Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

The feeling of relief I had today, yes they do. My girls have me trained. I have 4 new layers who started up in the past week and a half, Clover and the 3 Holly girls, *Bunny, Lola, and Granny*. So far they are consistent in where they choose to lay and have yet to make me play 'find the Easter egg" like Henrietta and Daisy would sometimes do if something disturbed their preferred egg laying spot. Today's snow threw them for a loop as they would have to venture out into it to reach their nest boxes. They were having none of it and raising a ruckus. So I did the only reasonable thing to do. Bundled up, and carried each hen to her spot so she could lay her egg. Clover who is generally hands off even came up and hopped up on the chair between the stalls and waited her turn to be carried. I got to thinking, would they get this kind of pampering with someone else? I think it might be better if he does get hatching eggs and raise his own chicks. I have spent countless hours with these chickens since they hatched. I know all their quirks, they are spoiled, know their names, and expect certain treats at specific times of the day and I oblige them happily. Now the odd boy Crybaby will have to go, and sadly, it looks like it wont be a happy ending. But if I have to do it, it will be quick, and he will have lived a good life until the end, and buried. He really crossed the line today attacking Bumblebee, and got aggressive trying to breed momma hen who wanted nothing of it until Drummie gave him a sound whipping. It bother's me more then I care to admit to even think of doing this, but, it must be done and eating him is out of the question. Its not because my family does not like to eat chicken, its simply because none of us like dark meat, or prefer chicken on the bone, so we all agree eating any of them would be a waste.

I like your thinking about the hens, because not only do you know them, they know YOU. Hatched chicks will only know him, and will learn how to be in his "tribe", and not have the trauma of such big change.

No chance this guy wants Crybaby?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Sad News I'm afraid.
The vet looked her over and said her condition appears neurological . Could be Marek's Disease (her neck was weak and her head was pointing back), a spinal injury, poisoning or a number of other things none of which can be realistically treated . I asked the vet to euthanase her.



I gave her a quick once over when I looked at her this morning @micstrachan . She felt heavy to me. I couldn't feel her crop, her vent was a bit pink with some poo on the feathers. Her last egg was in around March last year I think. She was in the middle of a light moult. The vet said that her breast muscles were atrophied which I hadn't noticed so she has probably been sick for a while.

The only odd behaviour I had noticed in the last few weeks was that she preferred to roost on the floor instead of on the perch. She roosted on the high perch the night before last so...who knows?

I'm sorry it is such sudden bad news.

Tsuki at the breakfast bar, bullying until the end. 25/1/21
View attachment 2513726

and having watermelon 15/1/21

View attachment 2513725

I'm sitting in the study looking out the window. Deana is perched on the back of the garden bench alone.

Thank you for your kind thoughts everyone.❤

How difficult to go through this, my heart goes out to you!

 

[Ribh]

Sad News I'm afraid.
The vet looked her over and said her condition appears neurological . Could be Marek's Disease (her neck was weak and her head was pointing back), a spinal injury, poisoning or a number of other things none of which can be realistically treated . I asked the vet to euthanase her.



I gave her a quick once over when I looked at her this morning @micstrachan . She felt heavy to me. I couldn't feel her crop, her vent was a bit pink with some poo on the feathers. Her last egg was in around March last year I think. She was in the middle of a light moult. The vet said that her breast muscles were atrophied which I hadn't noticed so she has probably been sick for a while.

The only odd behaviour I had noticed in the last few weeks was that she preferred to roost on the floor instead of on the perch. She roosted on the high perch the night before last so...who knows?

I'm sorry it is such sudden bad news.

Tsuki at the breakfast bar, bullying until the end. 25/1/21
View attachment 2513726

and having watermelon 15/1/21

View attachment 2513725

I'm sitting in the study looking out the window. Deana is perched on the back of the garden bench alone.

Thank you for your kind thoughts everyone.❤

I am so sorry. I have been here more often than I like recently. I feel your sadness. She was a beautiful hen & loved until the end.

 

[LozzyR]

Sad News I'm afraid.
The vet looked her over and said her condition appears neurological . Could be Marek's Disease (her neck was weak and her head was pointing back), a spinal injury, poisoning or a number of other things none of which can be realistically treated . I asked the vet to euthanase her.



I gave her a quick once over when I looked at her this morning @micstrachan . She felt heavy to me. I couldn't feel her crop, her vent was a bit pink with some poo on the feathers. Her last egg was in around March last year I think. She was in the middle of a light moult. The vet said that her breast muscles were atrophied which I hadn't noticed so she has probably been sick for a while.

The only odd behaviour I had noticed in the last few weeks was that she preferred to roost on the floor instead of on the perch. She roosted on the high perch the night before last so...who knows?

I'm sorry it is such sudden bad news.

Tsuki at the breakfast bar, bullying until the end. 25/1/21
View attachment 2513726

and having watermelon 15/1/21

View attachment 2513725

I'm sitting in the study looking out the window. Deana is perched on the back of the garden bench alone.

Thank you for your kind thoughts everyone.❤

I'm so sorry ACM, I know she had a wonderful life with you.

 

[micstrachan]

My gosh what a reminder! I have them on "Layer" and Lilly no longer lays. I'm going to have to move them to All Flock with supplemental calcium! Holy crap! How have I missed that!

