Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[lightm]

According to a paper published two days ago, rice growing may have contributed to chickens domestication?

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-wild-jungle-fowl-became-chicken

My chickens surely love rice, ummmm.

 

[GregnLety]

Does anyone have a spatula to scrape @GregnLety off the heat? I think they melted 103 damn that’s hot . Gotta love Texas!

Predicting 106 for next week. That is hellish for even August. This summer will be brutal.

 

[featherhead007]

Predicting 106 for next week. That is hellish for even August. This summer will be brutal.

Grab your sunglasses , your chickens, and come enjoy California for a visit. I even have a lake to cool off with. It’s only a two day drive

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I think either is possible. The fenbendazole does work pretty much immediately so if she did have a big load then they would all die and could clog her up. The thing against that is that it took two stool samples to find the roundworms - if it was that heavy a worm load you would think they would have shown on the first fecal test.
Equally however because she was under the weather for a while before I got the worm diagnosis she wsa definitely not eating well - for several days she just sat there looking like she would die at any moment - and the day I noticed her crop ballooning she was eating like a crazed beast - just stuffing her face as fast as she could. So it seems equally plausible that the worming medicine killed the worms, made her feel better and therefore hungry and she got in trouble from eating too much too fast.
Either way, poor Minnie!
I am definitely taking the black slime coming out of her rear end as a good sign. I just really keep wishing that my morning inspection would reveal an empty crop.

That the worms were hard to find was what I recalled too. Two interesting factoids I read in The Chicken Handbook (Gail Damerow 2015) is that the gizzard will send food back up into the proventriculus if it senses it's not been digested enough when it gets down to the gizzard. Wouldn't that stop things up? It's in the proventriculus that acids and enzymes are set to work on the food. The mouth saliva adds stuff too. Second, that some foods like grains (not commercial chicken feed; does she mean whole grains then?) will take longer than 24 hours to clear the crop.

So I think it seems what you're doing is the best that can be done short of crop surgery, and that you both are indeed making progress. Also that you have incredible gumption and fortitude. They say the brave do have fear, but they cope in spite of it. That's you!

Seems to me the only thing I would watch for is if she might need some high-calorie liquid food like a NutriDrench to keep her strength up while her gut gets sorted. It's counteracting the sour crop treatment, but possibly necessary in the event. Maybe spaced apart in the day that could work.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

There is one teeny, tiny problem I have to figure out if Chiquita goes full on broody. It is her nest location. The brat has chosen one of the porch boxes. The favorite porch box actually. Not only will this cause a issue with 3 of the other girls who all fight over that box, how am I going to sneak eggs under her without mom knowing. Any other spot and I could set her and pretend I did not know she was setting, but not on the porch. I will have grandma on my side though, she wants "Fuzzy" to hatch chicks. She even wanted me to give Bunny a "Fuzzy" egg when I set her. And yes, she is trying to rename another of my chickens. To everyone else now Bubba is "Big Red". She calls Branch "Big Bird" which mom loves more then Branch, and Chiquita is now "Fuzzy".

Put Chiquita's nest box on the couch. Let Grandma guard it from mom

 

[RoyalChick]

That the worms were hard to find was what I recalled too. Two interesting factoids I read in The Chicken Handbook (Gail Damerow 2015) is that the gizzard will send food back up into the proventriculus if it senses it's not been digested enough when it gets down to the gizzard. Wouldn't that stop things up? It's in the proventriculus that acids and enzymes are set to work on the food. The mouth saliva adds stuff too. Second, that some foods like grains (not commercial chicken feed; does she mean whole grains then?) will take longer than 24 hours to clear the crop.

So I think it seems what you're doing is the best that can be done short of crop surgery, and that you both are indeed making progress. Also that you have incredible gumption and fortitude. They say the brave do have fear, but they cope in spite of it. That's you!

Seems to me the only thing I would watch for is if she might need some high-calorie liquid food like a NutriDrench to keep her strength up while her gut gets sorted. It's counteracting the sour crop treatment, but possibly necessary in the event. Maybe spaced apart in the day that could work.

Very interesting. I have been wondering what role the crop plays in actual digestion and I think it is not much. Sounds like there is action in the proventriculus however.
I am keeping a close eye on her as you can imagine - she is definitely underweight but she is not in acute nutrient distress. She is energetic for example, and some stuff must be getting through as she is eating healthy amounts and is no longer swelling in such an extreme way. I have also seen bits of grit from the TSC bag of grit (vs regular stones from the ground) in her poop - I only started encouraging grit from TSC when her crop got bad, so something is getting through!
I have been trying to encourage her to eat things that are less fibrous - so she has been getting lots of egg which she likes. But without confining her the whole time I cannot stop her eating little leaves and bugs.
I don't think crop surgery makes any sense - I don't feel any fibrous lump that one could remove - it is all liquid with a few granules. So either the blockage is lower down or there isn't a physical blockage but rather just low motility for some reason.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I WAS going to do different mugs, but the deer moved off before it was light enough to get fawn mugs. So instead, some from last night's sunbathing. It rained most of yesterday afternoon AAnAnd the clouds broke up (temporarily )just in time for the gloaming (the warm golden tones just before sunset). The younger crew took advantage.View attachment 3138150Hector...Asphodel half off screen doing the chicken version of 100 brush strokes before bed. This lot is also going through the voice change.....lots of honking squeaks.


View attachment 3138151Behind Hector, Ember watching Asphodel while Whiskey and Horus (top) do their own 100 strokes.
Mmeanwhile inside...
View attachment 3138152The "clones" are getting big enough Jessica is getting challenged covering them. She's also been a bit less vigilant about chasing encroaching babes away and the pair are getting a little bit of interaction with the 5 (Whiskey the most). watching them flit up to roost is a picture of grace and beauty. Their short flights have the same economy of motion as wild song birds flitting about the trees. Naming this pair is a challenge (no cockerel signs on either) and even if we settle on names, they're likely going to be interchangeable until after the 12 week moult/until combs show differences. Any suggestions?

Thinking how you refer to them as "the clones," Cling and Clang came to mind.

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok well Wednesday, hump day...

Here is the chickens version of a coffee mug

I tried that. She’s not interested in more. She’s setting on two.

That's awesome so hopefully 2 chicks

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok well Wednesday, hump day...

Here is the chickens version of a coffee mug

That's awesome so hopefully 2 chicks

Ooops sorry forgot the photo will try again - duh!

 

[Ponypoor]

BBeau

I got in the car and traveled westbound.
No, I didn’t bring my chickens. View attachment 3141124View attachment 3141125View attachment 3141125

Beautiful

I love the ocean.