Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

Lucky is 100% back to normal, and happy and healthy.

Roostie is doing well, we still haven’t had a chance to remove any of the pus, but he’s quite active and behaving normally, with almost no indications of pain other than a slight limp.

General update: I've been super busy lately, and am trying hard to get caught up, but I’m probably just going to skip ahead and join in as I can. Sunday and Monday were long cooking days, mutton Stew and Borscht. Monday we had a tragic loss of Borscht (BIL’s vehicle’s rear gate is held closed By duct tape, it failed, and bye bye borscht on the way to the freezer ) Tuesday we fixed my truck a bit more, exhaust tweaking/jury rigging and a new air filter and fuel filter. Wednesday we had a long town day, with Arduinna. And we picked up 40 mistral gris meat chicks.

I’m brooding over at my friends farm, where I garden, on the other side of the island. I’ve converted his coop into a brooder and will be basically staging my meat birds there to start and stay under the “limit” of bird numbers. I’ve got one more day of freezer meals to make up this weekend. Lasagna and manicotti.

Thanks for the updates, Kris!

 

[micstrachan]

Hi everyone. So I did end up coming home midday for a couple hours to be available to my daughter. The flock was still freaked out. Also, Ruby is very unwell. She is walking very slowly and gingerly, and spent some time in the box with a pumping tail. She has an emergency avian vet appointment Saturday. I hope she hangs in there tomorrow. That's a long time to wait. Today I administered a calcium (in case she needed help expelling something) and aspirin (for pain and inflammation). However, she seems sore after I do this. Poor thing. Saturday might result in another hormone implant or might result in euthanasia. We'll see. I love me some Ruby and hate to see her suffer.

So tonight after the board meeting, I was surprised to see ELEVEN chickens in the upper coop! However, I admit I did love seeing them all lined up like I see in other people's coop photos. Mine are usually all spread out, even in winter. (But it's California winter, so...)

Anyway, when I went around to make sure the remaining two were in the main/lower coop, I realized I had moved a roost when I was home earlier today to get to Ruby. I never put it back! Poor girls! So the moved roost was laying on top of the corner angled roosts, and without the moved roost, they couldn't reach the latest additional roost. Basically, they were mostly upstairs because that's where there was roosting space.

 

[Ribh]

Hi everyone. So I did end up coming home midday for a couple hours to be available to my daughter. The flock was still freaked out. Also, Ruby is very unwell. She is walking very slowly and gingerly, and spent some time in the box with a pumping tail. She has an emergency avian vet appointment Saturday. I hope she hangs in there tomorrow. That's a long time to wait. Today I administered a calcium (in case she needed help expelling something) and aspirin (for pain and inflammation). However, she seems sore after I do this. Poor thing. Saturday might result in another hormone implant or might result in euthanasia. We'll see. I love me some Ruby and hate to see her suffer.

So tonight after the board meeting, I was surprised to see ELEVEN chickens in the upper coop! However, I admit I did love seeing them all lined up like I see in other people's coop photos. Mine are usually all spread out, even in winter. (But it's California winter, so...)

Anyway, when I went around to make sure the remaining two were in the main/lower coop, I realized I had moved a roost when I was home earlier today to get to Ruby. I never put it back! Poor girls! So the moved roost was laying on top of the corner angled roosts, and without the moved roost, they couldn't reach the latest additional roost. Basically, they were mostly upstairs because that's where there was roosting space.

Hoping the best for Ruby.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Lucky is 100% back to normal, and happy and healthy.

Roostie is doing well, we still haven’t had a chance to remove any of the pus, but he’s quite active and behaving normally, with almost no indications of pain other than a slight limp.

General update: I've been super busy lately, and am trying hard to get caught up, but I’m probably just going to skip ahead and join in as I can. Sunday and Monday were long cooking days, mutton Stew and Borscht. Monday we had a tragic loss of Borscht (BIL’s vehicle’s rear gate is held closed By duct tape, it failed, and bye bye borscht on the way to the freezer ) Tuesday we fixed my truck a bit more, exhaust tweaking/jury rigging and a new air filter and fuel filter. Wednesday we had a long town day, with Arduinna. And we picked up 40 mistral gris meat chicks.

