Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

If she passes, I won’t have any other chicken, who will be an armpit warrior for me. That’s her favorite thing to do, besides begging to be held. The heartache is excruciating !

 

[Ponypoor]

Alex, have you held a chicken before when they passed? They often will flap their wings wildly right as they die. That’s some sort of a vagus nerve response, I believe. Be prepared for that, as it can be very startling.

Horses too
And people...

 

[GregnLety]

Yup gotta love them. Ironically I tried so hard to watch what I said in front of her. I admit I was and am no saint when it came to my language. She picked up things from everyone else. Another phone call I got from the head start teacher was when she was demanding to know what "Poop soup" was and why was it her favorite meal. I had to explain it was what she called vegetable beef soup. She started calling it that on her own because it made her go to the bathroom After that one I begged Rosie not to repeat anything she heard or said at home.

My oldest dropped an F bomb in kindergarten so we had the same talk as you and Rosie.

 

[Sally PB]

Alex, sending you and your girl hope and love.

 

[featherhead007]

She’s still resting comfortably. I’m trying to give her water. I check the kitchen, and remembered that I’m out of coconut butter. I guess it’s just a waiting game for me at this point. Poor Rocks-Anne. She’s the greatest hen, and has always been my best friend.

 

[featherhead007]

Alex, sending you and your girl hope and love.

Thanks

 

[RoyalChick]

She’s still resting comfortably. I’m trying to give her water. I check the kitchen, and remembered that I’m out of coconut butter. I guess it’s just a waiting game for me at this point. Poor Rocks-Anne. She’s the greatest hen, and has always been my best friend.

 

[BY Bob]

But now I don’t understand how it isn’t a perpetual issue. It is impossible to eradicate roundworms from the soil (you literally have to replace a couple of inches of top soil).
I get that keeping them very confined creates additional issues - but although they don’t fully free range I think mine have plenty of space. They haven’t even explored half of it yet!
So is it just a question that sometimes they get sick from them and other times they can live with them?
I found this that suggests pumpkin seeds are somewhat effective as a preventative (not as a therapeutic). I have no idea if this is a reputable veterinary journal or not - I just sent it to a friend who is a retired research vet to see if he had any reaction.
I really don’t want to be continuously treating them!

https://www.researchgate.net/public...gainst_gastrointestinal_helminths_of_chickens

Sadly it is likely to be a cycle. That is why it is important to only treat when you have proof of their presence. It is usually only when the work load reaches a critical point that they start feeling poorly.

Over treatment leads to worm resistance just like bacteria.

Now in my experience it is worse during extremely wet periods of time. I have had to treat my tribe only twice in 9 years. Here it is ascaris worms. I thought I needed to treat about a month ago when I saw some pretty nasty black tear poops but the float test was negative. Therefore, I did not treat and everyone is doing well.

 

[townchicks]

Frequently, it is a hard ball/blob that you have to grab with fingers or tweezers (depending on size), it doesn't come out on it's own.

Are you also treating with something like blu-kote or similar? Something to keep infection from spreading?

So far, I'm just soaking in Epsom salts, scraping away at the scab, and putting drawing salve and wrapping it. I'm not really seeing anything to grab at. This is just the second day. Tomorrow I may get a bit more aggressive with it. I haven't had to deal with humble foot before.

 

[RoyalChick]

A trying day today. Some ups and some downs and I cannot account for what I did except trying to make sure all the new plants are watered.
I discovered someone pulled the plug on one of the rain barrels which I am very unhappy about as that is 50 gallons wasted and it was in the perfect spot for one of the shrubs.


Minnie is more perky but still sleeping a lot of the day and has chosen to roost away from the others which may be a sign of feeling poorly.
I did not see Minnie poop but both Maggie and Dotty still have diarrhea which is disappointing as I was hoping for instant cure from the deworming.
And Minnie decided she wanted to slip into the Hooligans’ HQ (she is so tiny she isn’t much bigger than Bella, so excluding her at this stage is hard). The good news is she showed zero aggression to any of the Hooligans even though they were in quite close quarters together. The bad news is she spent 20 minutes drinking their vitamin B-laced water which will negate the Corid treatment for her!


I need to see if the Hooligans can still fit through the tiny door into the hospital ward and if so I might try and feed them up there until the big Princesses have finished their medicine.
So I am exhausted but all I really did were chicken chores and haul hoses.