Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

RoyalChick · May 29, 2022

Ponypoor said:
The horse flies are out now too, my poor thoroughbred is just full of egg sized lumps. Poor old girl.

Ok well I better get cracking.

I have deer flies. I think they may be the same as horse flies. Devil’s spawn! One drew blood through my t-shirt. That is the scab that Maggie just pecked.

featherhead007 · May 29, 2022

lightm said:
Random ramble:

The movie "Chicken Run" was not great... Why can't they make chickens look like chickens in an animation?? Come on.

On a happy note, I accidentally watched "Cry Macho" yesterday and it is a better chicken movie than "Chicken Run". I recommend @featherhead007 watch it with Jaffer.

He loves that movie

!

bgmathteach · May 29, 2022

RoyalChick said:
I syringed about 1ml of Safe-Guard goat dewormer direct into their gullet.
I was a nervous wreck about avoiding the trachea. I pushed the syringe almost all the way in before plunging and I had images that I was filling their lungs with fluid as I plunged.
But I think if I had done that I would know by now. All three are foraging around. Maggie is a strong bird - geez she really did not want that to happen and she fought with every ounce of her strength! Diana’s throat is the easiest to visualize so I was most sure with her that I had avoided the windpipe but she has an unnerving trick of walking backwards in the towel burrito so I was left holding the perfectly placed syringe with no chicken in the vicinity!
I am leaving Dotty until after dark tonight. I fully expect to lose a finger.
I am not yet counting this as a new skill - but maybe by their second dose I will feel less scared.
As I typed this Maggie got her revenge - she just pecked a little bug bite scab I have on my elbow. OUCH!!!!

I hate to say this, but I certainly think Maggie is/was justified in her peck!

Yes, I hate the ones that walk backwards! Given their shape, they just 'slip right out' when they do that!! Next time, when you start wrapping, use a large towel and angle it a bit, pull the corner up between her legs from the backside, then wrap like a burrito. If it is wrapped snuggly (not tight, but not loose either) and you have pulled enough of the towel between the legs so there is the corner up by her breast bone, the rest of the wrapping will help hold it in place with friction, and it helps halt/delay the backing up. It took me a couple of tries with this technique to get it right...not too much towel between the legs...but enough to 'catch' under the rest of the wrapping okay. A determined backer-upper can still get out unless you wrap teh burrito part really snug (which I don't like to do), but it has, for me, given me enough time to administer stuff and or check a wound, etc before they can wriggle backwards enough to pull the corner free & back up.

Another hint...if you don't need to see the throat...
wrap burrito like, hold them like an infant child sitting on your lap. Bottom on you, feet/head facing away...one arm half wrapped around their body with that hand holding lower beak (head/lower beak) to open mouth. The other arm....forearm pressing against that side of chicken's body so they don't squirm sideways, while wrist & hand maneuver the syringe. It is actually easier than it sounds..if you are able to hold the bottom beak...to open the mouth...they will naturally lift their head, which is the position you want so airway gets blocked and 'stuff' goes down esophagus. However, they cant pull their head completely away from you as your chest/shoulders are keeping it from going too wild. (It helps if you 'slouch' your shoulders forward to create a bit of a 'concave' cavity that hugs them from the back and a bit from the sides.

featherhead007 · May 29, 2022

bgmathteach said:
I hate to say this, but I certainly think Maggie is/was justified in her peck!

Yes, I hate the ones that walk backwards! Given their shape, they just 'slip right out' when they do that!! Next time, when you start wrapping, use a large towel and angle it a bit, pull the corner up between her legs from the backside, then wrap like a burrito. If it is wrapped snuggly (not tight, but not loose either) and you have pulled enough of the towel between the legs so there is the corner up by her breast bone, the rest of the wrapping will help hold it in place with friction, and it helps halt/delay the backing up. It took me a couple of tries with this technique to get it right...not too much towel between the legs...but enough to 'catch' under the rest of the wrapping okay. A determined backer-upper can still get out unless you wrap teh burrito part really snug (which I don't like to do), but it has, for me, given me enough time to administer stuff and or check a wound, etc before they can wriggle backwards enough to pull the corner free & back up.

