Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

This might not be the most popular suggestion, but I think that cutting the supplements, and switching to a basic balanced commercial chicken feed would be the best place to start. Let them free range in the yard, but cut out the dairy, greens, and fruits for a while. Add them back slowly and in much smaller quantities after a few months. Then, if there are still any issues it can be treated. I don’t see anything in this supplement that would be an effective treatment for worms or coccidia, or most other chicken health issues. And some of the ingredients wouldn’t be something a chicken would naturally be consuming anyways. Just my two cents. And I completely understand the issues with finding a good and affordable vet that will treat poultry. It’s a huge struggle here as well.

I've added more

 

[Marie2020]

It's strange because garlic and cloves kill worms in my dog and its never fails

I'm stressed as there's no way I can order this wormer until the morning

 

[Ponypoor]

Unsuccessful Weigh In

Yesterday was not a great day for BY Bob with the chickens. I tried to weigh Phyllis. I have been wanting to do so too see the effects of 35 days trying to hatch on her weight. I made the mistake of not bringing her in the house to weigh her on the table. Instead I tried to weigh her on the ground outside.

What a mess.

Up on the table in the house, a chicken will pause to consider its next move giving the scale a moment to weigh it. Outside on the ground she just kept trying to walk away. I could not get her to hold still and eventually I gave up with all the squawking and wing flapping. What a ruckus.

The really interesting thing is that Aurora came to her defense. Aurora charged over and did everything except outright attack me. It was very rooster like and she was highly agitated and unhappy with me causing Phyllis distress. She reminded me very much of Patsy.

All in all she probably is a good leader for this group after all.

The High Queen and Defender of the Realm

View attachment 3176839

Good girl Aurora

I thought about that issue when I bought my scale there last week. I remember how difficult it was with my bunnies when I was teen... Then always hopping everywhere....

So I purchased a hanging scale, and I shoved Penelope in a cloth grocery bag and hung it on the scale - worked like a charm! Subtract weight of cloth bag from chicken and Penelope weighed in at a respectable 5.24lbs Fluffy was 3 3lbs a chunky silkie!

Penelope was rather comfy in the bad and didn't want to get out hahaha, she loves best bags, lays her eggs in the shavings bags if she gets a chance

 

[ManueB]

I've used verm-x last year in my flock. It's meant as a natural preventive but it doesn't claim to kill worms in case a hen does get them. I didn't have a fecal float so I can't be sure, but I supposed at the time that two of my hens who were very unwell months apart, Vanille and Caramel, had worm overload due to their symptoms. I treated them with Flubendazole. In both cases they healed when I thought they would pass, but it may have been a coincidence. So from my experience I'm not saying that verm-x is completely ineffective, but I'm not sure it would be sufficient for a chicken that is already fragile if there are worms in their environment. The other problem with it is that it has a very strong taste and smell and clearly the first of my hen to be ill, Vanille, didn't drink much of it as she hated it.

Sorry for the long post. I also agree if Flexi accepts to eat normal pellets, eventually made into a mash, it is better to give her that. If she hasn't been eating for more than four or five days I would understand giving her confort food.

 

[bgmathteach]

What do they want from me? Gezzz! I cooked up some steak that I had in the fridge, cut up tiny pieces, and gave some to each chook. They still wanted more, more, more. Dakota jumped up on my lap and went face to beak with me (she had the beak, me the face) all Jaffar did was bite my hand. Seems that he didn’t want steak! But yes, Xzit had some too. Still setting on the egg. So, what do they want from me?

Give an inch, they take a mile. Give a Salisbury steak, they want a filet mignon!

 

[Marie2020]

I've used verm-x last year in my flock. It's meant as a natural preventive but it doesn't claim to kill worms in case a hen does get them. I didn't have a fecal float so I can't be sure, but I supposed at the time that two of my hens who were very unwell months apart, Vanille and Caramel, had worm overload due to their symptoms. I treated them with Flubendazole. In both cases they healed when I thought they would pass, but it may have been a coincidence. So from my experience I'm not saying that verm-x is completely ineffective, but I'm not sure it would be sufficient for a chicken that is already fragile if there are worms in their environment. The other problem with it is that it has a very strong taste and smell and clearly the first of my hen to be ill, Vanille, didn't drink much of it as she hated it.

Sorry for the long post. I also agree if Flexi accepts to eat normal pellets, eventually made into a mash, it is better to give her that. If she hasn't been eating for more than four or five days I would understand giving her confort food.

She's eaten well and just had ten minutes or more in the garden and had some of the natural food outside and she's just drank honey with a tiny bit of salt water

I made mash with garlic which they all ate. Separately! She stinks of garlic

I'm thinking of making layers with garlic overnight

 

[ChicoryBlue]

This might not be the most popular suggestion, but I think that cutting the supplements, and switching to a basic balanced commercial chicken feed would be the best place to start. Let them free range in the yard, but cut out the dairy, greens, and fruits for a while. Add them back slowly and in much smaller quantities after a few months. Then, if there are still any issues it can be treated. I don’t see anything in this supplement that would be an effective treatment for worms or coccidia, or most other chicken health issues. And some of the ingredients wouldn’t be something a chicken would naturally be consuming anyways. Just my two cents. And I completely understand the issues with finding a good and affordable vet that will treat poultry. It’s a huge struggle here as well.

@Marie2020 partly @Ponypoor 's & @Kris5902 's point is that substituting various other things for their basic food needs could actually be making your task of trying to figure out what is wrong with them harder. Meals of treats and supplements don't fulfill their basic dietary needs but actually displace their main food supply which should be a quality feed. Suppose they don't eat a balanced feed and instead fill up on yogurt, fruit, pumpkin seeds and leaves, they could be missing a certain vitamin or mineral. Over time, that vital thing missing might make them not feel well, which leaves you guessing about a much wider range of possible ailments than if you at least knew they were getting a proven diet. Also, and I could be wrong about this, I think a nutritional deficiency might leave them vulnerable to other actual things that ail weakened chickens. So if you feed them a generally-accepted quality feed 90% of the time, then you know they are getting all their basic needs met and when they don't feel well it is due to something other than basic nutrition.

 

[Marie2020]

Well it's garlic water tomorrow I cannot get anything immediately

 

[Marie2020]

@Marie2020 partly @Ponypoor 's & @Kris5902 's point is that substituting various other things for their basic food needs could actually be making your task of trying to figure out what is wrong with them harder. Meals of treats and supplements don't fulfill their basic dietary needs but actually displace their main food supply which should be a quality feed. Suppose they don't eat a balanced feed and instead fill up on yogurt, fruit, pumpkin seeds and leaves, they could be missing a certain vitamin or mineral. Over time, that vital thing missing might make them not feel well, which leaves you guessing about a much wider range of possible ailments than if you at least knew they were getting a proven diet. Also, and I could be wrong about this, I think a nutritional deficiency might leave them vulnerable to other actual things that ail weakened chickens. So if you feed them a generally-accepted quality feed 90% of the time, then you know they are getting all their basic needs met and when they don't feel well it is due to something other than basic nutrition.

Their main feed is layers fermentation and mash they don't get yogurt every day a few times a week at most however fruits such as apples and banana I like them too have. They like to forage so dandelion leaves when they can't get to any greens

Thanks for your thoughts I like to observe what others do

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Twiggy and George are 6 weeks old today. I brought Twiggy in to get some pictures.
Rosie claims that when Twig stands upright she/he looks like a emu. Twig also has one stray feather coming in that is giving off the impression of a tiny mowhawk.