Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

It was too Close

As I sat there holding him in the hot sun, wrapped in a warm towel on one side and against my chest on the other side I was sure he was going to close his eyes and not open them again. He was shaking so violently. No one else was here to help me. Maybe if Mrs BY Bob had been home she could have gotten the blow drier or made hot water to feed him or dunk him in, or warmed towels in the drier for me to use, all to help warm him. I had nothing but me and the sun to save him.

I kept rubbing him and talking to him as his eyes closed. Told him to stay with me.

After a while his sister came over to check on him. She peeped for him, he weakly tried to answer her. She was confused but finally saw him, then left and rejoined the flock.

Here he is in my lap.

After a while the shivering eased a little and he stoop up. Relief flooded through me. I knew he would make it now.

He eventually crawled up onto my shoulder and sat down.

He nestled on my shoulder for a long while. That's when Mrs BY Bob got home. Always fashionably late that one.

Eventually Ned would move up to the back of the chair and preen in the sun.

 

[MaryJanet]

It was too Close

As I sat there holding him in the hot sun, wrapped in a warm towel on one side and against my chest on the other side I was sure he was going to choose his eyes and not open them again. He was shaking so violently. No one else was here to help me. Maybe if Mrs BY Bob had been home she could have gotten the blow drier or made hot water to feed him or dunk him in, or warmed towels in the drier for me to use, all to help warm him. I had nothing but me and the sun to save him.

I kept rubbing him and talking to him as his eyes closed. Told him to stay with me.

After a while his sister came over to check on him. She peeped for him, he weakly tried to answer her. She was confused but finally saw him, then left and rejoined the flock.

View attachment 2285213

Here he is in my lap.
View attachment 2285215View attachment 2285216

After a while the shivering eased a little and he stoop up. Relief flooded through me. I knew he would make it now.

He eventually crawled up onto my shoulder and sat down.
View attachment 2285222View attachment 2285223View attachment 2285224

He nestled on my shoulder for a long while. That's when Mrs BY Bob got home. Always fashionably late that one.

Eventually Ned would move up to the back of the chair and preen in the sun.
View attachment 2285230

What a relief!

 

[featherhead007]

Final count is 2 chicks. 1 from Henrietta and 1 from my marans pair Drumstick x Daisy. I had to assist the little maran as she was horribly malpositioned and starting to shrink wrap. She's alive and getting stronger but i really wont breath a sigh of relief untill the 48 hour mark. The other egg i thought had pipped was a quitter on the verge of exploding. And since nugget was a angel and very tolerant of me messing with the eggs/chicks last night i was able to candle the other 3 eggs properly. all early quitters. I don't know if the poor hatch rate was due to the fact that she chose to sit in the middle of our hottest time of the year had anything to do with it. Or if i was just due for a poor hatch.
Meet Clover.
View attachment 2285005
View attachment 2285006
View attachment 2285007
View attachment 2285008
View attachment 2285009

Hi Clover.

 

[featherhead007]

To reassure you, the hens at my housd have an absurdly large ranging yard and an absurdly large Fort Knox henhouse for roosting. They have clean water every day, around the clock access to a balanced diet, treats in very small amounts, and plenty to forage.

Yet still this year I started with five hens, lost one to a persistent uterine infection, another had an eye infection that required a surgical procedure, a third has a chronic pancreas problem. All this is with the luxury of guidance from a superb avian vet.

With all the attentive care he provides, even ByBob had a hen down with heatstroke the other day, had a chick die a few weeks back, and lost one hen to a predator a while back.

If your flock is around 50% healthy, that seems to be about right. Tragedy is only a day away and the best way to manage is to expect it.

I think you've been doing a great job for a beginner. Don't worry too much about the wildbirds. The hens will be happier foraging than kept in.

And so true!

 

[MaryJanet]

And so true!

It was Shad's point, I just chipped in.

 

[BY Bob]

Reflections

First let me say, I have not held Ned since he was a little chick that could not find his way into the coop. If this is the only way to hold him, I don't ever want to do it again.

Secondly, this little rooster which I cannot keep, is definitely in my heart. While he was warming himself on my chest and after he moved to my shoulder he pooped all over me. Huge liquid poops, 3 different times. Thankfully I still had the towel to sop it up. If you had told me back in 2013, when Mrs BY Bob cried me into getting chicks, that someday a rooster would crap all over me and I wouldn't be upset, I would have had you institutionalized.

Thirdly, and this is most disturbing, none of the big chickens came to the house to get help. Every other time a chicken has fallen fallen in the pool, the flock has come to the back door screaming for help. There was nothing from this group. I don't know what to make of that but I am very disappointed in all of them and I have told them so.

Ned is back at it like nothing happened. Check him out.

 

[RoyalChick]

and another senior hen who thinks that given her age (10y) she is entitled to be carried from the coop to the nearest feed station in the morning.

I feel it needs to be said (and I have said it before), that Fat Bird is a fine old lady who has reached a position in her life where she is absolutely entitled to be carried wherever she wants! She doesn't just 'think it' - it is true!

 

[MaryJanet]

Reflections

First let me say, I have not held Ned since he was a little chick that could not find his way into the coop. If this is the only way to hold him, I don't ever want to do it again.

Secondly, this little rooster which I cannot keep, is definitely in my heart. While he was warming himself on my chest and after he moved to my shoulder he pooped all over me. Huge liquid poops, 3 different times. Thankfully I still had the towel to sop it up. If you had told me back in 2013, when Mrs BY Bob cried me into getting chicks, that someday a rooster would crap all over me and I wouldn't be upset, I would have had you institutionalized.

Thirdly, and this is most disturbing, none of the big chickens came to the house to get help. Every other time a chicken has fallen fallen in the pool, the flock has come to the back door screaming for help. There was nothing from this group. I don't know what to make of that but I am very disappointed in all of them and I have told them so.

Ned is back at it like nothing happened. Check him out.

So strange the hens didn't bother raising the alarm.

 

[RoyalChick]

A bear outside?

@BY Bob identified it as an Opossum. Although scary in the dark it was too small to be a bear and it didn't have the bandit mask of a raccoon. I am thinking Opossum. I am going to try and situate a camera in that area outside and see if I can catch its shenanigans on video.

 

[RoyalChick]

It was too Close

As I sat there holding him in the hot sun, wrapped in a warm towel on one side and against my chest on the other side I was sure he was going to choose his eyes and not open them again. He was shaking so violently. No one else was here to help me. Maybe if Mrs BY Bob had been home she could have gotten the blow drier or made hot water to feed him or dunk him in, or warmed towels in the drier for me to use, all to help warm him. I had nothing but me and the sun to save him.

I kept rubbing him and talking to him as his eyes closed. Told him to stay with me.

After a while his sister came over to check on him. She peeped for him, he weakly tried to answer her. She was confused but finally saw him, then left and rejoined the flock.

View attachment 2285213

Here he is in my lap.
View attachment 2285215View attachment 2285216

After a while the shivering eased a little and he stoop up. Relief flooded through me. I knew he would make it now.

He eventually crawled up onto my shoulder and sat down.
View attachment 2285222View attachment 2285223View attachment 2285224

He nestled on my shoulder for a long while. That's when Mrs BY Bob got home. Always fashionably late that one.

Eventually Ned would move up to the back of the chair and preen in the sun.
View attachment 2285230

Oh thank goodness - I had my heart in my throat. I would never have guessed a chicken would get hypothermia when it is that hot outside. I am so glad you were home. Poor Ned, what an adventure!