Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[MaryJanet]

Maggie's day out
Today Maggie went to the vet. She has not laid anything since she delivered two lash eggs last week.
I used the cat carrier but instead of a towel I put in a lot of wood shavings. Unlike getting the cats in a carrier which is always a battle of wills that I usually lose, all 3 Princesses wanted to explore the carrier so it wasn't that hard to nudge Maggie in and shut the door.
She made herself at home and she snacked on blueberries in the carrier so I don't think she was stressed.
I drove very gently and a vet tech came out to collect her. He called her sweetheart and took my little pot of blueberries in case she needed a snack while she was waiting for the vet (so of course I liked him immediately!).
The vet called me and said he thought Maggie looked in good health and was not in pain. He felt something working its way down which felt like it could be an egg but could also be another lash. He said she wasn't even tender feeling around her ovaries. She wandered around his exam room and was curious and clearly not in any distress.
So far so good.
But from there not so clear.
He said that lash egg is how hens deal with internal infection but the source of the infection can be various places so it is hard to know. He also said that surgery is an option (though eye-wateringly expensive) but that he cannot do it. He would have to refer me to a specialist and he wasn't sure whether there was one nearby.
He told me how he isn't really allowed to treat with antibiotics though I got the sense that he might be willing if I pushed.
But what he thought we should do is wait a couple of days and see what it is that he felt - might be a regular egg, might be another lash egg.
I am to call him with what I discover and if any there is any deterioration of her condition. At that point we can make a decision of what to do.
Then he explained to me what you have all been telling me, which is that she was probably bred to only live 2, maybe 3 years and so rather than dealing with what I was thinking was a rather young hen (18 months) I am dealing with a middle-aged or even elderly lady. And so now I am all enraged about this breeding thing and feel like I can't handle having hens if they are all going to die on me after a couple of years. I mean that is no time at all.
So I am very relieved she is not in distress, I am not really closer to knowing what to do and I am angry about chicken breeding!
So, she and I will go forward one day at a time.
She is back in the Chicken Palace chasing the young ladies and we will see what tomorrow brings.
Here is a picture of Maggie who dug herself a nice hole in the shavings and seems quite at home in the cat carrier.

View attachment 2345539

That's a good outcome! I'm pleased her situation is so positive! They sound like very competent people.

As for production breeding, I share your anger. When animals are seen as food production units, the breeding strategy turns to productivity at the expense of everything else.

The most ethical farmed eggs I could find in Adelaide come from a farm on an island with no foxes, so the chickens free range on pasture. They lose some to hawks and eagles. When the farmer finds a chicken not doing so well, or not laying enough eggs to justify her costs, he goes out at night and snaps their necks personally. This farm sets the ethical standard. All other farms are not as good as this one.

One effect of keeping our own flocks is that we've disengaged from consuming production farmed eggs, reducing the market. This is a good thing and it's one reason I encourage others to keep hens. I'm troubled that so many roosters die to furnish hens for home flocks, but I recently heard the csiro have developed a method to sex chicks within the egg, preventing roosters from being hatched in the first place. Whether you see that as a good thing depends on your other beliefs but for me, it's better than an endless cycle of hatching and killing. Here's the info:

https://blog.csiro.au/what-happens-to-male-chicks/

 

[FransGran]

That's a good outcome! I'm pleased her situation is so positive! They sound like very competent people.

As for production breeding, I share your anger. When animals are seen as food production units, the breeding strategy turns to productivity at the expense of everything else.

The most ethical farmed eggs I could find in Adelaide come from a farm on an island with no foxes, so the chickens free range on pasture. They lose some to hawks and eagles. When the farmer finds a chicken not doing so well, or not laying enough eggs to justify her costs, he goes out at night and snaps their necks personally. This farm sets the ethical standard. All other farms are not as good as this one.

