Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[lightm]

Well, between the new phone and the chicks, you must realise they have been trying hard to make you happy. Maybe they just know you have more important things to do, than spend four hours on the phone .

@RebeccaBoyd I’m hoping to hear reassuring news from and for Grandma.
@ChicoryBlue i’m very happy to read Butters seems to be improving somewhat and that the confrontation between the spuds and the bigs is going quite well.

I have some twofer and a bunch of questions also.

Petit Blanc tries to tidbit for Alba on the other side of the netting. She seemed very surprised, like she noticed for the first time there was another white chicken . And a male!
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Annette and Pied beau
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Merle and Piou-piou
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Now here are my questions. Sorry, i’m a bit long !
First a small rant. I had a follow up with the vet for Nieva’s bumblefoot, as it wasn't healing like it should. She asked me to drop her at the clinic when we could, saying she would debride her abscess between two appointments. Then, they called back to say we should bring her in today, as it's their planned surgery day. And my partner who took her just called me to say they are putting her on full anesthesia! I’m a bit upset the vet didn't mention that from the beginning, she made it sound like it would be just what I do for her, taking the scab off and emptying the gunk, but by a professional. Does it seem normal to you that they should do a complete anesthesia for this ? I feel like it's just confort for them so she doesn't struggle. (Which unfortunately she does a lot).

My second question relates to chickens social issues. Léa’s young chickens are now three months and a half, fully integrated, though they spend 3/4 of the day on their own outside the chicken yard on our property. One of them, Laure, is having real difficulties at roost time. She is rejected not only by the adults, but also by her siblings, both cockerels and pullets. No one will let her sleep next to them, she gets pecked hard at best, and sometimes thrown off the roost. With 19 chickens in the coop there are no free roost left and the one place where she could sleep alone is already occupied by another pullet. Usually I don't intervene directly, there is no blood drawn as she always fly off the roost before getting wounded, but sometimes I actually have to move around one or two chickens so she can finally find a safe space on one of the roost. She jumps around a lot and i’m afraid she will end up hurting herself. She has no issue whatsoever during the day, she’s more shy than the others, but she hangs out with her siblings all the time. Do you think it's just a phase and I should let them ride it out? Or should I try adding yet other sleeping commodities so they have more choices ?

Laure
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And last question : entering molting and i’m really not looking forward to it if it's as bad as last year, especially for my older ladies. Do you use any supplements? Last year I fed them scrambled egg and sardine weekly but it didn't seem to help the hard molters.

I don't really know the answer to your questions, but yes I would be very upset too if they did not make it clear to me upfront that she will be put under full anesthesia. Chickens don't do well with that!

Is the surgery done? How is Nieva?

 

[BY Bob]

Kiddo had to give the chicks a tiny bit of shredded cheese.
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Of course they lined up to say hello to their favorite person!
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And Kasumi has a tail finally! Maybe she'll get less clumsy flapping around with the others now haha.
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How darling.

 

[BY Bob]

Thanks. Butters had at least something in her crop this evening before roosting. She's only lost an ounce of weight since Sept 6th, and I've not tube-fed her, so that's good I think!

That is very good. I think she may be turning the corner.

 

[BY Bob]

Well hello pretty hen

I hope you’re feeling a bit better.

To be clear that is an old photo of Hattie. She is running around and standing more but she is in full molt and super rumpled right now. She is now quick enough that I cannot catch her easily. So some mornings she is not getting a dose.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Ohhh, you have those 'growing up with the chicks' feeder/waterer. Curious as to your thoughts on them? I've seen them in TSC, but was hesitant to purchase - wondered how sturdy the legs are, and it they are really high enough when they get to adult age/size for them to not easily flick the feed out.

These are from Amazon, Roosty brand. They're currently as high as they can go. I like them, but the legs do fold on themselves pretty easily when I clean and refill the feeders. The birds really like them a lot, so I think I'll hang them when they get tall enough to knock the food all over.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Grandma update.

