Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[bgmathteach]

Tassels is trying to decide if subtle blue or green highlights look better on her.
She will let me know when she decides.
I haven’t dared ask if she intends her leg feathers to have color as well.

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I say -depends on your mood! Women are allowed to be fickle and/or change their mind. No need to declare - surprise @RC on a daily basis. Keeping her guessing will keep her intrigued!

 

[bgmathteach]

School Chicks

My niece gave me the thank you cards that the children made, thanking me for the eggs to hatch.

I now have 32 thank you cards and one large class card

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Awww...their 'chickens' with the wing feathers are adorable. How sweet.

 

[featherhead007]

I'm sorry to laugh, as paper-type cuts can be quite painful. BUT...the thought of cats getting a taste for blood, and licking their chops each time you walk by - I just couldn't get that image out of my head - way too funny.

Hope you and @Ponypoor are more careful next time. Ouch!

 

[bgmathteach]

"Flock Check" successfully moved up to tomorrow, vet is coming here, woo hoo!

Butters is eating slightly better. Not enough, but I feel all is not lost. Her energy is better too. She is hanging in there, somehow. She has a messy butt, so she is eating something to poop out, normal color but more wet, more green perhaps. She does seem interested in greens and might eat a tiny bit. Today she appeared to chop off grass pieces and leave them. Maybe in the chopping she's getting something. I cleaned her up a bit today to see how much poop collects on her fluff in one day.

Been trying various ways to tempt her; found that tiny bits of chicken thrown in front of her she'll chew on (Popcorn zooms in to get the bits that fall), and I think a little gets in. Plus, it looks like competition with Popcorn (just below Butters in pecking order) drives her to rush to whatever Popcorn is interested in and it keeps her engaged with my efforts. Popcorn, the wonderful little pig, will rush to a bit of chicken, then Butters joins her and I try to throw a piece where Butters will see it before Popcorn does.

Popcorn has never met a food she didn't like. Well, not quite. She does not like red currants, which are ripening now. I also discovered that Butters likes half-ripe blueberries better than ripe ones, and will actually eat maybe a third of one. Tangy and bitter over sweet seems to be her thing.

She does a lot of beak digging in the dirt at the bottom of grass stems. I saw her scratch today too.
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Very late afternoon she started acting tired again. But until then she was pretty energetic.
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Popcorn
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Butters, left, Popcorn on the right. Butters is keen on whatever Popcorn can find, but actually eating it is another matter.
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This all sounds like progress!

I suspect, given the turn of events, that her lethargic behaviour is a lack of energy due to not enough food, given this post. I know you have the vets coming, so barring some contradiction by them - I would try to keep feeding her to be sure she is getting enough nutrition to survive - even if it is maybe once a day and doing what you are doing above with the tempting her. I suspect as she gets stronger (with more nutrition/calories going in), she will slowly start to eat better on her own - if for no other reason but as competition to get the 'good stuff' before popcorn does.

Hoping all goes well with the vet (well, WENT well), and that Butters continues to improve. I suspect a bit of depression might have sent her over the top (with Peanut passing), though seems like the reduced eating has probably been going on for a while, I wonder is sadness/depression kicked it up a notch???

For you and Butters.

 

[Ponypoor]

@bgmathteach

Was it you that bought chicks from TSC? If so where they from Hoovers?

I am trying to compare mine with ‘yours’ to see what mine are. I think Prairie Blue Bell and maybe Bielefelder.

 

[Lilion]

It should NOT be layer feed, though, as the calcium is way too high. In a pinch for a day, maybe, but they really need either a starter or grower feed (starter is crumbles, and usually a higher protein level, so best, but grower will work, as will an 'all flock'. ..Layer, in all honesty, is not good for them. Again, in a pinch for a day or two, but NO long term feeding of layer to chicks.)

Not to worry. I bought chick starter yesterday.

A new question though. The crate set-up I have right now isn't great for a number of reasons. I have this:

I've put 1" netting at the bottom to keep the chicks in. It's about 2' x 4'. I plan on putting a plywood piece on top, secured so it can't fall in, of course, and using it for mom and chicks in the coop. I don't know if she'll still need "privacy" but I had the box the right size. I thought I'd put the original nest in it so babies and mom feel "at home". It has a gate so I can put food and water.

How do you think this will do for a few weeks? I was thinking after 3 weeks or so, I could turn the box around and put chick-sized door, so babies have a place to hide if they're being picked on.

 

[featherhead007]

@bgmathteach

Was it you that bought chicks from TSC? If so where they from Hoovers?

I am trying to compare mine with ‘yours’ to see what mine are. I think Prairie Blue Bell and maybe Bielefelder.

(Speckled Suspects)

 

[bgmathteach]

My big worry was not being able to get her up it was so slippery - as it was she was just floundering about trying to get her legs under her, sliding around - I was supplying a steady 'pull' on her head which is a risky thing if she pitched forward she could trample me or fall on me - and I am not moving the best anymore, apparently I am not 19 anymore! (mind says I am - body laughs and laughs and laughs..).

