Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

I am hugely relieved to report that Minnie’s crop was empty this morning (and full last night) so I did not need to help the worm along.

At least I think it was empty. I felt some tiny nodules but they felt like they were in the wall of the crop rather than food sitting in it. Is that normal? Does the wall of the crop have glands in it maybe?

Edited:
Found an article with detailed anatomy and the crop of a chicken does not have glands in the wall (geese crops do). Hmmm. Wonder what I was feeling. Inflamed lymph nodes maybe?

Excellent news. @Shadrach mentioned that when empty you would feel the bumps in her crop. What they are I can't say but you should be feeling them.

 

[BY Bob]

Do hawks eat song birds? Do they catch them on the wing? I thought hawks were mainly after mice and squirrels and the like

They eat song birds. Especially juvenile hawks.

 

[BY Bob]

Excellent news. @Shadrach mentioned that when empty you would feel the bumps in her crop. What they are I can't say but you should be feeling them.

It is too early to be caught in a SHRA.

SHRA Tax

 

[Lady Red]

Piscia?? I didn't know she had a job!



Just kidding, well done!!

Ha! Piscia has switched career goals bc of Phyllis's influence. Frankly, it is making the other girls irritated with how often Piscia says "look how the sunlight dances off my gleaming feathers! My iridescence is mesmerizing! Look at the depth of my black..."

The other usually grumble about how her color is her only depth. Occasionally they just bite her comb to get her to shut up.

 

[RoyalChick]

Ideas please.
I am feeling much better about leaving Minnie to cope on her own while I am on my trip (I leave Sunday night).
She has fully emptied her crop two days in a row without coconut oil.
My current worry though is getting enough calories into her because as far as I can tell she will not eat the commercial food (same as Maggie on her first molt).
I have been feeding beef, beef liver, scrambled egg, kefir/yoghurt, rice, cabbage and sunflower seeds and she has been out in the yard a lot digging up whatever it is she digs up.
While I am away her yard time will be much more restricted. It won't be zero time out as one of the guys doing work on the house can be trusted to let them out and keep an eye on them and then lock them up when he leaves - but he won't be there every day. Also, I won't be there to provide my home made concoction.
My idea is to leave pots in the freezer of my food concoction and ask the lady who comes to feed the cats to empty one pot into the feed bowl each day. Of course Minnie will have to fight for her share but I can't think of what else to do.
In addition I will leave one extra waterer with Gatorade (now I know she likes it!) and I will water their enclosed pasture run (only 40 square ft) and add leaves to encourage the worms and bugs.
Any other ideas to make sure she doesn't starve while I am away?

Tax

 

[RoyalChick]

It is too early to be caught in a SHRA.

SHRA Tax
View attachment 2875598

Love that picture!

 

[Lady Red]

Ideas please.
I am feeling much better about leaving Minnie to cope on her own while I am on my trip (I leave Sunday night).
She has fully emptied her crop two days in a row without coconut oil.
My current worry though is getting enough calories into her because as far as I can tell she will not eat the commercial food (same as Maggie on her first molt).
I have been feeding beef, beef liver, scrambled egg, kefir/yoghurt, rice, cabbage and sunflower seeds and she has been out in the yard a lot digging up whatever it is she digs up.
While I am away her yard time will be much more restricted. It won't be zero time out as one of the guys doing work on the house can be trusted to let them out and keep an eye on them and then lock them up when he leaves - but he won't be there every day. Also, I won't be there to provide my home made concoction.
My idea is to leave pots in the freezer of my food concoction and ask the lady who comes to feed the cats to empty one pot into the feed bowl each day. Of course Minnie will have to fight for her share but I can't think of what else to do.
In addition I will leave one extra waterer with Gatorade (now I know she likes it!) and I will water their enclosed pasture run (only 40 square ft) and add leaves to encourage the worms and bugs.
Any other ideas to make sure she doesn't starve while I am away?

Tax
View attachment 2875602

These seem like very reasonable ideas to me.
I know she's been finicky about foods, but would some peanut butter rolled in seeds help get calories into her? Of course the other girls will want some too...
It is a bit of a big ask to have a helper separate her from the others for special food times....

 

[featherhead007]

Oh my, is it caturday already?

 

[RoyalChick]

These seem like very reasonable ideas to me.
I know she's been finicky about foods, but would some peanut butter rolled in seeds help get calories into her? Of course the other girls will want some too...
It is a bit of a big ask to have a helper separate her from the others for special food times....

She will love that, and yes I don't think I can ask someone else to separate her, so the best I can do I think is package things so they can be scattered or put in a couple of different feed bowls so she gets a chance. She is quite quick at stealing food from the others if she likes that food.
She will eat seeds just fine so I was going to have the lady scatter a handful of sunflower seeds each day.
I just shipped in two lawn bags of soggy leaves - looks like a lot of stuff in there and I can bring in two more bags before I leave on Sunday.

 

[bgmathteach]

I am hugely relieved to report that Minnie’s crop was empty this morning (and full last night) so I did not need to help the worm along.

At least I think it was empty. I felt some tiny nodules but they felt like they were in the wall of the crop rather than food sitting in it. Is that normal? Does the wall of the crop have glands in it maybe?

Edited:
Found an article with detailed anatomy and the crop of a chicken does not have glands in the wall (geese crops do). Hmmm. Wonder what I was feeling. Inflamed lymph nodes maybe?

I think @ Shadrach mentioned that if the crop was completely empty, you could feel nodules. It was a few pages back...If I can find it, I'll edit this post with it.