Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Out of Touch

I am going be way behind the rest of the week. There is no way I will catch up. Please PM me and tag your post if you want me to weigh in on something. I will however continue to post as my limited time with the ladies has been wonderful.

I do this video every year. Here is the Sounds of Fall. It gives me great peace to just listen to them rustling in the leaves. So here is two minutes of Betty and Aurora digging in leaves.

Betty is quite a digger. She buried their water the other day!

 

[Ponypoor]

I also want to say that I'm very relieved you will finally be operated @RebeccaBoyd. You deserve a life without pain. I'm sure Rosie can be trusted to act as a keeper - she seems a strong minded responsible young lady. We say in french dogs don't birth cats .

My hen Blanche also has these brittle feathers. It's something we have discussed on Shadrach's thread about battery hens and our best conclusion was that they had feathers of poor quality. These hens also don't molt normally so they don't have a chance of growing back new feathers. I think this could be what's affecting Larry if she is the only one. There is a type of depluming mite and for a long time I thought this was what Blanche had but I was wrong. Other hens would have rattled feathers also.

Not able to say if this is SLM but I will say if you have a suspicion DON'T bring them in your flock. It's very contagious.
*****
Ok now for the good news that's not news to those who read it elsewhere...
Piou-piou laid an egg yesterday !!
She's the first of Chipie's hatch to lay! What an incredible surprise for this pullet who was a runt chick that couldn't run or fly properly.
It's a tiny beige thing but I'm overjoyed. I know I'm just overdoing it .

Here are two photos of her from two days ago having a drink.
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Oh how lovely that she laid her egg first! And it’s not so small
Thank you Piou-piou for your contribution!! Such a pretty wee pullet

Re: Larry - the other hens also have the ratty feathers, but Larry’s are the worst. I am going to go back up today and get better photos.

Ok all it’s a beautiful morning so I am off to do chores (code for diddly squat),

Everyone have a lovely day!

 

[BY Bob]

Have a solid foot (30cm) of snow. Clearing part of the deck and path to the garage. Warming up, repeat, expanding cleared areas. Crowing calls in the coop, otherwise nothing is stirring.

Well you were begging for snow last year. Perhaps this year will be more normal for you. Please keep it there though, ok?

 

[BY Bob]

It was only then she walked about 20 feet and stopped to poop, it sounded like diarrhea.

This is all seemingly very good news. That first diarrhea sounding poo is likely some water that could have gotten in her vent while soaking. I have seen that before. I would not worry too much about that.

I do think you need to consider if you want to give prophylactic antibiotics or not. If an egg came apart in her there is a chance she could develop an infection from it. Since you felt nothing inside her it could be that she laid a soft shelled egg successfully and they all ate it. In which case antibiotics would not be needed.

I only bring it up because you should at least consider it.

 

[BY Bob]

I did not need a attack rooster after all. All it took was a ultra-sound followed by a oh my god and surgery is scheduled. Thanks to 2 cysts on one ovary, 1 6cm and 1 8cm I have to have a total hysterectomy December 13. This is on top of at least 7 fibroid tumors.

Well since this is the outcome you wanted I guess it is good news. That surely was a lot of stuff going on.

Tax

 

[BY Bob]

Ty I love her coloring too and her beard.

It's a very good beard.

 

[ValarieF]

It's a very good beard.

Im love the beards and wattles hehehe

 

[BY Bob]

I'm wondering about this, not for gastritis but some egg production /salpingitis problem. I have feared she could end up with it as her eggs have been an issue since she began laying.

If you are worried about salpingitis at all you need to treat early and aggressively with antibiotics. If any scarring occurs at all it will be fatal unless you have a vet that will either put in an implant or remove her ovaries.

If scaring occurs, the eggs will not pass and she will start internal laying. She will then essentially lay herself to death. This is what happened to Daisy, the greatest hen ever.

 

[bgmathteach]

So Larry is apparently a ‘broody’ hen preferring to sit in the nest box, her belly is bald but looks scalded, but that could be because my silkies have black skin so when they are bald I don’t see it as being sore.

