Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Kris5902]

One or two outlier poops do not worry me. I need to see consistently off poops before I get concerned.

All that worries me is the possibility of blood in the top one. But I need to see more than 1 bloody poop before I get worried. Have there been more of the same?

Shoot, I missed responding to this post earlier… I agree on not getting alarmed too quickly, and recall that fairly recently they were treated for coccidia… I was seeing intestinal shed much like that first poop for a solid month and a bit after I treated the second one looks off but I have had mine do random messy deconstructed poops like that now and again, seems to happen mostly in fall and spring here.

 

[BY Bob]

Agatha shell's are soft again and she got one stuck yesterday morning. I'm stopping the calcium if it's bad this morning I don't want her hurting anymore she was straining badly. I'll be out making sure she's okay soon

I'm so sorry Marie.

 

[BY Bob]

Shoot, I missed responding to this post earlier… I agree on not getting alarmed too quickly, and recall that fairly recently they were treated for coccidia… I was seeing intestinal shed much like that first poop for a solid month and a bit after I treated the second one looks off but I have had mine do random messy deconstructed poops like that now and again, seems to happen mostly in fall and spring here.

I think we are in agreement on these.

 

[ManueB]

I am desperate for bees here, to help pollinate my fruit trees

I am loving this conversation. I have always wanted bees (even before I wanted chickens) but I have always been too intimidated because it seems like a lot to learn and a lot I can do wrong!
Also, I gather they produce an enormous amount of honey and I really only use a very little honey.
A lot of people around me keep bees so local honey is easy to find. I think many of their bees visit me because I have a pollinator friendly environment - I am always seeing honey bees on my plants.
I am still a bit overwhelmed by trying to keep my chickens alive so I think I will still wait on bees. Oh, and I would need an even more potent electric fence because of the bears!

This made wonderful sense! Wax moths… from what I have read/learned are also nasty little things. We have them and small hive beetles in North America, and ants and rodents pose problems too. I was just wondering about the varroa as the torches came up while discussing mites so… it has been Many years since I was looking into beekeeping, and with the level of irrational fear gave up on it until I either move or the Aunt steps away from the farming more. Language barrier wise, the only thing google didn’t translate perfectly is “upper chambers” in North America we call them “honey supers” which probably makes even less sense once translated! I love that you are frameless or using your own comb, I think that is much better than the started frames. I was looking into Top Bar style hives originally for many of the same reasons you give, and wondering if when I lived in the city I could somehow disguise the hives by choosing a less traditional looking one to get away with it. Thanks for sharing this!

For anyone wanting to keep bees, my best advice would be to find someone else to do it with. Someone experienced is great, but even another beginner is good, much of the handling is way easier if you are not alone.
@Ponypoor having bees did make a big difference for our fruit trees and because we have been chosing plants for the bees, now we have all type of pollinators. You can look up online pollinators friendly plants calendar for your zone. Having bee-friendly flowers for as long a period as possible should attract wild bees at least.
And it's also possible to have a hive without taking honey. In fact it's a lot easier since basically when you take honey you are stealing the bee's food .

You did just fine. My dad was a hobby bee keeper for a number of years. At one point, we lived across the street from the school and the extractor (he built it) couldn't be removed from the house. He would put on his bee suit, fire up the smoker and take a fresh super (dunno on the spelling, but the "upper chambers") into the classrooms. The kids would get to see what the honeycomb looks like, get an education on do and don't around bees, bee vs wasp, then have a field trip across the street to our house to finish the lesson by loading the extractor and everyone getting to turn the crank and taste the honey.

Loved this story, your dad sounds like a wonderful man .

 

[Scrambles83]

Hey all! Just popping in to say hi, been super busy and now I think this thread has gotten away from me too much to catch up
Snow and Belle are doing well, snow has finished her VERY long moult but not yet back to laying. Belle is half way through hers now, nearly lost all her tail feathers, and not laying
I hope everyone here and their feathered gals and guys are ok

 

[rural mouse]

Hey all! Just popping in to say hi, been super busy and now I think this thread has gotten away from me too much to catch up
Snow and Belle are doing well, snow has finished her VERY long moult but not yet back to laying. Belle is half way through hers now, nearly lost all her tail feathers, and not laying
I hope everyone here and their feathered gals and guys are ok

Thanks for touching base and a quick update. Glad the ladies are doing well. We can try to do a summary update to catch you up if you want...?

 

[Scrambles83]

Thanks for touching base and a quick update. Glad the ladies are doing well. We can try to do a summary update to catch you up if you want...?

Sure, if you have the time

 

[MaryJanet]

Hey all! Just popping in to say hi, been super busy and now I think this thread has gotten away from me too much to catch up
Snow and Belle are doing well, snow has finished her VERY long moult but not yet back to laying. Belle is half way through hers now, nearly lost all her tail feathers, and not laying
I hope everyone here and their feathered gals and guys are ok

Nice to see ya!

 

[Scrambles83]

Nice to see ya!

Thanks, MJ. I hope you and your girls are well

 

[GregnLety]

Me too.