Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

And Hattie

Hattie posed today as well. She was very active and looking sharp today.

View attachment 3345770

Her pantaloons from feet to wings are as long as her wings to back! A grand lady.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Scary creatures are out at night!
I need to figure how it breached the electric fence.

Fox or raccoon? You have netting all around, or a double strand wire?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Speaking of that, maybe @BY Bob has some suggestions. 6 went to freezer camp today, a young drake ('extra') and 5 older hens. 2 of them had so much fat on them, I could literally peel it off the inside of their skin/belly in one huge hunk! I don't know what to do to keep them healthier. They, for the most part, get only feed & free range. Lately I've been giving them a warm mash in the mornings - it consists of their pellets, chopped veggies ( partially cooked), and once a week a bit of kefir added in. They haven't had scratch grains most of the summer ( only once or twice when I needed them to come in early from free ranging), and I have been giving them some now that it is cold only on the coldest nights, so not very often. When I do, they only get about 3 cups worth (remember, I have almost 130 animals...so that is only one cup for about 40 birds...at 30cc/ounce, so 240 cc per cup, that is only about 6 cc per bird, or 1/5th of an ounce volume wise - so not very much.

Yes, they were higher in the pecking order, those two...but the fat was 1/2 in thick pad! yikes! I don't know what to do! They do get free choice feed. until recently, I would let them run out around 2 pm & refill feeders when I got home from work...but the last few weeks, it is dark shortly after 4 pm, the time I'm getting home, so I make sure they have plenty of feed so they don't go to bed hungry..... especially with the cold

My guess is that 2 out of 5 seems pretty good. All things being equal (hard to account for pecking order and better access to feed) this could be attributable to predisposition / genetics. Seems to me you're doing pretty well.

 

[Ponypoor]

Speaking of that, maybe @BY Bob has some suggestions. 6 went to freezer camp today, a young drake ('extra') and 5 older hens. 2 of them had so much fat on them, I could literally peel it off the inside of their skin/belly in one huge hunk! I don't know what to do to keep them healthier. They, for the most part, get only feed & free range. Lately I've been giving them a warm mash in the mornings - it consists of their pellets, chopped veggies ( partially cooked), and once a week a bit of kefir added in. They haven't had scratch grains most of the summer ( only once or twice when I needed them to come in early from free ranging), and I have been giving them some now that it is cold only on the coldest nights, so not very often. When I do, they only get about 3 cups worth (remember, I have almost 130 animals...so that is only one cup for about 40 birds...at 30cc/ounce, so 240 cc per cup, that is only about 6 cc per bird, or 1/5th of an ounce volume wise - so not very much.

Yes, they were higher in the pecking order, those two...but the fat was 1/2 in thick pad! yikes! I don't know what to do! They do get free choice feed. until recently, I would let them run out around 2 pm & refill feeders when I got home from work...but the last few weeks, it is dark shortly after 4 pm, the time I'm getting home, so I make sure they have plenty of feed so they don't go to bed hungry..... especially with the cold

what breed are they?

 

[featherhead007]

Speaking of that, maybe @BY Bob has some suggestions. 6 went to freezer camp today, a young drake ('extra') and 5 older hens. 2 of them had so much fat on them, I could literally peel it off the inside of their skin/belly in one huge hunk! I don't know what to do to keep them healthier. They, for the most part, get only feed & free range. Lately I've been giving them a warm mash in the mornings - it consists of their pellets, chopped veggies ( partially cooked), and once a week a bit of kefir added in. They haven't had scratch grains most of the summer ( only once or twice when I needed them to come in early from free ranging), and I have been giving them some now that it is cold only on the coldest nights, so not very often. When I do, they only get about 3 cups worth (remember, I have almost 130 animals...so that is only one cup for about 40 birds...at 30cc/ounce, so 240 cc per cup, that is only about 6 cc per bird, or 1/5th of an ounce volume wise - so not very much.

Yes, they were higher in the pecking order, those two...but the fat was 1/2 in thick pad! yikes! I don't know what to do! They do get free choice feed. until recently, I would let them run out around 2 pm & refill feeders when I got home from work...but the last few weeks, it is dark shortly after 4 pm, the time I'm getting home, so I make sure they have plenty of feed so they don't go to bed hungry..... especially with the cold

I have no clue what your problem is with those birds. Seems like you are doing all you can for them. I’m at a loss about this.

