Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

I will get pictures this evening or tomorrow. If there has been one bright spot the last few weeks it is Owly. That little pullet has won over every one of us with her big personality and charm. She is not a 1 person chicken, every one of us is for her personal use as a playground, launching pad and napping spot. I do believe the universe knew our time with Butter was limited and sent her our way. I said 2 weeks before Butter passed that Owly was well on her way of being more friendly and in your face then Butter ever thought about being, and that is saying something. Actually I have not had a chick so demanding for lap time and cuddling since Branch was a chick. Last night I was out after dark with the rock Judy on my lap. Owly could not take it that I was giving another chick attention and flew to my shoulder and snuggled in. She kept trying to preen my hair so I would reach up and pet her. I resisted EE for so long because I have no desire for blue or green eggs. I still do not really, she can be one of the brown or pink egg layers for all I care. I may complain in a few months though when I have a 5lb+ parrot on my shoulder.

 

[lightm]

That sounds like a lot. I figured 30ml was all I felt comfortable putting down in one go.

And here I was thinking 20ml! Was going to suggest 10ml tops if she was eating!

That is a good amt I would say - hopefully it all goes down smoothly

You may be right if she is eating.
According to The Chicken Chick website the capacity of a hen's crop is 45ml. I would not want to fill to capacity in case it overflowed - so I decided no more than 30ml.
My chicken (Bella) wasn't eating on her own however. Nor did she have a crop full of mud! So maybe 20ml is safer.
I think @lightm will get a feel for it as she practices. I definitely gave less if there was stuff already in the crop.

The 45ml is written on the instruction given to us. Now I wish I had checked the capacity of chicken crop. The whole vet experience was just weird. It was endless waiting and not much talking. I think they mostly get rabbits and reptiles. They do get cockatoo a lot too. Anyway, the outcome has been promising so far.

This afternoon we tube fed her 25-30ml. Her crop was obviously not empty, but not too full. I think I did much better this time around. Today she has been passing a lot of dirt/straw stuff.

Light playing Zelda with daddy. You are such a good chicken!

 

[notabitail]

Thirsty Thursday
Waiting for me to put my phone away so they can drink water.

 

[RoyalChick]

The 45ml is written on the instruction given to us. Now I wish I had checked the capacity of chicken crop. The whole vet experience was just weird. It was endless waiting and not much talking. I think they mostly get rabbits and reptiles. They do get cockatoo a lot too. Anyway, the outcome has been promising so far.

This afternoon we tube fed her 25-30ml. Her crop was obviously not empty, but not too full. I think I did much better this time around. Today she has been passing a lot of dirt/straw stuff.

Light playing Zelda with daddy. You are such a good chicken!
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Awwww

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

The princess Owly herself. There was some doubt early on with her being a girl or boy. Not anymore, this is a pullet I am sure of it.

 

[RoyalChick]

The princess Owly herself. There was some doubt early on with her being a girl or boy. Not anymore, this is a pullet I am sure of it.
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Oh she is very pretty!

 

[Ponypoor]

I am sorry to hear Ricco is being a jerk. It is hormones driving it. If you did not have aging and ill hens I would say try to wait it out as long as he did not turn on you. The more mature girls and Mr P. will not tolerate his antics for too long. He has a trashing coming his way, and soon it sounds like. All it may take is that one good walloping to put him back in line. Next question, and I may have missed it lately, how is Floyd behaving? He is the same age as Ricco right? Floyd just gets more unique looking as he gets older. Floyd is eye candy as far as a rooster is concerned. I would not mind having him in my flock if I were in the market for another boy.

Floyd has been minding his own business. Staying away from all the drama, it’s Rico and Penne causing the trouble.

They are young and hormonal, and really good at the sneak attacks - and they know the weaker ones.

Well anyways I have been down this road before and I can deal with it.

 

[RoyalChick]

It is still Thursday and they are still thirsty.
There is a big ruckus going on. Some kind of squabble about cauliflower. Babs it turns out really likes the white cauliflower florets.
Sharing is not high on her priorities right now!

 

[BY Bob]

I'm so sorry. You were so excited about that silkie chick, and it must be terrible for Perdita. And having to put down poor Gryffyn just now makes it especially hard.
There are a lot of heartaches with chickens, and when they happen so close to one another it just feels overwhelming.


You've had very good advice. I still want to chime in, because it has also been a question I have thought a lot about.
I wasn't of a mind to add more chickens. I felt fine with my original six ex-batts. I will tell the truth, when I got Théo and Chipie, then seven months later Chipie's chicks, it added a whole lot of trouble and worries. For one thing, in both cases integration did not go well. Then, I went from no rooster and a cohesive group of six ladies that grew up together, to a tyrant tiny roo that hated me, a hatch of chicks that was rejected by the flock and especially by the roo, and on to two roosters that hated each other.

And yet I did make the choice to add more. And I have to say now I have 19, it's actually working out better than last year when I had 10. The dynamic of the flock is shifting. The roosters have stopped fighting now there is a clear hierarchy. The chickens still quarrel but they are not focused on bullying one specific chicken. And like RC, I'm personally much less attached to the chicks and new pullets than to the original girls and Chipie's first hatch, so I feel less stress. I think it's a reaction from too much sorrow, and also it's the realization that taking a step back can actually help things work out better.

More chickens, does however mean more chance that they will get in trouble simultaneously. You are already experiencing this with loosing Popcorn, and worrying for Butters. When I have more than three chickens requiring special care at the same time, it gets really complicated - even isolating them physically becomes a challenge.

So yes, I think on the whole not getting all of them at the same time is a good idea in the sense that the younger ones should likely be less prone to health issue- though of course it doesn't always work like this. It will mean two different integrations, and when integrations go well, it's almost fun, but when it doesn't it can be very trying. But once it's done, it's over. And if you get two coops the following year, it will help to solve many potential issues.

In the end I have mixed feelings about numbers. My first add-ons made things a lot harder. The four adult pullets we bought this year socially worked out great for the flock, but they brought in health issues. And the six additional chicks are integrating great, but like most of FBA followers, we won't be able to keep the roosters. It's not all black and white and always a bit of a gamble.

Tax : it looks more and more like Léa's six chicks are four pullets, and two roos...so the early wattles (two weeks and three days) were maybe not conclusive. They will be ten weeks old Saturday.
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They are adorable.

 

[Ponypoor]

I will get pictures this evening or tomorrow. If there has been one bright spot the last few weeks it is Owly. That little pullet has won over every one of us with her big personality and charm. She is not a 1 person chicken, every one of us is for her personal use as a playground, launching pad and napping spot. I do believe the universe knew our time with Butter was limited and sent her our way. I said 2 weeks before Butter passed that Owly was well on her way of being more friendly and in your face then Butter ever thought about being, and that is saying something. Actually I have not had a chick so demanding for lap time and cuddling since Branch was a chick. Last night I was out after dark with the rock Judy on my lap. Owly could not take it that I was giving another chick attention and flew to my shoulder and snuggled in. She kept trying to preen my hair so I would reach up and pet her. I resisted EE for so long because I have no desire for blue or green eggs. I still do not really, she can be one of the brown or pink egg layers for all I care. I may complain in a few months though when I have a 5lb+ parrot on my shoulder.

Oh that is so adorable - Petunia is like that, she just has to be on my lap sleeping while I tap away on the laptop . And it’s not like even went out of my way to befriend her, not knowing if a pullet or not I was leery of making friends with those school chicks.

All your chicks there sound really friendly I think you really lucked out with them