Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Do you all remember when I told you mom took in 2 stray kittens? There was a bet on how long it would take until they became house cats eventually. Grandma threw a fit and did not like them in the house. Mom managed to get spay appointments for them. Well, that appointment is still 2 months out. The long haired kitten Penny unfortunately got on the road and was killed a month ago. Trixie as of 2 days ago is now a house cat no matter how big of a fit grandma throws, and she is throwing one. We are going to keep her spay appointment, unfortunately it is too late. Kittens will be here any day now.
View attachment 3591734
When my neighbor finally gave her to mom, it was after she had already been in heat once.

That’s all I get around here. Pregnant kitty cats and more kittens. I’m cursed

 

[RoyalChick]

Do you all remember when I told you mom took in 2 stray kittens? There was a bet on how long it would take until they became house cats eventually. Grandma threw a fit and did not like them in the house. Mom managed to get spay appointments for them. Well, that appointment is still 2 months out. The long haired kitten Penny unfortunately got on the road and was killed a month ago. Trixie as of 2 days ago is now a house cat no matter how big of a fit grandma throws, and she is throwing one. We are going to keep her spay appointment, unfortunately it is too late. Kittens will be here any day now.
View attachment 3591734
When my neighbor finally gave her to mom, it was after she had already been in heat once.

She is cute.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

That’s all I get around here. Pregnant kitty cats and more kittens. I’m cursed

Dad is not thrilled about the situation, reminded mom that we were done with kittens when Jynx was fixed 8 years ago. Sadly Trixie is not the only expectant mother. Maddie had 4 more ready to pop and another neighbor has 3. We are worried about Trixie as she is so tiny. That is the biggest reason mom brought her inside even though it is causing world war 3. Trixie will probably need help when the time comes. Have not needed our kitten/puppy kit in 8 years. It took her all of 5 minutes to find it once she brought Trixie in. Thankfully Trixie is litter box trained already. The kittens are moving constantly, she has cleaned off her teats and as of this morning her milk is coming in. If she makes it another 48 hours I will be shocked.

 

[lightm]

I think we all know what sort of fluff is coming from my place todayView attachment 3591487Day 1 off the nest (sneaky fluff attempting to head back to it)

View attachment 3591488"Cotton balls" day 2

View attachment 3591486After many just off pics, Mama Storm's full spread

Soooo darling!!!

 

[featherhead007]

That’s all I get around here. Pregnant kitty cats and more kittens. I’m cursed

If the situation was with the chickens and I was getting more birds, that’s one thing. But more cats (sorry to say) are useless to me.

 

[LhickenChicken]

That’s all I get around here. Pregnant kitty cats and more kittens. I’m cursed

That's not all that bad. Think about pregnant deer walking around on the roads like they own the place. Or moose. Oh, deer, that would be awful!

 

[lightm]

Tube feeding supplies

In case helpful to anyone here are what I found to be the best tube feeding supplies:

Catheter/Tube
People improvise with all sorts of tubing they have around the house but I think it is better to have something that is made with a smooth tip so it doesn't hurt the chicken as it goes down.
If you buy a tube feeding kit they will often come with a red tube that is 14Fr gauge (Fr stands for French which is one very common standard for measuring catheters - the bigger the number the bigger the tube).
I found the 14Fr tubes to be too small (made it harder to push in the feed and easier for a small movement of my hands to end up pulling it out of place, also harder to feel you have it in the right place).
I was advised to use a urinary catheter (for people) - these are commonly available from medical supply companies, Amazon and some pharmacies. A typical size is 16Fr.
Personally I found the whole process less stressful for me and the chicken by using a colonic irrigation catheter used for giving coffee enemas (I have no idea what that is, but it is enough of a 'thing' to be able to source the catheters easily on Amazon). I found a 20Fr or even 22Fr colonic tube to be by far the easiest to use and allowed me to give the feed very fast.
I have never Tube fed a baby chick so all the above applies to fully feathered chickens!

