Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I wonder, too. She will be six at the end of March. I’ve considered pain meds, but I’m not sure if there are any for long term use?

Meloxicam is a selective Cox2 inhibitor, and may likely be a better long term use pain med

Not sure if chickens can take Celebrex, but it’s a Cox2 and is better for long term use in people.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Mine is also Horse. If you research a little further you can also find your element (Earth, Fire, etc). I am a Fire Horse. The funny thing is Strider, my colt I lost several years ago, was born in 2002, so he was a Water Horse.


Unfortunately the only other companions she has now are the chickens. We are debating how well she would accept another companion/animal of some type at her age. Here is Miss Z watching the girls. She and Mac would frequently lay in front of the coop in their “guard the coop” positions but I can’t find that pic right now.

View attachment 3363437


I will try to remember tomorrow to tell you my “Boo sleeping” story.

Caturday pic
Frogger didn’t want me to get dressed yesterday.
View attachment 3363439

You know about llamas and I don't, but I know my goat farmer friends got two llamas together (rescues) when one of their original pair died. So your answer to help her may be to have three, a pair that know each other, and Miss Z would be the wise old lady and have some companionship of her own kind.

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok all I need to get up at 02:45am; have an early flight back to work I put the chickies to bed, went and saw the horses - I will miss everyone but soon it will be April and I will be home again

 

[Grandma The Chicken]

Scroll to the bottom of this screenshot/page and you won't believe how many members were on BYC back then.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Noah... We are also time traveling View attachment 3363579View attachment 3363580

Yes I was seeing posts on here with weird time-stamps of "Tomorrow" and the only ones that made any sense were from Australia and @GregnLety who is in Japan.

 

[bgmathteach]

I wonder, too. She will be six at the end of March. I’ve considered pain meds, but I’m not sure if there are any for long term use?

You could try aspirin or Ibuprofen, and if it seems to help, ask your vet. I think @BY Bob got something like ?Metcam? for Lilly.

 

[bgmathteach]

Scroll to the bottom of this screenshot/page and you won't believe how many members were on BYC back then.

That's only how many were online at that moment, not total members.

 

[bgmathteach]

Oh! And it’s actually Little Mill (Mildred/Millie) with the limp. Don’t ask how I ended up with a Millie and a Minnie, but I pretty much call her Little Mill now.

Sorry, I knew that!!! Poor little Mill.

 

[bgmathteach]

OK I said I would wait because I'm so behind but I can't help myself. Yes wind would have that effect if it's a direct hit but I don't think there was/is direct wind in there. Wind underneath the Hut could keep the coop temp low and counteract any body heating warmth. But nowhere is there direct wind I think?

I think I would do the same to ease my mind and coddle Glynda's injury - using the main coop for now because that's a tried-and-true situation with proven ventilation for that number of birds.

Frankly for the Cluckle Hut I suspect the super low temp & extra humidity due to the number of birds roosting combined with the ventilation either not being enough or the direction of ventilation unfortunate. For instance Glynda was on the far end near the nestboxes? Was she at the receiving end of a bunch of humid air from the others, because of the direction of ventilation?

Another thing to consider, if this is correct, is that much of the Hut is protected because it's within the run? On three sides? I'm not clear.... My very vague, only intuitive idea is that, although the non-plastic sheeted side of the run that makes a draft below the Hut floor that could be keeping the Hut temps low, maybe you actually WANT some breezes going by to pull out out the humid warm air from the birds, right? But without drafting them directly. (I personally think with a good layer of shavings / straw the floor exposure shouldn't be a problem.)

So if your build of the Hut was similar to the main coop, maybe the main coop works well because it is more exposed to the pulling breezes, and the Cluckle Hut is not working well (for X number of birds) because it isn't as exposed, or exposed in the same ways?

Maybe furnace filters would be handy here to increase ventilation escape but stop direct drafts. A heat panel in the Hut below the roost would certainly help keep moisture from condensing out on them.

My personal experience with the pulling breezes idea is when I enclosed the Omlet run with plastic for the winter for the first time. Recall the coop itself opens into the low wire "tunnel" run. I didn't block any coop slatted vents front or back, or the side ones that are built into the construction. I covered the wire run only, on two sides fully, leaving the far end open. I also put plastic around the space under the coop (the "near" end of the run). I don't think ultimately there was any condensation in the coop itself, but I grew concerned about that possibility when I noticed condensation under the tunnel plastic near the coop side, above the coop vent slats there. That much humidity wasn't good, day or night. It occurred to me that I had lowered or eliminated the natural draw of the surrounding air with the plastic. The only really open part was the far end of the tunnel run. So I stuck a piece of PVC pipe under the plastic on the coop end, right above the coop vent there. The run now had a greatly improved through-path for fresh air and the coop vent benefited. There is a bit of a breeze on my head when I'm sitting in the tunnel close to the coop but that is way above chicken height.

Wow, that is very well stated and explained.

I completely agree that there needs to be both intake and outlet for a coop, and if one or the other is blocked, there isn't good 'flow' of fresh air to draw out the warm, humid, moist air.

 

[bgmathteach]

You could try aspirin or Ibuprofen, and if it seems to help, ask your vet. I think @BY Bob got something like ?Metcam? for Lilly.

SHRA:

Hmmm what's wrong with this picture???

He is supposed to be a BLACK Jersey Giant


My BR Boy

And a couple of my BCM girls