Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Morning Bob, its wonderful to see little Eve heading home! I hope she and the family are getting lots of rest.

And you too! How are your other girls?

I personally am exhausted. I am hoping to get some rest today. My life has been nuts. I will update on the flock and all soon.

 

[drumstick diva]

You deserve a rest Bob, we can wait.

 

[BY Bob]

Downtime

Hoping to get some downtime today just like these pretty ladies.

 

[BY Bob]

What has BY Bob been Up To?

I need to apologize for disappearing over the weekend. When I said my life had been crazy, it truly was. I do not do Facebook or Instagram or really any other social media outside of Backyard Chickens. I have always been a little private about our lives and really hesitated to post information on Eve. While I am really glad I did so, I did not paint the full picture of the challenges my wife and I were facing.

I did tell @WhoDatChick that life was up and down at the time and it really was. While we learned about Eve’s developing situation in late June, prior to that in the spring, my youngest daughter got engaged.

Joyous news indeed.

She informed me that she did not want a big wedding but rather wanted a small destination wedding for no more than 20 people. As long as the budget stayed the same we did not care what her wedding was so we readily agreed. The destination she chose was Italy. Where in Italy she was unsure but she wanted to go back to her mother’s homeland and celebrate her wedding.

At the time, things were all good and she proceeded to hire a wedding planner in Italy, find venues to tour and arranged everything months in advance. Non-refundable airline tickets were purchased and hotels prepaid (best rates) so that we could do a scouting trip on potential locations. The trip was scheduled for over Labor Day here in the US to save on the number of days of work to be missed.

I’m sure my US based friends are now starting to put this together. As precious little Eve’s surgery kept getting pushed it was heading straight for my other daughter’s wedding scouting trip. As you all know, Eve had surgery on Monday 8/26. We stayed there through Tuesday night when once we saw how well she was progressing we felt reasonably safe to leave and fly to Italy on Wednesday. Since last Wednesday I have been in Italy doing a whirlwind scouting trip on wedding locations all over the boot.

My only regret is that as I type this I realized I did not get a good Italian sunset photo for @Ribh I promise to do so next time.

We got back to our home last night around midnight and I promptly started posting about cyanide in Ali James’ thread. I am exhausted. It was a frantic dash from venue to venue and the travel really wears on you but I am back. The ladies were extremely excited to see me and in fact are waiting for me at the back door as I write this. I am going to leave you with a photo of Rivello Italy I have millions more to share of the beautiful Italian countryside and will sprinkle them in from time to time moving forward.

 

[Ribh]

What has BY Bob been Up To?

I need to apologize for disappearing over the weekend. When I said my life had been crazy, it truly was. I do not do Facebook or Instagram or really any other social media outside of Backyard Chickens. I have always been a little private about our lives and really hesitated to post information on Eve. While I am really glad I did so, I did not paint the full picture of the challenges my wife and I were facing.

I did tell @WhoDatChick that life was up and down at the time and it really was. While we learned about Eve’s developing situation in late June, prior to that in the spring, my youngest daughter got engaged.

Joyous news indeed.

She informed me that she did not want a big wedding but rather wanted a small destination wedding for no more than 20 people. As long as the budget stayed the same we did not care what her wedding was so we readily agreed. The destination she chose was Italy. Where in Italy she was unsure but she wanted to go back to her mother’s homeland and celebrate her wedding.

At the time, things were all good and she proceeded to hire a wedding planner in Italy, find venues to tour and arranged everything months in advance. Non-refundable airline tickets were purchased and hotels prepaid (best rates) so that we could do a scouting trip on potential locations. The trip was scheduled for over Labor Day here in the US to save on the number of days of work to be missed.

I’m sure my US based friends are now starting to put this together. As precious little Eve’s surgery kept getting pushed it was heading straight for my other daughter’s wedding scouting trip. As you all know, Eve had surgery on Monday 8/26. We stayed there through Tuesday night when once we saw how well she was progressing we felt reasonably safe to leave and fly to Italy on Wednesday. Since last Wednesday I have been in Italy doing a whirlwind scouting trip on wedding locations all over the boot.

My only regret is that as I type this I realized I did not get a good Italian sunset photo for @Ribh I promise to do so next time.

