Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

This old girl gave us quite the scare Tuesday. For the first time in her life she had seizures. Noticed the first one at about 3pm. They were not really violent at first, but then at 4:30 she had a bad one. Rushed her to the vet, and she kept having small ones until 2 am. Head to toe work-up, everything is clear and normal. She just turned 10 in September. Vet thinks they were due to age and she may periodically have them now or may never have another episode. If she starts having them frequently she will go on seizure meds but for now its just a wait and see. My last golden lived to be 12, I'm not ready to loose my Gracie girl just yet.

tax

 

[rural mouse]

Using the new girls eggs I have gotten 4 total chicks so far that are the brown/red color. I do not know if they came from the buff orps or the cinnamon queens though as both eggs look very similar. I want to say they came from the orp girls. Bunny's brown/red chick has a straight comb, and from what Raven will let me see, her 3 also have straight combs. I would think if they came from the Queens they would inherit their weird comb right?

Both rose and pea combs are dominant over straight combs. However, pure rose comb crossed with pure pea comb can throw a walnut comb, and a walnut comb crossed with a straight comb will throw EITHER a rose OR a pea comb

https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/poultry-genetics-an-introduction/

 

[rural mouse]

Ok so my little ones and big ones are used to each other. At what point do I let them out together they are trying to escape the cage. I thought about letting them out today it's going to be nice out. I've never integrated a flock into a flock before. Anything I should be aware of

Lots of pursuit blockers and places for the Littles to hide from the bigs, and no blind corners where the Littles can get trapped by the bigs.

 

[RoyalChick]

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This old girl gave us quite the scare Tuesday. For the first time in her life she had seizures. Noticed the first one at about 3pm. They were not really violent at first, but then at 4:30 she had a bad one. Rushed her to the vet, and she kept having small ones until 2 am. Head to toe work-up, everything is clear and normal. She just turned 10 in September. Vet thinks they were due to age and she may periodically have them now or may never have another episode. If she starts having them frequently she will go on seizure meds but for now its just a wait and see. My last golden lived to be 12, I'm not ready to loose my Gracie girl just yet.

tax
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Hope Gracie settles down. Lovely looking girl.

 

[BY Bob]

Okay

Thank you.

 

[Ponypoor]

Bunny has 1 more egg in the process of hatching. Once it warms up I will check her 6th egg to see if it is viable. Raven has 2 more eggs, I will check them as well. Depending on how that goes they may get to stretch their legs for a little bit this afternoon.

So eggcited

I hope they all hatch! Oh you are so lucky to be able to hatch them out

 

[BY Bob]

An experiment. I had this cage thingy for wild birds. But since Avian Influenza I have stopped feeding the wild birds not sure why really as they hang out here anyway!
So I tried this for corn on the cob. I think it is a bit too swingy. But Maggie in particular is quite skillful at timing her lunges with the swing.
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I need advice on Maggie’s rear end. It is in a shocking state. She is sleeping in the nest box and that combined with her perpetual diarrhea and of course her very fluffy butt is a terrible combination.
I could wash or trim or crumble it off - but I don’t want to handle her too much until she is less like a porcupine. If she keeps sleeping in the box it will get worse and worse.
It is getting cooler so I suppose fly strike is a bit less of a worry.
If her fluff is old she will molt it off naturally, but I am not sure - her fluff might be new feathers.
I am wondering whether to block off the nest boxes and force her to roost. She is perfectly capable of going up the ladder. At least I think she is. And I could always giver her a lift her up and down if she seems to have trouble.
What do you all think?

Fly strike will not be a realistic problem. It's too cold now. I don't think I would handle her until her molt is over.

So that leaves you with nicking of the nest boxes or moving her. Are the windows in the Palace still open or are they closed? If they are open then the nest box will actually be a warmer place for her to sleep than in front of an open window.

If you want her on the roost, I would move her at night after she settles. Something to remember though, yours go up and down the roosts at night. So you would likely have to close the boxes off.

If it were me I think I would let her go and then clean her up after she was done molting even if I had to bathe her.

 

[BY Bob]

Or in completely opposite amounts “Those pellets are they don’t like them. Same with the wheat berries in the scratch, everything eats all the rest of the scratch, even the songbirds don't like that wheat…” well if you give a kid a bowl full of candy and a bowl of salad, what are they going to do??? Pick through said candy for their favorites, then stuff themselves on the rest of the sugar bombs, maybe pick at the salad… then feel sick for a couple days. And there’s the old “all we used to give them was a little scratch back in the day” mentality too. Because whole grains and cracked corn lasted longer so when barging feed in, it was a better purchase. People drive me nuts, I swear… would you feed your dog only milk bone treats, or your cat temptations? Can you not read the labels? Oh and the feed bags now say “scratch, poultry Supplement” that’s a change in the last year or two. One lady (with about double my numbers) orders it by the pallet and is still constantly running short. That’s like 2500 lbs of scratch a month!

I hope those chickens have access to free range to supplement their diet. Yikes.

 

[BY Bob]

I went out to check on the girls and we are now up to 4. Bunny has had 2 more hatch. Raven has from what I can tell 2 more eggs pipped.
Now for what everyone is waiting for....pictures.
Bunny's 3
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Raven and her chick.
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I adore this picture
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Mums and chicks...... nothing better!

 

[BY Bob]

I may have to get a Daisy now but she would of course need to be leghorn.

They are all special ladies. That would be quite the tribute.