Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Kris5902]

I was making supper for the tribes when Tribe 1 turned up. I looked down at the floor and there were little pools of blood in a trail from the door!
I checked to see who was bleeding and it was pretty easy to spot because Cillings foot looked like he had been standing spur deep in tomato ketchup.
I got him on the chair where he did a bit of don't fuss me Bucket Boy, I'm fine, probably because the hens were there.
A bit of stern talking to and a closer look revealed he had broken a spur. The thing was, it wasn't broken all the way through. Got a problem now. Broken right off is easy. Can't do anything about it. Clean it. Keep him calm so the blood clots and by the morning, if he doesn't do anything stupid, it will have scabbed over.
Mostly broken off often means it won't stop bleeding because any movement pulls on the spur.
I sprayed plenty of Chlorhexedine on the break, cleaned up his foot and checked for any other damage and then let him escort his hens off to roost.

I know I'm going to have to go and get him and cut the spur off. There was no way it was going to heal back. This is not something I was lookinng foreward to.
I checked on him about an hour after roost and there was fresh blood blobs below where he was perched.
Came back to the house, had a cup of tea (tea is essential before undertaking unpleasent tasks like this) and went to get Cillin.
When I opened the coop the spur was on the floor below him.
Didn't even have to take him to the house. Cleaned the hole while he stood on the perch. Another spray of Chlorhexedine and a couple of pieces of walnut and that was it.
Sorry about the gory pictures.
View attachment 2444271View attachment 2444272View attachment 2444273

So glad you didn’t have to fix it up for him! And good to know what to do if I ever find a partially broken one here... it is impressive the difference between the “around the ladies blustering Rooster” and how calm they can be once they are alone. all my boys have knocked or broken theirs off all the way, no dangling bits by the time I see it.

I just pulled Dean in this morning and cleaned up where I removed his bumble, it’s almost back to normal, but there was a little muck around the edges of where the hole was filling in. I gave his foot a good wash and light cleaning with my old super soft toothbrush to get the gross bits out of the crevice. He was nose to beak with both my cats at one point, and he took his pedicure like a good boy. As soon as he saw his ladies again though the fussing started, until he presented them with his hard earned mealworms, which he refused to eat himself.

 

[featherhead007]

I agree, although my Charlie is quite the bully!

I'de love Charlie too!

 

[Kris5902]

I haven’t got a really ‘fluffy’ fluffy butt picture for Friday... but I do have a new very elegant butt shot.

There’s a little fluff back there under all that tail, really, there is! Of all my chickens Sammy is the one who seems to know how best to strike a pose.

 

[featherhead007]

I was making supper for the tribes when Tribe 1 turned up. I looked down at the floor and there were little pools of blood in a trail from the door!
I checked to see who was bleeding and it was pretty easy to spot because Cillings foot looked like he had been standing spur deep in tomato ketchup.
I got him on the chair where he did a bit of don't fuss me Bucket Boy, I'm fine, probably because the hens were there.
A bit of stern talking to and a closer look revealed he had broken a spur. The thing was, it wasn't broken all the way through. Got a problem now. Broken right off is easy. Can't do anything about it. Clean it. Keep him calm so the blood clots and by the morning, if he doesn't do anything stupid, it will have scabbed over.
Mostly broken off often means it won't stop bleeding because any movement pulls on the spur.
I sprayed plenty of Chlorhexedine on the break, cleaned up his foot and checked for any other damage and then let him escort his hens off to roost.

I know I'm going to have to go and get him and cut the spur off. There was no way it was going to heal back. This is not something I was lookinng foreward to.
I checked on him about an hour after roost and there was fresh blood blobs below where he was perched.
Came back to the house, had a cup of tea (tea is essential before undertaking unpleasent tasks like this) and went to get Cillin.
When I opened the coop the spur was on the floor below him.
Didn't even have to take him to the house. Cleaned the hole while he stood on the perch. Another spray of Chlorhexedine and a couple of pieces of walnut and that was it.
Sorry about the gory pictures.
View attachment 2444271View attachment 2444272View attachment 2444273

OH NO

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Is this quest a doomed one?

I'm going to try to wrangle 8 or 9 hens and a rooster tomorrow to help re-home them.
Any tips? Wear leather! These are supposedly people-friendly Golden Comets or Buff Orpingtons. At least this summer they were friendly to my friend who walks by there every day. Since he took pictures as they came right up to him, I feel I need to try to help these chickens. Someone said that from the pics they appear to be not a year old.

