Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Lexicon]

Sorry, I'm very late catching up and maybe this has been said later on. @MaryJanet 's Eddie, a speckled Sussex, had a huge comb and body as a pullet and for a while she even wondered if she was a he.

Thanks! I am keeping an eye on little Goneril.The one thing that makes me feel that she is hopefully a she is that her stance looks like all the other pullets, not upright like a cockerel.

 

[BY Bob]

A Surprise for My Daughter

I think the hawks are OK. In fact, they may like my daughter's deck a little too much.

Spoiler: A Gross Finding on the Deck

@ChicoryBlue

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

At my age I now understand why my dad had me dispatch chickens and other animals for the pot. As I have aged my heart has softened and I suspect the same of my dad. I watch Dr Oakley on tv and the other day when their family dog died I cried like a baby. I don't want to think of having to put down one of my pups or chooks.

Awe. As my dream is to become a vet, I watch Dr. Oakley all the time. I think that it's hard for all of us to think about having to put our furry or feathered (or scaled) friends down.

What I learned from needing to, 1. Put my (I thought) soul dog, Dina, down just over two years ago, it gets easier when you have more. It hurt for weeks and weeks, but we had Coach (my other dog) and we got two new pups two weeks after she died. They helped.
And 2. After Coach passed away in April, I was heartbroken. But now I had chickens, guineas, my two pups, and I was in school, so I couldn't cry all day. I've actually only broken down once or twice since after he died.
Now, my two pups, that's a whole other story. I would be heartbroken if I lost Apollo, but he and I don't have much of a bond. Of course I love him, and I cuddle and play with him, we just don't have much connection with each other unfortunately.
Diana though, I can't imagine what I would do without her. She is my best friend. She knows when I'm upset. I thought that Dina was my soul dog, I was wrong.
3. My chickens. I would be broken into tiny pieces if they passed. Bolt and I, we have a good bond. She is the only one who will stand still and let me pick her up. I love her and would be shattered if she died.
BBQ. She is a ball of sass and fire. She is very vocal, but super sweet if you can catch her. Not much of a lap bird unless she is on your porch recovering from bumblefoot. I think that she is an awesome girl, and she is the only chicken who as an adult, had been in the house. Love her.
Willow. When I first got her, she was not very touchy. She didn't like to be caught, although she would stay in you arms for a short while before freaking out. Before she went DEVIL on me by going broody, and after I had had her for a while, she would give me cuddles for ages. Most beautiful bird I have ever seen, and absolute sweetheart. She and Bolt I both adore.
Splotch. Absolute sass queen. She hates being caught, but she will appreciate cuddles for about a minute and then she will not want anymore cuddles. Love her, but she is only 99% important to me, not 100% like the others.
Pastel. Love him. That's all I need to say. He has attacked everyone in my family but me, and so I love him. Always will.
Guineas. Love them all.
Haha I have more birds that I thought. 10 guineas, and 5 (hopefully more soon) chickens.
You guys don't need to put a sad face on this unless you want to I feel like the posts that I mean to be funny you guys think are supposed to be sad.... it's okay though ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ I really want some soon!

 

[RoyalChick]

Mugs Monday.
Smile, humans!
View attachment 3547917

Do not worry. She was paid. I talked her down from her price of ten mealworms to approximately two.

Definitely submit to the caption competition - that is funny!

 

[notabitail]

A Surprise for My Daughter

I think the hawks are OK. In fact, they may like my daughter's deck a little too much.

Spoiler: A Gross Finding on the Deck

View attachment 3547966

 

[bgmathteach]

I use oregano essential oil in some specific cases but it's very strong and I would certainly not give it to a very sick chicken, or to a chick.

I can not speak to legitimate studies. However, I had a couple of chickens with respiratory issues a couple of years ago. I made 'Oregano tea', and added some electrolytes to this and gave it to them for a week. It seemed to help as their symptoms went away.

I put some organic oregano herb in a coffee filter, wrapped tight, then poured hot water over it and let it steep; I mixed in electrolytes and a bit of honey, I then added a few ice cubes (it was warm weather at the time, so I wanted them to have cool water), and put it out for them to drink - removing all but 1 other water source (to encourage them to drink that!) I did this for a week straight and it seemed to help. I gave them 'oregano water" weekly after that for another month.

Google Scholar - mostly limited to broiler chickens, but it is something.

 

[RoyalChick]

A Surprise for My Daughter

I think the hawks are OK. In fact, they may like my daughter's deck a little too much.

Spoiler: A Gross Finding on the Deck

View attachment 3547966

Oh dear. What was that poor critter when it wasn't breakfast?

