Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

Fungus got attacked by another budgie today. I moved the other pair as the male is the one who attacked poor Fungus. He looks like a Irish guy had a bad night at the bar. I got some medical equipment for his injuries and he's doing much better! Here is a before and after. I couldn't get all the blood off his feathers but now it's just him, his mate, and her brother Bluebell who is super calm. I was actually seeing Bluebell preening Fungus and feeding him.

Before:
View attachment 3635508

After I helped him:
View attachment 3635509

If this little guy has got hurt in his flock just imagine what flocks in the wild would do to those you release. I hope you find another solution for your excess of bird's

 

[Marie2020]

Finally got some rain this morning with more called for through Saturday.

Hope life is treating you and your babies well.

Thank you

How is your world and your beautiful animals

 

[TX Chick Noob]

I would start with the crop. Make sure it is empty first thing in the morning.

@TX Chick Noob I agree. Sometimes birds can also be a little off with molting.

Have you tried to feed her eggs or meat or other favorite treats such as berries/grapes/sunflower seeds?

I have checked her crop at night when they roost and first thing in the morning inf a couple of times. There isn’t much in it at bedtime and it is flat in the morning.
When I take out bread, scratch, etc she will run after it but rarely seems to get much if she is with the other girls. When I had just her in the run night before last and took some tortilla chips she pecked at those and hate a little bit. But I had trouble getting her to eat the mash yesterday.

 

[Marie2020]

I have checked her crop at night when they roost and first thing in the morning inf a couple of times. There isn’t much in it at bedtime and it is flat in the morning.
When I take out bread, scratch, etc she will run after it but rarely seems to get much if she is with the other girls. When I had just her in the run night before last and took some tortilla chips she pecked at those and hate a little bit. But I had trouble getting her to eat the mash yesterday.

I find if I put out too many treats they leave their main food. So I mix their crumble into water and sometimes leave it in a jar in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning I'll add some sunflower seeds and fruit to make it interesting for them, lately I've been adding tiny bit's of Brazil nuts in to.

Then later they'll get either bread or pasta followed by black soldier mealies and lastly some mixed corn. This way they eat their crumble

If you have chick's have you tried adding water to their mash.

 

[lightm]

I have checked her crop at night when they roost and first thing in the morning inf a couple of times. There isn’t much in it at bedtime and it is flat in the morning.
When I take out bread, scratch, etc she will run after it but rarely seems to get much if she is with the other girls. When I had just her in the run night before last and took some tortilla chips she pecked at those and hate a little bit. But I had trouble getting her to eat the mash yesterday.

Ok. So she doesn't have much of an appetite. Again I will try scrambled eggs, pork/beef, fish, berries, yogurt.

Is she drinking?

 

[bgmathteach]

Jaffar is softly complaining about his discomfort. I’m moving him into my bedroom for the night. His crop is full, but he’s not drinking water lately. And he’s been losing feathers as if molting. (He’s not done that before)

tis the season for molting. Maybe in the past he has just done either a soft molt or a slow molt and is doing it a bit faster this year....he does need to molt, and that, as you have read from many others on this thread, sometime make them really cranky and they go 'off their feed'.

 

[ManueB]

I have checked her crop at night when they roost and first thing in the morning inf a couple of times. There isn’t much in it at bedtime and it is flat in the morning.
When I take out bread, scratch, etc she will run after it but rarely seems to get much if she is with the other girls. When I had just her in the run night before last and took some tortilla chips she pecked at those and hate a little bit. But I had trouble getting her to eat the mash yesterday.

Do you know if she goes in a nest and spends time there without laying, or if she doesn't go at all ?
Have you checked she is not laying somewhere different , and also check for signs of abnormal eggs that could be anywhere around the coop (hens that lay soft shells tend to do it like they poop, just wherever they are.)
Any chance that she could be really moulting and not just a little ? I seem to remember they are too young for that, but not sure? If they start in the neck or head, it doesn't show at first, you’d have to check beneath if you see pin feathers. Molting will cause a break in laying. It makes some hens reject commercial feed, and go cranky. The symptoms fit pretty well what you describe.

Other things to check for : lice and mites ; feeling her abdomen in case it feels swollen and either abnormally hard or squishy.

Gorgeous photos as always. So glad you found the lamb and got it back to them. Praying it recovers.

I forgot to give some news, my partner saw the couple of shepherds and they said the baby lamb was doing great ! It just needed a few bibs to go running around ! I’m so happy. I’ve had so many times to give bad news to animal owners when I find them dead or dying in the mountains that it's nice to know this one made it.

Friday tax. It's more a landscape picture than a butt photo but at least it preserves molting and dirty chicken's dignity !
Gaston, Cannelle, Lily and either Nieva or Alba enjoying the wet grass.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I suppose I would haul out and replace the litter since it can be used as mulch/compost in the garden.

How often would you be doing this? Once a year? Twice a year? Monthly?

Two days ago I sort of did the haul out thing, but it was a small load. Then I placed some leaves there.

Once a year has been my practice.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I do deep litter in my coop, not quite the same as doing it in a run but I may have some helpful tips.

Damp underneath is actually a good thing in the case of deep litter it helps the litter and poop breakdown much like compost does. I do clean it out twice a year but I do not take it completely down to the ground, instead I leave about an inch so the microbes can restart. I wet it down with hose at this time and then I put the fresh wood chips on top to approximately 12” deep. Then about every two weeks I put down 2 bags of new chips. I find this method to be wonderful, it never stinks and requires very little maintenance except 2 times a year. I add straw layers in the middle of winter if I can find it to add some warmth.

I hope this helps.

Thanks, I think there’s too much water happening here and I need to solve some problems first - the big ones are that some of the the roof runoff comes back under the run, and the roof leaks!

 

[Ponypoor]

Fluffy butt Friday

Caught on candid camera one fluffy butt