Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[LozzyR]

At least she's eating well. She may be crook but if she were in pain, I think her eating would decline.

I agree. That’s when I knew Bessie was going downhill; she lost interest in eating and drinking.

 

[Shadrach]

Queen of the Brush Pile

Every so often the ladies become obsessed with the brush pile. I don't know if the bugs get active or what. Hattie's obsession started Sunday morning. At the time I thought Aurora was more interested than Hattie. You can see her climb up at Hattie came down.

So I thought to look there today but I just couldn't flush her out. Bad Girl!

I just could not believe that this happened while I was right there. She is very sneaky.

Crazy isn't it. When I've been searching for nests I've almost stood on a hen and not seen her.

 

[Shadrach]

Integration Day 3

Today was pretty calm over all. Aurora continues to go by every so often and flush. them. No solid connections today. One crazy run where she tried to catch them all in turn and got none. It is good to be pullet fast!

Hattie ignores them (and then goes and hides ).

Lilly chased them once today. I think she did connect.

I added another waterer today in the side yard away from the prefab coop. Aurora was drinking their water at their coop and there was a lot of conflict there. Now no one has to go into the cramped coop space to drink any longer. That seems to have helped.

Watching the Newbies, Phyllis does not have issues when it is just the three of them. I do think that some of the conflict with Sansa is from Phyllis trying to see. She raises her head high and Sansa interprets it as a fighting stance. Once Sansa grows up and is bigger than Phyllis this may lessen.

Sansa also ate out of my hand today for the first time in a while. That was sweet. She is settling in nicely.

Still 2 distinct flocks. I think the littles are going to need to grow a little more before they start living together. They are still quite a bit smaller.

They may just stay as separate groups living together.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I’m spending an awful lot on Chickie at the moment, trying to get her well again. After @Shadrach mentioned enemas and flushing, I asked my vet about it. She can do it, but wants to do an x-ray first. Sigh, book it in...

I'd be very interested in seeing that X-ray if you are willing to share Lozzy.
Ask your vet if she will e-mail it to you.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Oh dear. This guy spent over 10 minutes exploring ways to break into the Chicken Palace. I think I really am going to try and rig up an electric wire. I am a bit scared because it seems like there are a lot of things to decide and figure out - but reviews on BYC make it sound doable.

Yes agree with both of you. I think I can fit a live wire to the baseboard (not yet attached) which will be 10" deep at the bottom to retain the litter. Apparently most predators explore low down with their noses first. Although I lost Scary to a fox I think that was really opportunistic (which is why I blame myself), whereas the raccoons are planners. I got several videos over the 10 minutes and s/he was systematically exploring every possible weak spot. Fortunately s/he didn't start digging as there are a couple of places where the skirt is not yet installed. The raccoon went on to overturn every bucket, box and bag I had left outside where I have been trying to clear up the garage.

At least you'll have some idea on whether the Palace is racoon proof before the princesses move in.

 

[BY Bob]

Phyllis has the most wonderful colouration in her hair do.

Everything about Phyllis just screams "fun"!

 

[BY Bob]

Let me float this one.. I heard you can put red pepper in a bird feeder to keep squirrels out because the pepper bothers them but not the birds. It might work here as too. Do your cats stay indoors ?? That would be my only worry (I can't remember who has cats and who doesn't) if you (or others reading this) had other pets that went outside

I have spotted 2 cats around the coop. Mine do not go outside.

 

[BY Bob]

YAY!!! What a relief!

It sure was a relief.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I have not located her. No one else seems distressed. She is not in the house.

My only hope is she is laying somewhere where I can't find her, outside of the coop.

She has not responded to meal worms. Everyone else did. My yard is not that big. The last time I lost one Maleficent was under the deck. I have not been able to see Hattie under there.

FOUND HER!

She was deep inside the brush pile. My gosh. I wonder if she has a nest in there.

View attachment 2034806
View attachment 2034807

Thank goodness.

I'm so glad she is safe and sound Bob. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until you posted that you found her.

I was almost in tears. I could not take another loss right now. She has scared me to the core.

That feeling of rising panic when they are not in the usual places and food doesn't work and you feel you are running out of options is terrible.

On the plus side, you now have another place you know to check when someone does a vanishing act.

How did you find her in the end? She was very well hidden.

 

[BY Bob]

So Chickie went back to see Dr Nikki today. She’s still not right and I didn’t want to spend over $300.00 on a hormone implant just to have her die a couple of months later. She seems happy in herself but she’s very light and her poos are all watery. She had a great morning today, dug a big hole for a dirt bath, having a good scratch in the garden, getting excited over food, I’m starting to feel like I’ve got Munchausens by Proxy! Then she does this splatty poo just before we leave, so I took a photo. Dr Nikki said “Ugh, that doesn’t look right!”, and takes an x-ray. She said it looked clear and gave her a little enema but didn’t see any egg products. She’s sending the x-rays off to the avian specialists in case they have any more suggestions. She weighed her and she’s 1.5kg when she should be at least 2kg. She said she’s not sure why she has diarrhoea (I agree @Shadrach , I also like my vet to be honest!) but has prescribed some anti-microbials for it, which I will pick up tomorrow. If we can knock the diarrhoea on it’s head, hopefully she will be ok. She thinks she’s been snoozing a lot because she’s feeling weak. Cross fingers we can fix this!

“Get $5 chooks” my mother-in-law said! “They’ll live for years and give you lots of eggs” she said! Pretty sure my $5 chicken has cost over $500, not game to add it all up...

It's so hard sometimes.