Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Kris5902]

You ever ask them a question, for fun? It's kind of mean but every once in a while you get someone who has chickens and can answer the question. But usually, no dice.

I’ve been known to stop in the doorway and talk to people who have asked questions of the staff at some stores (we don’t have TSC here, but two of the stores I frequent have very poorly informed staff) “why are you trying to worm them? DE won’t help with that. don’t treat unless you see signs of illness, and...”

 

[Kris5902]

So over time i've became conditioned to working around my chickens while cleaning and taking care of the horses. Strip a stall there is several there scratching around looking for bugs or worms that you need to step around. Put fresh sawdust back in the stalls, they hop on top of the pile to help spread it out and you do not dare shoo them off right away. If they don't get at least a couple minutes of fun your met with angry bawking hens for a long time. Then there is the group that congregate around the manure pile, ready and willing to do their job of raking it down. I'm always stepping around a chicken or two. It takes a little longer but thats what coffee breaks are for, and the horses love it as they get extra scratches while the flock helps. BUT, there is one job that they really get in the way of, that is stacking hay. Got in a new load of hay yesterday. Butter and Holly have deemed themselves the official "Hay quality and control" inspectors. While my dad went to pick up the new load i removed the remaining bales left over from the last load so they could be put back in front of the new load. Had them out of the way and the 2 girls were happily going over each one picking tidbits from them. New load gets here and since they were out of the way i tossed the first bale down. That was the only bale out of 50 that i tossed down. It was like a dinner bell to the girls, they looked over, eyes popped out of their head and they came running over. Butter fly's up to join me to get in the way of unloading, and Holly stays on the ground hot on my dad's heels as he stacks it. They also alert the rest of the group of the new feast so everyone is around the truck and tossing down bales means i will squish someone. I sure do not want a 100lb bale to land on me. What should have taken 30 minutes ended up taking over a hour and a half. Between the flock every single bale was inspected and approved, so much so that Butter laid on a bale this morning. Thank you girlie for making me climb up the stack and go halfway back to get it. Next load in a couple months, every single one of them is getting locked up.

Every. Single. Time. “You get your fluffy little butts out of there! Someone is going to get hurt...” lucky my bales are lighter (our Hay Sucks, don’t get me started, I can’t afford the chicken tax for that post right now!) and Sammy knows the Barn is a Bad Big Bird place, but the younglings don’t know any better and even crummy hay is inviting!

 

[Kris5902]

Maybe they should tag each chick with a SKU number, (For inventory purposes)

Then the staff would have to read the numbers... a few of the similar stores I’ve been to here, that’s just too much like “work”

 

[micstrachan]

Enjoying some dirt

Love!

 

[micstrachan]

Roostie update:

Well, I feel like a complete failure. It has now been a month, and no pigeon medications have been received in the mail. I just finished my tele-health appointment and I couldn’t get a prescription to save my life. I probably got bad luck of the draw, and I could understand if I was angling for narcotics, ADHD meds, or sleep aids. The Dr wanted me to attach a photo of my abscess, which would be fine if it was flaring up or actually there. My friend is going to give it a go for me maybe tomorrow.

At this rate I can honestly say I’ve spent more than I would have at a Vet, if only I could get one. Roostie has been more active lately, and even got some mating in yesterday, but getting the Baytril into him is a real struggle. I have never hoped for getting a bacterial infection myself before, or for that annoying abscess to flare up. I’m afraid I may need to cull him if his quality of life goes down or the infection continues to worsen.

Oh, no, Kris! I’m so sorry! Why is it difficult to get the Baytril in him?

 

[micstrachan]

I am also *this* close to looking one up, booking an appointment for my “cockatoo” And showing up. Any decent vet should care enough about animals to treat one that is in pain... regardless of species discrimination. Avian vets? Sure... see my chicken? Hard no!

That’s so bizarre! My avian vet sees lots of chickens snd likes seeing them.

 

[BY Bob]

Is that an older cat? Her fur is grey. Is that natural?

Well she is 17 years old so.........

 

[micstrachan]

We just need to tag team sometimes! Sometimes it just takes multiple perspectives to transfer the information.

It's funny, I have been so sick that I have not even seen the ladies for days. It got warm today and I am finally feeling a little better so I went out with some walnuts and sat on the deck. 4 of them gathered around me. Hattie stood off and Phyllis waited to jump in. Once I brought out the walnuts it was pandemonium. I actually think that Sydney got more than Aurora. I had a terrible time getting any of them to Phyllis.

After the frenzy was over, I was wistful. This time last year I had my crew trained to take turns with treats. The 4 would arrange themselves and as I called their name they would each take their piece. That group included Aurora!

I have to take some blame that I have not trained them but 6 just seems to be a lot more to handle than 4.

Bob, when I am giving a special treat like chopped beef liver, I hold one little cube in the palm of my hand, cup my hand around it, say a particular chicken name and then do my best to expose the treat to just that hen. If someone is having trouble getting any, I toss a few away from the opposite side of the flock and then quickly give her a couple while everyone else is distracted. For some reason, Ruby does not like treats and never has. But she’s one of my fatties. I don’t get it. Genetics, perhaps?

 

[BY Bob]

Yep, getting pretty close, but Vets here aren’t letting people in with their pets. And my cat’s vet knows I have chickens, so I can’t pull the wool over his eyes. When we were putting my boy Whisper down someone came in trying to book their pet sheep. That was a solid “no”. I put a lot into my cats in vet visits and medications when we first moved here, so a desperate tear filled call, one fecal float, and a “I don’t care how much it costs” managed to get me a gallon of amprolium. If I could get him into the exam room without being noticed, I think I would be ok...

You need a secret compartment in your cat carrier.

 

[micstrachan]

You might want to consider changing that number to 4. @BY Bob believes in keeping numbers even. For myself I prefer if every new hen I get starts out with a running partner no matter what friendships emerge later.

I’ve decided (for now) I like 3. I lost a chick at 2 weeks and realized I would never want just two in case one had a problem. It would be hard to integrate a single pullet into my existing flock.

I sometimes feel bad for Bridge, who is the last remaining hen from my original four. Sometimes I wonder if she’s lonely, despite having birds all around her. Ruby seems to like to hang around the newest and lowest ranked girls. She stays close to home. When she was younger, she ilused to be “Adventure Girl” because she was always off on her own adventuring!

Sorry... went off on a tangent there.