Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Please don't let her toss it just yet. I've had eggs I thought were 'bad', but at second check a week later...turns out they were just a bit slower developing/getting started than the others - between that and some eggs being more difficult to see....I wouldn't necessarily toss it right away.

I will make sure to ask her to hold it for a few more days - I agree it’s not always easy and this is really only day 10.

I really want to get a fetal heart monitor to check heart beats - oh I am going to see online if I can get one! That would be great for the class!!

 

[Ponypoor]

A really interesting thing just happened! I managed to get home just a little early today, so the girls will get almost to four hours of supervised ranging time. Here’s a little background. Little Mill is starting to get her laying hormones, and that actually usually makes her super mean to the younger ones. Also note that Flash is the lowest in the pecking order by a long shot.

I had let the chickens out, maybe five minutes or so earlier, and suddenly saw Flash darting across the yard. She didn’t look scared, rather, she looked like she was going for a treat or something. I looked where she was headed and Little Mill had Flo in a full (submissive) squat. Now, even though Flo is one of the youngest, she is very assertive, she is the only one that Bridge lets roost right beside her, and she’s working her way up in the order. Anyway, Flash ran right up to Little Mill, who way outranks her, and started pecking at her to get off of Flo. I was shocked! Little Mill then stood up tall, raising her hackles into a full flair, turned her attention away from Flo and onto Flash. Flash is my quickest chicken and Little Mill with her limp is my slowest. Flash must understand that, because she just ran away, alongside Flo, leaving Little Mill in the dust. I was actually pretty proud of Flash standing up for her friend. It’s interesting, because Flo isn’t usually very nice to Flash.

Amazing isn’t it how smart and attentive they are and what an interesting and convoluted social structure they have.

 

[featherhead007]

More Dakota. She followed me into the coop. Perched as close as she could to me. The rest wouldn’t come inside when called. So I put out my arm, and Dakota jumped on for a ride to the house. She knew what she wanted (and so did I)

 

[bgmathteach]

I will make sure to ask her to hold it for a few more days - I agree it’s not always easy and this is really only day 10.

I really want to get a fetal heart monitor to check heart beats - oh I am going to see online if I can get one! That would be great for the class!!

I have to say, I LOVE the stage where the embryo is jumping around...it is just so fun to see that much energy & life before it really looks like much of anything but a mass of 'webby' veins and a center mass of cells that, at least to the naked eye, don't look like anything yet resembling something (I know there is more 'development' than the eye can see...but it really doesn't look like much yet, to the naked eye).

 

[BY Bob]

I do believe this, too..(hence the angry emoticon as well as the sad). BUT....one would HOPE that they learned from this (I assume the student would tell the teacher that the chick died??) And 'next time' it would be better? Again, no excuse for the suffering of the chick...nor the child having the chick die on them either.....but, again, one would hope that they did learn from this and improve next time!

I suspect that a combination of ignorance and wanting to be 'fair to all the kids in the class' led to sending one chick home with each child...but if that is your plan, then also plan on hatching 2-3 times the number of chicks as there are kids ( allowing for an incomplete hatch rate), so that they could go in pairs or trios...then it is fair to the kids AND the chicks.....AND get permission slips from all parents that either state 'yes, we will accept a couple of chicks' or NO, we don't want any" AND send care info home with each child - both prior to chicks hatching so proper living situation can be gotten...AND when the chicks go home 'just in case' previous info is lost.

Alas, who knows what happened - both before and after...but one would HOPE that someone learned something from that so that mistake isn't repeated....

Also, not defending what happened...but I did a fair amount of reading before I got my first chicks...and I am STILL learning more everyday despite having thought I was reasonably well prepared before my first set arrived. Thankfully I didn't do anything that stupid, but there were certainly things I could have done better then.. and a year from now I am sure I will look back on today and say - jeeze...really, you hadn't figured that out yet!!!

There is so much to learn in order to be a successful chicken servant. More than anyone ever anticipates.

 

[BY Bob]

Speaking of her, @BY Bob , how is she? we haven't seen her on here in ages. Hope she is doing well. If I remember correctly, she had to move or something, had to give away the chooks???? But then didn't she get more later????

(I may be comingling her and someone else, like Grandma Kavorte ?sp?)

You are confusing her with Grandma Dekorte. CCCL had her flock reduced by a coyote but was still in the chicken business last we spoke.

 

[BY Bob]

A really interesting thing just happened! I managed to get home just a little early today, so the girls will get almost to four hours of supervised ranging time. Here’s a little background. Little Mill is starting to get her laying hormones, and that actually usually makes her super mean to the younger ones. Also note that Flash is the lowest in the pecking order by a long shot.

I had let the chickens out, maybe five minutes or so earlier, and suddenly saw Flash darting across the yard. She didn’t look scared, rather, she looked like she was going for a treat or something. I looked where she was headed and Little Mill had Flo in a full (submissive) squat. Now, even though Flo is one of the youngest, she is very assertive, she is the only one that Bridge lets roost right beside her, and she’s working her way up in the order. Anyway, Flash ran right up to Little Mill, who way outranks her, and started pecking at her to get off of Flo. I was shocked! Little Mill then stood up tall, raising her hackles into a full flair, turned her attention away from Flo and onto Flash. Flash is my quickest chicken and Little Mill with her limp is my slowest. Flash must understand that, because she just ran away, alongside Flo, leaving Little Mill in the dust. I was actually pretty proud of Flash standing up for her friend. It’s interesting, because Flo isn’t usually very nice to Flash.

I just love this story. Chicken friendship and intelligence on display all together.

 

[RoyalChick]

The Amazing Phyllis
Phyllis was up on the wood pile looking for a new nesting location and Eowyn came over to see what was up. This required Phyllis to take a long flight path down, targeting her landing to be right between my legs. I caught it all in slow motion. Watch how graceful a flier Phyllis is.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/urvjhw1ff365nlz/20230404_102252.mp4?dl=0

I have said it before, she is the only chicken I have had that can fly straight up, hover, and much like a leghorn, she can gain altitude if she needs to mid flight.

What an amazing video!
There were a few moments when she looked unnervingly like a bird of prey!

 

[RoyalChick]

Can chickens take capsules? I cannot find anything online. All your experts know the answer?

Yesterday night we were gonna give her a capsule of Amox, but started to think maybe we need to take the powder out of the capsule for her digestion. So I have the powder mixed with coconut oil, which were put in the freezer.

This morning, it was a big failure to give her the frozen coconut ball (too big). She somehow still have lots of energy to fight it.

When we came back from work this afternoon, we popped the whole capsule into her beak, so she got her first dose, assuming the capsule can properly dissolve.

She is clearly not improving on her own. She hasn't eaten food in 3 days. According to the best I can find, I am going to give her 250mg of Amox every 8 hours.

Yes they can take capsules.
I even have some empty capsules I can fill with medicine as it is often the easiest way to give it to them.

 

[BY Bob]

What an amazing video!
There were a few moments when she looked unnervingly like a bird of prey!

I truly got lucky when she decided to fly at me. I love that video. And no youtube. You get to make no money off it.