Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[MaryJanet]

Some More Good News Today
The magnolia blooms survived nearly opening in Feb. Check out this tree!

View attachment 3457013

@ManueB look how pretty!

Wow!!

 

[featherhead007]

I know you're making a joke but I don't need much invitation to speak a little bit on AI.

It's trained on years old data, so it goes wrong all the time.

Management by AI and big data = management by rear view mirror.

No one would drive their car forwards by rear view, so why would anyone drive their business by looking where they've been? Any technology involving huge amounts of data has to be understood as fallible and kept in perspective.

I totally agree with that.

 

[MaryJanet]

Flash and Little Mill

Overall, my tribe is doing well. Bridge, the alpha and oldest at age seven, continues to amaze me with how robust she is. Here she is this past weekend:

View attachment 3454749

View attachment 3454751

The girls are laying up a storm. I think even poor Buttercup, who barely fits in a nest box and rarely lays anymore, laid an egg:
View attachment 3454753

Now here’s the not-so-great news. While Little Mill eats and poops well, her limp is as bad as ever, she has a swollen belly, she occasionally sounds like she has stridor, and she sometimes breathes heavily. Often she sits while the others are foraging, but sometimes joins in the fun:
View attachment 3454758
View attachment 3454759

And then there is Flash. Flash started laying an egg every day right out of the gate this season. Lately, I’ve noticed seeing fewer blue eggs. And then yesterday morning, I found this in the poop under the roost and she was acting a little funny, waiting for nest box. She went into the box, but did not produce an egg. She’s not produced an egg today, either. Except for yesterday morning for just a little while, she’s behaving. Totally normal.
View attachment 3454761

I do not have a current photo of Flash, as she is the hardest to catch on camera, or in the hands, but this one is from a couple weeks ago, I think.
View attachment 3454765

The rest of the tribe seems to be doing well. We’re having a wonderful break in the rain… it was sunny and clear today, but quite cool for April in California.

Thanks for letting me share an update.

Awww Butters! She must've done such a lot of wriggling to get that far in!

 

[featherhead007]

My rooster is acting aggressive towards me today. It must be a spring attitude thing. I’m not out to get his ladies, and I don’t need to be flogged at my heals either!

 

[MaryJanet]

I swear they do this just to worry me.
This morning I touch down at 5am after the redeye flight from LAX.
First thing I do is check my chicken cameras knowing that all I will see is Bernie because I can’t get a camera to see up into the rafters where the Math Majors roost.
Imagine my shock when this is what I see.
View attachment 3456708

This raises many questions:
How did little Eli get the most favored roost spot where she can warm her tush against the flat panel heater?
What is her bodyguard, Babs, watching so intently?
And, WHERE IS BERNADETTE??? I mean she is a big chicken to lose sight of!
I check all the cameras and there is no sign of her.
By this stage my mind has gone to every dark place and I am getting quite upset.
I search the feeds from the cameras for the night and finally find one that shows her marching into the nest boxes at about midnight.
And indeed, that is where I found her. Sitting peacefully on her newly laid egg and a ceramic egg.
Wait, what? That ceramic egg had been disposed of by Babs. Where did it come from?
Yet another mystery from the night.
No worries, Bernie is large and in charge as ever.
View attachment 3456719

Those friends of yours love pranking you RC!

 

[MaryJanet]

The Chicken news from the week that was at FBA
(hope I got all the links correct - apologies if there is some misdirection - I may have lost track!)

Lots of news this week from Fluffy Butt Acres. @BY Bob had some difficult decisions to make when some members of his flock showed signs of respiratory illness. Fearing the worst, but hoping for the best the chicken servant did everything he could to help their chances of survival. Ultimately a happy ending, but many of us, and of course particularly poor Bob, spent the first half of the week very anxious indeed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26686627
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26701353
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26707613
We were also treated to an amazing video of Phyllis flying. You have to watch this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26702908
Poor Betty has been having a hard time as the pecking order at FBA is getting adjusted: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26710529; https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26712282
And finally, Spring has sprung at FBA: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26710476

@GregnLety shared the news that his hen with a broken leg, now called Goldie (I will personally always think of her as Hopalong) laid an egg - with her leg splinted by the vet she is expected to make a full recovery.