 

[Lilion]

Sad news:
Today being Fathers day, I was cooking baking bread and the kids were up at our pond with their dad catching and releasing fish. Usually we go out to check on the chickens several times a day but today I only got a chance to go out once to collect eggs, change the wee ones water and we brought them a cool treat. All looked fine till I went to count, all the bigs accounted for. One of the littles was missing. I found a trail of feathers into the corner we had reinforced against the gd rats . Brownie has a minor eye injury I will address in the morning, I assume she got it trying save Fable.

Idk when this happened which is driving me crazy. All the babies still sleep in the tote. I went out tonight well after dark and stuck them all up on the roosts. They were quite unhappy with me but I feel like they may be safer up there then on the ground. I really hope they stay up there and don’t jump down.

I am really at a loss, and I am heartbroken and angry all at the same time. I think I am going have use poison. I made it much much much harder for them to eat the chicken feed so now they are going after my chickens instead.

Oh I'm so sorry! I'm battling mice in my coop, but they just poop everywhere. I don't know what I'd do!

Bucket trap should work well for mice. Rats learn from ones demise and rarely do you get another. With all of my attempts, I never got more than a total of 3 with any one kind of trap! Mice are not 'communal' in the way rats are, and don't pass knowledge from one to another the same - so traps continue to work repeatedly for them (as long as you remove the dead fairly quickly.)

Bucket traps do work well. I got 12 mice in a week!

LOVE all the chick pictures! They're awesome!

 

[Ponypoor]

Very interesting ! Thank you for the discussion.
Since you use eos, not sure if you can find it easily in the US, I use ravintsara (the cineol chemotype of cinnamonum camphora) for respiratory issues.

I would add Vitamin K, the antidote to all anticoagulant rodent poisons (which are the only type used here). Comes in useful if a hen eats a poisoned mouse !

I have two possibly "sensitive" questions. I'm not asking for opinions on whether it's a good thing or not as it would lead us into an endless debate . I would however be very interested and grateful if some of you have scientifically valid information.

First, as you probably know in my country it's impossible to have antibiotics for animals at home. The vet will only prescribe the exact number of pills you need for the animal you brought. Now, I'm fully aware no other substances have the same antibacterial effects as antibiotics and I am not in the least discussing this. My question is whether any of you have scientific information on products that could be interesting to use for their antibacterial action when you don't have antibiotics, even if they are far less efficient? I use oregano essential oil in some specific cases but it's very strong and I would certainly not give it to a very sick chicken, or to a chick.

(How do people handle this in my country? Well either they go to the vet or they use natural mixture of products available commercially. This is also true for AG operations, where the use of antibiotics is a last resort for layers, and forbidden for meat poultry. )

My second question is in regard to CBD. We were very late approving it's use for medical reasons compared to some of the US states, just last year. I understand that for humans, it's also used as a confort treatment for anxiety. Do any of you know if this is also the case for animals, and more especially for our chickens, or has it's use only been validated as a pain killer ?

I would find it very useful to have something that could help the chickens with stress as it has such a serious impact on their health.

Thank you all and hope you have a great Monday !

1)
Antibiotic/antibacterial

For oral systemic use for infections there is no scientific proven substance. And would not waste my money on the so called natural stuff out there - having tried this way back with the horses.

For topical use I use an ‘antimicrobial’ soap which we can still get here, but maybe not much longer; you can also try Betadine (iodine soap), which hospital’s use for prescrub for surgery. This is what I will go to once the soap I use is no longer available.

This access to meds is problematic here also, most people just let their animals die rather than get an expensive Veterinarian out to prescribe a med for a simple wound infection.

If the animals lives yay! If not so sad too bad is the motto now for most farmers and small holdings persons. Many animals are now just dying needlessly now in my humble opinion.

2)
CBD oil

McMaster University here in Ontario has been doing studies on it effectiveness for a few years now, the studies are inclusiveness for pain and anxiety, but many swear by it.

I always try stuff out on the horses, my dog and cats in the past to see how things worked (much money has been thrown away on so called natural or organic treatments!), I am interested in how the CBD works for Bob, I may try it for Penelope, and my old horses this winter for their arthritis. See how it works, if it’s effect for them. If it gives them relief perfect!

The problem is that there are no real standards for dose or preparation, it’s the Wild West with the preparation, dose, etc, so that is my main issue with its use.

I am hopeful that universities like McMaster can set dosages and preparation standards if this is a viable product.


Snoozing

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Cleaned up and scrubbed the porch yesterday. In doing so mom tossed one nest box that was in the other corner of the porch. I told her she should leave it, 3 hens were laying in it and it would cause drama over it being gone. She told me no it would not, 2 perfectly good ones empty. Well, I was right, drama, major drama and unhappy hens which have got the roosters going on the porch. It has been loud, very loud. Perfect timing for the phone call which she answered from the silkie breeder. Yup she now knows, and threatened me over not keeping another silkie rooster. I'm not, I'm not, but I will keep a hen.