Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[LozzyR]

Wow, very talented....amazing work. I'm sure that this piece brings you both comfort and sorrow.

Thanks Barb, yes it does.

 

[Kris5902]

I didn’t believe it at first, but my chickens can open up the feed bin. They pop off the lid, and help themselves.

Oh yes, this is not in the least surprising, to me. They can even undo the latches on my little garbage cans of scratch! I don’t know how… it must be a co-operative operation. I’ve been considering adding bungees to these too, like I use to keep the lids in the big cans of feed. Won’t prevent bovine feed robbing but it sometimes
Slows them down enough for me to rescue my chicken feed!

 

[featherhead007]

Oh yes, this is not in the least surprising, to me. They can even undo the latches on my little garbage cans of scratch! I don’t know how… it must be a co-operative operation. I’ve been considering adding bungees to these too, like I use to keep the lids in the big cans of feed. Won’t prevent bovine feed robbing but it sometimes
Slows them down enough for me to rescue my chicken feed!

It has to be a cooperative measure for sure!

 

[RoyalChick]

Monday’s mugshot comes courtesy of Dotty. I may be being overly optimistic but I think the second point is looking a bit less swollen. I am still hoping she keeps it.

Maggie laid another egg again today. I tried to explain to her that it was not seemly for a hen of her age to lay an egg every day. That conversation did not go so well and she belted out her egg song for a good hour after that. It sounds muted in the recording. I was a good 200 yards away and it was still quite loud and somehow relentless.

I did wonder if she was actually yelling at the geese who are now flying North again in large numbers and are very loud. I feel like it was only a few weeks ago that they were flying South. I guess they only had a short holiday. Not a great picture but this was a particularly noisy flock.

Finally in depressing news Diana also laid an egg. The first for a long time. No shell.
I am thinking it is that her egg shell department is messed up rather than it being a calcium deficiency. So I am thinking of not giving her calcium pills unless she gets in trouble passing one. What do you think? My reasoning is that she has had months to rebuild her calcium stores while she wasn’t laying. Also, last year I chucked a lot of calcium down her and it didn’t make a difference. I am not sure what best to do but am leaning towards holding back on pills. She has egg shell and oyster shell available whenever she wants it. I don’t have good feelings about this. It is exactly what Elizabeth was doing before she died.

 

[Kris5902]

Monday’s mugshot comes courtesy of Dotty. I may be being overly optimistic but I think the second point is looking a bit less swollen. I am still hoping she keeps it.
View attachment 3017189

Maggie laid another egg again today. I tried to explain to her that it was not seemly for a hen of her age to lay an egg every day. That conversation did not go so well and she belted out her egg song for a good hour after that. It sounds muted in the recording. I was a good 200 yards away and it was still quite loud and somehow relentless.

I did wonder if she was actually yelling at the geese who are now flying North again in large numbers and are very loud. I feel like it was only a few weeks ago that they were flying South. I guess they only had a short holiday. Not a great picture but this was a particularly noisy flock.
View attachment 3017210

Finally in depressing news Diana also laid an egg. The first for a long time. No shell.
I am thinking it is that her egg shell department is messed up rather than it being a calcium deficiency. So I am thinking of not giving her calcium pills unless she gets in trouble passing one. What do you think? My reasoning is that she has had months to rebuild her calcium stores while she wasn’t laying. Also, last year I chucked a lot of calcium down her and it didn’t make a difference. I am not sure what best to do but am leaning towards holding back on pills. She has egg shell and oyster shell available whenever she wants it. I don’t have good feelings about this. It is exactly what Elizabeth was doing before she died.

Eggs without shells don’t really matter to me unless the hen is having difficulty passing them. What breed Is Diana again? The commercial layers are a slightly different situation I’ve found. I agree Dotty looks promising on keeping that second point and it Does look much less swollen, its Not just you!

 

[LozzyR]

Monday’s mugshot comes courtesy of Dotty. I may be being overly optimistic but I think the second point is looking a bit less swollen. I am still hoping she keeps it.
View attachment 3017189

Maggie laid another egg again today. I tried to explain to her that it was not seemly for a hen of her age to lay an egg every day. That conversation did not go so well and she belted out her egg song for a good hour after that. It sounds muted in the recording. I was a good 200 yards away and it was still quite loud and somehow relentless.

I did wonder if she was actually yelling at the geese who are now flying North again in large numbers and are very loud. I feel like it was only a few weeks ago that they were flying South. I guess they only had a short holiday. Not a great picture but this was a particularly noisy flock.
View attachment 3017210

Finally in depressing news Diana also laid an egg. The first for a long time. No shell.
I am thinking it is that her egg shell department is messed up rather than it being a calcium deficiency. So I am thinking of not giving her calcium pills unless she gets in trouble passing one. What do you think? My reasoning is that she has had months to rebuild her calcium stores while she wasn’t laying. Also, last year I chucked a lot of calcium down her and it didn’t make a difference. I am not sure what best to do but am leaning towards holding back on pills. She has egg shell and oyster shell available whenever she wants it. I don’t have good feelings about this. It is exactly what Elizabeth was doing before she died.

That’s so worrying. Can you get her a Suprelorin implant? @micstrachan can tell you more about those.

 

[RoyalChick]

Eggs without shells don’t really matter to me unless the hen is having difficulty passing them. What breed Is Diana again? The commercial layers are a slightly different situation I’ve found. I agree Dotty looks promising on keeping that second point and it Does look much less swollen, its Not just you!

Diana is an ISA Brown so she is the definition of a 'bred for productivity' hen. She is 3 years old. Poor baby. I am not worried about losing the egg, I am only worried about her getting into difficulty passing it.

 

[RoyalChick]

That’s so worrying. Can you get her a Suprelorin implant? @micstrachan can tell you more about those.

I will enquire of the vet - the last time I looked into it I couldn't find anyone able to do it. Since then I have found a vet who has chickens herself so may be more open to it.
I think the issue is that it is off-label.

 

[BY Bob]

View attachment 3017166View attachment 3017176View attachment 3017177

A theme has taken hold! I love it! And I love barred rocks!

 

[BY Bob]

Thanks Barb, yes it does.

That makes me very happy to hear.