Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

That's great news!

She’s eating even better now. Perfect weather temperature here, slight breeze, and I’m surrounded by Barred Rocks. Jaffar is doing a great job with the ladies today also.

 

[featherhead007]

I am praying for her and you.

Your prayers were heard Bob, thank you.

 

[featherhead007]

Thanks!

I did consult the Beetov-Hen. She politely asked “where is he going to put the wide screen TV?” (Some inspectors are never satisfied)

 

[Shadrach]

Well @Shadrach is the other one we could pester for more detail...he wrote a great deal about it, but here's a skeleton picture from the web.
View attachment 2708310

OK - do we tap (from behind) somewhere on letter I, which I think is the foot bone, letter E (at the ankle joint I guess), or somewhere on the expanse of letter D's (shin?)bone, or, getting right up there at the knee and the chicken really wondering what's going on, somewhere around letter B, if we can get through all the fluff, and the chicken has stayed put?

The idea is to apply firm upward pressure, not tap.
The place to apply pressure is at the back of I.
When the chicken is roosting the bone "I" should be more or less parallel to the ground/nearest flat surface.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Oh dear. Someone laid an egg with no shell. A whole egg, but just in a membrane not any hard shell at all.
That is a calcium issue I assume.
They are on layer feed and have oyster shell and crumbled egg shells available whenever they want so I wonder if someone isn't absorbing the calcium properly.
I gave a crushed up human calcium with vitamin D pill in scrambled egg and will give another one at bedtime (I think night is when they form the shell so when they need most calcium).
Any other ideas? I heard different kinds of calcium are easier to absorb but I am not sure what the best kind is. I am hoping the vitamin D is OK as well.
Any advice welcome!

I was about to update everyone on Peanut's progress on this! Calcium Citrate is what @DobieLover recommended as more absorbable [EDIT @DobieLover says use 600mg per chicken], and Vit D3 helps to make is more "bioavailable" also. Same as humans.

Yes, soft shell eggs were once in a while, and then became a regular occurrence. Someone or more in the tribe was laying a softshell egg off and on, and then for a stretch of days, with 4 days in a row in there. I figured out it was Peanut on at least one of those days. So I initiated a calcium supplement for everyone if they wanted it, but focusing on getting Peanut to take it. I transitioned them to Nutrena Feather Fixer as @BY Bob recommended over about a week. I can only get it in pellets. They like it better than the crumbles dry, but turned up their noses at mash made from it.

While waiting for the feed to come and into this week I've kept making a calcium supplement crushed and mixed with greek yogurt and a little bit of the old feed crumbles. No molasses in there anymore, they like it as is. I've used both calcium citrate +D3 and Assorted Berry Tums (which have no D). @DobieLover recommended 600mg per bird, so that's about 1 Tums [EDIT mine says 750 mg per tab on the bottle] or 2 calcium citrate + D3 pills [EDIT it says two will make 630 mgs on the bottle - these amounts vary on the make so check the bottle] per chicken. They will eat from the little mash pile directly but like to take (and I like offering it) in little balls to them. Everyone takes some, Popcorn and Hazel some, Butters now and then. But Peanut has consistently been taking it and seems eager for it (or maybe because I focused on her, it's now "her" thing?

Well today Peanut laid a perfect, oblong, firm shelled egg! Yay!

 

[Kris5902]

Hi guys, I’m 50 pages behind and probably going to be absent for a while. I just wanted to stop by and let everyone know I’m quite a mess right now. It’s been really rough balancing everything here, and then Arduinna went for a little walkabout to top it off; when I was really struggling against weather, general living conditions, chores, and DH was away working this Saturday. She still hasn’t come back, but is no longer crying to us from the cliffs above our home. Please keep us in your prayers for her safety and that she comes back home. She’s way too spoiled to be an outside goat.

She wasn’t wearing her harness when she wandered off, because we were at home, so no worries on getting it caught on something, but also no clear “that’s the pet goat” indicators if she approaches a stranger. I figured she was just doing a little browsing in the yard. Was fighting with getting a chicken out of the barn. I Just blocked out my phone number because the thread is so public and busy here lately... nothing personal. You’re mostly all pretty much my chicken family here

I’ve been told by other previous goat adoptive parents that it’s breeding season (but she just got off the bottle herself!) and she may return in a week or two, pregnant. My fingers are (sort of) crossed for that outcome. I’m barely functioning without her here, and she is one of the few things really keeping me going through all this.