@RebeccaBoyd has a dozen eggs, I mean adorable little fluff balls. Get your babies fix here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26687247
And of course she has MARSHMALLOWS!! .. .. .. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26698469; https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26706783

@featherhead007's lovely Leghorn - Hen-Rietta has been laying two eggs a day - we are all hoping things are just temporarily messed up as she approaches retirement as a laying hen. Alex thought she might be going broody, but apparently when the golf ball didn't hatch she gave up: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26696093; https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26696138
And the wonderful Jaffar has had a really tough week as a result of being attacked by a neighbor's rooster - possibly thrown over the fence specifically to harass him. He sustained some serious injuries to his comb but is thankfully healing now: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26716956

@Firsttimehens1234 shared pictures of her chicks enjoying the sunshine. Get your next babies fix here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26692939

@rural mouse had a scary moment with two missing chickens: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26696725

@Ponypoor has a huge plan that she explains here, which as far as I can see is simply designed to ensure that she has babies all over the place. Lots and lots of babies. Read the details here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26698170; https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26698959
And you can read her member interview here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26702987

@lightm's hen Wendy has been poorly but antibiotics seem to have helped her get better: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26711778

@micstrachan checked in with an update on her lovely flock: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26701755
And so did @ManueB: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26719005

@RoyalChick is finding the roosting order of things has been shifting at the Chicken Palace: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26709545
And there appears to be a concerted campaign to help @RoyalChick's Princesses, in particular Bernadette, to go broody. @Kris5902 shared this video which is supposed to make RC more comfortable with handling a broody Bernadette! https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26711276
The campaign kicked into high gear at the end of the week with an attempt to get RC to adopt baby Hatties from Bob as incubated by Phyllis using a Lavender Orpington roo borrowed from GrennLetty. I think I got that right. There is soooo much wrong with this plan I cannot even begin to list the problems, but it does mean that the end of the week has had us benefit from endless baby Hattie pictures. Baby Hattie!!! Here is just one example of the cuteness overload: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26714608

@TX Chick Noob has also had some chicks hatch. These chicks are not quite like the other chicks. I am not sure they are exactly cute, but they sure are cool! See the babies here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26712766

INFORMATIONAL CORNER
There has been some discussion about how to stop our hens laying when they get into reproductive tract issues. As well as the implant that is often talked about in these circumstances several folk have posted links to useful articles suggesting that progesterone oral contraceptive pills can be used. Here are the links to the articles and big thanks to @Ponypoor and @bgmathteach for finding them
http://www.poultrydvm.com/drugs/medroxyprogesterone-acetate; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273612/

And we got two videos of the nesting and egg-laying process that are quite interesting if your hens have privacy during their process:
- From @lightm we have the lovely chirping: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26693314
- From @RoyalChick we have the egg thief: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26710559

***
That is it for this week - and don't forget, we are always keen to have volunteers to write a weekly synopsis - hopefully it is helpful for a number of long time members of the FBA global tribe.

V helpful, thanks!

 

[Ponypoor]

Oooo a palindrome
14141

Lottery night - so that’s good luck

 

[LhickenChicken]

Flash and Little Mill

Overall, my tribe is doing well. Bridge, the alpha and oldest at age seven, continues to amaze me with how robust she is. Here she is this past weekend:

View attachment 3454749

View attachment 3454751

The girls are laying up a storm. I think even poor Buttercup, who barely fits in a nest box and rarely lays anymore, laid an egg:
View attachment 3454753

Now here’s the not-so-great news. While Little Mill eats and poops well, her limp is as bad as ever, she has a swollen belly, she occasionally sounds like she has stridor, and she sometimes breathes heavily. Often she sits while the others are foraging, but sometimes joins in the fun:
View attachment 3454758
View attachment 3454759

And then there is Flash. Flash started laying an egg every day right out of the gate this season. Lately, I’ve noticed seeing fewer blue eggs. And then yesterday morning, I found this in the poop under the roost and she was acting a little funny, waiting for nest box. She went into the box, but did not produce an egg. She’s not produced an egg today, either. Except for yesterday morning for just a little while, she’s behaving. Totally normal.
View attachment 3454761

I do not have a current photo of Flash, as she is the hardest to catch on camera, or in the hands, but this one is from a couple weeks ago, I think.
View attachment 3454765

The rest of the tribe seems to be doing well. We’re having a wonderful break in the rain… it was sunny and clear today, but quite cool for April in California.

Thanks for letting me share an update.

Do you think Flash could be eating her eggs? Is there any evidence of egg innards in the nest box that she laid in? This sounds like a case of egg-eating on her part.

 

[Miss_BEE]

Is it possible to get a picture of miss bee?

Picture

 

[featherhead007]

My rooster is acting aggressive towards me today. It must be a spring attitude thing. I’m not out to get his ladies, and I don’t need to be flogged at my heals either!

I fixed him! Brought him inside and let him snuggle up with me. I put “ROOSTER” by Alice In Chains on the stereo. He calmed right down.