Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Video of Story today he is walking like I have heard people describe egg bound hens walk. but I don’t see anything amiss with his vent. Maybe his leg or hip got tweaked?

Just catching up - poor chap that doesn't look good at all.
As others have said, he does not seem to be lopsided in his walk so it doesn't look like a leg injury. However, it is worth checking the soles of his feet and feeling along both legs because if he had a bilateral injury he wouldn't limp because both sides would hurt.
But as others have said, I think it is more likely to be his back or his belly.
Have you felt his belly to see if it is swollen or hard?
Although the whole ascites thing is usually talked about with hens because of reproductive issues, but there are other causes of ascites which might affect a roo.
I agree that giving him something for pain would be good - it looks like he hurts somehow.
Poor guy!

On isolating him or not. I would probably let him stay with the others - unless we know he has a leg injury that needs 'rest' there isn't really a need to immobilize him. But given your worry about the roost, could you bring him in during the night so he wakes up inside?

 

[featherhead007]

Thank for this thorough and very informative reply, I really appreciate it!

I have two roosters and Story the flocks Jr rooster. With the setup I have currently I am super concerned about the roosting situation. I think the single biggest danger to him recovering is descending from the roosts. During the day he only has to negotiate the ramp which is a gentle slope so long as he doesn’t launch himself off it, of course.

My plan is bathe him again and take a second look for any injuries I may have missed then I will put him in the tent we are in the process of setting up in our living room. He will have easy access to food and water and be able to rest on the floor vs balancing on a roost and there will be a bit of light to negotiate if he needs to get up at night at all.

I will continue to bring him inside at night until he significantly improves. I have low dose aspirin I can give to him as well.

Chance to get closer with your rooster!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

@ChicoryBlue,
Here is one of the sources to give comfort about eating eggs after treating a hen with enrofloxacin (Baytril).
After 9 days the level of the drug found in eggs was below the allowable level of the drug for human consumption in Europe.
So the vet saying never eat the eggs is just plain wrong.
I think I didn’t eat the eggs for a week - the facts say I should have waited 9 days.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924857997000186

Thank you! And for your and others' other posts as well, which I've quoted on my iPad and the quotes don't show up on other machines....will respond from there.

This issue - I searched about this too the next day and read on BYC (at various post dates and years) that someone's vet recommended two months, and another's a month, and yet another's two weeks.

The Spuds are ten weeks old on Monday. It's going to be another six weeks minimum before any laying even begins!

 

[RoyalChick]

Heavy rain test today on the run’s so-called improvements - total fail. Water everywhere. Need to start a Plan B.

The gutter is working great, and the corrugated pipe is steadily flowing out beyond the run, and the swale is draining it, but everywhere else around the actual swale on the north side is pooled water.

The bad corner I had removed all the litter from and not put in the gravel sand has almost two inches of water in the deepest part. (I left it partly because I couldn’t do anymore but also to see how much water was coming from the roof versus elsewhere.) Popcorn had a nice drink of it.

New base material laid down on the other half of the run is not working, the sandy gritty part of it is wicking up moisture so it all looks dark and damp.
Where I stood on it giving the two poor souls in there some yogurt is soft-feeling and my shoe print was wet! I turned on the panel heaters in the one dry corner with litter and they are liking that.

Ideas -

• Get a machine in there to a dig a moat in the packed shale/dirt. But won’t that undermine the ground around the run if it’s right next to it? Maybe I can pickax a little trench away from the pooled corner and sides, I’ll try that first. But the entire run is wet enough that it needs to be on three sides at least.
• 
  
• I really want to move the run. I picked a terrible spot, I so regret it! Good for snowblower and closer access in winter. Thirty feet back and up it’s level and has forest floor dirt and doesn’t pool water. But DH thinks that can’t be done with out wrecking it.
• 
  
• Go with same idea as I started with, raise the base floor, but get the right kind of stones / gravel! Big ones first? then smaller ones on top? Then the litter on top of that.
• 
  
• Build a raised removable floor, like regular or other plywood set on piers of bricks or concrete blocks four or six inches high laid in a checkerboard pattern. Replace plywood as necessary every few years. Like a boathouse over the water. Is mold on the bare ground underneath, or on the underside of the plywood a possibility? At least this idea is not too hard to undo.
• 
  
• Build a real raised floor base like a treated wood frame with joists and all, frame on concrete block piers, topped with plywood. Same boathouse theory and possible downside.

Ugh - after all that work too.
Before you do anything you need to stand out there in the rain and really understand the way the water flows and which way the grade pitches. It is easiest to see that in the rain because you can see the water run.
I think there will be different solutions for whether you have a grade issue in the whole area or only in that worst corner, or whether you have a ground water level issue (water coming up from the water table below).
I can't remember - did you say there was a lot of rock making digging ditches difficult? Or am I remembering wrong?
Meanwhile, I would see if you can grab some free pallets from the back of the grocery store - they will absolutely give you a short term fix for that worst area by elevating it.

 

[RoyalChick]

Picture
View attachment 3654102

It would help to see some shots of a bigger area - knowing whether the grade in the yard is directing the water in to the chicken run - is it situated in the bottom of a 'bowl' and all the surface water is going there? Or is it all coming from that corner? Or is it coming up from the water table?

 

[RoyalChick]

Thank you! And for your and others' other posts as well, which I've quoted on my iPad and the quotes don't show up on other machines....will respond from there.

This issue - I searched about this too the next day and read on BYC (at various post dates and years) that someone's vet recommended two months, and another's a month, and yet another's two weeks.

The Spuds are ten weeks old on Monday. It's going to be another six weeks minimum before any laying even begins!

Feels like you are totally in the clear from that perspective!

 

[featherhead007]

There is always an answer to any problem, and there’s always a solution to solve them. It takes ingenuity and patience to appreciate the answer come!
“Thomas Edison “

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I love my home. The chickens are welcome freely in the house. I’m sure they love the freedom and attention they get from their chicken daddy. Especially this girl here Coco. She’s smarter than some people I know, I’m not kidding. View attachment 3653767

Well I'm taking after you, and been thinking of your setup quite a lot lately! I wishj I had a dedicated chicken's room! I love having the Spuds in with me. They've been roosting here at night. Right now the run is so exposed and the driest patch the Buckeyes have taken. I'm pretty sure they won't share it with the Spuds yet. So the Spuds are inside til I get it better covered and another spot dry. Integration got all sidetracked with Anna being ill and keeping the Spuds on Corid water and away from anywhere with a heavy load of coccidia, so when they were outside they had their own parts of the yard. I had just started putting them in with the Buckeyes in the good weather, lots of uncovered space to move in, and now most of the old litter has been removed. But I hesitate without more dry spots. Cold rain and wind here.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

That could be a great temporary alternative to fix the situation until time can be had to redo the roosting bars. Thank you

Now that I am aware of the problem I will be out there with a flashlight every night observing where he is and see what I can rearrange or build to fix it. I will also be moving him up onto the roosts in a spot away from the others in hopes of getting everyone used to him being up there with everyone.

Well what about his pain? I wouldn't move him higher yet...

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Width of the breeds, tail shape, nature of the feathers, overall size of breed are the major differences between the breeds. Another breed with the same markings is the Russian Orloff. They have muffs too.

Nature of the feathers? Something difficult to see from pictures maybe?