Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Lady Red]

Sharing

Since they were locked into the complex for a few days, Phyllis has abandoned her nest in the planter and is using the nest box again. I caught her on nest cam sharing a nest box with someone. Imagine my surprise when I saw who it was!

Lilly Delivers
While we are the topic of egglaying. Lilly laid an egg yesterday!

View attachment 2747846

and it almost looks like Phyllis encouraged an early exit!

Way to go, Lilly!

 

[RoyalChick]

Drawing parallels between our girls, I agree that a soft shelled egg is a sporting event that doesn't translate to eating a normal egg. It seems they are just curious, and given how they move normal eggs around from one nest box to another over here, she may have just been trying to move it and the discovered it was edible.
Just a theory...

There is something too that as I saw a fragile shelled egg thrown out of the nest and break and everyone had a good feed.
I just wish they were less fragile shelled. I get that they are coming to the end of their laying life but I would rather they just stopped!
It is not egg eating that worries me it is the weak shells and risk of one breaking inside.

 

[featherhead007]

I Just let the chooks out. I almost got trampled. I hid behind the coop door, or I would have had feathers in my face. (Use your imagination for that picture moment)

 

[RoyalChick]

Well she is at least cleaning up. I'm so sorry.

The cameras are invaluable when trying to spot what is actually going on. What is your plan from here?

Well better camera position and more observation is the first thing. Though I am now very sure it is Elizabeth whose eggs break. Intense calcium supplements may have helped Diana in that she definitely had a no shell egg break inside her and she is now laying eggs with full albeit not very thick shell.
Of course that may just be coincidence. But it is all I have to go on so I am going to try that with Elizabeth.
But, I am going to be careful not to pick her up to pop a pill down her throat until I am sure she has laid. I think maybe that is why the egg broke inside Diana - I picked her up to give her a calcium pill and it all came splitting out on my shirt.
When I am not sure she has laid she gets her calcium ground up in kefir or scrambled egg. Lots of calcium in kefir/yoghurt and they love it frozen like ice cream.

 

[RoyalChick]

Are you considering restricting their light or implants? An extended time off from laying like the implant could provide may allow them to build up supplies nutritionally for when they restart.

I will ask vet about implants but I suspect they won’t do it. Do you know what to call it?

 

[featherhead007]

I will ask vet about implants but I suspect they won’t do it. Do you know what to call it?

Suprelorin brand implants (stop egg production) FYI

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Happy 4th of July everyone. Learned something last night, my chickens do not handle fireworks well. I was watching tv about 10:30 and had my window ac on so I heard nothing but my dad ran in my room and said we had to go out and see what was after the chickens. As soon as I leave my bedroom I hear them, every single one was going off like they were being killed. Grab a flashlight and flip on barn lights and head out to find only 2 are still on their roosts and they were LOUD. Didn't see anything so looking up at the hill for something with a flashlight when one of my neighbors comes running into my yard saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry". Once we got to a spot where I could hear him over the commotion it turns out he'd bought a few cheap fireworks for his daughter and they had shot off 2. Were not supposed to be loud, but apparently the noise and the lights "set the henhouse" off as he joked. He told me they had a few more but were not shooting them off. I told him since I knew something was not after them I could stay outside with the chickens if they wanted to finish but he said they would shoot them off at his mom's tonight. He then helped me get everyone back up on their roosts. Everyone may need to pray for me tonight, I have 3 other neighbors, one who is a jerk, planning on shooting off fireworks. The jerk neighbor gets the big ones, ones that really should not be shot off in a neighborhood, and ones that really should not be set off here as there is a dry hillside on each side of us. Last year he shot them off for almost 2 hours, and in which it took me and mom both sitting outside keeping the horses calm. Russ was fine, Dirt got a little worked up, but Louis was ready to break out of his stall. We ended up having to tie him up and when it was over he was a quivering sweating wreck. That was one time it was absolutely not safe to just be in there with him with a lead rope attached as he would try to run over you trying to find a way out. Talked to my vet already, he's on standby to swing by this evening if Louis starts freaking out to give a shot of sedative if need be. Which may help, but he also warned since Louis reacted so bad last year his adrenaline may counteract it and make it useless.

When I was married we had neighbors that would set off fireworks for hours. My TWH Lily was fine, never bothered her. My Anglo-Arab was the complete opposite, he would pace, sweat, and call all night long.

After the first time I started giving him Quietex and that helped a lot. My vet even left me a IM dose of tranq if I needed to give it to him.

 

[BY Bob]

There is something too that as I saw a fragile shelled egg thrown out of the nest and break and everyone had a good feed.
I just wish they were less fragile shelled. I get that they are coming to the end of their laying life but I would rather they just stopped!
It is not egg eating that worries me it is the weak shells and risk of one breaking inside.

That is my concern as well. Especially if it were to happen and you not know.

It is why I suggested an implant this time.

 

[BY Bob]

and it almost looks like Phyllis encouraged an early exit!

Way to go, Lilly!

I think she did. Like "stop hanging around if you're done". But to Sansa! Her nemesis!

 

[goldenfingers]

I really appreciate you sharing this good news story. The whole thing has been a little heartbreaking for me tbh, second guessing myself and siphoning thru my books and various online articles and resources to arrive to a next step.

she laid a normal egg yesterday, and one early this morning that had some defects on the shell (light discoloration at one end, and some calcium deposits) but a solid shell and not that obscene size from a couple days ago. Let's hope her poor little body is getting the hang of things.

I, too, hope things get straightened out.

My three are all high production hybrids. Unfortunately, I've finally come to accept that reproduction problems are inevitable and fairly constant with them. Attempts at intervention have not seemed to make any noticeable difference. At around the 2-years-old mark, and after lots of nerve wracking worry, Mrs. Howell completely menopaused. She, and we, are much happier now. Ginger occasionally still has problems and her eggs are usually non-normal in some way. Maryanne seems to be the only one with a pretty healthy reproductive system.

At this stage, for the sake of all our sanity (including the chickens') we've decided to let nature take its course for the most part, only intervening when things get really bad. Otherwise, I'd be a nervous wreck all the time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that for us it has become a matter of just riding through the storm and hoping it all turns out well in the end. This perspective may not work for everyone, but for us it seems the best approach.