You know what, Bob, I’m so torn on the whole feed issue. I might be putting mine all on layer, even though Bridge isn’t really laying and Ruby is on hormones not to lay. They are currently on half layer, half finisher. The reason for the finisher is it’s the closest to an all flock in the brand I like. I tried all flock by another brand and Roxy had that unexplained gassy, bloated, bleeding intestine issue. She has not had the issue after putting them exclusively back on Modesto Milling. Could be a coincidence, but I don’t want to chance it.

The reason I’m considering layer for all is that Ester dropped a shelless egg from the roost the night before last. As you know, Dorothy does this sometimes, too. Shell biochemistry is delicate and complicated, so I’m hoping layer would have the right balance of calcium. D3 and phosphorous.

Paroled

I shoveled my way to the coop and released the ladies.

The coop this morning. You can see the remnants of. My footprints from 11:30 last night
View attachment 2512804

Here is what I found when I reached the door.

Porch Roof: the door should be visible poking out of the snow. It is not.
View attachment 2512801

After I cleared the snow. You can see how far up the door extends. I need to cover this somehow moving forward. I may just tape a cardboard box to it temporarily.

View attachment 2512811

The door once I got it open. It must not have been too bad in the coop. No one came running out. Hattie did finally lead everyone to the big run.

View attachment 2512815

Bob, do those string lights put off any heat? Wondering if they were wrapped around the automatic door if they’d keep things from freezing shut? If not, how about an incandescent bulb?

 

[micstrachan]

Sad News I'm afraid.
The vet looked her over and said her condition appears neurological . Could be Marek's Disease (her neck was weak and her head was pointing back), a spinal injury, poisoning or a number of other things none of which can be realistically treated . I asked the vet to euthanase her.



I gave her a quick once over when I looked at her this morning @micstrachan . She felt heavy to me. I couldn't feel her crop, her vent was a bit pink with some poo on the feathers. Her last egg was in around March last year I think. She was in the middle of a light moult. The vet said that her breast muscles were atrophied which I hadn't noticed so she has probably been sick for a while.

The only odd behaviour I had noticed in the last few weeks was that she preferred to roost on the floor instead of on the perch. She roosted on the high perch the night before last so...who knows?

I'm sorry it is such sudden bad news.

Tsuki at the breakfast bar, bullying until the end. 25/1/21
View attachment 2513726

and having watermelon 15/1/21

View attachment 2513725

I'm sitting in the study looking out the window. Deana is perched on the back of the garden bench alone.

Thank you for your kind thoughts everyone.❤

Awwww... I am so, so sorry! My heart aches for you and Deana!

 

[micstrachan]

Make sure you let the alcohol evaporate completely. Otherwise it has not killed everything it can. I assume you have a toothbrush to use to scrub the scales clean on his leg.

x2

My understanding is that it’s the evaporation itself that does a bunch of the killing? (asks the molecular biologist of the microbiologist @BY Bob?)

 

[fuentemoon]

I wouldn't mind feeding mine something like an all flock, but the only thing I can get in crumble is starter (not medicated) or layer and mine absolutely refuse pellets.

 

[micstrachan]

I love that the days are getting longer! And since we opened school to in-person instruction on Monday, I only worked eight hours today! Amazing! Both of these things mean I got home in time for the girls to have a quick (20-minute) run around before bed!

Here are the girls running around... with my giant, happy mug in the foreground.

 

[Scrambles83]

The sad truth is people like this are driven in some way. There are always justifications and if you are not perceptive, or as is often the case for the casual observer, or recipient of such behaviour, not really interested, then the justification goes unchallenged.
We have at the moment a selection of politicians who will provide reams of justifications for what they do. With some it is apparent with very little thought that self interest, or some other agenda lies behind the more acceptable justifications.
There isn't much one can do about such people if they obtain any position of power. Some people even admire that "I get what I want no matter the cost to others" attitude. It's not for me. I don't like it.

Part of the problem with this person is the expectations they had of life and the reality of what happened to them. If for example, one is led to believe through say family power, elitists education establishments, etc, that one has the capacity to be a success (success is defined in dictionary terms usually as a measure of wealth) or someone of note in the world, and one ends up poor compared to ones peers in financial terms and in reputation; given the above, it is easy to view oneself as a failure.
The problem is often the yard stick one judges oneself by.
I am fortunate perhaps in a way, that I have never wanted much; not in fame, or in wealth and know that I should be the last person to have power over others.
It's a bit like the saying, the last people you want as politicians are those who want to do the job.

I probably won't be about much tomorrow; too busy taking chicken pics to pay the tax on this lot.

I’m so sorry that this person did this to you and your tribes safe space, Shad.
The whole yard stick thing hit home to me though. I was a pastry chef for many, many years and earned pretty good money (pissed most of it up against a wall because I was young and liked to go to pubs, buying things that I didn’t need etc etc but I had fun and no real regrets except that maybe I’d saved a little haha)
I studied online while working and raising a toddler (so a lot of late nights where I just wanted to pack it in) and now work as a teacher aide at the local primary school. In embarking in this new career I took quite a pay cut but what I have gained as far as job satisfaction goes far outweighs that loss.
We, as a couple, still earn enough to get by comfortably, our daughter wants for nothing (and just started prep at my school ) and I just love what I do now.
I will always have my pastry/cake deco skills for her birthdays and I actually have fun now doing cakes instead of constant stress in the wholesale industry.
My yardstick is a measure of both happiness and satisfaction and I feel now like I make a big difference to kids lives in many ways.

Chicken tax