Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

It has been really hot down your way, yes? Sometimes egg laying will significantly drop if they are heat stressed. It usually takes a few days or more for the production to slow from the heat stress as there are already egg(s)/yolks 'ripening'. Hope you find the stash, but it may not be as big of a stash as you think.

Just find them fast...I suspect someone is getting ready to go broooooody

One of these days someone on here besides myself is going to wake up to surprise chicks. It is one thing to purposefully set a hen. It is entirely something else to have your "missing and presumed dead" hen show up with chicks in tow. It really makes you feel about a inch tall when you find out she was hiding in plain sight if only I had looked UNDER the hay pile.

 

[BY Bob]

I have gone back to using starter-grower (20% protein) and of course oyster-shell, which I’ve always kept available, because I have a mixed flock now. Layers, not-yet-layers, half-grown ducks, two roosters.
Comparing it (ingredients-wise) to an all-flock feed, it’s equally complete nutritionally, and $2.00 cheaper per 50 pound bag. Two bucks is two bucks, it adds up.

Thanks that is comforting.

 

[ManueB]

I am just stopping in briefly to thank all of you who have sent words of support and encouragement both in the thread and through PM. These messages really help.
I also wanted to let you all know what I have decided to do.
I went to sleep last night thinking I would submit Lulu’s body into the state lab for necropsy and would hold my breath on what they found.
This morning I figured that there was not much I would actually be able to do with a necropsy report. I have done what I can in removing the feed, and if it was a one off thing, then it is a one off thing.
I also spoke to the lab this morning and they said if it was poison in the food they would not be able to tell that.
So, I have decided not to necropsy. My desire for closure is not enough of a reason. I will send in swabs for PCR testing which may or may not shed some light.
The real decision point will come when I want to add to the flock. I need to be sure that any additions will be safe. So for now I will wait and see and hope for the best for my ladies.
I will of course have to add (unless I rehome) because three is a precariously small number, particularly when two of them are technically ‘elderly’ and have known reproductive issues. But I will face that when I have to.
For now we take one day at a time. Me and my three Princesses.

Bernadette looked for Lulu a few times today which made me sad, but I think she understood before I did that Lulu was leaving us. If I look back at the canera recordings from yesterday she was already spending more time with Diana and Maggie and checking in on Lulu periodically.
As I sit here in my chair in the chicken run, I miss Lulu’s visits, Bella’s cuddles, and the sheer insanity of the Roadrunners, terribly. But I will get through it.

The lost Princesses:
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What you're going through is heartbreaking. Those four little rays of sunshine (a dark sun for the little vampire) will stay alive forever in our memories. My admiration for the way you are coping with this is endless, I would give a lot to have your ability to keep a rational mind with a loving soul.

I'm waiting to see lots of beautiful photos of Bernadette, Maggie and Diana.

This poem describes exactly how I feel about my flock members, past and present.
I was so naive when I bought my first chicks. I was going to raise these chicks and have a little flock of hens and get fresh eggs and live happily ever after. I never realized how fragile chickens are, compared to other pets like dogs and cats.
When I lost four pullets to a predator I was devastated. That was only the beginning. I lost Blanche, my favorite girl, and as time went on, a few more.
At this point I think I try to be less attached, but you can’t avoid the feelings of sadness and loss. And that feeling like you aren’t being a good chicken keeper.
I am just trying to enjoy each day as it comes, and enjoy their presence.

My thoughts exactly. For now I have refused to get more chickens when my partner was pushing for another hatch and to buy two pullets. I haven't yet made my way to the point of your last sentence or to @BY Bob's poem's last stance, and am still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sadness.

 

[LozzyR]

I am just stopping in briefly to thank all of you who have sent words of support and encouragement both in the thread and through PM. These messages really help.
I also wanted to let you all know what I have decided to do.
I went to sleep last night thinking I would submit Lulu’s body into the state lab for necropsy and would hold my breath on what they found.
This morning I figured that there was not much I would actually be able to do with a necropsy report. I have done what I can in removing the feed, and if it was a one off thing, then it is a one off thing.
I also spoke to the lab this morning and they said if it was poison in the food they would not be able to tell that.
So, I have decided not to necropsy. My desire for closure is not enough of a reason. I will send in swabs for PCR testing which may or may not shed some light.
The real decision point will come when I want to add to the flock. I need to be sure that any additions will be safe. So for now I will wait and see and hope for the best for my ladies.
I will of course have to add (unless I rehome) because three is a precariously small number, particularly when two of them are technically ‘elderly’ and have known reproductive issues. But I will face that when I have to.
For now we take one day at a time. Me and my three Princesses.

Bernadette looked for Lulu a few times today which made me sad, but I think she understood before I did that Lulu was leaving us. If I look back at the canera recordings from yesterday she was already spending more time with Diana and Maggie and checking in on Lulu periodically.
As I sit here in my chair in the chicken run, I miss Lulu’s visits, Bella’s cuddles, and the sheer insanity of the Roadrunners, terribly. But I will get through it.

The lost Princesses:
View attachment 3241674View attachment 3241675View attachment 3241676View attachment 3241677

Such beautiful girls, all of them.

 

[RoyalChick]

What you're going through is heartbreaking. Those four little rays of sunshine (a dark sun for the little vampire) will stay alive forever in our memories. My admiration for the way you are coping with this is endless, I would give a lot to have your ability to keep a rational mind with a loving soul.

I'm waiting to see lots of beautiful photos of Bernadette, Maggie and Diana.

My thoughts exactly. For now I have refused to get more chickens when my partner was pushing for another hatch and to buy two pullets. I haven't yet made my way to the point of your last sentence or to @BY Bob's poem's last stance, and am still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sadness.

 

[bgmathteach]

One of these days someone on here besides myself is going to wake up to surprise chicks. It is one thing to purposefully set a hen. It is entirely something else to have your "missing and presumed dead" hen show up with chicks in tow. It really makes you feel about a inch tall when you find out she was hiding in plain sight if only I had looked UNDER the hay pile.

Yup, that is me!!! (only I found her half way through incubation. ) If only I had looked behind the recycle cardboard!!! She hatched my 4 new babies that will be a week old Tomorrow.

 

[bgmathteach]

What you're going through is heartbreaking. Those four little rays of sunshine (a dark sun for the little vampire) will stay alive forever in our memories. My admiration for the way you are coping with this is endless, I would give a lot to have your ability to keep a rational mind with a loving soul.

I'm waiting to see lots of beautiful photos of Bernadette, Maggie and Diana.

My thoughts exactly. For now I have refused to get more chickens when my partner was pushing for another hatch and to buy two pullets. I haven't yet made my way to the point of your last sentence or to @BY Bob's poem's last stance, and am still feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sadness.

It is so hard to lose those we love - be they human, furred, feathered, or otherwise!

 

[BY Bob]

Yup, that is me!!! (only I found her half way through incubation. ) If only I had looked behind the recycle cardboard!!! She hatched my 4 new babies that will be a week old Tomorrow.

Pictures. We need chick pics!

 

[featherhead007]

I just want to sleep in, but Jaffar doesn’t!

 

[BY Bob]

I just want to sleep in, but Jaffar doesn’t!

The joy of roosters.