Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

I have a very sad update on Eli.
As I expected, Eli died overnight. Actually very early this morning.
I have a preliminary necropsy report that her cause of death was a very large intestinal tumor that more or less completely blocked her intestines.
The chap said it was an unusually large tumor and that while it could possibly be Marek's, it was unusually large for a Marek's disease tumor.
Of course there is nothing 'usual' about such a young chicken - still technically a pullet - to have a big tumor regardless of the cause, so I agreed to have tissue sent to a university lab for testing. I will know more in a few weeks.

Eli and I spent a truly remarkable day together yesterday. I will post more about it when I stop sobbing.
I am sure when I post it will be very emotional and you will all accuse me of both anthropomorphizing and sentimentality.
She was a special little chicken and I miss her already.

 

[Lexicon]

Oh she is turning out to be a lovely little girl

Looks like they are out and about learning chickeny things like killing bugs

Yes, they're starting to meet the adults now with surprising results in some cases.

Penny was being grumpy with Beatrice and they had a stand off. Beatrice stood up to her full height of six inches and stared down Penny! Then they squared off again and Beatrice jumped in Penny's face! She is a brazen little chick, the Marans cross!

After that Penny pecked Goneril's back for no apparent reason and the babies zipped back to their safe zone.

They have interacted with three other hens with no problems. I think that Penny is just still grumpy as her broody hormones dissipate.

 

[Lexicon]

View attachment 3539247Looking at the chicks on my right leg, the one in front is one of the dun/grey ones (named Squeak) and the one farthest away is Sunny, one of the redder ones. You can see the difference.

Button is a Blue Australorp, so she's automatically grey.

Interesting, Viola has much more grey. The breeder apparently has Silver Bielefelders, so she could be one, but it doesn't matter. She is Viola!

 

[knoturavggrl]

I have a very sad update on Eli.
As I expected, Eli died overnight. Actually very early this morning.
I have a preliminary necropsy report that her cause of death was a very large intestinal tumor that more or less completely blocked her intestines.
The chap said it was an unusually large tumor and that while it could possibly be Marek's, it was unusually large for a Marek's disease tumor.
Of course there is nothing 'usual' about such a young chicken - still technically a pullet - to have a big tumor regardless of the cause, so I agreed to have tissue sent to a university lab for testing. I will know more in a few weeks.

Eli and I spent a truly remarkable day together yesterday. I will post more about it when I stop sobbing.
I am sure when I post it will be very emotional and you will all accuse me of both anthropomorphizing and sentimentality.
She was a special little chicken and I miss her already.

I think all of us here, despite differences in location, age, or lifestyle, all care very deeply for the birds we share our lives with.
We all take the responsibility of providing all the care we possibly can for our birds quite seriously.

I think the depth of this connection to them is a big part of why we are drawn to BYBobs thread and to one another.

I am so sorry Eli lost her battle. Many, many

 

[notabitail]

I have a very sad update on Eli.
As I expected, Eli died overnight. Actually very early this morning.
I have a preliminary necropsy report that her cause of death was a very large intestinal tumor that more or less completely blocked her intestines.
The chap said it was an unusually large tumor and that while it could possibly be Marek's, it was unusually large for a Marek's disease tumor.
Of course there is nothing 'usual' about such a young chicken - still technically a pullet - to have a big tumor regardless of the cause, so I agreed to have tissue sent to a university lab for testing. I will know more in a few weeks.

Eli and I spent a truly remarkable day together yesterday. I will post more about it when I stop sobbing.
I am sure when I post it will be very emotional and you will all accuse me of both anthropomorphizing and sentimentality.
She was a special little chicken and I miss her already.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I have a very sad update on Eli.
As I expected, Eli died overnight. Actually very early this morning.
I have a preliminary necropsy report that her cause of death was a very large intestinal tumor that more or less completely blocked her intestines.
The chap said it was an unusually large tumor and that while it could possibly be Marek's, it was unusually large for a Marek's disease tumor.
Of course there is nothing 'usual' about such a young chicken - still technically a pullet - to have a big tumor regardless of the cause, so I agreed to have tissue sent to a university lab for testing. I will know more in a few weeks.

Eli and I spent a truly remarkable day together yesterday. I will post more about it when I stop sobbing.
I am sure when I post it will be very emotional and you will all accuse me of both anthropomorphizing and sentimentality.
She was a special little chicken and I miss her already.

I am so sorry and those words just do not seem like they are enough. It sounds like though hopefully what she had is not contagious and your little ones and older girls should be safe. It is not fair she had a tumor though and passed so young. I think the new chicks were a blessing to her as even for a short time she got to at least be a Auntie to chicks after going broody. Hopefully the chicks was able to learn some important lessons from Auntie Eli, lessons only a momma hen can teach.

 

[Lexicon]

View attachment 3539434
The front chick, Robin, is one of the redder ones, and the other two, Pip and Squeak, are the more grey/dun color. This picture shows the difference a bit better.

Robin is the precocious featherer. She got red epaulettes first, red feathers on her breast first, and has more feathers on her head than any of the other girls.

Pip is physically the smallest of the four Bielefelders. Squeak seems to be the most shy.

Thanks! Viola has grey and white feathers coming in on her chest, not red so she is still a mystery.

Looks like your chicks think you are pretty awesome!

 

[MaryJanet]

I have a very sad update on Eli.
As I expected, Eli died overnight. Actually very early this morning.
I have a preliminary necropsy report that her cause of death was a very large intestinal tumor that more or less completely blocked her intestines.
The chap said it was an unusually large tumor and that while it could possibly be Marek's, it was unusually large for a Marek's disease tumor.
Of course there is nothing 'usual' about such a young chicken - still technically a pullet - to have a big tumor regardless of the cause, so I agreed to have tissue sent to a university lab for testing. I will know more in a few weeks.

Eli and I spent a truly remarkable day together yesterday. I will post more about it when I stop sobbing.
I am sure when I post it will be very emotional and you will all accuse me of both anthropomorphizing and sentimentality.
She was a special little chicken and I miss her already.

So sorry RC caring about your flock as you do, you must be bereft.

 

[LhickenChicken]

I have a very sad update on Eli.
As I expected, Eli died overnight. Actually very early this morning.
I have a preliminary necropsy report that her cause of death was a very large intestinal tumor that more or less completely blocked her intestines.
The chap said it was an unusually large tumor and that while it could possibly be Marek's, it was unusually large for a Marek's disease tumor.
Of course there is nothing 'usual' about such a young chicken - still technically a pullet - to have a big tumor regardless of the cause, so I agreed to have tissue sent to a university lab for testing. I will know more in a few weeks.

Eli and I spent a truly remarkable day together yesterday. I will post more about it when I stop sobbing.
I am sure when I post it will be very emotional and you will all accuse me of both anthropomorphizing and sentimentality.
She was a special little chicken and I miss her already.

 

[bgmathteach]

I recall Shad tried slow filing with some success, does anyone else remember that? It would depend on the severity of the cross of course.

Yes, he did, but this is pretty extreme, filing won't be enough - similar to that one hatchery chick I had. I tried filing, I tried the equivalent of retainers/braces, etc. NO good at 3 months old, she was fully feathered like the rest, but literally half the size - she wasn't thriving. This one will most definitely have the same issue - it is an extreme cross-beak - if you look closely, there is no way you could file it to be even close to meeting so she could 'graze' or pick up pellets without a dish she could dig her beak into. She couldn't use a nipple waterer, either.

Since it takes 1-2 weeks to emerge/show, she got a good start...I will see if she continues to thrive, or starts falling way behind her peers, and do a bit of filing.. and see what happens, but I am not optimistic.