Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

 

[Shadrach]

I have a sick hen. It's Volt, the black hen in the picture below.
Yesterday she looked a bit down and subdued. She is moulting but nothing very drastic.
Today I didn't like the look of her at all. I was a bit surprised when she was very easy to pick up and didn't complain at a very thorough inspection. She has lice and mites and coccidiosis. She may also have other internal problems; not unexpected n rescues and Ex Batts. She has a very messy bum which isn't helping.
With normal well cared for chickens such problems are if caught early enough relatively easy to put right. There is an added problem that many of the drugs I could get easily in Spain are very difficult to get in the UK. Effective mite treatment is particulalry difficult mainly because it is likely to contain permethrin. For chickens with the past history of these including they way they've been kept at the allotment, their immune system is weak and what a fit chicken would shake off can quickly kill chickens such as these.
Fortunately I have already sourced this which is meant for pigeons.

https://www.harkersonline.co.uk/product/treatments/new-2018-harkers-4-1-soluble/

Getting the dosage right per chicken is a bit of a performance especially given I have to dose in one hit; that is I can't just use it in the water as recommended.
Having checked Volt over I managed to catch seven more hens and check them over. None that I could see had the mite and lice problem Volt has.
Once the chickens are out it's very difficult to get them back in until dusk so I spent a while with Volt on my lap picking the lice off from around her ears and eyes and cleaning the worst of the runny poop that was spread from her vent down. When I put her back on the ground she just stood in one place looking miserable and sick.
I let her go to roost with the rest and when I had finished the cleaning up etc reached into the coop, lifted her out and took her home.
I got the first dose of Harkers down her tonight. She's in the shed in a large plastic box with a few towels under her. I cant bring her into the house because my daughter has a dog and it's a Husky.
I'm hoping the medication works fast enough to get her back with the others tomorrow. It's a five day course, the rest of which I can get down her at the allotment.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I am trying to take care (mainly by holding on to walls and door frames!).
It is a recognized issue called B.P.P.V. Not uncommon as it turns out. Small crystals in the labyrinth of the inner ear break off and free float triggering the sense that you are moving when you aren't. So your feet tell you one thing and your ears another and as a result, your brain gets all messed up.
Sometimes it resolves on its own because the crystals basically dissolve and there is a series of movements you can try (or your doctor can do to you) that attempts to shift the little b***ers to some other place where they do less harm. It is extremely unpleasant to do because it triggers the vertigo in the worst possible way.
I have done it once and it was pretty effective - meaning I can now get in and out of bed more-or-less OK, and as long as I move slowly I can walk around normally and yesterday I was able to bend down to the right to pick up a chicken. Don't ask me to put a sock on my left foot or lace up a left boot however!
The maneuver leaves me exhausted and unsteady so I am waiting a day or so before trying again.
Sorry for definitely TMI on my decrepitude, so here is chicken tax of my three older ladies engaged in some serious chicken business. Rest In Peace Elizabeth.View attachment 2891670

If the maneuver works for you definitely give it a go when you are up to it. I've had a couple serious attacks and the maneuver, which I learned with the second one, did work for me. @BY Bob No guarantee any one thing will work every time. And some people suffer with it chronically. There are multiple causes for vertigo, or menieres disease. Even Bells palsy can cause it. There are things to try (maneuvers, anti-nausea meds, anti-seasickness meds, sometimes scopalamine patches, all these meds have a downside) but it's hit and miss.

 

[RoyalChick]

In non Fluffy Butt Acres cases, when does picking on usually stop or at least cool down? Shirina is relentless when it comes to chasing Platina around.

Everyone still goes after the Roadrunners and it is more than a year. Sorry. But it isn't too brutal. Well not usually.

 

[Shadrach]

I've posted a picture of the coop and run before but here it is again just to put what comes next into perspective. The coop itself is roughly 3ft x 5ft, say 15 square feet.

This is what the inside of the coop looks like after being cleaned out and then used for one night.

This is what it looks like cleaned out and using straw I bought rather than the shredded paper I've been supplied with for bedding.
An idio t designed the coop. I wont go into all the problems with the design; some should be apparent.

There are 22 chickens that sleep in there. This is what that looks like. They have been living like this for over two years. The most recent additions the spring just gone increased the population from about 18 I believe.

In case the person who asked me why I bothered trying to take care of someone elses chickens reads this, the answer should be obvious to anyone with even the slightest trace of compassion.

