Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

There is someone who makes silage for their chickens:

I can't find it now, but someone else did pretty much what the second video did, but they manually cut it into smaller pieces, and used gallon zip-loc bags.

do be sure you eliminate all of the air, so it doesn't spoil. I do want to do this - but with the f/t job and part-time teaching on top of my farm, I haven't implemented it yet. My goal the first year I try it is to have lots of small bags, and put them into a metal covered garbage can ( to keep vermin out) and try feeding a bag a day in the winter to give them greens/supplement. Hopefully I can do this next year!!!!

Some haylage info

https://www.ontario.ca/page/hay-haylage-and-treated-hay-horses

 

[BY Bob]

Big Boy
To those of you who sought to reassure me about how big Mr. Chips would become, I thank you for temporarily calming my nerves, but now it is time for a reality check.
Mr. Chips is a big boy!
He is not quite 15 weeks old, has just started honking, and tonight he weighed in at 2.2kg/4lb 13oz.
That is about the same as Pooh and already bigger than Piglet.
I don’t know when cockerels reach mature weight but I am guessing at least 6 months, so 9lb doesn’t seem ridiculous as an adult weight.
Yikes!
It is hilarious to see how terrified he is of Pooh who weighs only 2oz more than he does. Calypso still has a pound on him and I have not yet weighed Tassels.
I am drifting back into the panic zone.
Also he bites so I am going to need some chicken handling gloves, and I need a bigger bag for weighing him - poor guy was in a very uncomfy position in the bag!
View attachment 4251367

My. He is going to be hefty.

 

[Ponypoor]

Posted: I’m home from the hospital! Yay a few infusions of antibiotics, breathing treatments, new effective meds, smart doctors, and pretty nursing staff.

Test results, no cancer in upper tracts, or lower tracts. Not even a single growth that needs removing. I praise God for such a wonderful healing.
Poor Dakota missed me terribly, but she let me hug her when I got home.

I was looking for an update on how you were. Glad you’re ok and super glad your chooks missed you

 

[knoturavggrl]

Yes, this is what I have done too! I really need to get some video and or pictures of what I did.

The electric company cut down some big ol’ trees on our property and I commandeered the free logs for the run. I took down all the roosts in the old coop and it’s now an extension to the run. To discourage roosting at night the extension part is still empty except for wood chips but I plan to add some logs in there as well.

The SFH’s spend a lot of time in the “new” run which leaves the old one for the littles for big chunks of time. I find so far that this has resulted in a more peaceful co-existence between the bigs and littles.

 

[RoyalChick]

Posted: I’m home from the hospital! Yay a few infusions of antibiotics, breathing treatments, new effective meds, smart doctors, and pretty nursing staff.

Test results, no cancer in upper tracts, or lower tracts. Not even a single growth that needs removing. I praise God for such a wonderful healing.
Poor Dakota missed me terribly, but she let me hug her when I got home.

So glad to hear you are home and hopefully feeling better.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Posted: I’m home from the hospital! Yay a few infusions of antibiotics, breathing treatments, new effective meds, smart doctors, and pretty nursing staff.

Test results, no cancer in upper tracts, or lower tracts. Not even a single growth that needs removing. I praise God for such a wonderful healing.
Poor Dakota missed me terribly, but she let me hug her when I got home.

Glad you’re home and feeling better. Keep resting and recouping.

 

[RoyalChick]

One of the ‘caine’ painkillers isn’t safe in chickens but I don’t remember which one.

Correcting misinformation.
The caine painkillers are fine for chickens (@bgmathteach alteadybposted one study). The issue is just that the therapeutic window is much narrower than in mammals so the risk of overdose is higher.
This is much more an issue when using them over several days which is why for sour crop you need an antifungal without a painkiller.
Doesn’t look like it is an issue for short term usage like for surgery.
Another good option is biofreeze which is a cold spray that numbs nerve endings from cold.

 

[BY Bob]

One of the ‘caine’ painkillers isn’t safe in chickens but I don’t remember which one.

There is a perception that lidocaine is dangerous. I did a full literature research on this a few years ago and it simply isn't true.

Lidocaine is only dangerous if injected into the blood stream. If it is injected into the blood stream it cause the heart to race and create arythmias. It is perfectly safe as a topical anesthetic applied prior to cutting the skin. I myself would refrain from applying it after the skin has been cut to be safe.

 

[featherhead007]

Glad you’re home and feeling better. Keep resting and recouping.

I’ll be doing some re-cooping Al right! After the rains stop, I’ll work on the new run.

 

[BY Bob]

Yes! She definitely has a way of holding herself upright that is rather elegant even though she is really rather an absurd looking little creature!
Blurry picture - but just look at that foot!

View attachment 4251394

She is adorable!