A somewhat humorous aside: Also I put a missing pet ad on one (private) Local FB group (see my pics?) then shared it to that “other” original public group I’ve mentioned before, where it was deleted with no reason given to me (it turns out you can’t share from private to public group as only members of the private group can see the post... but being so internet savvy I didn’t know that). So my little missing goat sparked another round of high school drama like internet wars on social media. FFS, I wasn’t being elitist just the one group is “safer” and moderated and the other has devolved into a cesspool of nastiness lately... as evidenced by the really nasty public admin announcement of “anything shared from that group to here will be deleted nah-nah... type initial response” which was my only clue, (while distraughtly crying after a full day searching, rock climbing, and walking in alternating rain and heat waves) as to why it was deleted. So now the “there’s another private group, are they saying mean things there” issue is fracturing the community spirit almost as much as the vaccine vs anti-vaxer debates. Further evidence why I need my emotional support goat back so badly!

I may not be back on for a while, so I will thank you all for the kind words, thoughts, prayers and otherwise I know you will all say in advance. @BlueBaby as well (hope that works and you get this message, I just can’t concentrate to forward this privately)

 

[ChicoryBlue]

The idea is to apply firm upward pressure, not tap.
The place to apply pressure is at the back of I.
When the chicken is roosting the bone "I" should be more or less parallel to the ground/nearest flat surface.

Thank you for clearing it up, @Shadrach!

 

[Scrambles83]

Hi guys, I’m 50 pages behind and probably going to be absent for a while. I just wanted to stop by and let everyone know I’m quite a mess right now. It’s been really rough balancing everything here, and then Arduinna went for a little walkabout to top it off; when I was really struggling against weather, general living conditions, chores, and DH was away working this Saturday. She still hasn’t come back, but is no longer crying to us from the cliffs above our home. Please keep us in your prayers for her safety and that she comes back home. She’s way too spoiled to be an outside goat.

View attachment 2709909View attachment 2709910
She wasn’t wearing her harness when she wandered off, because we were at home, so no worries on getting it caught on something, but also no clear “that’s the pet goat” indicators if she approaches a stranger. I figured she was just doing a little browsing in the yard. Was fighting with getting a chicken out of the barn. I Just blocked out my phone number because the thread is so public and busy here lately... nothing personal. You’re mostly all pretty much my chicken family here

I’ve been told by other previous goat adoptive parents that it’s breeding season (but she just got off the bottle herself!) and she may return in a week or two, pregnant. My fingers are (sort of) crossed for that outcome. I’m barely functioning without her here, and she is one of the few things really keeping me going through all this.

A somewhat humorous aside: Also I put a missing pet ad on one (private) Local FB group (see my pics?) then shared it to that “other” original public group I’ve mentioned before, where it was deleted with no reason given to me (it turns out you can’t share from private to public group as only members of the private group can see the post... but being so internet savvy I didn’t know that). So my little missing goat sparked another round of high school drama like internet wars on social media. FFS, I wasn’t being elitist just the one group is “safer” and moderated and the other has devolved into a cesspool of nastiness lately... as evidenced by the really nasty public admin announcement of “anything shared from that group to here will be deleted nah-nah... type initial response” which was my only clue, (while distraughtly crying after a full day searching, rock climbing, and walking in alternating rain and heat waves) as to why it was deleted. So now the “there’s another private group, are they saying mean things there” issue is fracturing the community spirit almost as much as the vaccine vs anti-vaxer debates. Further evidence why I need my emotional support goat back so badly!

I may not be back on for a while, so I will thank you all for the kind words, thoughts, prayers and otherwise I know you will all say in advance. @BlueBaby as well (hope that works and you get this message, I just can’t concentrate to forward this privately)

Oh, Kris, not your baby girl
I am hoping beyond hope she comes home and update us when you can.
Take care of yourself we are always here for you when you need us.

 

[RoyalChick]

I did consult the Beetov-Hen. She politely asked “where is he going to put the wide screen TV?” (Some inspectors are never satisfied)

On the wall opposite the roost. Obviously!

 

[RoyalChick]

The idea is to apply firm upward pressure, not tap.
The place to apply pressure is at the back of I.
When the chicken is roosting the bone "I" should be more or less parallel to the ground/nearest flat surface.

Oh! I was tapping. No wonder Maggie just stared in puzzlement!
I assume you do this from behind the chicken. Is that right?