Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

I swear broodiness is contagious. So far this year I have had Momma go broody twice, and if you count Henrietta before she got broke up 5 more broody hens. Bunny is starting to act suspicious again, wanting to spend longer in the box to lay that egg. If so that would be her 2nd attempt this year, but nope, I'm collecting eggs as soon as they are laid to hopefully prevent another girl from catching the bug.

Peanut has been going into the box and staying there a long time, once I timed 2 hours, and leaving without having laid an egg. Then at some point she does go back in and lay. This has been going on for awhile but I'm not certain how long. I had attributed it to her soft egg issues and things not working entirely normally. I woke up this morning at 6:30 to somebody's escort call, and when I went out there at 7:30 everybody else was on the ground in the run and Peanut came jumping out of the coop to greet me. There was no egg from anybody in the nestbox (and no sign of egg eating either).

 

[BY Bob]

I May Need to Stop Petting Her

 

[ChicoryBlue]

So I’m feeling like the world’s worst chicken mom. Ruby got a little bit of fly strike. Yesterday she seemed to be declining and put herself to bed in a nest box. This morning she didn’t seem so great, either, so I let her out for some private free range time. I decided to squirt some warm soapy water on her back end and help her out since she’s been so messy in the back. I pulled a couple chunks of turd off and one of them had a maggot on it! I kind of freaked out, got some more warm soapy water, cleaned her up pretty decently, trimmed feathers, towel dried slightly, patted permethrin powder on the wet area I had just washed, and put neosporin on the raw spot, which was about the size of a dime. I did not actually see any maggots on her, but I definitely saw a maggot on a turd, so I have to assume more might be coming. She seemed pretty weak this morning, but right now at the end of the day, her body language is better than I have seen in a few days. I am hopeful and optimistic that I caught it in time. I feel awful!

 

[featherhead007]

I May Need to Stop Petting Her

What good is a chicken (pet) if you can’t pet it? So sorry to see that Bob.

 

[featherhead007]

Fly strike is a bad thing. I found Jaffar with maggots under his feathers, and around his vent. I had to pick them one at a time off of him. I bathed him in permethrin and water, picking them off before he dried off. (That was a while ago.) but I still check him every day. The others too. Poor guy was acting miserable when I found his fly strike problem.

When I finally got all the maggots off him, there was a trust between us, that wasn’t quite there before. (Kinda hard to explain)

 

[ChicoryBlue]

So far, box 2 has been the only one with eggs. So that will be our first data point.

Interesting. So what are you saying then, is Box 3 merely a waiting room?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

You’ve just motivated me to catch Snow tomorrow and clean/clip her problem area. It’s so cold and wet here there aren’t many flies but want to be sure.
Sounds like you have expertly exploded onto the scene with Ruby and co and are doing a great job as chicken Mum sometimes you just can’t get to everything pre-emptively, life is busy and things get missed.

Me too, for Butters in a major way, although I've been working up to it for a couple of days. Maybe everyone will get a butt bath, major or minor, having set up the kitchen sink area I might as well!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

No fire danger here. We have probably had close to 6 inches or more of rain in that last 4 days from the big storms. Everything is so wet here I could take a blow torch to the ground and not start a fire.

True that. We actually have flooding danger to be wary of now, everything is beyond saturated.

 

[LozzyR]

Gosh so many decisions. If Phyllis is not Mom/Mum (you are doing that English spelling thing again!)

I noticed that too. He’s definitely an honorary Aussie!

 

[featherhead007]

Interesting. So what are you saying then, is Box 3 merely a waiting room?

Sorry, I thought that was funny! “Waiting room “