Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[bgmathteach]

I know I'm stressed right now but I don't know what I'm going to do. I really don't want to do that again.

Can you pluck a couple of feathers on either side (one or two of the larger/longer ones) and then trim the smaller/fluffier ones - that would be less likely to have active veins in them? Obviously, after a day or two for everyone's nerves to settle down.

Maybe if you preconditioned Gucci for this, she would be better. i.e. have @ Mrs BY Bob hold Gucci as if she was going to be trimmed. You pet her head/head feathers but do nothing else to them, and then give her some meal worms...and let her go. But repeat this each night for a week or two until she is calm when Mrs @BY Bob holds her????????

 

[bgmathteach]

Failed Trim

Tonight's trim went very badly. I thought that Gucci might get used to this process but she fought like crazy tonight. Of course my first cut pierced a stem and she started bleeding like crazy. She was throwing her head around trying to avoid the scissors. Blood was everywhere. It was a complete fiasco. A little trimming got done but all three of us are traumatized.

Just awful.

 

[RoyalChick]

Can you pluck a couple of feathers on either side (one or two of the larger/longer ones) and then trim the smaller/fluffier ones - that would be less likely to have active veins in them? Obviously, after a day or two for everyone's nerves to settle down.

Maybe if you preconditioned Gucci for this, she would be better. i.e. have @ Mrs BY Bob hold Gucci as if she was going to be trimmed. You pet her head/head feathers but do nothing else to them, and then give her some meal worms...and let her go. But repeat this each night for a week or two until she is calm when Mrs @BY Bob holds her????????

Very good idea.
I don’t know enough about this thing with blood in feathers. Is it just when they are new? Is there a way to tell which feathers have a blood supply?

 

[fuentemoon]

Finally got a couple of bums at dinner time.

 

[fuentemoon]

Can you pluck a couple of feathers on either side (one or two of the larger/longer ones) and then trim the smaller/fluffier ones - that would be less likely to have active veins in them? Obviously, after a day or two for everyone's nerves to settle down.

Maybe if you preconditioned Gucci for this, she would be better. i.e. have @ Mrs BY Bob hold Gucci as if she was going to be trimmed. You pet her head/head feathers but do nothing else to them, and then give her some meal worms...and let her go. But repeat this each night for a week or two until she is calm when Mrs @BY Bob holds her????????

I second this approach.

 

[bgmathteach]

Very good idea.
I don’t know enough about this thing with blood in feathers. Is it just when they are new? Is there a way to tell which feathers have a blood supply?

It is for growing feathers. Sometimes on very light/white feathers you can. If the shaft of the feather is darker, you can't. Also, if, like in Gucci's case, she has a big ploof of feathers and isn't holding still, it can be nearly impossible to tell until the white feathers turn red.

If he is able to pluck a large one, generally (I'm not sure exactly why/how structurally) one that is growing and is cut will bleed, but if you pluck it, it won't. I've had to pluck the end of the shaft for a hen when a growing feather got broken and was bleeding( called a blood feather), and plucking the rest of the shaft stops that bleeding (and hence the unwanted attention of other chickens that peck at the blood)
?Maybe @BY Bob will know how/why that is true? (broken shaft bleeds quite freely, but plucked it stops...with regards to growing feathers.) It doesn't make much logical sense to me,so I must be missing something in the feather anatomy that makes it true

 

[bgmathteach]

Finally got a couple of bums at dinner time. View attachment 3254481View attachment 3254482

So, you are telling us, then, that it is a bum wrap???

 

[featherhead007]

I only want to thank God for another day of survival for my chooks in the heat of the day 105f. I’m done for the day now. I’m hoping that the bloody feather situation will have answers soon. How stressful that must be.

 

[lightm]

Yup I did note that

I have glasses for my computer but they suck for close up reading thus everything is blurry…

You just got too excited ...

 

[lightm]

Um.......being the numbers person on here....I feel the need to point out that it is 23 pages to 11,000 from when you posted. Obviously, this thread moves at quite the clip, so it is fewer than 23 pages left now...but still more than 3

Sorry to be bearer of bad news.

and why did I say 27??