Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[LozzyR]

No Chicks Today

They are not here yet. Looks like they are still in Cleveland.

What’s going on?? Are they still eggs?? What about food and water if they’ve hatched??

 

[RoyalChick]

What’s going on?? Are they still eggs?? What about food and water if they’ve hatched??

Just hatched chicks have enough nutrition from absorbing the yolk sac to survive a few days without food or water. I believe the standard view is 72 hours.
That is the whole basis of the ability to ship just hatched chicks in the mail.
I am sure they would be happier if they arrived faster - but they should still be fine and I am really hoping they arrive tomorrow morning.

 

[BY Bob]

Hey @BY Bob , pull up that post, where Phyllis was chatting with BLU on BeakBook (I think our BYC friends may think it humorous)?

The Famous Beakbook conversation.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Yogurt and melon girls
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Love the yoghurt eyebrows she has going on there.

 

[Scrambles83]

Cluckle Hut Update

It is essentially done. I need to sand the bottom hinged board as I installed it upside down and there is glue on it that is preventing the top door and the hinged board from meeting smoothly. Aside from that it is ready for chickens!

Here is the completed nest box. View attachment 2783579

Here is the opened door and hinged board.
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Here is the front porch and door. This door is temporary until the new automated door arrives. I have the hinged board up in this one.
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The view past the porch all the way to the nest box.

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Inside the coop looking into the nest box. Check out the window sill!

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Looking back towards the front porch.

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I could not help myself. I put fresh straw into the nest box for Phyllis and the babies.

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That looks amazing!!! Want to swing by Aus and throw one together for me?

 

[Lady Red]

The Famous Beakbook conversation.
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This is adorable!

 

[MaryJanet]

You're very welcome! I think that's why Shadrach liked hanging out with us; other people didn't like his brutal honesty.

I found it refreshing and he usually said things that made a lot of sense. I miss his contributions and the tribes in Spain, as we all do, and I hope everything works out for him in the UK.

 

[Ribh]

Seeing your lovely tribe coming out together (or in some cases not) never gets old - they are all so lovely. And very quiet and well behaved I must say. I will try and get video of the equivalent event at the Chicken Palace (you might need ear muffs and body armor!).

Somewhere in the archives is footage of the girls exploding out just after the Campines arrived. They were going ballistic in the coop & everyone else was trying to escape their carnage.

 

[Lady Red]

That looks amazing!!! Want to swing by Aus and throw one together for me?

Get in line, girlie!

 

[Scrambles83]

I am worried about Naenae too. Peanut here is laying a bit like that. But not the doubles, or the rate of Naenae.

Peanut laid this last Monday evening. Many months ago there were a couple with a more filled-out tail end too.
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Soft, flexible, see I am squishing it with my finger
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I know Peanut laid this because she was feeling very poorly for some hours before, and I kept an eye on her and eventually saw her lay it. After awhile she knew it was coming and slowly went to the coop, but decided to not climb or jump up, she waddled slowly under it, then was in the penguin pose for a couple of minutes before finally laying it on the moss under there. I was with her and was so sorry to see her so! She didn't look right the rest of the day either. Next day she was good and back to talking and holding her tail high.

Earlier in the day her tail was down and I swear her expression was terrible, she didn't feel good at all and she wasn't vocalizing her usual tuneful toots. She mostly sat down next to the wire run wall with everyone else foraging in the vicinity and looked bad. I talked to her and stayed close. Nobody bothered her. Maybe because she was totally quiet? Recently Popcorn was coughing after getting something in her airway during a dustbath and Hazel thought that needed all kinds of correction with every honk.

I had backed off of the calcium supplements after transitioning to feather fixer. Not long after there were a couple thin shelled broken eggs, and a flexible broken one. Not 100% sure but but I think probably Butters is also laying these.

So they're back to getting a daily scoop of all-flock crumbles moistened with Greek yogurt, made into little balls, for whoever wants it. I make sure Peanut gets some, and so far she is into eating them every day. Eggs are good so far, it's been a week, no evidence of broken and eaten eggs, and no tails down that I've observed. Someone is laying eggs with weird calcium layers designs and the end is not finished off well but they're not thin, and that's been a regular occurrence. Don't know if that's Butters but I suspect so.

Peanut is a year old. Maybe the supplementation is all she needs, or maybe not. I saw her looking poorly once before this last time, but now I'm making sure she eats the supplement so that may do the trick. If not, is hormone implants an option for someone so young?

Snow laid one of these early on, the shell wasn’t soft like that but it had the soft tail. When I plucked the tail off a big white bit came out with it. From what I could gather it was an abnormal springy but that keeps the yolk in the centre of the egg. Chalaza it is called. But Snow is quite a new layer, haven’t seen another since...