One effect of keeping our own flocks is that we've disengaged from consuming production farmed eggs, reducing the market. This is a good thing and it's one reason I encourage others to keep hens. I'm troubled that so many roosters die to furnish hens for home flocks, but I recently heard the csiro have developed a method to sex chicks within the egg, preventing roosters from being hatched in the first place. Whether you see that as a good thing depends on your other beliefs but for me, it's better than an endless cycle of hatching and killing. Here's the info:

https://blog.csiro.au/what-happens-to-male-chicks/

Thank you, this is fascinating information.

 

[Ribh]

That's a good outcome! I'm pleased her situation is so positive! They sound like very competent people.

As for production breeding, I share your anger. When animals are seen as food production units, the breeding strategy turns to productivity at the expense of everything else.

The most ethical farmed eggs I could find in Adelaide come from a farm on an island with no foxes, so the chickens free range on pasture. They lose some to hawks and eagles. When the farmer finds a chicken not doing so well, or not laying enough eggs to justify her costs, he goes out at night and snaps their necks personally. This farm sets the ethical standard. All other farms are not as good as this one.

One effect of keeping our own flocks is that we've disengaged from consuming production farmed eggs, reducing the market. This is a good thing and it's one reason I encourage others to keep hens. I'm troubled that so many roosters die to furnish hens for home flocks, but I recently heard the csiro have developed a method to sex chicks within the egg, preventing roosters from being hatched in the first place. Whether you see that as a good thing depends on your other beliefs but for me, it's better than an endless cycle of hatching and killing. Here's the info:

https://blog.csiro.au/what-happens-to-male-chicks/

Wow. I'm actually for this while the demand for hens is so high. Long term I'm not so sure.

 

[MaryJanet]

Wow. I'm actually for this while the demand for hens is so high. Long term I'm not so sure.

There's nothing quite like caring about food to really open up a few conundrums.

 

[Ribh]

There's nothing quite like caring about food to really open up a few conundrums.

Well, I was thinking more about some of China's stranger policies & their repercussions. At the beginning of the revolution they ordered everyone to kill sparrows because they were eating the rice. No sparrows= mice plague & even more rice being eaten. I just think we need to be careful when we start meddling with the natural order of things.

 

[RoyalChick]

Well, I was thinking more about some of China's stranger policies & their repercussions. At the beginning of the revolution they ordered everyone to kill sparrows because they were eating the rice. No sparrows= mice plague & even more rice being eaten. I just think we need to be careful when we start meddling with the natural order of things.

I agree with that for sure - but it is so hard to know where to draw the line. By protecting our chickens we are messing with the natural order. It is so hard!
Next time I get chickens I will need you all to explain to me which breeds are not 'production' ones so I can get chickens that actually live a full life.
I am still completely outraged that there is this whole marketing around 'pet' chickens and they are really breeding and selling 'throwaways' which is just awful and really no better than intensive farming except we give our chickens a good time for their short lives.
I have been so enjoying the Princesses I am reluctant to give up keeping chickens but right now it feels like I am being manipulated by some big industry to care for something that will die on me. Two years? Most of my houseplants are twice that age!
Mind you, I have never actually bought a chicken from a hatchery - the young ladies came from a farm near me and I adopted the Princesses from a school project - but I am guessing they were hatchery eggs originally.
Sorry, I am ranting. Still worked up as you can tell!

 

[Ribh]

I agree with that for sure - but it is so hard to know where to draw the line. By protecting our chickens we are messing with the natural order. It is so hard!
Next time I get chickens I will need you all to explain to me which breeds are not 'production' ones so I can get chickens that actually live a full life.
I am still completely outraged that there is this whole marketing around 'pet' chickens and they are really breeding and selling 'throwaways' which is just awful and really no better than intensive farming except we give our chickens a good time for their short lives.
I have been so enjoying the Princesses I am reluctant to give up keeping chickens but right now it feels like I am being manipulated by some big industry to care for something that will die on me. Two years? Most of my houseplants are twice that age!
Mind you, I have never actually bought a chicken from a hatchery - the young ladies came from a farm near me and I adopted the Princesses from a school project - but I am guessing they were hatchery eggs originally.
Sorry, I am ranting. Still worked up as you can tell!