I’m brooding over at my friends farm, where I garden, on the other side of the island. I’ve converted his coop into a brooder and will be basically staging my meat birds there to start and stay under the “limit” of bird numbers. I’ve got one more day of freezer meals to make up this weekend. Lasagna and manicotti.

So glad to hear about Lucky.

I'm glad that Roostie is at least progressing in the right direction. May he continue to improve.

You do sound super busy. Thanks for posting amongst all that work.

Pity about the borscht.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Hi everyone. So I did end up coming home midday for a couple hours to be available to my daughter. The flock was still freaked out. Also, Ruby is very unwell. She is walking very slowly and gingerly, and spent some time in the box with a pumping tail. She has an emergency avian vet appointment Saturday. I hope she hangs in there tomorrow. That's a long time to wait. Today I administered a calcium (in case she needed help expelling something) and aspirin (for pain and inflammation). However, she seems sore after I do this. Poor thing. Saturday might result in another hormone implant or might result in euthanasia. We'll see. I love me some Ruby and hate to see her suffer.

So tonight after the board meeting, I was surprised to see ELEVEN chickens in the upper coop! However, I admit I did love seeing them all lined up like I see in other people's coop photos. Mine are usually all spread out, even in winter. (But it's California winter, so...)

Anyway, when I went around to make sure the remaining two were in the main/lower coop, I realized I had moved a roost when I was home earlier today to get to Ruby. I never put it back! Poor girls! So the moved roost was laying on top of the corner angled roosts, and without the moved roost, they couldn't reach the latest additional roost. Basically, they were mostly upstairs because that's where there was roosting space.

Hoping the best for Ruby.

Ditto.

You may need a coop cam to find out what's spooking your girls.

 

[LozzyR]

Hi everyone. So I did end up coming home midday for a couple hours to be available to my daughter. The flock was still freaked out. Also, Ruby is very unwell. She is walking very slowly and gingerly, and spent some time in the box with a pumping tail. She has an emergency avian vet appointment Saturday. I hope she hangs in there tomorrow. That's a long time to wait. Today I administered a calcium (in case she needed help expelling something) and aspirin (for pain and inflammation). However, she seems sore after I do this. Poor thing. Saturday might result in another hormone implant or might result in euthanasia. We'll see. I love me some Ruby and hate to see her suffer.

So tonight after the board meeting, I was surprised to see ELEVEN chickens in the upper coop! However, I admit I did love seeing them all lined up like I see in other people's coop photos. Mine are usually all spread out, even in winter. (But it's California winter, so...)

Anyway, when I went around to make sure the remaining two were in the main/lower coop, I realized I had moved a roost when I was home earlier today to get to Ruby. I never put it back! Poor girls! So the moved roost was laying on top of the corner angled roosts, and without the moved roost, they couldn't reach the latest additional roost. Basically, they were mostly upstairs because that's where there was roosting space.

Poor Ruby, I hope she can get better.

 

[BY Bob]

This time I was able to redirect her before rosie got there. This is an almost daily occurrence. She prefers skin when she can get it
She has always been a little more aggressive, we were sure she was male when she was a chick, but she didn't really start going after me until she was about a year old. She will bite Bill too, but she only goes after me. I remind her regularly that she is not a rooster. Funny thing is she is a more reliable layer then her sister and was constantly broody last year, so I don't think it's even a hormone thing. She will be eating out of my hand one minute and then I see the switch flip. She reminds me of a cat I had growing up.

I have not had one behave that way. That is very interesting. That seems pretty aggressive to me. Not to mention biting the hand that feeds you. Pretty wild.

Does Rosie actually stop her?

 

[BY Bob]

Lucky is 100% back to normal, and happy and healthy.

Roostie is doing well, we still haven’t had a chance to remove any of the pus, but he’s quite active and behaving normally, with almost no indications of pain other than a slight limp.

