Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

A possible clue here is time of day. Something hurts enough by the end of the day that she doesn't want to fly and land on the ground again, or fly up again? Less pain to just stay where she is. Maybe wing pain as @MaryJanet writes, but more likely it could be pain in her legbones & tendons, or her feet. Is there a way to test that, like give her a pain med for a couple of days and see what she does?

Good thinking! I will start with a foot and leg inspection.

 

[RoyalChick]

You're not laughing at Phyllis are you? The pizza box was first.

Oh my goodness no! I was reacting from bottom up!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Harcourt Fenton.....

Exactly!

 

[RoyalChick]

I wish I could provide some guidance. Put the camera on at roosting time and make certain how she is winding up there. I know you watched once. I think I would watch several times. Frankly it feels like her choice.

I have watched a few times and it has followed the same pattern.
One theory I have is she doesn't like the cold coming in from the chicken door because her roost is as far as you can get from the chicken door. So one thing I want to try is closing up the door before they have all actually roosted. Or just wait and see if it changes when it gets warm.

 

[drstratton]

It only took one day for results! Got it today. Husband is Negative! Good to know. I went ahead yesterday and bought an oximeter from Amazon. Got it today. The guy that came out first yesterday to the car said it would be a good idea. Thinking he was ..noting...older folks... Boy, husband is more sick today. Coughing. Poor guy, that's miserable. They did say to keep him home until his symptoms subside. Well...yeah. We aren't one to go out when ill. Even if it isn't too bad. We don't work, do don't need to go spread a I bug.

That's good news Cynthia! I hope he starts to improve soon!

 

[drstratton]

So my daughter watches a lot of a YouTube channel called Gold Shaw Farm and now has a plan to have a farm by the time she’s 20-25 (she’s 5 atm )
I suggested to her tonight that maybe she should study to be a vet first (especially one specialised in farm animals, chickens at the top of that list ) then she can get her farm and won’t have to get a vet to help sick or injured livestock on her farm, she can do it herself.
Reiterated that to do so means she has to concentrate and learn as much as she can so she can go to uni to become a vet motivation for prep learning or putting the pressure on?

Chicken tax- Violet with Bokky tonight eating her protein snack of scrambled eggs cooked with oats and pumpkin seeds in it (I hope I haven’t gone overboard with trying to boost protein for the moult )

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She's adorable!

I'm sure Bokky is enjoying the treat, but I don't know how much extra she needs. I'm sure someone else with more knowledge has already chimed in! I hope her molt goes well!

 

[BY Bob]

Well, when it rains... stay inside.
Roostie’s foot has been pushed back to Monday now, the cows are being pests, Arduinna is adorable but getting into everything, and I just got a call from a neighbor who is culling his flock of over 150 birds. He has been hit with Mareks (most likely based on some of his birds symptoms, others are just looking puffy then dying overnight without the classic paralysis or stargazing symptoms). This is where my last set of rescues came from. So far there have been no signs of any illness in my flocks, including the rescues. The other neighbor who shared in my purchase of the Red Rock Chicks late last summer has lost one randomly. She puffed up looked “un thrifty” and was dead two days later. With just two weeks before my first set of Meat Bird chicks are set to arrive, I’m concerned.

38 of my birds total were vaccinated for Marek’s as chicks. Roostie, Little Red, all the meat ladies and the Red Rocks. I believe that the rescues from the farm coop here and the three from my other friend were as well, that brings me to 46 likely vaccinated birds. My meat birds coming in April are vaccinated, I’m not sure about the ones coming in two weeks. I just did some math. 94 for my layers and their roosters, with 40 Mistral Gris meat birds maybe arriving February 22, and 60 Weatern Rustics coming in April 15th. This is why I wanted to do closed flocks and home hatched meat birds.

I am also thinking husbandry and living conditions could be a contributing factor. So fingers crossed, and obviously I’m not going to be returning those crates for a while! The other guy is saying he thinks a farm visit by some new island residents from Alberta (that also did chickens there) could have contaminated his flock. He also thinks you can cure Covid with ivomec oral horse paste, so grain of salt. And yes I know “Quarantine”! My meat chicks are going to spend their first month on my friends farm in his coop I’m cleaning out, the place I garden at.

If I lose my flock to Mareks I’m not sure what I would do here, or if I will stay.

Let's not get out over our skis. There is nothing you can do now except make yourself sick worrying. Your groups are already mixing, correct?

So all you can do is keep the newbies away. Which you should do anyway until you are certain there is nothing to spread between them.

 

[BY Bob]

I don’t normally see the Chicken Palace with the light on because I turn it off when I walk out, but tonight I forgot to bring new batteries for the cameras so I ‘popped back’ (by popped I mean balanced on my board walk over the snow). I thought it looked pretty.

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Inside there is a spherical and lonely Minnie.
Why Minnie? Why won’t you snuggle up to the others?

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The others have their backs to her.


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It seems to be her choice, but it looks sad to me.
Any ideas why?

It looks like a chalet with all that snow.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Dustbath Cuddle Puddle, Queenie's on the outside.

Yesterday was sunny and relatively warm. We were working on the driveway and walkways clearing snow (you can hear DH using the snowblower) and I got this video of the Buckeyes having a major dustbath. Queenie's right there too wanting in, and they wouldn't let her. She's doing her best to hang out though. She did dig a little hole and crouch in it. I didn't get it on film but anytime she moved in to get in with them they would peck toward her and she would step back. She did stay close, picking off run litter as they threw it up on themselves.

 

[BY Bob]

I hope that is it. I do think that favored spot on the big roost could be the issue because she and Dotty are always unsatisfied with their relative positions (even though those change). So maybe she is indeed enjoying her very own roost. It is well below freezing at night but not single digits so I think she is OK all puffed up like that.

She will be ok even in single digit temperatures. Nothing to worry about.