I share your outrage. I looked round for an ethical breeder when I got chickens this time. Most of mine are heritage breeds or mutts & most are doing well. I have lost birds. It is one of the things about keeping chickens. These things happen. I just try to minimise the damage. Know that your birds are heaps better off with you than they could be anywhere else. They are sooo lucky!

 

[BY Bob]

Well, I was thinking more about some of China's stranger policies & their repercussions. At the beginning of the revolution they ordered everyone to kill sparrows because they were eating the rice. No sparrows= mice plague & even more rice being eaten. I just think we need to be careful when we start meddling with the natural order of things.

I agree. We usually mess up more than we fix.

 

[BY Bob]

Maggie's day out
Today Maggie went to the vet. She has not laid anything since she delivered two lash eggs last week.
I used the cat carrier but instead of a towel I put in a lot of wood shavings. Unlike getting the cats in a carrier which is always a battle of wills that I usually lose, all 3 Princesses wanted to explore the carrier so it wasn't that hard to nudge Maggie in and shut the door.
She made herself at home and she snacked on blueberries in the carrier so I don't think she was stressed.
I drove very gently and a vet tech came out to collect her. He called her sweetheart and took my little pot of blueberries in case she needed a snack while she was waiting for the vet (so of course I liked him immediately!).
The vet called me and said he thought Maggie looked in good health and was not in pain. He felt something working its way down which felt like it could be an egg but could also be another lash. He said she wasn't even tender feeling around her ovaries. She wandered around his exam room and was curious and clearly not in any distress.
So far so good.
But from there not so clear.
He said that lash egg is how hens deal with internal infection but the source of the infection can be various places so it is hard to know. He also said that surgery is an option (though eye-wateringly expensive) but that he cannot do it. He would have to refer me to a specialist and he wasn't sure whether there was one nearby.
He told me how he isn't really allowed to treat with antibiotics though I got the sense that he might be willing if I pushed.
But what he thought we should do is wait a couple of days and see what it is that he felt - might be a regular egg, might be another lash egg.
I am to call him with what I discover and if any there is any deterioration of her condition. At that point we can make a decision of what to do.
Then he explained to me what you have all been telling me, which is that she was probably bred to only live 2, maybe 3 years and so rather than dealing with what I was thinking was a rather young hen (18 months) I am dealing with a middle-aged or even elderly lady. And so now I am all enraged about this breeding thing and feel like I can't handle having hens if they are all going to die on me after a couple of years. I mean that is no time at all.
So I am very relieved she is not in distress, I am not really closer to knowing what to do and I am angry about chicken breeding!
So, she and I will go forward one day at a time.
She is back in the Chicken Palace chasing the young ladies and we will see what tomorrow brings.
Here is a picture of Maggie who dug herself a nice hole in the shavings and seems quite at home in the cat carrier.

View attachment 2345539

 

[BY Bob]

I agree with that for sure - but it is so hard to know where to draw the line. By protecting our chickens we are messing with the natural order. It is so hard!
Next time I get chickens I will need you all to explain to me which breeds are not 'production' ones so I can get chickens that actually live a full life.
I am still completely outraged that there is this whole marketing around 'pet' chickens and they are really breeding and selling 'throwaways' which is just awful and really no better than intensive farming except we give our chickens a good time for their short lives.
I have been so enjoying the Princesses I am reluctant to give up keeping chickens but right now it feels like I am being manipulated by some big industry to care for something that will die on me. Two years? Most of my houseplants are twice that age!
Mind you, I have never actually bought a chicken from a hatchery - the young ladies came from a farm near me and I adopted the Princesses from a school project - but I am guessing they were hatchery eggs originally.
Sorry, I am ranting. Still worked up as you can tell!

Rant away. You are free to do it here.