Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

Sounds like a stressful time for you. I'm glad Big Boy is doing better.

Have you seen this article on beak repair?

https://the-chicken-chick.com/repairing-chickens-broken-beak/

Hope Hazel gets better soon.

Yes, I have that bookmarked, thanks. This is something I should repair then to prevent further cracking?

 

[BY Bob]

Massive apologies, next time it’s all theirs, that’s a promise

You need to recycle that into eggs!

 

[BY Bob]

So adorable.
Have a lovely time with your family Bob.

Thanks ACM.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

That's so good to hear!

He's moving much better today. He's starting to walk more and finally grooming.

He gets a little chilly without pants on, so I covered him up and he just purred and purred and purred!!❤❤

Please ignore my ratty quilt, it's over 20 years old and one of the last things my mom bought me before she died.

 

[Shadrach]

Poor Cillin! It will sort out eventually, though. This is where I usually start to meddle in The affairs of my chickens, though I do respect your decision on letting it mostly play out on it’s own. If he keeps losing the footpad you might want to try another thin band looped under the pad with the ends coming up and gently crossing the top of the foot, then crossing again between his back toe and spur then ending under the foot again. Sort of like tying a shoe or scrappy sandal on. I know, easier said than done, especially if he’s a wiggler or decided to kick while you’re trying to wrap it. I am lucky that Roostie is such a patient and tolerant guy. View attachment 2492176

My first attempt wasn't all that clever. The second was better. Today I got it about right. The main problem is the bump faces slightly forward and is close to the middle toe. They've all stayed on and the last two have stayed where I placed them. The first of the last two wasn't quite positioned correctly.
This is what I make.

The black stuff is neoprene and I'm going to try that next. Getting a tidy hole in it is the challenge. You need a hole punch the right size for best results.

 

[Shadrach]

Hazel broken beak report
I don't have pictures of her beak yet, sorry, the wind today made them all quite jumpy and it was hard enough to get her quieted enough today to get a good look at her beak. I'll try tomorrow, when I check both her and Peanut.

It's been 5 days since I examined her with a magnifying glass and smoothed it with the fine side of an emery board nail file. It seemed to work well and I went really slowly and talked softly to her. Interestingly, the other hens gathered round together on the litter to the left of my feet and faced Hazel. She could see them sitting down there preening and making happy noises while this went on. She soon let me file on one side while I kept her beak from moving much with a finger on the other side, and she didn't fight it. I didn't read this anywhere but I filed in motions that only went towards the tip, like you would doing human nails. I only smoothed the rough bits and jags, wasn't trying to reshape it, but it didn't seem to need much reshaping. It ended up smooth to the touch. From what I had read and researched (there is NOTHING in my new Chicken Health Handbook by Gail Damerow about this that I can find!) this seemed to be a pretty minor case. I thought I'd check her again in a few days.

Unfortunately she has now a thin short crack on her upper beak, a little less than 1/8" long, in the middle of her upper beak tip. It wasn't there before. I didn't file enough perhaps? but I wanted to not do very much at a time then. It seems to end about where her lower beak meets it. What do I do about this, if anything? Is it likely to lead to something worse, and if so is there a way to stabilize it before it does? I can try to get a pic tomorrow.

This situation was sidelined because I had a cat emergency the last three days, poor Big Boy was in a lot of distress, it is crystals in his urine, and he had a bout of something intestinal on top of that. After a long trip and 2 nights at the vets, subcutaneous fluids, an antibiotic shot, new food and pain meds, he is doing much better today. We've been tracking his every move, and now he is acting much more like himself. He's drinking on his own, going to his litter box without too much encouragement, and peeing more each time he goes.

The crack isn't your fault. I wont bore you with the material science but once a beak is broken, or badly cut any further stress, even through pecking can and often does promote crack propagation up the beak.
You can carefully run a seam of super glue along the crack provided the crack is very fine which will help. What you don't want is glue in the crack. The glue prevents the two sections of the crack from rejoining. The best way to do this is to drop a blob of glue on you finger, wait a couple of seconds for the glue to start to solidify and smear it along the crack.

 

[Shadrach]

So I got some Betadine gel and put it on Tegan’s comb. She wasn’t hugely impressed but didn’t make too much of a fuss. I looked in her mouth (that was a big fuss) and it just looked like dirt in there. If it’s fowl pox, I’d say it’s dry rather than wet; there’s no blisters. Do I need to apply it daily for a period of time?

I checked the other girls; they seem to be ok. I think River and Nyssa used to be more spotty, so maybe they got it first and have worked their way through it. One thing that concerned me though was River’s comb; the top half seems to be rather purple. I took a photo of it, should I be worried about this?

View attachment 2492434

Because Fowl Pox is viral, there isn't much more you can do by cleaning. It's a bit like herpes in that fiddling with it tends to spread it around.
For most, it's a mild complaint that goes away in time. You just need to keep an eye on her.

 

[BY Bob]

My first attempt wasn't all that clever. The second was better. Today I got it about right. The main problem is the bump faces slightly forward and is close to the middle toe. They've all stayed on and the last two have stayed where I placed them. The first of the last two wasn't quite positioned correctly.
This is what I make.
View attachment 2492981View attachment 2492982
The black stuff is neoprene and I'm going to try that next. Getting a tidy hole in it is the challenge. You need a hole punch the right size for best results.

This is encouraging.

 

[BY Bob]

My first attempt wasn't all that clever. The second was better. Today I got it about right. The main problem is the bump faces slightly forward and is close to the middle toe. They've all stayed on and the last two have stayed where I placed them. The first of the last two wasn't quite positioned correctly.
This is what I make.
View attachment 2492981View attachment 2492982
The black stuff is neoprene and I'm going to try that next. Getting a tidy hole in it is the challenge. You need a hole punch the right size for best results.

I knew you would get better at it.

 

[Shadrach]

Moon has started laying eggs again.