They were brought to this non-working farm by a house caretaker, and when the homeowner, who hates chickens, returned to occupy it, the keeper left without taking the chickens. They are totally free-range without a coop and I think have been roosting up in the old barn. I find it hard to believe none have been picked off yet. Rooster must be a good one!

My plan, such as it is, is to bring food, mealworms and scratch, go slowly and gently and one by one grab them as I do my Buckeyes, and eventually put them in a chicken-transport crate I've borrowed. (That owner said the low style, forcing them to crouch, keeps them calmer??? It's all anyone offered me so I took it.)

Plus I have one 36 x23 x25 " double-door dog crate. Maybe they could squooch in there, and at least have some headroom. I recall seeing wrapped-up chickens getting evacuated from a hurricane area in a car. It worked, but chicken-burritos transport seems extreme.

Or should I set up a feed & water station in the dog crate, lure a few in, and then grab them and carry them to the low crate? I don't want to spook them and get a few and not the rest.

Then take them about 2 hours downstate to a no-kill chicken-keeper whom I've been corresponding with since I posted about this on the New York USA thread. He has a large covered run and a large enclosure and will quarrantine them first in his basement (not ideal I know).

I am guessing they may not be as tame since the caretaker left, but they started out fairly people-friendly so I am hoping for the best.

Ideas? Should I wrangle my friend into helping?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I haven’t got a really ‘fluffy’ fluffy butt picture for Friday... but I do have a new very elegant butt shot.View attachment 2444334
There’s a little fluff back there under all that tail, really, there is! Of all my chickens Sammy is the one who seems to know how best to strike a pose.View attachment 2444336

OMG that is a beautiful rooster! Peony petals!

 

[Shadrach]

Is this quest a doomed one?

I'm going to try to wrangle 8 or 9 hens and a rooster tomorrow to help re-home them.
Any tips? Wear leather! These are supposedly people-friendly Golden Comets or Buff Orpingtons. At least this summer they were friendly to my friend who walks by there every day. Since he took pictures as they came right up to him, I feel I need to try to help these chickens. Someone said that from the pics they appear to be not a year old.

They were brought to this non-working farm by a house caretaker, and when the homeowner, who hates chickens, returned to occupy it, the keeper left without taking the chickens. They are totally free-range without a coop and I think have been roosting up in the old barn. I find it hard to believe none have been picked off yet. Rooster must be a good one!

My plan, such as it is, is to bring food, mealworms and scratch, go slowly and gently and one by one grab them as I do my Buckeyes, and eventually put them in a chicken-transport crate I've borrowed. (That owner said the low style, forcing them to crouch, keeps them calmer??? It's all anyone offered me so I took it.)

Plus I have one 36 x23 x25 " double-door dog crate. Maybe they could squooch in there, and at least have some headroom. I recall seeing wrapped-up chickens getting evacuated from a hurricane area in a car. It worked, but chicken-burritos transport seems extreme.

Or should I set up a feed & water station in the dog crate, lure a few in, and then grab them and carry them to the low crate? I don't want to spook them and get a few and not the rest.

Then take them about 2 hours downstate to a no-kill chicken-keeper whom I've been corresponding with since I posted about this on the New York USA thread. He has a large covered run and a large enclosure and will quarrantine them first in his basement (not ideal I know).

I am guessing they may not be as tame since the caretaker left, but they started out fairly people-friendly so I am hoping for the best.

Ideas? Should I wrangle my friend into helping?

Get them at night while they're roosting.
I don't think your plan is going to work if they are as feral as you describe.
This might help you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/getting-chickens-out-of-trees-and-into-their-coops.75511/

 

[LozzyR]

It looks good. It’s a different format to Duolingo so the two of them together should be a good combination.

Oops, forgot the chicken tax!

 

[featherhead007]

Thank you God! Rocks-Anne in my arms again today, listing to music

 

[RoyalChick]

I trapped a rat under my cooker. There is an air vent going through the wall to the outside. The cover you see in the picture is alloy.
Inside the house I set one of those no kill traps with food and water in it and waited.
I waited three days I think and the rat was having none of it.
On day three it started to chew through the bar on the alloy grill. I had to block it off with a slab of slate.
On day four the rat gave in and went into the trap to eat.
This rat used to live next door in another hole in the wall. I didn't mind that much.
It seems that one day it decided it was easier to move into my house than keep popping round for a bit of chicken food, or attempted break ins on various food containers.
I took the rat down the track a couple of miles and let it go after giving it a long lecture on how lucky it had been and how avarice would only get it into trouble. It had a good home next door.
The evidence.
View attachment 2444125

I feel the rat should perhaps move to the big house.