Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Kris5902]

Maybe he heard about your plans to deep-freeze him and he ran away from home!
(j/k)

Nope I didn’t find the body, but as a few people said, the culprit would be back. Unfortunately this time I think it may be the endangered spotted variety instead of the invasive species. Edit to add:No,it’s a Barred, and there is not just one, but two… and it also sounds like there are chicks

Barney threw up the alarm at 8:50 pm and I turned off dinner, hung up on DH and rushed outside. Rightie one of my red rocks was the only free range girl still out and she was frozen still about five feet in front of Barney’s tractor. Barney and girls are going nuts, I made a grab for Rightie and missed and she was off like a shot, and sheltered between the fence and our windows. I spent ten minutes trying to lure her out and about another ten throwing rocks at the owl after I ran out of nerf ammo. I lured her out into the bad rooster box with a broken egg, secured her and put her up for the night. No losses tonight, but I will be on guard until I know the Bad Big Bird has moved on. Good news, if it is the endangered kind, they are actually nocturnal so at least I won’t have to worry about afternoon attacks.

RIP little dude, I’m sure you were tasty.

 

[micstrachan]

Especially with a history of receiving chicks with Coccidiosis from a certain source. The Corrid or Amprolium basically works by starving out the organisms by making (I think) a B vitamin unavailable to them. If you run a course of the liquid medication, or feed medicated feed (it’s an either or choice from what I understand) it should eliminate the problem before it happens, kind of like a vaccine (it is safe to use that word here right? Don’t ask… local Facebook forum again…) after a full course of treatment I believe it is recommended to provide a vitamin supplement as well.

I believe this all to be accurate. However, once there is an outbreak, medicated feed is not enough; it’s more of a preventative.

 

[micstrachan]

Update... doctor checked my blood pressure and I brought with me (my test blood pressure cuff) mine was inaccurate up to 30 too high. So I still have higher blood pressure, but not as dangerous as I thought.
Had I not gone to the doctor, I would have never known this. Also he put me on different medication. I will still keep you all posted.

Thanks for the update, Alex. I see my doctor to have mine checked out tomorrow.

 

[Lady Red]

Naenae update

She seems much better now!
Realized I didn't take a pic of the pink pop yesterday...this is it (after dryng)

Spoiler: Pink poo

After she perched last night, I checked on her before I went to bed and saw this:

Spoiler

My poor girl had a no-shell egg bothering her. The regular poo next to it happened overnight after the egg was expelled.

Hubby put her outside with her sisters and she has been feasting at the feeder.

I am so glad she is feeling better and we caught it. It was heartbreaking to see her tail droopy. Her tail is high and proud this morning

 

[featherhead007]

I have many things on my mind this morning, but I thought I would post some pictures of the reason why I don’t want to leave this world anytime soon!

 

[Lady Red]

Nope I didn’t find the body, but as a few people said, the culprit would be back. Unfortunately this time I think it may be the endangered spotted variety instead of the invasive species. Edit to add:No,it’s a Barred, and there is not just one, but two… and it also sounds like there are chicks

Barney threw up the alarm at 8:50 pm and I turned off dinner, hung up on DH and rushed outside. Rightie one of my red rocks was the only free range girl still out and she was frozen still about five feet in front of Barney’s tractor. Barney and girls are going nuts, I made a grab for Rightie and missed and she was off like a shot, and sheltered between the fence and our windows. I spent ten minutes trying to lure her out and about another ten throwing rocks at the owl after I ran out of nerf ammo. I lured her out into the bad rooster box with a broken egg, secured her and put her up for the night. No losses tonight, but I will be on guard until I know the Bad Big Bird has moved on. Good news, if it is the endangered kind, they are actually nocturnal so at least I won’t have to worry about afternoon attacks.

RIP little dude, I’m sure you were tasty.

My goodness! You never get any rest!
Sorry about the owl return and the losses. Wish owl-y would focus on mice instead.

 

[BY Bob]

How long with new layers can soft shells be possibly expected. Found one under the coop (which can only be Belle) just now and there was one in the same spot last week, soft also. Very strong membrane. They have free choice shell, and I know it’s not uncommon for newbies, so just a general question
View attachment 2720318
That depression is where it was sitting on the ground.

I cooked it up and fed it back to them, the shell mixed in too

That is exactly what I do with my soft shelled eggs. I've seen them the first 2 months of laying, maybe 3. Anyone else?

 

[BY Bob]

Naenae isn't feeling well.

Noticed early this evening that she wasn't as active as her normal. She was resting in an unusual spot.
I let her be and checked on her about 30 minutes later.
She was near the same spot, still resting. She did not greet me like her sisters did.
I picked her up and she gave no resistance. Now, she is more cuddly than most, but this is highly unusual. I looked her over and felt her abdomen and crop. Her crop didn't seem as full as I would have expected. Her abdomen was on par with the others.

I set her down and she drank some water, then foraged for couple of minutes. Then she separated from everyone. I saw her poop,, it looked smaller in quantity and wet,, but not alarming.. she then made way to rest in the hedge. (A more normal resting area)

Hubby set up the portable kennel (dog play yard) in the dining room. She pooped a light yellow, tinged with pink.
I bathed her in an Epsom salt soak. She drank a little of that water.
I wrapped her in a towel to keep her warm while drying. She cuddled for 20 minutes and then was getting agitated.
Upon her return to the indoor kennel, she was calling for her sisters
I distracted her with Greek yogurt mixed with feed. She enjoyed it and pooped a more normal looking poo.
She is currently roosting on a bar. Her tail is still being held low.

I am very much hoping she just had some lining slough off (the pink in poop #1) and maybe she ate something that didn't agree with her.

Please keep your fingers crossed for a better day for Naenae tomorrow.

Let's hope she was just having an off day. Poor girl.

 

[BY Bob]

There is a bit of a balanced risk to it. I have raccoons out there, one for sure and last year there was six in one evening! The trees help provide cover from some Aerial predators, and most importantly for the fast growing, large Red Rangers… Shade. Although we have had a wonderfully cool wet June for the most part, July it will start to heat up and the meat birds don’t do as well in the heat.

I plan on ranging them from about 10-4/6pm and will switch to a larger feeding at night to lure them back into the safety of the tractors well before the raccoons should be about.they will get 1/3 feed scattered to encourage scratching for bugs and free ranging upon release and the remaining 2/3 in the early evening to regroup them. I haven’t tried this in this particular area before but it is also close to the trailer, and I will be fencing Roostie and his girls into the same general area for a more aware/seasoned tribe.

Are you planning to play shepherd for the first few days?

 

[BY Bob]

I think I would be giving Amprollium just in case. I'm not sure what the preventative dosage is but I'm sure someone here will know.

I have the preventative dose for chicks if anyone needs to know.