We got back to our home last night around midnight and I promptly started posting about cyanide in Ali James’ thread. I am exhausted. It was a frantic dash from venue to venue and the travel really wears on you but I am back. The ladies were extremely excited to see me and in fact are waiting for me at the back door as I write this. I am going to leave you with a photo of Rivello Italy I have millions more to share of the beautiful Italian countryside and will sprinkle them in from time to time moving forward.
View attachment 1898661

BOB!!! How could you forget a sunset for me?

We never got to Italy when we were in Europe so I will look forward to your pictures! My background is Scots/Viking so we did a lot of Northern Europe & Hubby's is Scot's Spanish so we stayed on the west coast ~ & simply ran out of time.

Enjoy your girls. I know they will be pleased to have you back [as we are too! ] & I am so glad Eve is doing so well!

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Life is always an all or nothing gamble in my book.

I glad you had an enjoyable trip, even as exhausting as I'm sure it was.

I'm not far, if you ever need a place to unwind and kick back you and your lovely wife are welcome to hang out with Rich and I. I'm always available for chicken sitting, should the need ever arise.

 

[BY Bob]

Life is always an all or nothing gamble in my book.

I glad you had an enjoyable trip, even as exhausting as I'm sure it was.

I'm not far, if you ever need a place to unwind and kick back you and your lovely wife are welcome to hang out with Rich and I. I'm always available for chicken sitting, should the need ever arise.

That is such a generous offer. Thanks so much. My brother lives nearby and he watches "the farm", as he calls it, for us. But you never know. I'm hear to help you as well should the need ever arise.

 

[Ribh]

Yay for all the good hearts & chicken lovers!

 

[LozzyR]

Hi Bob, I'm glad you had such a good trip and that little Eve is doing well. I hope you don't mind me asking a question here but I feel I've made some friends thanks to this thread. My question is; how often do people worm their flock? I've had a look on this site and there are so many threads that say different things, plus I found an article that doesn't really say how often you should administer throughout the year. I did read not to give them the really strong stuff too often as it can create resistance in the worms but rotate it with other wormers. I dosed my girls with Avitrol Plus (not sure of the active ingredient but it kills most worms and is really strong with a withholding period of at least 7 days and two doses required) at the beginning of winter (your summer) and I'm wondering if I should now put some piperazine in their water? I don't want to be running off to the vet every couple of months for a fecal float to check for eggs (or coccidia), should I give them a dose of different wormers each season and the strong one once a year (or every six months)?

I know lots of people go for natural remedies such as wormwood, pumpkin seeds, diatomaceous earth etc but my girls have told me in no uncertain terms what they think of pumpkin seeds and any DE I put in their food they seemed to eat around. The pullets ate the leaves off the wormwood tree but the Isas ignore it. So I just put stuff in their water, which they usually drink. Any thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome!

 

[BY Bob]

Hi Bob, I'm glad you had such a good trip and that little Eve is doing well. I hope you don't mind me asking a question here but I feel I've made some friends thanks to this thread. My question is; how often do people worm their flock? I've had a look on this site and there are so many threads that say different things, plus I found an article that doesn't really say how often you should administer throughout the year. I did read not to give them the really strong stuff too often as it can create resistance in the worms but rotate it with other wormers. I dosed my girls with Avitrol Plus (not sure of the active ingredient but it kills most worms and is really strong with a withholding period of at least 7 days and two doses required) at the beginning of winter (your summer) and I'm wondering if I should now put some piperazine in their water? I don't want to be running off to the vet every couple of months for a fecal float to check for eggs (or coccidia), should I give them a dose of different wormers each season and the strong one once a year (or every six months)?

I know lots of people go for natural remedies such as wormwood, pumpkin seeds, diatomaceous earth etc but my girls have told me in no uncertain terms what they think of pumpkin seeds and any DE I put in their food they seemed to eat around. The pullets ate the leaves off the wormwood tree but the Isas ignore it. So I just put stuff in their water, which they usually drink. Any thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome!

I have never wormed regularly. This was the first time I ever needed to do so and it was in response to sickness and a test result. I am considering if I need to do so in the future.

What does everyone else do?