Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Dotty does have a little T Rex in her. I love the jump on the stump and vocalize after the chase. Reminds me of this.

I am really glad to see Bernie get away. First steps to integration successfully under way.

Oh yes - that is Dotty!

Here you can see how Bernadette’s leg lets her down. And towards the end you can see it is now her right leg that is the issue. It all Started with her left leg, then both were fine, then right went bad, then got better, then left failed again and recovered, and now it is the right one again.

 

[BY Bob]

Me too. I am like 60 pages behind but saw the notification. Yes, it's hard to watch but she made it! Wondering about why this behaviour persists in chickens, as the Littles obviously know their place (for now, while they're little) it occurred to me this may have an evolutionary benefit of good predator training, all the evasive maneuvers they learn.

This is a very interesting theory. I wonder if that is true. It's a very cool hypothesis. Well done!

 

[Ponypoor]

Caturday contribution, my neighbors kitty had kittens.
(I’m attempting to stay involved with caturday) View attachment 3117352

Oh my goodness that is so adorable, what a good mama!

Alex you need a kitty

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

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

Welcome back. Hopefully things calm down for you soon and your girls finish up their molts and get back to laying. I'm not sure off hand how long you have been gone but I will try to do a summary of what has been going on my my flock and family.

Around the first of January I added a new silkie hen Chiquita to my flock. That was to give Branch a 2nd hen so he would not harass Poppy who was not yet ready to lay. 2 days after she arrived she began laying, but was laying every 2 or 3 days. I saved up 5 eggs and tossed them into the incubator as they were fertilized by her previous owners silkie boys. Halfway through incubation tragedy struck and my sweet little Poppy passed away from a broken neck when she flew off the roost as I was opening the coop door and crashed into it. Only 1 of the silkie eggs hatched. After a week when I was confident it was going to make it I purchased 6 siblings for little Ezzie. 3 Buff orps and 3 Cinnamon Queens which turns out they are not and are mystery Rural King red chicks. They are 4 months old now and the one thing Rural King did get right was they are pullets. Jury is still out on Ezzie being a silkie so I'm waiting until I hear a crow or a egg is laid, but I have a feeling pullet.

March 20 my grandmother had a stroke, thankfully it was not a severe one. She really has not been able to stay by herself for a while now but is stubborn and would not move in with us or let one of use move in with her. After the stroke she had no choice and is living with us. Before the stroke she was showing signs of developing dementia and the stroke has accelerated it. She still does not admit she had a stroke, is determined she is going home and driving me crazy. She will always need to use her walker, wants to use her cane which has been hidden and will try and walk away from the walker. This has led to one fall already which according to her did not happen, she laid down on the floor to look under the bed to see what the cat was doing.

During her stay she has taken up with my chickens. I had one hen Bunny who I had been battling since last fall about coming inside. She has always been interested in the couch and I would never let her one it and toss her back out so she could lay in the nest boxes. Grandma let her in, insisted we see what she would do on the couch. Of course she laid a egg, and every day since she would open the door to let her in. Now she is broody on my couch with 3 eggs which should hatch next week. I also made a deal with her the first week she was here when the "I'm going home" argument was a hourly occurrence to teach her how to use the incubator. We filled it up with 42 eggs and 27 hatched. I had 2 broody hens at the time, Baby who was sitting on nothing and refusing to be broke and Raven who was a week into sitting on 1 egg. I had 3 chicks out that I wanted to grow out so I snuck them under Baby and she took them. 2 white ones with feathered legs and a sole Corona chick with feathered feet. The next day I had another chick hatch that was identical to its momma Squirrel and mom wanted to grow it out as well. I attempted to give it to Baby and all was going fine for a few hours then she rejected it. Raven was in the box next to her and had been very interested in the chicks and calling to them so I snuck it under her and she took it. Both girls were wonderful mommas but have since started back laying and on their own the chicks left their mommas. Of those 4, 2 did turn out to be boys so when the remaining chicks left Thursday to their new home they took them as well. I have a white one left named Cricket, and the Corona chick named Lilly in honor of BYB Bobs hen Lilly. Momma hen also went broody and was sitting on 4 eggs but only 1 hatched. Little Karen is 3 weeks old and is chocolate colored.

Due to my personal limit of 3 boys max and my daughter Rosie becoming super attatched to Ezzie and fearing that she may be a boy she agreed to let me place one of my Marans Basil. I found a wonderful home for him 2 miles up the road from me along with 4 of the cochin girls and creamy. The other day when we drove past on our way to the store I spotted him and the girls out in the middle of the goat pen. I kept my other Marans boy Bubba and my silkie Branch. So boy or girl Ezzie is a permanent flock member.

One of my favorite hens Daisy is sick and there is sadly nothing that can be done. She has a softball sized tumor that starts at her keel bone and extends back. I'm keeping a eye on her and agree with my vet. Let her be as long as she continues to have good days and show no signs of pain. When it is obvious that her quality of life is going humanely euthanize her. She is still enjoying her favorite things, spending time in the creek catching minnows and harassing the hooligans as Ezzie's group and been nicknamed. She is a little bit slower but temperatures have been in the 80s to 90s all week so all my chickens have been lazy.

Finally, Rosie graduates 8th grade this coming Thursday. She already has her algebra 1 class for high school completed and pulled off a 4.0 gpa. She has signed up for Honors English next year and when she graduates I will find out if she is going into normal Algebra 2 or honors Algebra 2.

Sorry this is so long, but a lot has happened so far this year, and it is only May.

 

[BY Bob]

Hey Bernadette looked well able to get out of the way

And she seems pretty mobile, I would let her keep moving and interacting with the group, she looks pretty good.

Yes this is very promising. Fear is a great motivator.

 

[Ponypoor]

Oh yes - that is Dotty!

Here you can see how Bernadette’s leg lets her down. And towards the end you can see it is now her right leg that is the issue. It all Started with her left leg, then both were fine, then right went bad, then got better, then left failed again and recovered, and now it is the right one again.

This looks neurogical to me, did she ever have a fall or fly into a wall and possibly damage her spine (neck or back)...?

I like how her friend stays with her

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

And Fluffy is enabling Curly by giving her an egg to love

Nope sorry Curly no eggs for you

View attachment 3117428

I need to bring Chiquita in and show her this picture. I feel misinformed, she was supposedly a chronic broody last year. At this point I feel that if I ever get my broody silkie I want I need to continue hoping Ezzie is a girl and put my faith in her.

 

[BY Bob]

Fluffy is making sure that I am sending my nasty-gram emails to those who frustrated me yesterday from work... On my vacation day....

Ok whining rant here is Fluffy:
View attachment 3117422

I'm sorry you were frustrated on your vacation day but I love your little helper.

 

[RoyalChick]

This looks neurogical to me, did she ever have a fall or fly into a wall and possibly damage her spine (neck or back)...?

I like how her friend stays with her

Not that I know. Our best guess is it is neurological secondary to vitamin B deficiency. She has had two rounds of near complete recovery after intensive vitamin B2 treatment.
One leg recovers and then the other goes off.
This round is more concerning because I haven’t let up the vitamin therapy but we are going backwards again.
Poor girl.

 

[RoyalChick]

This looks neurogical to me, did she ever have a fall or fly into a wall and possibly damage her spine (neck or back)...?

I like how her friend stays with her

All three are very tight with each other.