Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

I hate them - I don't think they are humane to the mouse. I am at peace with killing them but I want that to be a swift and painless death.

Me, too.

 

[cfonts]

It’s beginning to look a lot like Chickmas…

 

[featherhead007]

Mice! Kill them all! Kill their babies, kill their parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. Cousins, uncles and aunts. GET THEM ALL

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I have never. Let me say again, NEVER, had chickens molt this late. I have 4 of 6 molting, Lilly, Aurora, Phyllis, and Sansa. If you exclude Sansa, that is half of my flock molting in December. In 8 years I have never seen this.

Ah okay so not just Sansa's weirdness then, I had in my mind it was only her. Hmmm supposedly molting is light-related. But maybe that is not actually the case. I was under the impression chickens on the equator change out their feathers very slowly and the further away one goes you see molts as we think of them. What else could influence it? Temperature? Chemicals in the food? Plastics that behave like hormones when in the body, maybe pthalates? I wonder.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

It was great to let them out. I felt like a prison guard standing there with a gun scanning the sky.

Rather think of it like a Secret Service guard for VIP's!

 

[featherhead007]

Ah okay so not just Sansa's weirdness then, I had in my mind it was only her. Hmmm supposedly molting is light-related. But maybe that is not actually the case. I was under the impression chickens on the equator change out their feathers very slowly and the further away one goes you see molts as we think of them. What else could influence it? Temperature? Chemicals in the food? Plastics that behave like hormones when in the body, maybe pthalates? I wonder.

Half of my newest hens are molting, the others are not. I don’t understand any of this!

 

[RoyalChick]

Mice! Kill them all! Kill their babies, kill their parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. Cousins, uncles and aunts. GET THEM ALL

I am well into my second hundred - I am doing my part!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Maggie
I am having a bit of a health scare with Maggie right now. She went to the vet on Friday who is a bit mystified and going to do some research and consult colleagues before recommending a way forward.
Basically she has a problem with balance.

Here is a video compilation I put together to show the vet because of course in the vet’s office Maggie steadfastly refused to do anything but stand and stare at the vet and poop all over her table.

On my list of possible causes are:
- Marek’s (the vet is skeptical)
- Botulism (but she hasn’t been around anything rotting)
- Mold (but the food seems fine and she is off commercial feed again)
- Vitamin or mineral deficiency - thiamine, B12 and selenium deficiencies can cause ataxia (maybe she got deficient because she is off commercial feed)
- Zinc poisoning. When she was X-rayed 15 months ago when she laid two lash eggs the vet did note she had eaten some small screws but that is a long time ago.

She is getting about in a drunken sort of way and is as feisty with the roadrunners as ever. Actually they are more terrified of her even than normal because you can’t really predict which way she will lurch so she is harder to avoid!

The vet recommended I put her in the hospital ward after dark so she doesn’t fall over and injure herself, but she put herself to bed in her nesting box which is even more contained so I let her be. How she got up there is anyone’s guess.

I am not waiting for a diagnosis to treat for vitamin deficiency and zinc toxicity. Today she seems no better but also no worse.

I am a bit devastated. These lovely ladies seem so fragile! I am buoying my spirits by remembering that Minnie pulled through and at her worst was much sicker than Maggie seems now.

And here is an action shot of Minnie with her nice plump red comb going after some choice morsel.

View attachment 2926814

No idea for you, it is so hard to see her like that! At least you have action you can take with vitamin deficiency and zinc (what do you do about that?) which can help rule out things. I don't see botulism or mold except from something near the edges of the run that could be damp? Or, coming up from the ground, because we have had such a wet year, water could be much closer to the surface than it's ever been?

 

[RoyalChick]

No idea for you, it is so hard to see her like that! At least you have action you can take with vitamin deficiency and zinc (what do you do about that?) which can help rule out things. I don't see botulism or mold except from something near the edges of the run that could be damp? Or, coming up from the ground, because we have had such a wet year, water could be much closer to the surface than it's ever been?

It is hard to treat heavy metals - you need to chelate them - CaEDTA is the thing usually used. I have it in oral form (who knew, it is available as a human supplement?!). To really work well it needs to be given by injection and it is poorly absorbed orally so it is not ideal. If we do end up concluding that is the issue I will ask the vet to get me an injectable form. It just seems very late for her to get zinc poisoning unless she found a whole new set of screws to swallow which I think is really unlikely.

 

[rural mouse]

Posting tonight is tomorrow will be chaotically bonkers.