 

[RoyalChick]

Fox or raccoon? You have netting all around, or a double strand wire?

I have netting. I need to do a perimeter check tomorrow.
I also have single wires that I could connect on the coop itself. I haven’t been connecting those as I have the netting but I sure would like to teach those critters to keep their distance. I will just have to remember to unhook those wires when I let the chickens out so they can jump up in the lids of the pasture runs which they like to do.

 

[Ponypoor]

I can't get over how clean princess still is.
View attachment 3346365

Hello ladies!

 

[bgmathteach]

what breed are they?

all different. 1 dark cornish (not fat) 1barred Rock (fat), one marans cross, 1 BR X ? (VERY FAT), and cuckoo marans cross.

 

[bgmathteach]

I have netting. I need to do a perimeter check tomorrow.
I also have single wires that I could connect on the coop itself. I haven’t been connecting those as I have the netting but I sure would like to teach those critters to keep their distance. I will just have to remember to unhook those wires when I let the chickens out so they can jump up in the lids of the pasture runs which they like to do.

Can you tell by the height of the eyes what it is? I was thinking fox (you have lots) or racoon. What time was this taken? Too late for foxes? Racoons are way to smart for their own good, if you ask me!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I would like to think that. I also think maybe a month in one would let her see how good she has it here. A nursing home is not going to let her demand and choose every 5 course meal she wants. She will not be allowed to eat everything she wants, when she wants no matter how big of a fit she throws if you say no. I actually feel bad in a way for the staff when she goes to one. She fights with you over taking her medicine. Fights with you when you help her get a bath, half the time flat out refusing. They will not let that happen. I cannot tell you the times have been halfway through fixing her and the family a meal and she decide she does not want that. She will call what you are making crap, say she is not eating it she wants something else. If you do not fix it she will go off, and at times throw things. She is breaking us down. My brother actively avoids her for the most part. He has a temper and is deathly afraid he is going to say something to her he cannot take back. He is her favorite grandchild, and had a very close relationship with her. He does not recognize her anymore. My dad, he wants to say something to her but stays out of it at mom's request. Instead, he hides when he is home, with the horses.

Agree with @bgmathteach this is not healthy for anyone involved. I agree with others who say she might improve a lot - health-wise and behaviorally - in a nursing home. I doubt that she will never speak to you again. If it is close enough by, you can visit often enough to keep tabs on her care and supplement her care if you're worried about that. You can bring meals. But I have never heard of a month's visit as a "try out". Better would be to look into a daycare situation first. That may be one of the respite options available to you that @RoyalChick refers to.

Once they get their hands on a resident, nursing homes are loathe to let them go, they count on the dollars filling that bed brings, and I'm guessing it's a big administrative cost to get a residence started. Our experience was they'll find any number of reasons to keep someone there. You have to be fit as a fiddle to get out.

In my family, once my sisters and I were faced with a medical "rock and a hard place" with Mom and we saw she hated it there and wasn't thriving, we felt if she was going to just keep declining and die, it would be better for her in her own home. Maybe she would stabilize, probably not. We had arranged for caregivers to watch her and keep her company 24/7 and we arranged for all the equipment too - hospital bed, etc., plus we could arrange hospice medical care as soon as she was home.

Still, we still had a heck of a time getting her out. We wound up having to do it "against doctor's orders." I think it's because the home can't risk any adverse event after discharge, or they get badly dinged by Medicare. That meant we broke her outta there - er, transported her -from start to finish- ourselves, no hospital-provided transport, and no private one was available. My BIL and his two good friends provided lifting power up her stairs. I swear it takes a village!

I should say "against their doctor's orders." That's another thing: at least in New York State, once you go into a nursing home you become completely their responsibility. This means you lose all your regular doctors, all the PA's and all the nurses who knew you. We live in a rural area and it's not like she suddenly was on another planet. Her familiar medical team was in the same town about three blocks away! We could not ask for any of them to see her. You come under the care of one doctor whom you do not choose, one or two nurses and a bunch of CNA's, all of whom are overworked and none of whom have ever seen you before. All you bring with you is what can be input into pre-defined categories on a medical record.

No doubt I have ranted on this topic before? We need chicks!