Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ValarieF]

Im so glad bobs KLady broke out and is feeling better. I hope they can all be together soon. I felt pretty good this morning so I fed the chooks myself (my hubby has been feeding them) but now Im sick and in pain The Hida scan for my gallbladder is set and is next monday morning. Then we will have answers.

 

[BY Bob]

Hopefully everything goes right tonight during the inspection. I think it is a very good sign that Aurora broke out of isolation. She has to be feeling better. I really doubt this was Avian Flu at this point. Instead of symptoms staying the same or even getting better they should have been getting worse. I think your girls wanted to join the ranks of some of us people and get the "spring crud" that is going around.

The one symptom that has never been present is lethargy. It's never gotten to the point where I had to deal with that kind of fear for them. They seem like healthy active chickens in every other way.

 

[BY Bob]

There is another option. Is your friend hatching eggs from her silkies? If so maybe you all could dna sex the chicks and if there is a male from her chicks bring him home. Allow him to grow up to be your 2nd rooster under Mr Ps tutelage. This time around thanks to Mr P and your older hens you are in a much better position to have a young rooster turn out right. Especially if you have a broody to raise him. Broody raised chicks watch and learn from the other flock members roosters included very early on. If they stay long enough the cockerels start really shadowing and imitating the boys around 2 months old. When the teenage hormones hit, Mr P will be there to keep him in line. It may not look pretty but let Mr P administer the needed whipping the first few times the young boy gets rowdy with the hens. With Mr P there to back them up your older girls will also deliver some manner beatings. If he is smart, he will learn and learn quickly. If you can make it through that first year, the new boy will be firmly established as the 2nd in command rooster and he and Mr P will share flock duties. One will be there as a lookout for predators so the other can handle escort duties. In time you will notice that each will have their own preferred hens. The hens will choose their rooster not the other way around.

I love this way of doing things. Ned was a transplant who learned about being a rooster from Stanley. He met Stanley somewhere around 5 or 6 weeks of age. They don't have to be hatched by your chickens to learn what it means to be a proper rooster.

 

[BY Bob]

Rosie's allergy testing is tomorrow. Today makes day 4 she has been off her allergy medication in preparation for it. I am so thankful today school was cancelled due to wide spread power outages in our area. I have kept her inside while she is off the meds and she is miserable. Coughing her head off, sinus headaches that will not go away and head congestion. With everything in or near full bloom at the moment even staying inside she has most likely developed a sinus infection. Yesterday was terrible, she spent half the day in bed in a dark room with a ice pack on her forehead. I feel like a terrible person, she needs her allergy medicine. I could have alleviated those headaches with a single pill but I could not.

That has to be the worst feeling. As a parent knowing you could help your sick child but not being able to. How about some Patsy mugs to remind you why you got your beloved Marans.

 

[BY Bob]

Im so glad bobs KLady broke out and is feeling better. I hope they can all be together soon. I felt pretty good this morning so I fed the chooks myself (my hubby has been feeding them) but now Im sick and in pain The Hida scan for my gallbladder is set and is next monday morning. Then we will have answers.

Glad to hear you are feeling better.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

That has to be the worst feeling. As a parent knowing you could help your sick child but not being able to. How about some Patsy mugs to remind you why you got your beloved Marans.

View attachment 3453834View attachment 3453835View attachment 3453836View attachment 3453837View attachment 3453838View attachment 3453839

I have to keep reminding myself we are doing this to hopefully keep her from constantly getting sick. Patsy was beautiful, thank you for re sharing those pictures. I will get new ones sometime today but I have a Patsy look-a-like now. Young Meeko resembles Patsy with feathered feet thrown in.

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok, now for the mugs yesterday

View attachment 3453657Silver, leader of the ladies

View attachment 3453656Nellie, of the roosting in the carport (shelf is @18 inches deep where she was and she was all the way at the back)

View attachment 3453658Whiskey watching everything

View attachment 3453659Cheetah and Twirp (my other wayward lady, she's so tiny)

View attachment 3453660Cuckoo, contemplating wether or not something down there is worth the effort to fly down, and Nellie, again

View attachment 3453661Blanche, one of the good girls who called me outside

View attachment 3453664Kren, one of the Idiots, of whom I have the highest hopes of being like Branch (and Jessica's tail)

View attachment 3453665Jessica came out of the cinquefoil

View attachment 3453666Nox (with the bucket behind her, now moved to the carport)


View attachment 3453668Horus, the other Idiot, who works in tandem with Kren: divide and conquer seems to be their motto

Such a lovely flock, I never realized how long cheetahs legs were! That are awesome legs!

 

[Ponypoor]

@Ponypoor the Cheetah/Twirp pic shows the rooster vs hen stance (#4). You can see it even in chicks. Hector was part of a straight run and I picked him out as a roo just by the stance (tractor supply equivalent, so at most a week old). You want to watch for a while, but the little roos will stop and look around with the same chest up/out kind of thing while the little hens will look around with the chest/back angle more like Twirp's.

I knew Stanley was Roo right away, but Roxanne never had that stance at all and when he crowed I was completely shocked!

 

[lightm]

http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/medroxyprogesterone-acetate

The dose shown here was for IM injection.

Thank you!

 

[Ponypoor]

I have not put any chicks under Raven. I'm trying to break her up. If I keep any I will brood them myself. I doubt I will keep any this time around. I actually have as of last night 4 broody hens. My biggest and meanest cochin hen Gryffyn is very very broody right now and is a biting she devil. She has no eggs but that will change today. This may fail but I'm going to give her a chance to prove she will hatch eggs and not eat them. I have one of her sister's eggs saved from yesterday and hope to get another today. I'm also giving her a Goose egg. She is a big enough girl she could easily cover 12 or more but I do not trust her. Karen is in the building broody with nothing to sit on and I think it finally clicked and Goose is broody herself. If anyone else gets eggs it will be Goose.

Good luck I hope to see your Cochin with babies soon!

Both boys are pretty. You are using all of your silkie girls right? So either way you are going to get the same color odds. Black to Black you will get black. White to Black you will get a chance for both colors. I think white to black there is a small chance for paint as well. What I would do is visit your friends for a bit and spend time with the boys. Whichever one has the nicest personality pick him. I firmly believe that roosters pass down their temperaments to their sons to a certain degree. That being said, going by those 2 pictures.....I like the white boy just a tad better. The black boy though, love the head poof, his chicks would definitely have a chance for poofy topknots. That black one looks like Branch's daddy. How old is he? I figure Branch will end up looking like him in a few years. Before his first big adult molt at a year old he only had a few gold feathers in his neck. Now he has a lot. I suspect after each molt more are going to appear as he ages.

Both, I think are around 3 I like the white one also, he used to roam around the barn when he was young, and would follow me around looking for treats. They are both really quiet I hard ever hear a peep out of them when I am there. Ok well white silkie it is.