Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Spell! On a phone! Doesn't one talk into such contraptions.

Well you are rolling today! Well done!

 

[featherhead007]

Rocks-Anne is having a hard time laying her egg, feels like there are two in there. She sure is honking, (as if in pain. ) I'm trying to help her now

 

[LozzyR]

No! Why are you depriving me?

Here are some Charlie pictures, including baby Charlie.

 

[Shadrach]

Cillin. See. I can type it on the laptop, (Just not on my iphone!

I think some of the names I've given the chickens are very hard to remember if you were not the one to dream them up. Cillin for example isn't a name I've seen anywhere else so for most people, there is no prior reference to help lof=dge it in the brain.

 

[featherhead007]

I think some of the names I've given the chickens are very hard to remember if you were not the one to dream them up. Cillin for example isn't a name I've seen anywhere else so for most people, there is no prior reference to help lof=dge it in the brain.

I remember Cillin, by (Penicillin). but my phone argues and spells Chillin instead

 

[featherhead007]

I just gave Rocks-Anne a warm bath. Now I'm drying her off.

 

[Shadrach]

We just got our internet back yesterday, it's been out since Friday morning.

I attempted the repair of Peanut's cracked beak a couple of days ago. It wasn't fun for her. Since the severe cold broke I went out to the run and sat there with her in a cotton towel on my lap. I filed the end a little on one side of the crack to smooth it because a tiny bit had just chipped off the front. I got the super glue gel ready with a tiny drop on my finger. She decided to shift around and I lost the tiny drop on the towel. Got another very small drop ready and waited probably 10-15 seconds, and then smeared some of the drop, not all of it, along the cracked area. I think some must have gotten into the crack, into her mouth? She reacted instantly. I was careful as far as the very end of her beak, but maybe the fumes were strong for her? But I suspect some got in through the very end of the crack. She opened and closed her beak and was working her tongue as if she was clearing it, then panted. I held her for another few seconds to let it dry but then thought she was feeling too stressed and probably hot in the towel, and released her. She later appeared to be eating fine, nothing was stuck anyway. She's been totally her self since then.

But perhaps the crack toward the end of her beak was too wide and that's where it got in, if it did? Today I examined her without a magnifying glass and I can't see the crack, it looks pretty good actually to bare eyes. Now, if the superglue has filled in the end there, gotten between the edges, then as her beak grows it might be a problem and not grow correctly? I need to better understand from where the beak grows. I had thought the end is honed and worn, and growth comes from behind. In this case it is the very end of her beak in question, so I would think the cracked/now reinforced part would slowly be worn away with new beak replacing it?

Yup, the very end that is cracked you can gradually reshape with a file over time.
You've set yourself a hard task. An uncracked but cut beak is easier to deal with.
The problem with the crack is impact may stress it and make the crack worse.

 

[Shadrach]

Fully-feathered Maggie strutting her fluff
I probably should have saved some of these for Friday but I was so happy to see her looking so good I wanted to share.
These are coop cam pictures early in the morning. It looks to me like she is posing. I must get her a mirror!
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That fish eye effect gets me every time.

 

[Shadrach]

Of the initial 10 eggs I set in the incubator yesterday afternoon 5 went into lockdown. I had to pull all 4 butter eggs and 1 of the Marans eggs. Out of curiosity I cracked them open to see how far along they made it as when we candled on day 7 I would have swore I saw veining in all 10 eggs. I obviously made a mistake as all 4 butter eggs did absolutely nothing, and the Marans egg i lost at least started to develop but was a early quitter. I candled them before I removed 3 trays on the egg turner, *day 14s candling had me questioning the whole batch so i threw 18 more eggs in just incase. 4 out of 5 looked great and 1 was questionable but it is soo hard to tell, thought i saw movement, but I'm new to this and it is soo hard to see through a dark shell. Eggciting things started happening this evening, 1 is already externally pipped and slowly making progress and the other 4 are shaking n rolling. I'm torturing myself stalking the incubator every time I walk in the living room, which is constant now lol. A watched pot never boils and apparently a watched chick never zips. I know I need to walk away for a bit, but, cheeps can be heard coming from the incubator and well.....when a broody does the job you never get to see the hatching process so this is fascinating.

I've watched chicks hatch under a hen in my house nest box.

 

[featherhead007]

I just gave Rocks-Anne a warm bath. Now I'm drying her off.

She always has to check herself out in the mirror, after a bath.