Another hint...if you don't need to see the throat...
wrap burrito like, hold them like an infant child sitting on your lap. Bottom on you, feet/head facing away...one arm half wrapped around their body with that hand holding lower beak (head/lower beak) to open mouth. The other arm....forearm pressing against that side of chicken's body so they don't squirm sideways, while wrist & hand maneuver the syringe. It is actually easier than it sounds..if you are able to hold the bottom beak...to open the mouth...they will naturally lift their head, which is the position you want so airway gets blocked and 'stuff' goes down esophagus. However, they cant pull their head completely away from you as your chest/shoulders are keeping it from going too wild. (It helps if you 'slouch' your shoulders forward to create a bit of a 'concave' cavity that hugs them from the back and a bit from the sides.

Good information

RoyalChick · May 29, 2022

bgmathteach said:
I hate to say this, but I certainly think Maggie is/was justified in her peck!

Yes, I hate the ones that walk backwards! Given their shape, they just 'slip right out' when they do that!! Next time, when you start wrapping, use a large towel and angle it a bit, pull the corner up between her legs from the backside, then wrap like a burrito. If it is wrapped snuggly (not tight, but not loose either) and you have pulled enough of the towel between the legs so there is the corner up by her breast bone, the rest of the wrapping will help hold it in place with friction, and it helps halt/delay the backing up. It took me a couple of tries with this technique to get it right...not too much towel between the legs...but enough to 'catch' under the rest of the wrapping okay. A determined backer-upper can still get out unless you wrap teh burrito part really snug (which I don't like to do), but it has, for me, given me enough time to administer stuff and or check a wound, etc before they can wriggle backwards enough to pull the corner free & back up.

Another hint...if you don't need to see the throat...
wrap burrito like, hold them like an infant child sitting on your lap. Bottom on you, feet/head facing away...one arm half wrapped around their body with that hand holding lower beak (head/lower beak) to open mouth. The other arm....forearm pressing against that side of chicken's body so they don't squirm sideways, while wrist & hand maneuver the syringe. It is actually easier than it sounds..if you are able to hold the bottom beak...to open the mouth...they will naturally lift their head, which is the position you want so airway gets blocked and 'stuff' goes down esophagus. However, they cant pull their head completely away from you as your chest/shoulders are keeping it from going too wild. (It helps if you 'slouch' your shoulders forward to create a bit of a 'concave' cavity that hugs them from the back and a bit from the sides.

Very helpful. I ended up with Diana on the counter with me crouched over her so I body-blocked her reverse and somehow I saw enough of her throat to go ahead.
I think with more confidence I wouldn’t feel the need to visualize quite so much - as long as I am well to the side and insert the syringe far down I think I am in the right place. But as a first timer I was nervous as hell.
I expect I will need your burrito approach on Dotty tonight.

GregnLety · May 29, 2022

Think I am about done, this heat is too much. We swapped the the metal siding for chicken wire. I'll take some pics when shade comes over.

BY Bob · May 29, 2022

ManueB said:
For Pony Sunday I bring you a trip down memory lane from the times our neighbor used to let her donkeys pasture on our property.
They came four or five times but this last year they became quite a pain in her b...and she didn't have sufficient pastures for them as she got a bunch of cows. So she sold all the females first then the three remaining males. I kind of miss them .

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Mrs BY Bob loved the donkeys! Thanks for sharing.

RebeccaBoyd · May 29, 2022

Happy Sunday everyone. I'll have pony pictures later. Bunny was pacing the coop wanting out with the chicks so I let them out. She's keeping everyone at a distance although Butter is pushing her limits. The way she is starting to behave it would not surprise me to find her Broody pretty soon. Bunny has taken the chicks all over the back yard and of course into Dirt's stall. Thankfully once again Dirt was good as gold, but I always have heart attacks every time one of the momma's first take the chicks into the horses stalls. I have a ton of video's to sort through but first some pictures.