Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

I plan to add a second layer of wire with the pattern offset to the first layer to create a tighter pattern. No reason to assume it is not a threat and if it could get it so could other things.. I try not to kill snakes since they "should" keep down rodents. The predator load around here is why I went with the "fortress" solution rather than free range.

I never kill snakes. I agree with you. They will eat mice first. I would just make sure it can't reach any chicks.

 

[LozzyR]

Poor cashew. I put a block of ice in the box she was sitting in. When she came back to the coop, she paced back-and-forth not sure what to do. She eventually sat in the nest beside it. Mind you, there are no eggs in any of the boxes. I remove them hours ago. I have dipped her in a cool bucket of water twice and removed her from the nest box several times. I’ve closed the door to the coop. She got super stressed about that, so I reopened it. Poor thing. I think I’m gonna have to figure out how to put her on some wire with air underneath her.
But I would really like is just to get her a couple chicks and be done with it.

I use a wire dog crate with a lump of wood in it propped up on bricks to let the air circulate. Charlie sleeps in the laundry in the crate when she’s broody. I only have to do it two or three nights. If I’m working during the day she stays in the cage in the run, if I’m home I let her out and shut off the nesting boxes. Of course, she made a garden nest as well!

Can I ask why you are not giving her chicks this year? Is it because you don’t want to “win the cockerel lottery” as @Kris5902 so hysterically puts it?

 

[LozzyR]

I never kill snakes. I agree with you. They will eat nice first. I would just make sure it can't reach any chicks.

I just don’t want King Browns or Red-Belly Blacks in our back yard!

 

[BY Bob]

Wet Hens, Again!

It was such a cold rainy day that everybody spent most of the day inside the run complex. In the end though they had to free range and got soaked again.

I felt so bad I invited them in the house for a snack to dry off.

Corrid Eggs

Not Covid eggs.

Their poos did clear all the way up after worming and I was seeing some nasty stuff so I put the flock on Corrid last weekend. Since I can't get anything tested, I'm guessing a little here. I hope this works.

So that leaves me with Corrid eggs. Nothing to do but feed them back to them. How about a nice dose of hot scrambled eggs before bedtime after a day in the cold rain?

 

[BY Bob]

I use a wire dog crate with a lump of wood in it propped up on bricks to let the air circulate. Charlie sleeps in the laundry in the crate when she’s broody. I only have to do it two or three nights. If I’m working during the day she stays in the cage in the run, if I’m home I let her out and shut off the nesting boxes. Of course, she made a garden nest as well!

Can I ask why you are not giving her chicks this year? Is it because you don’t want to “win the cockerel lottery” as @Kris5902 so hysterically puts it?

2 nights in the dog crate broke Maleficent.

 

[BY Bob]

I just don’t want King Browns or Red-Belly Blacks in our back yard!

We really only have 2 poisonous snakes native to the area and I have never seen them in person. Mostly black snakes or garter snakes here.

 

[WhoDatChick]

Poor cashew. I put a block of ice in the box she was sitting in. When she came back to the coop, she paced back-and-forth not sure what to do. She eventually sat in the nest beside it. Mind you, there are no eggs in any of the boxes. I remove them hours ago. I have dipped her in a cool bucket of water twice and removed her from the nest box several times. I’ve closed the door to the coop. She got super stressed about that, so I reopened it. Poor thing. I think I’m gonna have to figure out how to put her on some wire with air underneath her.
But I would really like is just to get her a couple chicks and be done with it.

I thought yall said not to put a broody in water

 

[BY Bob]

I thought she said she was just doing her legs. I personally am staying away from that completely. I do not recommend it.

 

[WhoDatChick]

I thought she said she was just doing her legs. I personally am staying away from that completely. I do not recommend it.

Maybe that’s what she meant... just her legs...
But I did want to ask.. why do yall refer to a broody hen as “sick”..?

 

[ValerieJ]

Wet Hens, Again!

It was such a cold rainy day that everybody spent most of the day inside the run complex. In the end though they had to free range and got soaked again.

I felt so bad I invited them in the house for a snack to dry off.

Corrid Eggs

Not Covid eggs.

Their poos did clear all the way up after worming and I was seeing some nasty stuff so I put the flock on Corrid last weekend. Since I can't get anything tested, I'm guessing a little here. I hope this works.

So that leaves me with Corrid eggs. Nothing to do but feed them back to them. How about a nice dose of hot scrambled eggs before bedtime after a day in the cold rain?
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You can eat eggs after you have given your hens Corid. It is a Vitamin K blocker, you could take it directly, although I don't advise that unless you have coccidiosis. Depriving the Coccidiosis of Vitamin K causes them to die naturally. There are other things that can cause the runny poo, so if the Corid doesn't work, do start a post in the ER forum. Do you know the correct dosage? I know Casportpony is the resident authority on it.

ETA: You need to redose them with Corid in a week to kill the coccidiosis that hatches. The Corid doesn't kill the eggs or larvae, or whatever they start as.