Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Well she is in the brooder box - but you know what kids are like, they are running around like crazy.
I am a bit reluctant to separate her because I think it will stress her out - she will flap and kick to get back to her mini-flock.
I do hope she recovers. Poor baby!

Time to make it dark so they settle down. Yep youngsters are hard to keep down, I always say as long as they are eating and pooping it's all good!

 

[Ponypoor]

I hope and pray they never come here

Caused me huge grief with my horses, the seed heads burrow into the skin in their mouths, throats.... Tongues... Legs, body if they lay on it.... Awful crap. Caused huge ulcers and huge vet bills for the horses.

I am very careful now with my hay.

 

[Ponypoor]

OMG, never knew that about foxtails. pretty much all animals are at risk! I don't beleive I have any on my property, but looking at the image in the link, I am pretty sure I've seen some in this area.

Foxtail - basic info from UC Davis
Foxtail: Wiki w/ images
Foxtail: google search/images

I had a huge problem one winter with the hay supply, I had to get rid of the whole hay loft and had a huge problem replacing it.

I keep an eye on the paddocks for it. @Kris5902 says chickens will eat it.

 

[bgmathteach]

I had a huge problem one winter with the hay supply, I had to get rid of the whole hay loft and had a huge problem replacing it.

I keep an eye on the paddocks for it. @Kris5902 says chickens will eat it.

I can't find reliable anything on the web regarding this. That said, it is only the seed-heads...so they can eat the grass blades just fine.

I would be really worried about any animal eating them after what I have read. Chickens have mucus type membranes in their mouth & throat...that said, I would imagine if it made it to their gizzard...they would be fine...but I would be afraid it would lodge in tissue before then.

I'll try looking further later to night. If I find anything of relevance, I'll edit.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

2 more for Mugs Monday. There is definitely a family resemblance going on here.

 

[featherhead007]

Caused me huge grief with my horses, the seed heads burrow into the skin in their mouths, throats.... Tongues... Legs, body if they lay on it.... Awful crap. Caused huge ulcers and huge vet bills for the horses.

I am very careful now with my hay.

They also seem to jump right off their stalk and embed themselves in my socks (every time I’m in the yard)

 

[featherhead007]

Overcast and tiny rain drops, the chickens headed home to the coop early. Such wimps. But now I can enjoy my evening in the human coop.

 

[Kris5902]

I can't find reliable anything on the web regarding this. That said, it is only the seed-heads...so they can eat the grass blades just fine.

I would be really worried about any animal eating them after what I have read. Chickens have mucus type membranes in their mouth & throat...that said, I would imagine if it made it to their gizzard...they would be fine...but I would be afraid it would lodge in tissue before then.

I'll try looking further later to night. If I find anything of relevance, I'll edit.

So far mine have had no ill effects from it, and anything lodging in the soft tissues or ulceration would have turned in in the eviscerating with the meat inspector and I would have been informed. My best success for eradicating it was with the meat bird chicken tractors. The leg and foot scales seem to prevent penetration issues there and they eat the seed heads on sight. Even the grass blades have the jagged edges when you rub them the wrong way, and the herbivores avoid it like the plague. We have had some nasty ulcers in sheep mouths from them, pointed out by the meat inspector, and they can cause internal abscesses that can result in large portions of meat being condemned if the pus contacts it, if they rupture during the processing. One of the most revolting things anyone in the abattoir had ever experienced. I don’t know how the poor ewe was still hanging in there… when it grosses out the meat inspector, you know it’s bad.

 

[Kris5902]

Well, it sounds like the Flu is getting closer but apparently a different strain than the one hitting the eastern States. They had a reported case in a necropsy on a Bald Eagle in Stanley Park. There was a warning put out by the Saltspring Abattoir recommending all small flock keepers up their bio security and limit interactions with wild birds, especially waterfowl as much as possible.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Well she is in the brooder box - but you know what kids are like, they are running around like crazy.
I am a bit reluctant to separate her because I think it will stress her out - she will flap and kick to get back to her mini-flock.
I do hope she recovers. Poor baby!

Even if you do a sling or some sort of containment you don't have to separate her, do it within the brooder box! I would also take all three to the vet together if you take her there.