Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ribh]

In my experience comb, wattle, and nail injuries are spectacularly bloody. You won’t miss those and there would be a lot more blood I agree with most of what has been said already, but pictures would be helpful. Here are some of mine, they are behind a spoiler for good reason...

Spoiler: General Gross-ness and Blood/Poop

post coccidiosis bloody poop, this was after a severe infection that killed one of my first chickens at 9 weeks of age, these pics are about 1~1.5 weeks after finishing treatmentView attachment 2522513View attachment 2522514
Beginnings of a prolapsed vent this was Mrs B’s second or third round of prolapse note the urates leaking and the bright inner vent tissues starting to protrude.View attachment 2522515
Lash egg, because I might as well throw it in here
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Intestinal shed this is a fairly recent shot, culprit is suspected to be one of my latest rescuesView attachment 2522525
Sammy after a little fight, he’s fine, they were little comb/wattle injuries but this shows most of the stages/colors you will see in chicken blood against a very proud, very white background... dunba** dips**t rooster View attachment 2522524
Note how where it is clotted on and around the wounds it’s almost black, but where it rubbed on his breast it’s kind of pink with the thicker coverage on his feathers looking brownish. His earlobe was still bleeding and it’s a bright red.

Kris: the attachments aren't showing or denying access.

 

[Kris5902]

Kris: the attachments aren't showing or denying access.

I don’t know why, I can tag you into the convo I just sent them in to Chicory if you want to see them, they are pretty gross looking, all in one place, but I’ve posted most of them over on my thread too, I think you’ve seen most of them except the newest intestinal shed shot...

 

[BY Bob]

After surviving the holiday season hoarding every egg to be used for baking thanks to only 2 girls laying, I now have a happy problem. 6 of my girls are laying, getting at least 5 eggs a day now, sometimes 6. I just took this photo, and this is after I sold a dozen yesterday, and eating several throughout the week. Oh and the white eggs, they are NOT momma hens like I thought. They are Bread's. If I hadn't saw her lay today's egg myself I would not have believed her to be a white layer. Her momma lays a tan egg, so was expecting some shade of tan or cream not white. I think its time to make a couple more Cheesecakes. Have not baked since New Year's Eve.
View attachment 2522565

What a great problem to have!

 

[Kris5902]

Testing[& back chicken taxesSPOILER]

[/SPOILER]

Spoiler

Spoiler

not broody

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

What a great problem to have!

Yup and its only going to get worse. Have to wait 3 weeks to make sure the girls are cleaned out since Toothy Jr had turned his attentions to the Marans girls as well in the last week or so he was here. But in 3 weeks time, I'm going to hoard every Marans egg for about 10 days and load up that incubator again. Oh and the eggs, in there now are starting to rock a little bit.

 

[Ribh]

I don’t know why, I can tag you into the convo I just sent them in to Chicory if you want to see them, they are pretty gross looking, all in one place, but I’ve posted most of them over on my thread too, I think you’ve seen most of them except the newest intestinal shed shot...

Thanks Kris. I've had a look. Nursing/sickness is my Waterloo. I think I've got a picture I need to check with you for internal shed. Never seen anything like it & totally gross.

Spoiler: Gross pics

 

[featherhead007]

I was playing that “the duck song” to the kiddos, now “Waddle Waddle “ is stuck in my head.

 

[micstrachan]

Found blood on a part of the roosting bars today. The roosting bars (which is basically a barred floor) are next to the nestbox with a doorway between them.

Two days ago right after I had let them out for a bit I noticed a tiny bit of blood tracked onto the snow near the door of their run. I looked as best I could at everyone's feet and vent. Nothing found, but the foot inspection wasn't great, I had trouble looking at their feet bottoms, it was windy and they were flighty. It also was just that one bit of blood, not a series of spots like a bleeding foot. No blood on or near anyone's vents. Butters had had a frozen poop on her which I was about to deal with when I saw she had pulled it off while roosting (a featherball found in the poop tray). She's missing the small feathers that were there but there's no sign of injury.

Today's find was a big drip on the side of one bar, intact and frozen, and a couple smaller drops on top looking the same, then a few smeared prints from being walked on. It doesn't look like a foot injury unless it bled while she was holding it up, because of the lack of smear. Is chicken blood lighter in color than human blood? This has a rosy hue to it.

So I looked again at everyone's vents and faces today, and didn't see anything. I notice Hazel's vent, and I think Peanut's too, evert somewhat when they squat and I'm petting them. Could this be concerning?

I felt all their crops. Seemed fine. I felt three hens' keels and abdomens and noticed Queenie's abdomen feels more plump than the others, also wider, but her body is wider. I don't have a good reference for her usual abdomen because I haven't been inspecting that regularly (unfortunately). One Buckeye has just started laying, I don't know who for sure, though I suspect Butters.

Of course they all act fine otherwise. There's been a lot of ruckus the last two days as they wait for the nest boxes to free up. They call and hop up onto the perch and go into the coop and come out again. Peanut was in there a very long time yesterday. Two Buckeyes will share the long area sometimes, one in each end. Yesterday Queenie wanted to go in and share but was prevented, and another Buckeye jumped the line and went in ahead of her and got to share. Queenie eventually got in. But today it seemed they wanted to be in there one-by-one and everyone was not happy. When I checked Hazel today in there she was sitting almost in the middle, partly blocking the doorway.

I relate this because I wonder if the blood may have happened during this time. Because it's hard to imagine the blood not getting smeared and tracked around if it happened during roosting.

No poop has had any signs of blood, old or new. Everyone's poop looked darker yesterday, due I think to the extra soldier worms and a different scratch they got the day before, but there was no visible blood on any of it; today's poop looked more like usual - light green & white, dark green and white, & small brown poops. In the run there was one fresh poop with a bit of bubbles in it yesterday.

I've been researching this and so far am finding that it could be a cracked egg inside somebody, to a bleeding comb or a nail injury. From bad news, to nothing to get too excited about. Does anyone have any specific instructions on what to look for in checking everyone again tomorrow? Thank you everyone!

One time I found a LARGE (concerning) amount of blood on the roosting bar and learned it was a broken toe feather on Buttercup (my Brahma). She was fine. I may have given her a protein (meat) treat, but don’t recall.

I can’t seem to find the photos at the moment.

 

[micstrachan]

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.

View attachment 2519493

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

View attachment 2519497

The others have their backs to her.


View attachment 2519508

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

Poor Minnie. Or not? Maybe she prefers it that way?

Anyway, your coop looks so beautiful. I just showed the pic to DH and said, “Hey, Hon. See this little house?” He responded, “Yeah, it’s nice.” When I told him it was your COOP, I had to pick his jaw up off the floor!

 

[micstrachan]

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.

Oh no, Kris! This could be devastating! I’m so sorry. I hope it’s not Mareks. However, you take such good care of your animals, even if there were Mareks virus on your property, it might not ever present with any symptoms. I am sending positive vibes onto the universe for a good outcome!