Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

I'm going to try to get fluffy butt pictures this afternoon. Molting is well underway here and has been since really the first of August. They started early this year. I'm dreading this winter. Early molting, Dirt and Russ's winter coat has been coming in now for 3 weeks. CeeCee she already has her winter coat in and she does not even stay outside. The animals know something is up and I have learned to listen to them. Especially the horses. I feel bad for poor Squirrel. She is miserable. This is her first hard molt.

These pictures are deceiving. Her belly and rear are nothing but pin feathers. Moving is obviously painful for her and I can tell she is off her feed as well. She is spending all her time either sitting under the grill in the shade or a few feet around it. The last 2 nights she has roosted on top of the hay by herself. We have left her alone and not forced her to roost with the others. I am going out a few times to hand feed Squirrel. I am not worrying to much about her because her comb and wattles are still very red. I know once the feathers on her belly and between her legs finish growing in she will feel better and start moving around again.

 

[TOMTE]

Good morning! Happy Friday

 

[TOMTE]

I'm going to try to get fluffy butt pictures this afternoon. Molting is well underway here and has been since really the first of August. They started early this year. I'm dreading this winter. Early molting, Dirt and Russ's winter coat has been coming in now for 3 weeks. CeeCee she already has her winter coat in and she does not even stay outside. The animals know something is up and I have learned to listen to them. Especially the horses. I feel bad for poor Squirrel. She is miserable. This is her first hard molt.
View attachment 3942630View attachment 3942631
These pictures are deceiving. Her belly and rear are nothing but pin feathers. Moving is obviously painful for her and I can tell she is off her feed as well. She is spending all her time either sitting under the grill in the shade or a few feet around it. The last 2 nights she has roosted on top of the hay by herself. We have left her alone and not forced her to roost with the others. I am going out a few times to hand feed Squirrel. I am not worrying to much about her because her comb and wattles are still very red. I know once the feathers on her belly and between her legs finish growing in she will feel better and start moving around again.

Good luck Squirrel, poor little thing

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Once again we have new neighbors in the house in front of me. After a few rounds of questionable ones I would not mind if they stay and stay for a long time. They did immediately make me feel old though when I realized who they were after a week of them living there. There is a couple with their 3 year old daughter and their Aunt who had a stroke in the past so she is staying with them. The girl, she knew me and I am sad to say it took me a minute to remember her. My one next door neighbor who has lived here longer then us used to babysit her and her sisters. She also started riding the bus for head start the last year I rode the bus 22 years ago . Good grief it has been years since I last saw her last and she was still just a little girl who was terrified of the kids on the bus so I sat with her every day. Now she is married and has a kid.

Her little girl, oh she is a sweetheart and is one who does not meet a stranger. She also reminds me so much of Rosie at that age. If I come out the front door and she is outside I have 2 seconds and she is glued to my hip talking my head off. With her parents or Aunts permission if I go gather eggs, she helps. If I feed the chickens, she helps. Poppet, Holly and Owly are becoming regular targets for catching so she can hold a chicken each day. They do not mind as I am using the chick feed to bribe them to use for catching. When it comes to locking everyone in at night, she is there. She has learned how to herd them around the house towards the coop. Egg gathering is fun. She has been introduced to farm fresh eggs. She carries the basket I put them in. When we are done she picks out the Owly egg and another pretty egg and "needs" them for her breakfast the next day. It is all good though. I see it as installing a love for chickens firmly into the next generation.

Now, I need a long hard talk with my sister. I want a niece or nephew dang it. She wants kids. Anytime now sis.