I going up there today to take a close look at them, I will get some better photos. But all the hens backs by their gland is all ratty tatty . All though they are all a good weight they just look ratty ratty and not gleaming, they don’t look like my hens who are molting.

If you suspect SLM, and are going back to visit them, bring with you some coconut oil or similar and slather their legs and feet to help with the mites.

It definitely WON'T hurt them if they don't have mites, but will help if they do. So, either way, no harm, no fowl! pun and incorrect spelling intended!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Hello everyone. I have no success at all in getting thirsty pictures today but wanted to chime in about a few things.

@ChicoryBlue regarding sweet peanut. I'm no expert at all, but I've unfortunately had experiences with both egg bound hens and internal laying leading to egg yolk peritonitis. An egg bound hen will not act better if she hasn't laid. However in the cases I've seen the eggs that come out are not normal and the hens don't consider that they are eggs so they will basically pop them anywhere. Yes, if the egg comes out with a soft broken shell and the hens get to it first, it's possible that there remains almost nothing and you miss it. Sometimes I've found just a tiny piece of membrane under the roost or saw that the straw was damp.from the egg white they couldn't eat. However, usually you can find a least a little trace of something if you look everywhere.
Next, regarding EYP and possible salpingitis. Do you remember the exact last times peanut laid, and whether her egg was typical for her (big and oval,) or if something specific had happened ? Have you seen her trying to lay in the nests without success ? These were signs I didn't understand to be indicating EYP for my hen Caramel. In her case, she had also a mass in the abdomen which stopped her from breathing normally. Can you feel anything when handling Peanut, either a mass or an abnormally loose abdomen ?
What the vet told me is that antibiotics will cure the infection only if given early enough, and they do not treat the reproductive disorder. Amoxicillin is the generic antibiotic used. I remember @micstrachan advised me another stronger one, I will look for her post. Caramel was diagnosed too late, so she had to be opened up to exfiltrate all the yolks and sterilized definitely, and she died from the anesthesia, as you may remember. A standard procedure if diagnosed earlier would be to permanently put the hen on an implant to stop laying like supralorin which means going to the vet every three to six months, and accepting changes to the hen's metabolism.
I had a lot of hesitation when bringing Caramel to the vet. Now my choice will be to accept that a hen dies of reproductive disorder among her flock and try to make her as confortable as possible. I will finally say that the real confirmation of EYP is having the hen go through a radiography, which on a very unwell chicken is an invasive procedure.
You will find a lot of useful links explaining EYP and detailing the symptoms on the internet. I don't want to give advice, but I will say from my experience that if taking Peanut to the vet is a possible option for you, don't wait to do it.
It's a very painful thing to watch your chicken go through this. Don't hesitate if you want to ask any question or send a pm.
One of my last picture of Caramel
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Thank you for this post, @ManueB, informative and helpful in considering what might be going on with Peanut.

I don’t know when she last laid and egg. Her eggs have looked somewhat like Butters’, though usually darker, and unless I have seen either one go into the nest box I often can’t tell between them who laid. I did find an egg with a thin shelled end that I thought was Peanut’s because of the color and shape in the last two weeks. I wasn’t able to go near the chickens for the first two weeks (infection risk with surgery) of the last month, and my partner did find a few eggs in that time.

However I have definitely noticed - in these last two weeks but maybePeanut go into the nest box and stay a long time and leave without having laid an egg, since I would check soon after. I thought it odd and probably wasn’t good but I didn’t know if it was something I should or could do anything about. I’ll check her abdomen again today.

I am inclined to try a course of antibiotics, if there’s a chance it is early enough and might help her. Can you find the other type @micstrachan recommended? I have Amoxy-til powder and Baytril liquid.

I do not have an avian vet. There is one more than two hours away and I don’t know if she is taking new patients. A problem right now is that I can’t drive yet to take her there myself, if she would see her. Maybe I could get someone to drive me; I am reluctant to ask my partner, this would be above and beyond what he’s been valiantly doing caring for me all this time. He himself has been battling a cough and intense fatigue and interrupted sleep and he was just diagnosed with pneumonia last week. He is now very slowly recovering, but it would be a really long day for him.

@BY Bob
@micstrachan