Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[The-White-Elephant]

I'd love to see more pictures of her and the other cochins. I recently acquired 6 blue cochin girls in September and so far I've been impressed with them. They turned 2 last month and are still very reliable layers. They are also now friendly to a certain point. I think if they had had a different upbringing they would be in your face friendly. 1 of the girls has already had a half-hearted broody attempt. That should not surprise me as most of my hens are insanely broody although trying it in December is nuts. They will probably drive me crazy this spring and summer. As far as looks go, they are my brother's favorite of my hens and he likes to pick fights saying they are better looking then my beloved Marans. I had plans to hatch a few Marans x Cochin crosses later in the spring. That is being bumped up sooner then expected. My mom does not think due to their extra fluffy bums that my Marans rooster is able to do his job. She wants to do a test hatch. So now, I agreed starting Jan 1st I will properly store the eggs for hatching and after 14 days whatever I've collected from them is going in the incubator. She thinks I'll be lucky if 1 or 2 hatch, I told her she's crazy and I'm seeing fertile eggs every time I crack one and that Basil is definitely doing his job.

They sound great! I hope mine go broody this spring!

I’ll post some more pics later, I need to go somewhere

 

[BY Bob]

Happy Fluffy Butt Friday everyone. While she does not have the fluffiest butt on the place, today I'm honoring Butter. She's on the other side of her crazy molt and honestly looks the best she has since her injury back in April. The rate she's going I feel she'll be completely done by the first week of January.
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She is looking quite good.

 

[BY Bob]

Happy Friday

From the entire tribe.

 

[BY Bob]

Diana tries her very best to have a fluffy butt for Friday.

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[BY Bob]

Fluffy Friday, funny/exploratory poses from the last month or soView attachment 2931907View attachment 2931909View attachment 2931912

Wonderful.

 

[BY Bob]

multiple fluffy bums!! Here, in the first pic, you can see my whole flock. Or at least nearly the whole flock. There should be 21. I f you want, you can count them

Look at those lovely bums.

 

[BY Bob]

Yes. It is an old drawer a plywood roof to create more nesting box locations.
Nobody has shown the slightest interest in them. I might add curtains.

Maybe a TV with cable would help.

 

[LozzyR]

Sansa Update

The vet and I connected today. The blood work revealed three things.

1. Her calcium is very low. It is low even for a non-laying hen or rooster.
2. Protein electrophoresis has uncovered a low grade infection of some kind that is not causing a temperature.
3. She was dehydrated.

So what to do. The vet reached out to an expert with chickens. She said when I was there that she had not seen this before. I love people who admit they don't know and consult others. They were equally curious as to how all of this is connected. They are certain that her low calcium is having an impact on the feathers. They also believe that the infection, wherever it might be, could also be involved, especially if it is somewhere in the digestive tract where it might be interfering with the absorption of minerals and nutrients.

The vet left it up to me if I wanted to treat the infection or not. At this point I want to attack the situation aggressively so I agree to treat. We are putting her on Trimethoprim Sulfa. A combination therapy that has broad antibacterial bandwidth as well as antiprotozoal capabilities.

In order to dose her we needed her weight. So I went out and tried to catch her in the big run. Frankly, the Cluckle Hut has essentially ended that possibility. It is like she knew. Only her head came out to eat the meal worms the tricky human had used to try and lure her out.

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So I waited and plucked her off the roost, and weighed her.

This is really good news. Back on11/15 she was around 3 lbs/1.389 kg. Today, just about a month later after being weighed last, she is a respectable 4.55 lbs/2.064 kg. That is basically a 50% weight gain. She has been on a diet of chick food since 11/23 and it is working. I knew it as soon as I picked her up. This video from 11/30 shows how she has been chowing down and since they have been locked in because of the hawk (silver lining?) she has no other food source. The chick food has worked at least in getting weight back on her.

That leaves us to the conundrum of getting calcium into her. If I switch her to layer that would be the easiest way to increase her calcium intake but it will be at the expense of calories and protein. Additionally, the whole tribe would then be on layer when they are not laying. I am trying not to do this with Lilly as she really doesn't lay any more. I could segregate her in the Cluckle Hut with Phyllis and lock them in with layer feed but I really don't want to give up on the chick feed.

I need to check and see if Nutridrench has significant calcium in it as I could try supplementing in that fashion while I am giving the antibiotic. The vet said that she would look for alternative solutions to get calcium into her diet.

I know that their have been a lot of people on here treating for soft shelled eggs by supplementing calcium. Right now my brain cannot recall any of them. Please reply to this post with what you have done to add calcium to their diets when needed. I feel stupid but I just can't remember any and I know some of you were quite clever.

I was giving my ISAs tinned sardines for added calcium.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Fluffy Friday, funny/exploratory poses from the last month or soView attachment 2931907View attachment 2931909View attachment 2931912

I really like the composition of the first two pictures and the very interesting textures! Pose of the second is great.

 

[Shadrach]

A bit late it seems but Happy Birthday @LaFemmeKatia