Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Lilion]

Oh I would love to see your bucket of doom! I need a few here in the hay loft.

There you have it. Ramps up to the top and a few inches of water in the bottom...drowned mice. I must admit i feel kinda bad about it, but it's more humane than a lot of traps.

I remove the feed also, dreadful creatures mice, rats… esp the rats.

I've never seen a rat. <Knock on Wood> The mice are bad enough. We cover the feeders at night and I've seen the darn things jump right out of the feeder!

I would check for mites and/or lice. If you don't see any, I would do a low dosage of Permethrin just in case.
Maybe if you think that your rooster is over breeding her, buy a chicken saddle.
A few weeks ago, Bolts feathers were all messed up. I put a chicken saddle on, and after a few weeks, she was all good.
All of my birds are infested with lice. (chickens at least, couldn't see any on the guineas. Their feathers are so much thicker than chickens.)
I bought some Permethrin today, and did a SLIGHT more than I should have, just to make sure I killed the lice. I sprayed (to the best if my ability with a broken bottle) all of my chooks, and five if my guineas.
I'm probably going to give them a bath with a bit of it if the spray doesn't work.
It's just annoying, because BBQ is in awful shape, and Splotch is right behind her. I've seen lice on everyone else too. I'm going to need to spray Willow and her chicks (if any hatch)
I really hope that you can figure stuff out with your girl.

I'll definitely be looking her over good tomorrow. I have DE in the coop, but I didn't put it in the nest area and that's where the mice like to hide. Hope your bumblefoot hen is better!

If you've got (or can get) some of those little box live traps (the metal ones), you could leave them in the coop. The chickens can't get into them and they're easy to bait with a dob of peanut butter and cracked corn stuck inside it.

These things.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Catchmas...ld-Pet-Safe-Free-Glue-Board-Included/49211722

I use a bucket trap, too. However, if I need to trap mice where the chickens can go, I use these instead so the chickens don't take all the bait.

Oh! Maybe I'll put one right by the nest box!

I'll end this long post with my other chickens.

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Oh I miss mine soooo much

Why did you need to get rid of them again??? I'm sorry that you miss them ❤ maybe you can get some more

 

[Lilion]

@rural mouse forgot to say, Manny is quite young. I got all of the just feathered out and ready for the coop last August. So they're not quite a year old.

 

[rural mouse]

@rurI forgot to say, Manny is quite young. I got all of the just feathered out and ready for the coop last August. So they're not quite a year old.

So could be from him still getting himself all sorted out with handling the ladies. Could be the mice. Could be other stuff. Doesn't look like it's an immediate action required kind of thing (no bleeding, no broken bones, no sprains). More observation and wage war on the mice. They could be a big part of why she's not 100% broody too. His youth could also play a part of her staying in the nest box. I've had hens hide from roosters before.

 

[RoyalChick]

Came home from work, went out and checked the babies. All good. Came in, had dinner, had a storm blow through. Clearing off, time to close the coop.

Head count:

21 adults, some purring, they're all good, everything is right with their world.

5 babies, twittering away, preening feathers, settling for bed, all is right with them too.

Where is the 6th? Where is Chia?

Look around, recount....scoop up Havoc. Let's go play Marco, Polo....again....

Nothing....back inside....I swear I hear them all, but where is the little devil hiding this time?

Spoiler: "I'm hiding here!"

View attachment 3553584I will be SOOOOO glad when they get past the "they can't possibly fit there" phase......oh, wait, that happens when the adults find creative places to nest.

The spirit of Eli is strong! She may be gone but she is still teaching birds about the ceiling.

 

[RoyalChick]

Thank you all for your input. I assumed the one Manny was showing the most attention to was #1. But thinking about it, Meanie is often kind of glued to his side. Interesting.

So here's a little video of Eenie when I went back to her tonight. WARNING there is a very bad word in the last 15 seconds when a mouse ran by me!!! She once again started by biting me LOL and eating a little tomato like it was life-saving. Then I got the video.

I don’t have anything useful to add as I have only one experience of broodiness but I know how you must feel being worried so I thought I would give you a hug.
She looks like a lovely hen and I hope everything works out OK.

 

[RoyalChick]

It's been a while now she's run from Manny every chance she got. At least I thought it was Manny...but Meanie is always with Manny or following close behind. Maybe she's living up to her name and picking on Eenie? I don't know what she child have scraped on that the others wouldn't have. I suppose she may have run under something in a panic.

Yeah...we actually cover the food at night. They are VERY bold. And they love the nesting boxes. I've had to stop them from doing their own nesting.

Tomorrow I'm redoing my Bucket of Death ( the Bucket trap) to try to get rid of some more.

Could you block the back place the mouse scuttled to? The mouse can always march in the same way Eenie goes in but they are much less likely to. Mice have a strong preference for sticking to walls and going in through small cracks.

 

[RoyalChick]

Haha, Willow is safe and dry. She got me a few times with some nice sharp pecks. Ouch. As far as I know, nothing has hatched. I'm gonna wear some gloves tomorrow and look for any pipped or cracked eggs.
BBQ is doing well. Ohh, when I unwrapped her foot it was so cool. The infection has already started to draw to the surface, and so it made a "volcano." The scab was the "lava" at the top, and her skin was the side.
She has a really bad lice problem. I sprayed her (quite pathetically) with some diluted Permethrin. I'm probably going to give her a bath of it in a week or two.
Can I bath her, or spray her with Permethrin with wounds on her shoulders and her bumblefoot?
I put vaseline on her shoulder wounds to try and prevent the Permethrin from getting on it.

I am so glad the Bumble treatment is beginning to work.
I don’t know about Permethrin on wounds - I would probably stick with spraying until she is healed.

 

[Ponypoor]

Gah, fine!!
Splotch says Happy Fluffy Butt Friday!
She and Bolt got into an argument today. They started facing off and chest bumping. It was quite surprising. Bolt is lower than Splotch and BBQ in the pecking order. Splotch is the tough Alpha who keeps everyone in place.

That’s a snazzy hen apron

 

[Ponypoor]

The spirit of Eli is strong! She may be gone but she is still teaching birds about the ceiling.

Hahahaha good Eli (as I chase Eli-too down from the stall walls!).