Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

Well, shoot. I missed that Jaffar is still unwell. Last I heard, he was going to be fine.

Alex, since we’re on the same time zone, maybe you’re online. How is your little buddy doing? Have you tried steaming up the bathroom and letting him hang out in there for a bit?

 

[Kris5902]

I have no idea who layed this monstrosity (egg on left). The one in the middle is what the Princesses normally lay and on the right is a Minnie’ mini contribution.
The one on the left is one ugly egg!
It isn’t the first sign of some deadly disease is it?

View attachment 2555162View attachment 2555163View attachment 2555164

SHRA... I’m sure, but I’ve seen such from elderly hens near the end of laying... maybe body checked or some stress delayed laying? have you cracked it yet? Pics when you do!

 

[featherhead007]

Well, shoot. I missed that Jaffar is still unwell. Last I heard, he was going to be fine.

Alex, since we’re on the same time zone, maybe you’re online. How is your little buddy doing? Have you tried steaming up the bathroom and letting him hang out in there for a bit?

Jaffar still has a gurgling sound, but he’s being a rooster.

 

[featherhead007]

Jaffar still has a gurgling sound, but he’s being a rooster.

And no, I haven’t given him a steam bath yet

 

[featherhead007]

Pretty girl! I assume she is not in lay, based on the color of her earlobes ?

She’s laying

 

[BY Bob]

It's all that fluff keeping her up!

Like a Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon or even a dirigible!

 

[BY Bob]

I've been putting this post off, but Fat Bird isn't well.
She's lost some control over her legs and balance. She also has lice and did have feather mites.
We have dealt with the mites but the lice are proving to be a bit of a problem.
She's eating well. Walks okay in a straight line but tonight she couldn't balance on the roost bar. I put her in one of the nest boxes.
I'm going to take her to see Gloria (vet) but I'm not feeling very hopefull.
I spent two hours today tackling the lice. They are mainly in areas Fat Bird can't reach with her beak. She not as supple as she was.
I've checked over Mel, Moon, Hurry and Treacle so far and they are mite and lice free so it seems it's just a problem with Fat Bird.
At first I thought it might be an ear infection but they look clean to me and I would have thought that her balance would be affected no matter what direction she walked in.
She still manages to follow the tribe and I've kept both eyes on her throughout the recent days.
I take her to roost in the evenings now, or should I say Cillin and I do.
She's heading for 11 years old and she has had by chicken standards about as good a life as is possible bar not hatching chicks.
I don't think she is suffering judging by how she eats and her reactions to the other hens; she'll still give them a peck if they don't remember their place and hers. Poop is okay. Bums dirty again and I may have to give it a proper wash to help discourage lice.
It's possible that she may have started an egg that has cooked inside her way before it reached the shell making stage and this is putting pressure on a nerve.
This does happen with some older hens I've been told.
Anyway, here she is, still picking the high security spots so her brain is fine. None of the yonger hens are bothering her.View attachment 2558314

Obviously I am distressed to hear this. I hope that there is something which Gloria can find as the reason for this. I am very glad that you are there to help her.

 

[BY Bob]

Well momma hen is as hateful as ever. I tend not to mess with her the first couple days she starts sitting, but she'd went over 48 hours without coming off the nest. It is supposed to get down to 28 tonight so I wanted her to come off for just a few minutes to eat, drink and poop. I tricked her into eating by placing a can of wet cat food in front of her while she was still on the nest. She realized what it was when she went after me and ate half the can. Then the fun part, removing her. She bit and twisted the whole time, but thankfully only got my coat sleeve. Set the wench down about 10 feet from the nest and she spent that time flogging me trying to get back to the nest. I blocked her for about 5 minutes until she relived herself and then let her go back. Will probably have to do this one or two more times until that first week is over and she'll start coming off like clockwork every 24 hours until hatch time. She's lucky she's only like this when broody and that she's the most experienced and dependable mother I have or I would not tolerate her nonsense. Now lets talk about Butter. The last few week I've had a suspicion that she's thinking about going broody herself. She's been spending more and more time on the nest, and fiercely guards it from other hens and started the velociraptor shriek when you look at her. She's not doing the ticking time bomb noise yet, but at roost time I noticed she wasn't there. Went out and sure enough its dark and she's on the nest. Her nest is not covered so while I was there went ahead and covered it with the orange tote. That made her get off and on the roost but I did see when she stood up she's plucking her chest feathers. I've left the tote on it and will see what she does in the coming days. I told mom what she was doing and if she does decide to set, been dared to break her. Butter gets to do what she wants. Being a first timer if she does even though she's a big hen and could probably handle 8 or more eggs I'll only give her 4 or 5, and only Marans.

Its rally awful when they fight with you as you try to keep them alive. Frustrating I'm sure. for you.

 

[BY Bob]

What a difference a day later. This mountain is east if us. I've been posting the one north of us. I need to post the one from my back porch.. South of us. This mountain is my favorite. We used to live at the foot of it. Have been camping many a time up that canyon. We just live a town over now. Anyway, blue, blue sky! I went out into the road to take this photo. See it everyday when driving up to our driveway. View attachment 2558685

That is quite beautiful. Your views are spectacular.

 

[BY Bob]

Today's building progress

Front entrance
View attachment 2558687nest box zoneView attachment 2558689

I'm glad to see it on something you can roll. I had a friend of mine build a coop in their garage that wound up being so heavy it could not be moved. The chickens came and they lived in his garage for a few weeks until he finally decided to tear it apart and rebuild it outside!