 

[Shadrach]

As a contrast and for those who believe that the standard recommendations for coop and run sizes is more than adequate for a livestock creature called the chicken, the following pictures are pictures of chickens in what I would consider the bare minimum sized area for 23 chickens. The area works out as roughly 2300 square feet.
The person who was responsible for the conditions in the earlier posts will tell you, if you ask her, that it's better than the battery and she does what she can with what time and resources she has.
What do you think? Is "we do the best we can with what we have" a valid view, or do you think that if that is the best you can do then you shouldn't be allowed to keep chickens?

 

[RoyalChick]

If the maneuver works for you definitely give it a go when you are up to it. I've had a couple serious attacks and the maneuver, which I learned with the second one, did work for me. @BY Bob No guarantee any one thing will work every time. And some people suffer with it chronically. There are multiple causes for vertigo, or menieres disease. Even Bells palsy can cause it. There are things to try (maneuvers, anti-nausea meds, anti-seasickness meds, sometimes scopalamine patches, all these meds have a downside) but it's hit and miss.

The first time I tried it made a huge difference but left me with still residual issues and movements I can't make. The 2nd time didn't seem to help and I am steeling myself for the 3rd time.
A doc gave me anti-nausea medicine but that misses the point - I don't feel nauseous generally, only when I move in the wrong way and I get sent spinning.
I will definitely do the 3rd time, but if you have done it you know it is not at all pleasant when it triggers the attack so I need another day to feel up to it!

 

[RoyalChick]

As a contrast and for those who believe that the standard recommendations for coop and run sizes is more than adequate for a livestock creature called the chicken, the following pictures are pictures of chickens in what I would consider the bare minimum sized area for 23 chickens. The area works out as roughly 2300 square feet.
The person who was responsible for the conditions in the earlier posts will tell you, if you ask her, that it's better than the battery and she does what she can with what time and resources she has.
What do you think? Is "we do the best we can with what we have" a valid view, or do you think that if that is the best you can do then you shouldn't be allowed to keep chickens?
View attachment 2892356View attachment 2892357View attachment 2892358View attachment 2892359View attachment 2892360

Well they could have done better - you already have! I don't imagine this was a poverty issue. It may have been an ignorance issue. I hope it wasn't an uncaring issue.

 

[BY Bob]

I have a sick hen. It's Volt, the black hen in the picture below.
Yesterday she looked a bit down and subdued. She is moulting but nothing very drastic.
Today I didn't like the look of her at all. I was a bit surprised when she was very easy to pick up and didn't complain at a very thorough inspection. She has lice and mites and coccidiosis. She may also have other internal problems; not unexpected n rescues and Ex Batts. She has a very messy bum which isn't helping.
With normal well cared for chickens such problems are if caught early enough relatively easy to put right. There is an added problem that many of the drugs I could get easily in Spain are very difficult to get in the UK. Effective mite treatment is particulalry difficult mainly because it is likely to contain permethrin. For chickens with the past history of these including they way they've been kept at the allotment, their immune system is weak and what a fit chicken would shake off can quickly kill chickens such as these.
Fortunately I have already sourced this which is meant for pigeons.

https://www.harkersonline.co.uk/product/treatments/new-2018-harkers-4-1-soluble/

Getting the dosage right per chicken is a bit of a performance especially given I have to dose in one hit; that is I can't just use it in the water as recommended.
Having checked Volt over I managed to catch seven more hens and check them over. None that I could see had the mite and lice problem Volt has.
Once the chickens are out it's very difficult to get them back in until dusk so I spent a while with Volt on my lap picking the lice off from around her ears and eyes and cleaning the worst of the runny poop that was spread from her vent down. When I put her back on the ground she just stood in one place looking miserable and sick.
I let her go to roost with the rest and when I had finished the cleaning up etc reached into the coop, lifted her out and took her home.
I got the first dose of Harkers down her tonight. She's in the shed in a large plastic box with a few towels under her. I cant bring her into the house because my daughter has a dog and it's a Husky.
I'm hoping the medication works fast enough to get her back with the others tomorrow. It's a five day course, the rest of which I can get down her at the allotment.
View attachment 2892256

I'm glad that you did catch it and I'm hopeful that she will respond fairly quickly. Best of luck to you both.

She is a fine looking lady.

 

[BY Bob]

If the maneuver works for you definitely give it a go when you are up to it. I've had a couple serious attacks and the maneuver, which I learned with the second one, did work for me. @BY Bob No guarantee any one thing will work every time. And some people suffer with it chronically. There are multiple causes for vertigo, or menieres disease. Even Bells palsy can cause it. There are things to try (maneuvers, anti-nausea meds, anti-seasickness meds, sometimes scopalamine patches, all these meds have a downside) but it's hit and miss.

That is just a little frightening.