Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

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.

That was an awesome recap! It helped me remember it all again

 

[featherhead007]

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.

You gotta be kidding. No hen is ever that bad (T-Rex bad)

 

[Ponypoor]

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.

Well she sure looks capable of getting around if need be!

 

[featherhead007]

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

Alex you need a kitty

Alex, he don’t need no kitty! I’m not fond of cats in general.

 

[Ponypoor]

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

It's good to know she can get her butt (fluffy) out of the way!

It's likely good physio also!

 

[Ponypoor]

Alex, he don’t need no kitty! I’m not fond of cats in general.

But they are so much fun, just like horses and chickies

 

[featherhead007]

But they are so much fun, just like horses and chickies

Is it gone yet ?

 

[BY Bob]

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.

I see what you means about her leg. Frankly it reminds me a lot of @Ribh Sif. I love her running about chased by Dotty. That's great PT for her. I really do think this is going to turn out OK in the long term.

 

[Ponypoor]

So much drama today with egg laying. Buttercup laid a lovely blue egg up on the straw bale and it slipped down behind the bale as I knew it would one day.

I rescued the egg, and tried to block the others but they were just crazy about laying up there. So I piled shavings bales up there, but they still wanted to lay up there, Sheesh!!

Well I went and got two animal crates out shavings and straw in them shoves them up on the bales and told the girls - lay your eggs there! Rose was nice enough to comply waiting to see what Sophia does in the other crate!

 

[BY Bob]

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.

You have had a very busy year so far. Wow!