Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[fuentemoon]

This summer when we hit some super hot days I made the ladies some frozen treats. I filled 8-10 oz containers lined with plastic wrap with a mix of canned corn, fresh berries, sunflower seeds, meal worms, a bit of cottage cheese. Like frozen flock blocks

 

[LozzyR]

Thanks, I’m trying (quite unsuccessfully) to not hijack Bob’s thread too much... as I’m sure Shad isn’t as well, but this is where all our support and knowledgeable chicken friends are so... and we are all so invested in each other’s flocks. I had my own Thread, but with keeping up here and the pressures of farming it’s fallen by the wayside for now. I just live here with Bob and friends really!

I really did try to read your thread Kris, I just kept running out of time. I’m extremely behind on Ribh’s thread too, there’s just so much going on!

 

[LozzyR]

Got a bit of vid yesterday of Belle doing her drinking peck. You can maybe see Snow’s size at the end when she comes over. Feels big to me for roughly 13 weeks but I’ve only had the ISA’s to compare

Apologies for the boat like sway in the footage, and you might be able to hear my 5yo daughter singing in the bath.

Nope, no singing.

 

[LozzyR]

I really think you and RoyalChick need at least one black hen. Fair warning though, they can be addicting, I'm now up to 10 black chickens, 8 of those hens or pullets.
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Your rooster is beautiful with his orange and black! (I’m assuming he’s a roo?!)

 

[Shadrach]

He is such a handsome roo!

Yep, he's a good looking chap.

 

[LozzyR]

Thank You!

I don’t want to Even think about the math to figure that out! It says 5g per gallon of water... But to figure out a proper direct dose? Without getting the concentrations per gram on the package... that’s so far beyond my math comfort zone! I’d be trying to figure it out upside down, backwards and sideways.

Math has always been my weakest subject, sort of. I like geometry and chemistry, but didn’t get past first year levels of chem because I was stuck too far below it in actual math for the pre requisites to go further. Stupid factoring polynomials... (still haven’t needed to use that, thankfully!)

I can easily divvy up a teaspoon into 8 even portions though! You just saved me another $65 on a scale... although I was ogling the grow lights in the hydroponics store and dreaming about setting up a little greenhouse (It’s getting to that time of year again quickly!)

It’s been raining all day, so I present one pissed off wet Rooster. I applied the prid and gauze, wrapped it, and he promptly attacked his own foot. He managed to pull the Gauze pad off one side of his foot from underneath the vet wrap, violently tore out three foot scales and one mid-leg scale, which he then ate, and scratched his own comb with a toenail. And wow, is that one heck of a bite strength! He got my finger a couple times by accident (he’s so gentle I will let toddlers hand feed him. Roostie doesn’t bite. At all) this is why I asked BIL to pick up any color vet wrap... Except RedView attachment 2501890View attachment 2501896
Here is the scab on the bottom of his other, non swollen, foot. A good 2/3 of it is somewhat loose, so I think I will soak it as well. If it comes off and drains while we are treating with antibiotics, there is probably a much lower chance of it ending up like his bad foot, right? For scale, that fingernail is 1/2” round View attachment 2501916

Spray some Cetrigen on it and make it purple?

 

[LozzyR]

Tsuki is having a light moult and has lost her tail.
The first two photos were taken ten days apart.

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You can see how round her bum is in this shot
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Charlie and River are moulting too. It looks like they had a major scrap in the old henhouse!

 

[Shadrach]

OK that is good! That is pus before it gets solid so you want to keep letting it out. Soaking, some massage while the scab is off to get more of it out.
In theory you should probably irrigate the wound (water would be fine) to flush more of it out and then pack it with some gauze (change daily) which will wick it out and help it heal in with healthy tissue. But I can only begin to imagine how hard that would be on a rooster and single handed.

I need the scab off and so far only a portion has lifted.
I wish I could get some decent pictures. He's so good when I do his foot now.
I lie him slightly on his side and he tucks his head under my forearm like someone who has to have an injection but doesn't want to look. He does curl his toes when I clean the bump. Maybe it tickles.
I've got better at doing the cleaning and bandaging and that makes it quicker. I have to lift him up and put him on the floor before he opens his eyes so to speak.

 

[Shadrach]

And Lilly for comparison sake.
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So do all big black hens have the dirty bum problem?
Asking for a friend.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Your rooster is beautiful with his orange and black! (I’m assuming he’s a roo?!)

Thank you, I love the coloring on my boys. There's actually 2 boys there. In picture 3 and 4 is Bumblebee. In picture 5 is my main guy Drumstick who is Bumblebee's daddy. See why everyone had to be leg banded lol. Now I have a even harder task, one of the Marans pullets laid for the first time yesterday. There are 3 possible suspects, so I have to stalk the nest box area to hopefully catch her in the act. I have a feeling it is Bunny. 3 days in a row she's been on the porch banister announcing to the world that she's laid a egg, but there was no egg. Yesterday, new egg and she was suspiciously quite.