Anyways, she finally got upright - I worried she would just flip over when she was floundering around - it's a scary situation. She couldn't put weight on her left hind leg as she was laying on it for who knows how long - and that is another worry - if the nerve gets compressed from laying on too long then the nerve can die and that is an instant death knell for a horse (or cow). I was a bit freaked out, and we stood there in the pelting down rain for about 10 minutes, I just held her head steady with my arm wrapped around her head while she got a bit more stable, she was freezing cold, shivering so hard. She is not good in the cold and wet as it is, but laying in the muddy water (and we are just flooded here) is enough to give one hypothermia. Poor Truly

Then I noted that the other two 'b!#$%s' had run to the back door and pushed the door open and went into the barn. I didn't want Truly to get even more freaked out being left all alone so I asked her to 'walk on' and she was able to walk forward, I watched her hind leg and she was putting weight on it thankfully - but limping, very stiff.

I got her in the barn, wrapped a polar fleece blanket around her, shutting the stall window, I gave her some hay to see if she would eat - which she did so I let her eat some hay and then after about 15 min, gave her some Phenalbutizone (Bute), a hot mash left them inside after breakfast as it is just miserable here, cold and drizzly - just like early November. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning but that has ended thankfully, I am guessing the 'hot humid' weather they were predicting is not going to happen.

So I guess I will go back to bringing them in at night, I have a tough decision to make with Truly, if I am going to away working for extended periods of time I don't want others to have to deal with these situations and heaven forbid if Truly fell and broke a leg in the stall. I have my cameras but sometimes when I wake during the night I feel so miserable (I know how Truly feels as I also don't sleep well) I just don't want to open the phone to check the cameras. Like last night and this morning. And of course where I board the horses the wife wont let me put cameras in the stalls. So I need to decide on Truly's fate. It would be easier if I could get a job working remotely from home - which I am actively looking for, but which are extremely slim pickings for!

Need to win that lottery so I can stay home, take care of Truly and my Mum!

Meanwhile the chooks were having a blast running around out back in the mud and muck - no takers on Wild Water though haha - ewwww!
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The youngsters were running amok
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And Truly’s back to normal, she is shaking her head at mosquitoes on this photo
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I know whatever the Vet says, either decision will not be easy. Bless you for being such a good caretaker of your beloved animals. May you have the strength and wisdom to do whatever is best for Truly. I hope you can feel the big hug I am sending you through the internet.

Aging, whether it be us or our animal friends, is not for the feint of heart.

 

[bgmathteach]

I know what you're talking about. It's not off topic imo, loss is part of chicken-keeping ,among other things. I've been in tears for others' losses here too. Take care of yourself; sometimes stepping away is the perfect thing to do to help yourself cope.

BBQ may be molting, do you think? Hazel, when she went through a normal molt, really went off her normal diet and wanted nothing but worms, bugs and dandelion greens. She loved unsalted sardines.

To add to what @Ponypoor said about life-

1. People have sayings that refer to the unpredictable and unfair way life can be, that basically either make religious or games of chance references. These serve as reminders to us that there's lots in life that is not really under our control. Recognizing what is and what isn't, is a big part of managing your way through it. Peanut was on her way to an early death, and the vet and I think there is nothing I could have done to prevent it except to have found a chick with better genetics. She thought it was most likely not her feed or any other conditions I have control over. What I could do was prevent a great deal of further suffering, by euthanizing her. Ultimately, a long life was not "in the cards" for her. Her sibling Popcorn is apparently healthy as a horse (are horses healthy? Hah!), Hazel is fine, and we don't know what's up with Butters. Same conditions for all four.

But in the meantime, Peanut had a really very good and definitely not a miserable life, in the majority. And three years is short but not insanely short like poor Eli.

2. Then, being able to carry on during and after bad things happening is the other part of getting through life. That is something that definitely takes practice. Which you are probably realizing you are getting these days. It might help you to remember that psychologists say we make a bigger deal out of bad things than good things, and that probably this is hard-wired into us from the beginning of being human. You know, avoiding eating that one poisonous plant is way more critical than looking for one good edible plant. Good plants don't make the same impression a bad one does! This is wired into our natures.

I'm not trying to minimize the bad things you experience, but to give you a bit of perspective on maybe your own natural reaction to the bad things. This may be why a lot of self-help guides recommend practicing gratitude as a counter to the natural emphasis we put on bad things. People do this through prayer and spiritual connection, or listing the good things they encountered each day in a diary, or singing or drawing or painting about it, or thinking about what they appreciate about their friends and family.


One of the Buckeye gang in December 2020, either Peanut or Butters, probably Peanut by her coloring.
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You are so correct about making a point of acknowledging and remembering the good things @ChicoryBlue !

@Pastel The Rooster : There is lots of research around how positive thinking ( acknowledging the good, repeatedly stating to yourself your positive traits/abilities, etc.) impact both your happiness levels and your positive outcomes and thinking in general. Maybe try, each morning, stating to yourself in the BR mirror how happy you are to be able to have chickens, and how much you love Bolt (or any other animal) And make a point to spend time with your beloved animals each day - especially at the end of the day if possible - to 'decompress' and go to bed feeling more at peace and happy with the time you spent with your chickens.

There have been times in my life where I have had to actively practice these types of things just to get through. This reminds me that I need to start doing this actively again- to start thinking again about all the wonderful things I DO have in my life - I need to start making the frustrating and stressful things take a back seat to the positive. My health and happiness depend on this - please start trying to practice this for yourself. It will feel weird/awkward at first.....but persist!

Positivity Tax:
Mom with the evil eye watching me as I put the last of her chicks in the 'outside pen' for the day (taken a few days ago)

Hmmm, mom says this green stuff is yummy. I don't know about the 'eat your vegetables' mantra she is spewing!

 

[featherhead007]

Stress relief for me, is in the form of a purring sound from a hen in my lap.
( Right, my sweet Coco?)