She did develop a touch of pneumonia from covid. It is not terrible and according to her doctors it was caught early and is mild as far a pneumonia goes. They tried to be reassuring but the big picture is she is 81 years old with many more health problems who signed a DNR again the minute she got to the emergency room. It is very hard to be reassured knowing she has both covid and pneumonia.
Thankfully she did not break anything from the fall, they did discover a blood clot in her left leg. We were told this could have been there for a year or it could have developed in the last few days before being admitted since her mobility has drastically decreased in the last year. She has been on a heparin drip that started Sunday afternoon. Yesterday we were told they were having difficulty adjusting the levels. Once they get it stabilized then depending on her insurance she will have to be on either warfarin or cumadin the rest of her life.
For the last 4 months we have been dealing with excessive swelling of her legs and constant fluid leaking from them. She has been in very real danger of loosing them. Her heart doctor told us and her that this was the result of venous insufficiency. There is no cure and no medication she can take for it. She was told there was only 3 things she could do to help relieve the problem. She was told to eliminate or reduce salt intake, keep her legs elevated as much as possible and the big one is compression wraps or bandages. We tried and me and mom ended up feeling like banging our heads against a brick wall. No matter what type of wrap or bandage we used she would leave it on for less then a hour and remove it herself claiming it hurt and she could not wear them. She was not comfortable sitting with her legs elevated and salt became the new sugar. At this point salt and sugar pretty much had to be hidden and locked away where she can not find or reach them as she would eat handfuls if given a chance. Her legs are bad, the amount of fluid that leaks from them is crazy and there is water blisters that form and she finds a way to pop or rip them open to leave open wounds.
She officially went on a very restrictive diet yesterday at the hospital. They are restricting fluids and is on a no salt cardiac/diabetic diet. They are wrapping her legs and addressing the wounds. She managed to get the wraps off within a hour the first time they did it. Well, the nurses are not me and mom. She has not beat them down emotionally and verbally and to her surprise they were immediately rewrapped, and in a manner in which she cannot remove them herself.
Mom has not been back to the hospital since she left early Sunday morning. We have called and spoke to her only for her to get furious and hang up on us. She is wanting and expecting us to bring her outside food. Remind her we cannot and she starts berating and hangs up the phone. She left to go for a bit this afternoon. The nurses charted and informed mom that she was more agreeable to complying with things when mom is not there which is one reason she has stayed away these first few days. My sister works as a x-ray tech at the hospital on the night shift. She has managed to pop in her room several times throughout the night since she has been in to check up on her for mom. For the most part she has been sleeping and resting comfortably but she does wake her up in the mornings to talk to her a bit after she is off work. She is getting mad at her as well. She is expecting and demanding her to sneak in and hide food or non diet pop which sis tells her she cannot and will not do.
Lab work has also revealed that her kidney function is borderline. Back in February they had to change her fluid pill to lasix because of the terrible leg swelling. We were told by her family doctor he had put off for years putting her on lasix because it would be hard on her kidneys and it was his last resort.
We have had some long hard discussions between our family and the 2 of her siblings that have kept in contact with her since the stroke a year and a half ago now. Her brother and sister and my brother are of the opinion and believe this is the end and she will not come out of the hospital. Everyone agrees if she does she needs to be in a nursing home as hard as it is for mom to face. I have made a hard decision myself, especially right now where she is on the isolation covid unit. I will not visit that hospital. Thankfully I managed to not catch it while I was tending to everyone 2 weeks ago when they were all very ill. As a type 1 diabetic I also do not need to be visiting that hospital and picking up any other virus or infection. Rosie also will not be visiting. She would not be allowed in the room anyway as she is only 15 and with her recent history she too would probably pick up another bug.
The house feels like we are in limbo right now. Me and mom have spent 2 days essentially spring cleaning and wiping down walls trying to disinfect everything. The living room is still a wreck. Everything is cleaned and wiped down. There is also still the hospital bed and 2 wheelchairs in it. We arranged it like we have been doing to make things easy for her for when she "comes home". That phrase keeps being said by mom who just looks at us when we question it and tells us to leave her alone she is processing. Grandma's sewing table and the 7 large totes of material and supplies are neatly stacked under it like she left it. A stash of candy bars was found hidden under one of the couch cushions and a bag of gummy worms found hidden between some of her folded clothes. They were left alone. CeeCee and Gracie now sleep beside the hospital bed or the recliner she stayed in and look for her whining. Jack has taken up sleeping curled up on her pillow. They too sense something is up.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Ohhh, you have those 'growing up with the chicks' feeder/waterer. Curious as to your thoughts on them? I've seen them in TSC, but was hesitant to purchase - wondered how sturdy the legs are, and it they are really high enough when they get to adult age/size for them to not easily flick the feed out.

The feeder I looked at last week in TSC was like that, red not orange. It’s not tall, the one I saw had those legs and that was as far as it went, the way it is in the picture. Or does this one go further? It can hang though, or be put on a block. I think the holes are the only thing keeping an adult from sweeping feed out, but that’s probably effective. What stopped me was that there was no top to it, the top was open. Unless there’s an additional part I didn’t see?

 

[featherhead007]

And Jaffar….. he molt, he Cocorico, and he gets steak today.

 

[featherhead007]

Grandma update.

