Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

I hate doing the grass, going in circles for a couple hrs.... Makes my back ache and get all smelling of gas - Yuck!

Need sheep!

Or goats, I'll send my chickens they will pull your grass out by the roots

 

[micstrachan]

Happy Monday everyone. Today I thought we would check in with a character from the "exorcist", oops I mean Bunny.
Yes in this video I provoked her by petting her, but imagine this and worse emitting from the couch as you walk by in the dark in the middle of the night.

Now for some mugshots of the possessed hen.
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The state of my couch currently. I am guilty of tossing a load of laundry on the couch to fold later. She growls while it is being folded but remains on her eggs. Momma hen would never be allowed this privilege, she would come out for blood if I sat beside her.
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I can’t wait to see the video later when I’m not at work. And your couch totally cracks me up!!!

 

[Ribh]

Happy Monday everyone. Today I thought we would check in with a character from the "exorcist", oops I mean Bunny.
Yes in this video I provoked her by petting her, but imagine this and worse emitting from the couch as you walk by in the dark in the middle of the night.

Now for some mugshots of the possessed hen.
View attachment 3110580View attachment 3110581View attachment 3110582
The state of my couch currently. I am guilty of tossing a load of laundry on the couch to fold later. She growls while it is being folded but remains on her eggs. Momma hen would never be allowed this privilege, she would come out for blood if I sat beside her.
View attachment 3110587

That's quite mild really.
I own an absolute terrorist.

 

[micstrachan]

I just made a vet appointment for tomorrow morning for Minnie (assuming she lasts that long). I doubt the vet will be able to help - I am a big fan of hers and she has chickens herself, but she is not specifically an avian vet and I don't think many people bring in chickens (at least not judging by the celebrity status that Bernadette has with the clinic staff!), so her experience base is limited.
I can't believe how fast these creatures go off. She was absolutely fine all day yesterday - I spent a fair bit of time inside the Chicken Palace because I was constructing the ground floor apartment for the Hooligans and I took lots of breaks sitting out with the big Princesses as they foraged around outside.
Late - when it was almost dark - I thought she looked a bit fluffed up on the roost - but not enough to cause alarm and frankly everyone was heads well tucked in I think because of all the rukus the Hooligans were making when it was well past bedtime.

Oh no! What’s wrong with Minnie?

 

[micstrachan]

Thank you for the words of encouragement.
I am actually not too afraid Bernadette will hurt herself and I do believe she will only learn to adapt if she goes out in the world and tries to do things. I am impressed by how much she is able to do and has already learned to do.
I am a little afraid that she won't be able to get away fast enough if one of the big chickens attacks her and that she needs to be able to find her way back to the safe places where the big ones can't reach her. Both Bella and Lulu can fly up to their penthouse. Bernadette just cannot leap up and however much she flaps she can't get above 18" (a half a meter).
I believe that Bella and Lulu are not going out and exploring the coop because Bernadette cannot physically do so and so they stay with her. Now they have access at ground level so I am hoping that Bernadette will be able to explore and the others will go with her.
But the signs are not encouraging. They have settled into their ground floor apartment and are spending their time cuddled together in a cardboard box just a few steps from a doorway to the wider coop world. They are alert but they prefer to watch everything from the comfort of the cardboard box!
They behave a bit like a cult - they have everything they need from each other and no need to enter into the outside world.
I have blocked off access to the penthouse because all of a sudden this morning the lovely Minnie has become very ill. I thought I felt a stuck egg but then it wasn't there so I am not certain. So Minnie has moved into the penthouse (hospital ward) and the Hooligans are confined to their ground floor apartment with access to the whole of the Chicken Palace if they would just get off their butts and explore!

Here they are cuddled in their ground floor apartment all tangled together in the cardboard box they love. They go out and eat and drink and then come back and spend the day together in the box.
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And here is Minnie who is really the picture of misery and who I fear I may lose. She is not moving and as you can see is very miserable. She looks just like Elizabeth before she died. Same thing - yesterday she was fine. This morning definitely not fine.


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Oh no!!! Poor Minnie! Is she still with us? Is her vent pulsing? I’d pop a calcium citrate if she’ll tolerate it.

 

[Ribh]

Thank you.
I think my vet is probably only basic care too - but she is a step up from me on my own, and though she is further away than the vet my cats see, it is only about half an hour so doable.
She was very sweet and didn’t charge me for the second visit with Bernadette on the grounds that I did everything myself with the boot and she didn’t have much to add.

Ditto. My vet practice is lovely & they do farm animals, including chickens, have their own chooks running round the practice, but I have spent a lot of money & still lost birds because no~one really knows with chooks.

 

[Ribh]

I think by tomorrow they will know 'home' and so I will start hauling them out. It is fascinating and frustrating. They seem to have plenty of energy, they learned new locations for food and water and they found the cardboard box on their own.
When they look out of the box they look right at big chickens at the nipple waterer but have zero interest in investigating further. Totally weird. Definitely cult-like!

What have you got in the way of treats, RC? I think I would be letting them see me hide them around the coop then bribe them to come investigate.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

That's quite mild really.
I own an absolute terrorist.

She is a terrorist. Your right, it was a mild response. I had already annoyed her enough by tossing the laundry on the couch and walking by several times. She does not growl at grandma and funny enough is completely silent if the cats get on the couch. They know she's there and she sees the cats, but not a peep uttered.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Well we got some news about one of grandma's medications she has been on for years. When she had her first mild stroke about 5 years ago that thankfully left no side effects they put her on Plavix. She has been on the highest dose since the beginning. When we finally got to see her neurologist 2 1/2 weeks ago now he was surprised to find out she had been on that dose for so long and still had another stroke, along with the plague build-up in the arteries of her brain. He ordered a blood test because he said it was rare, only about 10% of the population have a genetic propensity to be resistant to Plavix. She had the test done and we went back today and found out that yup, she is one of those 10%. She has absolutely zero response to the drug. There is a new drug that works just like Plavix, but has not been involved with a study with Plavix so it is not the first thing that is tried. We have to get a PA for the insurance to approve it but hopefully by Wednesday she can start that new medication. It is a chance, but we now know that Plavix does nothing for her. Oh and this gene thing is hereditary, so if in the future me and mom ever have to go on Plavix we would have to be first tested to see if we would respond.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

While not chicken related although I could interchange the word Horses for Chickens this speaks to me. Oh and let us change the name Deborah to Eunice and it will have been the story of my life for the past few years.