Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

Situation update: my lawnmower’s noise, spooked the hen off her nest. I’m not sure if she’s coming back. She went back to the neighbors yard screaming at me like I was killing her !

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Looks like at least a few of your ladies have added to the nest...

 

[featherhead007]

I'm w/you on that page. Trying to incorporate game fowl w/ long domesticated chickens never made sense to me. I mean, I love all animals, but mixing domesticated temperaments w/ wilder game temperaments seems unnatural

And also very hard to deal with! The game birds are a different breed all together. And they seriously bite!

 

[featherhead007]

That’s a lot of eggs for a game hen!

Can you candle them?

I’m not interested in candling them. Honestly I have enough birds to try and keep happy, and I don’t need more.

 

[featherhead007]

Game birds don’t do anything without a plan! I can see them planning their next moves, and I prepare for any attack or flight. They can fly well too!

 

[featherhead007]

The brooder box is making some strange noises tonight. Tweeting mixed with purring, with some whistles mixed in and someone is mimicking the sound of the other birds. I’m afraid to look inside, for fear that I might find some baby dragons . You all know how I feel about dragons.

 

[bgmathteach]

Aurora wants to know why you are calling those THINGS chickens. She says they are close to squirrels than chickens. Those cannot be feathers.

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Ahhh, but Dear Queen, only the tails of squirrels are floofy and fuzzy - not their whole body. Thus they can't be squirrels!

Thank you for allowing me to interject my 2 cents, my lovely queen!

 

[Grandma The Chicken]

So, since it's getting late and I've officially ran out of chicken pictures, I'll leave this here and ask: What's new? Also, congrats to @SimpleJenn's husband for that engineering tech promotion. Hopefully he likes it. Other than that, good night everyone.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Awww poor wee gal.

You can try to splint it with some Vet Wrap, if it’s moveable you can try to align it best you can.

What I found with Laverne when she amputated the end over toe, was that the Vet Wrap is stiff enough to align the digit. It’s pretty fiddly wrapping a toe, what I did was cut a piece of the wrap that goes from the tip of the toe up over the ankle.

Then I cut a hole for the back toe.

Cut across the wrap from both sides of the wrap to make ‘flaps’ that can be wrapped around the toe. You will have to fiddle around with it a bit.

Make sure to not cut all the way through the wrap.

I used a paper towel as a template to figure out how to make the bandage for Laverne so I didn’t ruin any vet wrap.

When you wrap it don’t do it too tight, you should be able to pinch it a bit easily. And in fact to make sure it sticks I pinch it along the end to ensure it sticks and doesn’t unravel.

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Can you draw what your paper towel template looked like, or cut another paper towel and post a picture of it?
I got some vetwrap around her toe but could not manage wrapping it up to her ankle, partly because of how I was working on her foot - extended behind her and not in a standing position, so I was not sure how tight to do it - and partly because the vetwrap I had was not sticky enough. So she got a toe wrap. It lasted a few hours, maybe less. I cannot find it in the run. I hope nobody ate it!

I also noticed a couple of things that made this not as urgent to me. Her foot was back to feeling cool, not warm, same as the other foot, and I noticed she was also now partially using that toe when I moved her leg, curling that toe with a little bit of strength against my fingers. This was new since I discovered her limping. Not super strong like her middle toe, but something there. Moving it gently, it will not wiggle easily in a certain direction, whereas it seemed very loose to me previously. So she's got at least partial use of it. She's not limping today. I really don't know what's going on, if this is a break I missed some time ago and it healed, then did she recently sprain it or re-injure it to cause the obvious limping?

Here's her right foot yesterday. It still felt warm compared to her left foot. Today it felt cool. The inner toe (left side one pointing down) seemed a little swollen, but it is not overly red or inflamed-looking or bruised (she was walking on cold wet ground before this, both her feet were reddish).

In fact, there was a whiter area on a fold near the pad that caught my eye. It appeared to have less blood flow to it. I managed to capture it in this picture.

The "swelling" bulging of the joint is easier to see from this angle (the top toe pointing left). Is it fairly healed and will just be bigger there?

Here's her left foot for toe comparison. See how much more slender the toe (top toe pointing right) is at the joint?

Funny - I ended up sweeping and vacuuming the bathroom and you can guess why - she apparently had greeted right from a dustbath in the run litter that had been in full swing. Carrying her inside I stopped for DH to say hello to her and a random twig and pine flake fell to the floor. I thought nothing of it, that it was some stuff caught on her feet. Put her down on the countertop and noticed a bit of dirt at her feet. Cleaned that up and began trying to see about the vetwrap.

Soon though- she raised her feathers - uh oh! - FLUFF - SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE - RUFFLE - RUFFLE - Run litter just exploded out from her. She had a closet full in there! Not just dust - major pieces of pine flake, chopped hemp, dirt, twigs - a good third of a cup's-worth when I had it swept up.

Chickens could be good contraband couriers, what they can carry! Just have to train them not to ruffle and shake though...

I got some mug shots at yesterday's siesta on my lap.

Tedi

Annie all relaxed and dozing

Below - Diane in back, she's always moving about. She does hang next to me during these sessions, plucking and pecking at my clothes, sometimes aggressively when she spies a hand. But also maybe taking her cues from Hazel and just exploring my clothes and hanging with us. The CBD oil might be calming her a little, too soon to tell, and I don't know how long it lasts for her. I can see the value of having treated CBD hemp greens to eat at will throughout the day versus a dose of oil from me once a day.

 

[featherhead007]

Ahhh, but Dear Queen, only the tails of squirrels are floofy and fuzzy - not their whole body. Thus they can't be squirrels!

Thank you for allowing me to interject my 2 cents, my lovely queen!

That’s an “off with her head” punishment for statements like that. But in as much as I know the Lovely Queen Aurora, she hasn’t sentenced anyone to death….. yet

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

And also very hard to deal with! The game birds are a different breed all together. And they seriously bite!

Alex I am sorry and trust me I know what you are going through with your neighbors hens. Game birds are just on another level. Momma hen bit, flogged, clubbed and beat me on the daily when she was broody and rearing chicks. Every day I threatened to wring her neck and turn her into chicken and dumplings. I called her every name under the sun and then some. I stated on here more times then I care to count I would not wish that hen on my worst enemy. She was the spawn of satan so she would live forever, and it felt like she did.
The ole bat has been gone right at a year now.

I've had a year of no surprise clutches. A year of not being flogged or clubbed with her stump foot. A year of being able to walk around a broody hen with her just hatched chick and not fear for my life. Call me crazy but I miss her.

She was the bane of my existence, but there will never be another like her. I hope.
Deep down though, something tells me I am asking for trouble keeping this little lady.

Something tells me the tiny terror will one day become the tiny terrorist.