him but they still get on him and walk around and fall off), cockatiels who s-c-r-e-a-m if they can't roam the house and follow me, ducks & chickens who are heat stressed and need fresh water morning and night...some of the birds are valuable and are kept penned to protect them from predators, and a rooster with a broken leg in a cage in my mud room (been keeping him inside so the other birds don't kill him - yeah, chickens can be scary that way). Oh, I also have a hen sitting on eggs - I don't think they'll hatch but she's so obsessed I have to physically remove her from the nest so she'll walk around a bit and drink some water.

We were supposed to get miniature horses for my daughters this summer and were on the fast track for building a barn when all this came up. Eeeek!!! Did I mention the mama hen with 6 chicks? Double EEEEEEKKKKK!

I'm trying to arrange for the special needs barnyard animals to be fostered with friends. I turned off my incubators and took eggs away from a newly nesting duck (who subsequently got eaten by some unknown predator). I've already lost several key birds from my breeding flock to predators - the birds are easy meals - especially if they aren't locked up at night.

My kids and DH will "take care" of the animals but I know it's going to be nearly impossible for me to ignore my urge to "go see what the (fill in the blank) are fussing about" or to want to help get those horses here. It was a special summer project the girls and I were doing together.

WOW! Sounds like you have alot of babies to take care of! I was going to post about my two little dachshunds, and what to do about them. I feed, water,and take them outside (they won't go by themselves) They also don't eat when I'm not home. They will not go out for my husband. He loves them, sweet talks them and lays on the floor and plays with them, but I'm the only one who can take them out! Uggg! We have a routine and this is gonna mess them all up! Isn't it funny we are about to go through a major surgery and are thinking about the animals we love and what to do about it? I really can't give you any advice. I guess we will just go SLOW and EASY!!! Best Wishes and I'm sure it will all turn out okay!!!!!

You've picked a good username for your life! I don't have much advice on the chickens, I hope your family will be reliable with them----any friends who might also help? A pillow or lap tray can help keep the dog from jumping on your lap. Try to be as "good" as you can on resting early on so you can get back to full duty earlier---or that's the hope. Good luck with all your animals (Chickens always make me think of Betty McDonald, one of my favorite authors from years past) and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I had to let my big long-haired dog go stay with my cousin for a couple of months. I had gotten pretty sick pre-surgically due to ascites from my tumor and I knew there was no way I could take care of him for a while and she agreed. I was very fortunate that she has other dogs like mine and could take him. I live alone and actually ended up as an emergency hospital admission so he was very frightened staying alone in the house for several days with people (he didn't know) coming to let him out and back in before my cousin took him home with her. It was tough for both of us and he was a little traumatized, but has been back home about six weeks and is doing well now. Let others help if possible.