Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[LhickenChicken]

Well now I am a rabbit expert

Raised and showed Rex and Netherland Dwarf for years as a youth

Fact; does only nurse their babies once a day - true fact!

Also I have had litters of 12 no problem - split the litter in half and feed the one group in the
morning and they second group in the afternoon, roughly 12 hrs apart.

How old is this kit? If it doesn’t have its eyes open and out and about eating then it’s chances are not good,

So what I would do is have two nesting boxes and put half the litter in one box and the rest in the second box. Morning and evening bring the nest boxes out for momma to nurse. Once their eyes open and they start bopping out of the box nibbling on stuff you can put them all back together to finish growing up

EDIT: To clarify - bring one of the nestboxes out on the morning and the other in the evening so each group is fed once a day.

BFTP

These are a couple of the Rex I raised
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Netherland Dwarf
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Me and a ND rabbit at a show - gosh I was young there!
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And NO I am no interested in showing poultry!!!

Yeah, but they nurse twice a day, at morning and evening. So everyone says. I am choosing instead to bring him to Amora so she can feed him. He jumped out of the box last night and may have hurt himself. Amora is his best chance of survival.

 

[GregnLety]

The little rooster is ok, instead of putting him back with his tribe Lety has chosen to rehome him. There's still 3 roosters and only 4 hens in that tribe so there's probably too much testosterone going on.

 

[RoyalChick]

You need to upload it into a gallery first. It is a little complicated to use BYC to host your videos. I don't have time today to write up instructions. Maybe someone else does.

@Marie2020 I can't remember exactly - but along the top you should see a tab called Gallery. I think you have to create an album for yourself and then you can add the video to that album. Because I now have an album I can't see exactly what I did to create a new one - it wasn't immediately obvious and I bumbled around clicking stuff before I got there - but it definitely required you to create an album and then do something like add media.

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh poor Coco - and other animals and people with PTSD.

They should do those drone displays which are amazing!

In an uncharacteristic move for me I went into Manhattan for dinner and to see the fireworks. A friend of mine has a particularly well located apartment for viewing.
I had never seen a drone display before.
The first three pictures with the star, the flag, and lady Liberty are drone display.
And then a few of the fireworks. I have to say it was quite dramatic and I felt very lucky getting that view without the crowds!
I did think of the pets but I guess at least this is well planned and I imagine animals living in NY get used to a lot of noise!
Finally of course a tax payment: Piglet and Pooh doing what they do best!

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

I’m the weird one.

Yes, I think we all know this...

(Poor Coco though)

 

[featherhead007]

Yes, I think we all know this...

(Poor Coco though)

She’s just fine today. But she throws a fit when she’s alone in the chickens room. Time to go open the coop and take Coco back outside.

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Tina passed away on June 25th. Husband cried all day and I have never seen him cry since I met him. (I still haven't since I'm not home)

He was a wreck and did not want to talk to me for days, until he suspected honey had a sour crop issue.

He treated Honey with the protocol (cream for yeast infection). But the next day he confirmed Light has impacted crop. He cannot afford to lose light right now so his stress was through the roof. View attachment 3566409

Good news is that Honey is back to normal after three days treatment. Light has only improved slightly. The weird thing is that light is super energetic and full of life. She ate a bit today.

He also called vets around and was comforted to hear that he can always bring light to a vet in Raleigh (2 hours away) for having crop surgery if it comes down to that.

Im pretty sure light will be fine. I would appreciate if you can keep light in good thoughts.

Oh I miss my flock. I shouldn't be away for this long.

Foxy
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I am so sorry to hear about Tina. I am going to keep you guys in my prayers. And Light.

 

[RoyalChick]

No impacted crops here. RC or bgmath are the regularly on experts. @micstrachan has crop experience too.

@lightm I have indeed dealt with a few crop issues so will pass on what I learned from others on BYC, from my research on other sites, and from personal experience. Hopefully it will help your husband.

The first thing is to figure if you are dealing with a simple blockage (can be tangled long grass for example) or if the contents have gone sour. There is an article all about that which I will link here if I can find it. But basically, you can tell if it has gone sour by smelling the chicken's breath. If she has sour crop then she will smell like a brewery or bread dough. Sour crop is a yeast infection of the contents of a blocked or slow crop. Just like grains ferment if you leave them in water on your kitchen countertop, they ferment in the chicken's crop if they don't move on through.
A topical antifungal cream given direct can get rid of the yeasts that are fermenting. If it doesn't smell you don't need that.
Typically a straight blockage will mean the crop is hard whereas if it is fermenting it means there is enough liquid in there to make it feel like a balloon full of water.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ealing-with.73607/?page=11#ams-comment-524676

For a simple blocked crop where it feels hard and you might even be able to feel grains or plant stems massage and lubrication are the main tools. I think you said he is already using coconut oil for lubrication. Massage needs to be quite firm because you are trying to break up very fibrous plugs. I have found my chickens like this process - either because it helps them or it just feels good - I press really quite hard and roll the crop contents between my fingers to try and break it up.
The anatomy is such that you should be massaging the bottom of the crop slightly upwards because the outlet into the gizzard is a bit higher than the lowest point of the crop.
Clearing the blockage from a crop that is full of liquid is a bit more scary because of the risk of the liquid coming up and aspirating the chicken. Go slow!
I have also used cellulase - a supplement you can get on line. I have not read of anyone doing that and I have no idea if it contributed to solving the problem - but logically it should help. It is an enzyme that breaks down cellulose and cellulose is what the fibrous plugs are made of.
Try and observe any poop - if any poop comes out you are winning because it means something is making its way through!

One last word, not meaning to be a downer, but often crop problems are secondary to other internal issues.
There are plenty of examples of crops getting blocked with long grass and clearing and everything is fine. I think both @bgmathteach and I have experienced that. But there are also examples where the crop issue is because of something else and that is just the first way the illness shows itself.

I am hoping for the best for you - clearing the crop of a grass plug is immensely satisfying for you and the chicken. Wishing all good luck to your husband.



Sorry to be so wordy!

 

[bgmathteach]

View attachment 3566494

One of my neighbors got a new rooster, he is a mix of olive egger and black copper maran and his name if Jeff.

He is a very handsome boy!!

 

[bgmathteach]

In an uncharacteristic move for me I went into Manhattan for dinner and to see the fireworks. A friend of mine has a particularly well located apartment for viewing.
I had never seen a drone display before.
The first three pictures with the star, the flag, and lady Liberty are drone display.
And then a few of the fireworks. I have to say it was quite dramatic and I felt very lucky getting that view without the crowds!
I did think of the pets but I guess at least this is well planned and I imagine animals living in NY get used to a lot of noise!
Finally of course a tax payment: Piglet and Pooh doing what they do best!

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Oh, my, what lovely photos! They would make wonderful postcards!

Well, of course - if you are going to tempt them with such goodies, you should also expect them to partake!