Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

Do you have plans to care for a new tribe at some point? Rehab some battery chickens? Anything you provide would be an improvement over their previous lives...I wondered if you are missing your tribe terribly. I would if in your shoes.

I haven't been able to even look at pictures of the tribes without getting very upset until the last couple of days, so yes, I miss them terribly.
I don't have any plans for a new tribe. My current circumstances make keeping chickens free range impossible and the circumstances are unlikely to change enough in the foreseeable future.
Keeping ex batts, or rescues may be possible at some point. Ex batts would never be safe in a fully free range environment in the UK, so a chicken old peoples home with a run and supervised exercise might be an option.
The fact is that Bucket Boy and the tribes is over. I've been incredibly privileged to have lived with the tribes for a decade.
What I hope to do is get organised here and get my book published in the hope that the book will help change the appalling view most people have of chickens, their intelligence, their behaviour and the cruelty involved in the keeping of them.
Meanwhile, I'll come on to BYC when I can and see if I can pass on some of what I've learned to those prepared to pay attention.

 

[RoyalChick]

I haven't been able to even look at pictures of the tribes without getting very upset until the last couple of days, so yes, I miss them terribly.
I don't have any plans for a new tribe. My current circumstances make keeping chickens free range impossible and the circumstances are unlikely to change enough in the foreseeable future.
Keeping ex batts, or rescues may be possible at some point. Ex batts would never be safe in a fully free range environment in the UK, so a chicken old peoples home with a run and supervised exercise might be an option.
The fact is that Bucket Boy and the tribes is over. I've been incredibly privileged to have lived with the tribes for a decade.
What I hope to do is get organised here and get my book published in the hope that the book will help change the appalling view most people have of chickens, their intelligence, their behaviour and the cruelty involved in the keeping of them.
Meanwhile, I'll come on to BYC when I can and see if I can pass on some of what I've learned to those prepared to pay attention.

Oh Shad, that made me tear up. I was really hoping that you would in time return to Spain and the tribes. I can only imagine how painful this all is for you.

 

[Shadrach]

Hi guys, thanks again for all the support and love! So I’m actually going to ask for some chicken advice, and I’m hoping @Shadrach is available to weigh in on this as well... I’m still trying to catch up. So, Roostie is half blind (from injury to his left eye) and doing fine, free ranging (though his foot is still not completely 100% he’s happy and chickening away, now I have another similar Conundrum.

TLDR version: hen suddenly mostly/completely blind, lives in mobile coop with changing terrain daily, what to do?

I don’t have a clue what happened, but one of the girls in with Hawk is completely blind. She was fine last week, and I haven’t seen any horrific head injuries/scalping, both her eyes are still there. I noticed the day before yesterday that her pupils had almost disappeared and she was acting off and partially sighted while feeding, her eyes seem slightly cloudy. Yesterday she was a little slow but followed everyone out and found the feeder, though she seemed to have troubles eating easily. She was first up to roost last night and picked the top corner, this morning she has been unable to find her way down, on the top roost and trying to locate the next rung down to get out. The tribe was rearranged slightly last fall, but this is quite recent, and everyone has been getting along as far as I’ve been able to observe, though I have been preoccupied this week. She was hatched in late 2019 daughter of Sammy and one of the Hyline rescues, probably Missy.

What do you guys think I should do? The chicken tractors are constantly moving about and the waterer often changes location for levelness, clearly not good for a blind chicken. I’m wondering if I should cull her, or if I can give her some quality of life and what that would look like. I’m thinking I set up a smaller pen and static coop to accommodate her. Free ranging seems out of the question (this was how I previously ran my rehab/rescues, with Sammy my sensitive and attentive Rooster, but I now have mostly free range layers and multiple tribes roaming about, 40-55 individuals). Perhaps another hospital tractor type coop? Should I try to separate out a few companions to go with her? Her original tribe of 4 perhaps? They really wanted to return to Hawk last time I tried to separate them when the integration was going poorly. I’m not really expanding or breeding right now, things here are too unstable, so genetically there’s not much point in keeping them together with him. I could try to return them with their original Rooster and the two Barnvelder ladies I’ve been hoping he will breed with, but since the housing change he’s been behaving less well, I chalk that up to his new girls attitude towards him.

It's a question of how much time and effort you are prepared to give her.
The easy option is to kill her, but if she is otherwise healthy then I would find that hard.
I have read of blind chickens being cared for by a best friend and/or rooster. You would need to know which hen would be most suitable taking into account that probably neither could free range any more.
I think I would try for a best friend companion before I made the decision to kill her.

 

[Lady Red]

I haven't been able to even look at pictures of the tribes without getting very upset until the last couple of days, so yes, I miss them terribly.
I don't have any plans for a new tribe. My current circumstances make keeping chickens free range impossible and the circumstances are unlikely to change enough in the foreseeable future.
Keeping ex batts, or rescues may be possible at some point. Ex batts would never be safe in a fully free range environment in the UK, so a chicken old peoples home with a run and supervised exercise might be an option.
The fact is that Bucket Boy and the tribes is over. I've been incredibly privileged to have lived with the tribes for a decade.
What I hope to do is get organised here and get my book published in the hope that the book will help change the appalling view most people have of chickens, their intelligence, their behaviour and the cruelty involved in the keeping of them.
Meanwhile, I'll come on to BYC when I can and see if I can pass on some of what I've learned to those prepared to pay attention.

I have a lot floating about my head in response to this share, but will leave it at how I look forward to your book and a big hug

 

[Shadrach]

Nice to hear from you again Kris.

For me a static environment with a friend would be the most reasonable solution. Does she have a best friend or someone with which she hangs out? I think I would keep it to two hens myself. I wouldn't want another pair to form and gang up on her.

It will be interesting to hear what @Shadrach says.

I seem to have come to a similar conclusion.

 

[Blazinga]

New birds are very sleepy and have reddish poop. We think it might be coccidiosis

Yeah, looks like they have it
Sorry if the spoiler didn't work.

 

[micstrachan]

Since this group seems to be good at it, we could use some healthy/healing thoughts our way. It has been another not great headache week for me (nothing unusual, but ugh,) and Bill has done something to his back. He is in a ton of pain really hoping he just pulled something and lots of rest will make it better. And of course we still have 2 broody hens, though Rosie is good as long as she is locked out of the coop, min she is let in she is back to the box and all puffed up again, even after a full day out. It's been 5.5 weeks already.

Sending loving, healing thoughts!

 

[micstrachan]

I seem to have come to a similar conclusion.

X3
This seems like the kindest option.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

TSC has barred rock pullets. I was SO tempted! But I would have had to get four, and I really only want two at this time, so I passed. They were SO CUTE!

 

[micstrachan]

Yeah, looks like they have it View attachment 2715662
Sorry if the spoiler didn't work.

Sorry to see and here this. You need to get on it right away. Do you have amprolium on hand and if not, can you get some today?