She did develop a touch of pneumonia from covid. It is not terrible and according to her doctors it was caught early and is mild as far a pneumonia goes. They tried to be reassuring but the big picture is she is 81 years old with many more health problems who signed a DNR again the minute she got to the emergency room. It is very hard to be reassured knowing she has both covid and pneumonia.
Thankfully she did not break anything from the fall, they did discover a blood clot in her left leg. We were told this could have been there for a year or it could have developed in the last few days before being admitted since her mobility has drastically decreased in the last year. She has been on a heparin drip that started Sunday afternoon. Yesterday we were told they were having difficulty adjusting the levels. Once they get it stabilized then depending on her insurance she will have to be on either warfarin or cumadin the rest of her life.
For the last 4 months we have been dealing with excessive swelling of her legs and constant fluid leaking from them. She has been in very real danger of loosing them. Her heart doctor told us and her that this was the result of venous insufficiency. There is no cure and no medication she can take for it. She was told there was only 3 things she could do to help relieve the problem. She was told to eliminate or reduce salt intake, keep her legs elevated as much as possible and the big one is compression wraps or bandages. We tried and me and mom ended up feeling like banging our heads against a brick wall. No matter what type of wrap or bandage we used she would leave it on for less then a hour and remove it herself claiming it hurt and she could not wear them. She was not comfortable sitting with her legs elevated and salt became the new sugar. At this point salt and sugar pretty much had to be hidden and locked away where she can not find or reach them as she would eat handfuls if given a chance. Her legs are bad, the amount of fluid that leaks from them is crazy and there is water blisters that form and she finds a way to pop or rip them open to leave open wounds.
She officially went on a very restrictive diet yesterday at the hospital. They are restricting fluids and is on a no salt cardiac/diabetic diet. They are wrapping her legs and addressing the wounds. She managed to get the wraps off within a hour the first time they did it. Well, the nurses are not me and mom. She has not beat them down emotionally and verbally and to her surprise they were immediately rewrapped, and in a manner in which she cannot remove them herself.
Mom has not been back to the hospital since she left early Sunday morning. We have called and spoke to her only for her to get furious and hang up on us. She is wanting and expecting us to bring her outside food. Remind her we cannot and she starts berating and hangs up the phone. She left to go for a bit this afternoon. The nurses charted and informed mom that she was more agreeable to complying with things when mom is not there which is one reason she has stayed away these first few days. My sister works as a x-ray tech at the hospital on the night shift. She has managed to pop in her room several times throughout the night since she has been in to check up on her for mom. For the most part she has been sleeping and resting comfortably but she does wake her up in the mornings to talk to her a bit after she is off work. She is getting mad at her as well. She is expecting and demanding her to sneak in and hide food or non diet pop which sis tells her she cannot and will not do.
Lab work has also revealed that her kidney function is borderline. Back in February they had to change her fluid pill to lasix because of the terrible leg swelling. We were told by her family doctor he had put off for years putting her on lasix because it would be hard on her kidneys and it was his last resort.
We have had some long hard discussions between our family and the 2 of her siblings that have kept in contact with her since the stroke a year and a half ago now. Her brother and sister and my brother are of the opinion and believe this is the end and she will not come out of the hospital. Everyone agrees if she does she needs to be in a nursing home as hard as it is for mom to face. I have made a hard decision myself, especially right now where she is on the isolation covid unit. I will not visit that hospital. Thankfully I managed to not catch it while I was tending to everyone 2 weeks ago when they were all very ill. As a type 1 diabetic I also do not need to be visiting that hospital and picking up any other virus or infection. Rosie also will not be visiting. She would not be allowed in the room anyway as she is only 15 and with her recent history she too would probably pick up another bug.
The house feels like we are in limbo right now. Me and mom have spent 2 days essentially spring cleaning and wiping down walls trying to disinfect everything. The living room is still a wreck. Everything is cleaned and wiped down. There is also still the hospital bed and 2 wheelchairs in it. We arranged it like we have been doing to make things easy for her for when she "comes home". That phrase keeps being said by mom who just looks at us when we question it and tells us to leave her alone she is processing. Grandma's sewing table and the 7 large totes of material and supplies are neatly stacked under it like she left it. A stash of candy bars was found hidden under one of the couch cushions and a bag of gummy worms found hidden between some of her folded clothes. They were left alone. CeeCee and Gracie now sleep beside the hospital bed or the recliner she stayed in and look for her whining. Jack has taken up sleeping curled up on her pillow. They too sense something is up.

Prayers for your family now, more than ever. and strength abundantly for you especially. I know that this whole situation really hurts you.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

The feeder I looked at last week in TSC was like that, red not orange. It’s not tall, the one I saw had those legs and that was as far as it went, the way it is in the picture. Or does this one go further? It can hang though, or be put on a block. I think the holes are the only thing keeping an adult from sweeping feed out, but that’s probably effective. What stopped me was that there was no top to it, the top was open. Unless there’s an additional part I didn’t see?

I see Roosty makes a feeder with adjustable legs and a removable lid, I stand corrected!