Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Strange Roosting
We are getting wind gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph) tonight. The high winds have resulted in a couple of strange roosting occurrences tonight.

1. Hattie is on a roost!
2. Betty has left Hattie House for the security of the main coop.

 

[Chicken poppy]

It was a snowy cold day here in Southern Ohio. I had taken out the ester heater but had to put it back in to keep the water from freezing. Winter is not quite ready to leave just yet. I failed to get any pictures today but I do have a different twofer picture then I would typically post.

Two eggs I had washed for my breakfast this morning, one pretty pale green one from Biscotti Silverrudds Blue and a really weirdly beautiful paint job from one of my Wellsummer pullets. They are normally speckled so this was definitely a ink jet clog of some sort
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Already Henna tattooing her eggs!

 

[RoyalChick]

Right, exactly. I read about the leaky Mareks vaccine on BY chicken initially and people were going back and forth like a verbal tennis match.

So, knowing I had unvaccinated chickens I dug deeper. I am not a scientist but I love to read and research. Ohio State Ag department and a few other academic sites I looked at had published some studies on the subject and I dug into them. I read through several papers, I am far far from an expert but the jist of what I read said that yes its leaky BUT the chances of a vaccinated chick giving the virus to an unvaccinated flock is very, very low according to the studies I happened upon.

So, low risk but no one is willing, and rightfully so, to say there is no risk. It is a hard decision but so far I have been in the camp of future chicks should be unvaccinated just to play it safe.

There does indeed seem to be a gulf of missing easily accessible answers for chicken keepers on a multitude of subjects not just this one. I have found many poultry studies but they are typically geared more towards mass production solutions and risk analysis vs backyard beloved pets. What a production farm or hatchery should do doesn’t necessarily always apply to a backyard environment. So, it ends up being quite the quandary and we are left doing what we feel we can live with and afford a lot of the time.

BY_Bob is an expert and is well versed in chicken issues, but also I know he is super busy right now. If and when he has time to type about it, it would be lovely to hear his explanation/ take on the Mareks vaccine, I agree.

It is made more complicated because there are different types of Mareks vaccine.
Small breeders use a turkey virus. Yes it is a live virus vaccine, but the virus does not cause disease so even if the vaccinated chick passes it on it doesn't matter (even to turkeys). It may be less effective at protecting the vaccinated birds but I don't think it is a risk except in the sense that a vaccinated bird could catch Mareks from the environment (not from the vaccine) and instead of dying would live happily but could nonetheless pass that disease it caught on to unvaccinated chickens.
Then there is another type which only the large hatcheries use (it is uneconomical for anyone else) which uses the actual disease forming virus. I have not read the research papers in depth on that one but there is at least a theoretical basis for thinking it might cause outbreaks of disease in unvaccinated chickens. Most of what I have read says that is extremely rare in spite of all the hype around one study that raised the concern.

 

[BY Bob]

Glynda in this picture looks like she is filling out a bit more still sleek and refined but maturing beautifully. She really does glow.
LF my inspiration for the hatching eggs I have on pre-order is looking beautiful as always in all her spangled feathers.
Aurora looks beautiful of course but also a bit like me in the morning before coffee lol not ready to be up quite yet

That was early in the morning and Aurora was quite grumpy. It was cold, her water was frozen and I was out of corn.

She was not having a good start to her day.

 

[bgmathteach]

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Dixie and baby photos.
I feel horrible. I left the brooder open since i was supervising and the babies came out, walked around, and went in the pet taxi where Dixie hatched them and fell asleep in the nest scoop she made.. My hearts broken, poor things.

Oh, my heart goes out to those babies! Dixie looked like a very proud mum in these photos. You will just have to spend lots of cuddle time with them...even a cloth covered heater plate isn't as snuggly as a momma. Poor chickies. However, somehow littles like that seem to be more adaptable - if you are able to spend a good amount of time with them regularly, they may look to you for support and protection. I know, a poor substitute for a chicken momma who can teach them chicken things, but I feel that a living 'mum' is better than no mum...so I hope you will be able to spend lots of time with them...in a few days, they will start to assoc. their new home with 'home'.

I don't suppose your created 'brooder plate' would fit inside the crate with the nest? Make them feel more at home?

 

[Chicken poppy]

Oh, my heart goes out to those babies! Dixie looked like a very proud mum in these photos. You will just have to spend lots of cuddle time with them...even a cloth covered heater plate isn't as snuggly as a momma. Poor chickies. However, somehow littles like that seem to be more adaptable - if you are able to spend a good amount of time with them regularly, they may look to you for support and protection. I know, a poor substitute for a chicken momma who can teach them chicken things, but I feel that a living 'mum' is better than no mum...so I hope you will be able to spend lots of time with them...in a few days, they will start to assoc. their new home with 'home'.

I don't suppose your created 'brooder plate' would fit inside the crate with the nest? Make them feel more at home?

I hope they begin to trust me enough soon. Dixie of course didn’t want me handling her babies all that much so their just not beginning to like me to hold them.

Unfortunately the crate is extremely tiny, i don’t think it’s enough room because if i was able to put in the brooder place, adding a food and water dish in there would probably leave little to no floor space. I might try putting the pet taxi inside the brooder their in now. Maybe i’ll try that tomorrow.

 

[BY Bob]

I agree. She is starting to look like a chicken and a bit less like an oversized song bird

With a comb like that she is no song bird!

 

[Chicken poppy]

With a comb like that she is no song bird!

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Your leghorns are stunning, such smooth feathers.
My chicken feathers are all crooked on the back, except Peeps. Which now that i think about it, i’m starting to get a little suspicious.

 

[RoyalChick]

With a comb like that she is no song bird!

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Indeed not. And I didn’t mean it as an insult. But her body is so svelte and petite that she had the look of a song bird
Lovely.
She has impressive wattles too.

 

[rural mouse]

With a comb like that she is no song bird!

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But does she sing?