General update: I've been super busy lately, and am trying hard to get caught up, but I’m probably just going to skip ahead and join in as I can. Sunday and Monday were long cooking days, mutton Stew and Borscht. Monday we had a tragic loss of Borscht (BIL’s vehicle’s rear gate is held closed By duct tape, it failed, and bye bye borscht on the way to the freezer ) Tuesday we fixed my truck a bit more, exhaust tweaking/jury rigging and a new air filter and fuel filter. Wednesday we had a long town day, with Arduinna. And we picked up 40 mistral gris meat chicks.

I’m brooding over at my friends farm, where I garden, on the other side of the island. I’ve converted his coop into a brooder and will be basically staging my meat birds there to start and stay under the “limit” of bird numbers. I’ve got one more day of freezer meals to make up this weekend. Lasagna and manicotti.

Nice to hear from you Kris. I'm glad Roostie is getting along and it's great news about Lucky. It's very sad about the borscht.

 

[BY Bob]

Hi everyone. So I did end up coming home midday for a couple hours to be available to my daughter. The flock was still freaked out. Also, Ruby is very unwell. She is walking very slowly and gingerly, and spent some time in the box with a pumping tail. She has an emergency avian vet appointment Saturday. I hope she hangs in there tomorrow. That's a long time to wait. Today I administered a calcium (in case she needed help expelling something) and aspirin (for pain and inflammation). However, she seems sore after I do this. Poor thing. Saturday might result in another hormone implant or might result in euthanasia. We'll see. I love me some Ruby and hate to see her suffer.

So tonight after the board meeting, I was surprised to see ELEVEN chickens in the upper coop! However, I admit I did love seeing them all lined up like I see in other people's coop photos. Mine are usually all spread out, even in winter. (But it's California winter, so...)

Anyway, when I went around to make sure the remaining two were in the main/lower coop, I realized I had moved a roost when I was home earlier today to get to Ruby. I never put it back! Poor girls! So the moved roost was laying on top of the corner angled roosts, and without the moved roost, they couldn't reach the latest additional roost. Basically, they were mostly upstairs because that's where there was roosting space.

I'm very sad about Ruby. Do you mind sharing how you dose aspirin? How old is Ruby now?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I won't be keeping them all. Unlike most of you here, I place my older hens and replace future eggs layers. I will keep some of these and some from my next hatch...and one more. Watch them as they grow, and decide. Not supposed to have roosters here. Sometimes I keep one for a while until he finds his...big voice. In the meantime, sometimes I can keep one long enough to fertilize some eggs. Will let this happen if it's a breed I would love to have, even mixed because I know I'll get egg layers. Right now, I'm wondering if I will be keeping any this winter, because my husband has had another..very big decline this past week. It's happening so fast. Chickens have been my happy part through all of this. I love hatching. Don't think I'll be doing that again unless our son here can help me with the taking care of chickens. I would miss them, but it's starting to become a very heavy load with him. Busy watching him, taking him to the Dr if needed. Having his Medicair check up tommorow. Thinking hospice respite is in my near future. Hospice will come in to help a few times a week...not just for "the" death sentence. I'll take that help when needed, then maybe I can keep chickens. Oh..not sure I said..sadly, his psa was way up again. Supposed to be below 4, it was 11. Prostate cancer is supposed to take a long time. I'm beginning to wonder with all of his symptoms lately. Poor guy. I really don't like seeing him in pain. Have pain relief when needed. Well..I wrote a book again. You can tell it's just good to let it out..hmm..on BYC. Ok, chicken tax. This was one of my most favorite girls..ever! When she hatched, I immediately named her Uggums. She became pretty popular on a couple of other threads years ago. I kept her for her forever. View attachment 2544223

Hugs to you in comfort May I commend you for asking for help before you are totally consumed with caretaking to the exclusion of everything else? I hope you can get enough help to enable you to spend some time with things that really benefit your own health (such as chicken-keeping IMO! ).