 

[Ponypoor]

Hi, I’ve just seen this thread and wondered if I could ask some advice?
I’ve been using invermectin 1% spot on treatment by Naqua and the guidance is to use 1 drop to 500mg body weight. It is a 10mg/1ml solution. So for my 1.8kg hens, I’ve used 4 drops and for my turkey, who was 5kg, I used 10 drops. All seemed to tolerate their first doses, however after the second dose, one of my hens became quite lethargic the next day, vomited and had an impacted crop. Both hens had some black stools. My hen was seen and treated by a vet, who seemed to think the issue was down to her being ex commercial and she is now fine. More sadly, my turkey, who was the only one to receive a third and final dose, became very ill the following day after treatment and was unable to lift her head, was extremely lethargic, struggled to walk - so was immobile, she was panting, refused food and at times her body seemed to go completely rigid, including her legs. She was taken to a vets who couldn’t confirm what the issue was, but suspected ‘a bug’, but unfortunately gave her a poor prognosis. At this time her mite treatment wasn’t mentioned, as unfortunately it wasn’t myself who took her to the vet. She was given an antibiotic and steroid injection, which seemed to help a little, as she began to drink for herself (she seemed to be incredibly thirsty), however none of the above symptoms subsided. Unfortunately the next day, she collapsed on her back and vomited a huge amount of brown fluid. I managed to upright her, only for her to vomit a lot of brown fluid again, which I believed caused her to aspirate and die.
After reading up on invermectin, I am starting to wonder whether she was experiencing toxicity and overdose symptoms. At my guesstimate, 10 drops (0.3mls) is around 3mg of invermectin. Is this too much for a 5kg bird? There is no mention of toxicity amounts and overdose risks in the information leaflet provided and I am often seeing poultry owners recommending 1% invermectin as a mite/worm treatment in forums, which is the only reason I used it.
What are people’s thought? Did I just accidentally kill my girl?

First, I would not start down the path of ‘did I accidentally harm my animal’.

That path leads nowhere, and realistically ivermectin has a pretty high tolerance rate.

Here is a good article on ivermectin and dosing.

https://bitchinchickens.com/2019/04/29/ivermectin-for-parasite-control/

Dose for livestock in general is 200 micrograms/kilo.

In poultry that would be less than 2 drops for a 2kg bird for 5mg/ml strength.

You used 10mg/ml strength (double the strength) so you would need 1 drop max for a 2 kilo bird.

Now having said that I can tell you I accidentally dosed a colt I had for an adult horse dose. I practically gave him about 8 times what he should have had, he was fine.

But - also birds are not mammals so we really do not know how they would react or what the upper threshold is for toxicity.

I would say that your feathered friends likely passed away from something other than the ivermectin.

Hopefully your other birds are ok and doing well. And we would love to see photos of all your feathered friends

 

[Vgirl]

First, I would not start down the path of ‘did I accidentally harm my animal’.

That path leads nowhere, and realistically ivermectin has a pretty high tolerance rate.

Here is a good article on ivermectin and dosing.

https://bitchinchickens.com/2019/04/29/ivermectin-for-parasite-control/

Dose for livestock in general is 200 micrograms/kilo.

In poultry that would be less than 2 drops for a 2kg bird for 5mg/ml strength.

You used 10mg/ml strength (double the strength) so you would need 1 drop max for a 2 kilo bird.

Now having said that I can tell you I accidentally dosed a colt I had for an adult horse dose. I practically gave him about 8 times what he should have had, he was fine.

But - also birds are not mammals so we really do not know how they would react or what the upper threshold is for toxicity.

I would say that your feathered friends likely passed away from something other than the ivermectin.

Hopefully your other birds are ok and doing well. And we would love to see photos of all your feathered friends

After what you have advised, I am stunned that this product by Naqua is advising customers to use 1 drop per 500mg of body weight. Here is a picture of the beautiful girl I lost. I am heart broken

 

[Sally PB]

The animals know something is up and I have learned to listen to them.

I think you're right.

I think my older chickens started molting early because they've been around the sun 4 times. They know a thing or two.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I went out and spent time with the chicks. They were able to free range for a bit with supervision. It was windy out so they did not stray too far from the coop today. I also went back and checked hatch dates. Julio the first one out hatched June 12. So they are 13 weeks now or 3 months old however you look at it. Not one attempt at crowing from ANY of them.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Now the rest of them.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Of the 6 silkies I have 1 I am going to keep a very close eye on. It is the one I have been calling Reba. None of them are showing any signs of cockerel behaviors, but there is something about it. I really like this chick too. It is the non-bearded one of its color variety, but of them all it has the best feet feathering. I also got a good picture of it's fluffy butt. That really sparked suspicion. I have saw that fluffy butt before, it is a little Branch from behind.