Syringe
You want a syringe that you can just slip the tube on. Called a 'slip tip' or a Luer Slip.
Avoid a 'Luer Lock' end which requires the tube to be screwed on (which it won't do).

A good size syringe allows you to give the full dose of feed without much fuss (think 3 seconds). I was using 50ml or 60ml syringes to give only 30ml feeds because I couldn't find 30ml syringes.

It is a very common problem for the syringe to get very stiff and almost impossible to plunge after a few uses. They are made for single use and the rubber gasket becomes worn after 2-3 uses. I think 5 was the most I ever got out of a syringe.

However, there is a type of syringe called an O-ring syringe which uses a silicone O-ring instead of a rubber gasket and that is much easier to plunge and as far as I can tell is reusable many, many, many times. I found mine on line at a squirrel rescue - he seems out of stock at the moment but I think Amazon may carry them.

Alternatively just be ready to use up a bunch of 50ml syringes!

Food
There are several rehabilitation foods available. They are typically powders that you mix with water until the mixture is goopy enough to go easily through the tube. I started making it too firm - in the end I found a gruel like consistency to work best.
The brand I used and I think @micstrachan does too is Kaytee - which is specifically formulated for birds.
It is quite expensive and has a shortish shelf-life. I freeze the powder so I can keep it longer.

Finally, on BYC and on YouTube there are a number of very good videos and explanations of how to insert the tube and make sure you do not risk aspiration in your bird. With practice I found inserting a tube to be relatively easy and well tolerated.

Hope this helps.

Tax - they are taking over
View attachment 3591568

This is very very helpful! I see an article in the making if you add other tips such as make the mix liquidy.

 

[notabitail]

Fluffy Buff Friday
Here is Philomena the Butt Orpington:

 

[BeefQuesoritto]

Not a blooming clue. All I can guess at is NOT splash, NOT silver Columbian, NOT black, NOT blue, NOT mottled (like Thing), NOT all white, NOT all buff, NOT red, and NOT barred/cuckoo. Also not feather footed, 5 toed, beard/muffs, full crested......Could be a whole lot of things.... I don't even know if the 2 brown eggs hatched or were disposed of as early quitters. All I know is the 5 eggs left were all Storm's eggs. If they hatched, the likely offspring are the marked blonde and either the all blonde or one of the blacks. If one of them, Hector would be the father and the mother unknown unless leakage gives it away. The only way Cheetah could father a black chick off of the existing hens would be through a white egg layer, none of which were in the nest.

The all blonde is getting in white/platinum blonde wing feathers. That also means mostly nothing as wing tips can easily be one color and the rest something else. The 2 black are getting black wings in, but I suspect 1 will turn out to be blue. The chocolate one looks almost rusty bronze in the sunlight, but if it follows Whiskey's pattern, will feather in mostly black/seal tones.

View attachment 3590163This was definitely a good sign. If the youngest can master these (supposedly not for chicks under @ 2 weeks old), then they're all doing just fine.

I've heard of adult chickens who can't figure these out, what a little smartie!

How many days for quail eggs to hatch?

18, so they should be expected to hatch around Friday.

That's not all that bad. Think about pregnant deer walking around on the roads like they own the place. Or moose. Oh, deer, that would be awful!

Ugh,. deer. I have a little herd of ~11 that really like my property. There's pronghorn too, which are somehow even stupider than the deer when it comes to getting out of the road. I hate coming home after dark.

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Happy Fluffy Butt Friday!!
BBQ and Splotch say that they are sorry for missing Thirsty Thursday. They also say happy Fluffy Butt Friday! They wanna make it up to y'all for missing Thirsty Thursday!

Got hit by a tropical storm back at home. I'm worried sick about the chooks. Heading back home tomorrow. I am hoping for no unpleasant surprises.
I went tubing yesterday for a few hours. There was a dead deer in the river. There were a TON of geese. At one point one was chasing me.

He said, " You like chickens more than Geese! Die Pastel!!"