Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[bgmathteach]

Who's ready for fall?
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...
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I am.
View attachment 3642888

I think you should submit this photo for the calendar contest if it hasn't closed already. If it has, then POW That is a very sweet photo!

 

[SimpleJenn]

Ah! I've never had adult chickens so I thought she was complaining like my dog does.

 

[ManueB]

They will likely be getting more parasite from eating raw worms, slugs, bugs, etc. than the horses poop

There has been some anecdotal evidence that ivermectin can kill the insects that ‘eat’ manure of cattle, and sheep. And that it then prevents the natural decay of the manure. For this reason I only use ivermectin once a year.

It’s only anecdotal and I have not had any real chance to do my own research.

Here it's the practice not to let chickens access horse manure when they have been dewormed with Ivermectin. It takes a very long time to break down. While well tolerated by mammals and birds it's an environmental catastrophe.
And it's no longer used for commercial meat chickens (never was for layers) because of bioresistance, but I think that is only the case in some parts of Europe.
People use selamectin here (another type of avermectin) with no authorization, such as stronghold for dogs, and the egg withdrawal prescribed is one month.
I have tapeworms in my flock. The chickens don't seem the worse for it ...up to now. I did a flock deworming with Flubendazole, which is the only authorised dewormer here for layers, with the higher dosage and length that supposedly will kill tapeworms. It worked the first time a year ago and this year it did nothing. If one of the chickens start showing signs of being unhealthy I will use Praziquantel individually.
Not wanting to pick a fight either, I understand why people would deworm regularly, but please be aware of the possible issues for the environment (insects and very low biodegradability concerning Ivermectin) and for developing bioresistance in the longer term.
Funny enough, I looked at both the English and French versions of Wikipedia on Ivermectin, and they are very different on that subject ; maybe because environmental and bioresistance issues don't carry the same weight in the US than here.

I like this site https://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2391&Itemid=2654
It's translated from spanish and it looks like a hoax because the author doesn't introduce himself. He is actually an academic in Switzerland who’s more competent on parasites than on making websites, and there’s a lot of info.

 

[RoyalChick]

Currently getting ready for the OTHER 4 letter word: WORK.

View attachment 3643106How many chickens in this pic?

That is not fair - it is out of focus!
But I think I see two.

 

[RoyalChick]

This moving eggs thing is really getting crazy.
This morning Babs and Bernie have taken turns in rearranging the eggs.
As far as I can see neither have yet contributed their own egg, but they have very firm, and very different views on the correct arrangement of the ceramic eggs.
Here is Babs relocating the egg that Bernie so carefully placed only three minutes earlier.
I do hope the Odd Couple don’t fall out over this issue!

 

[bgmathteach]

Currently getting ready for the OTHER 4 letter word: WORK.

View attachment 3643106How many chickens in this pic?

If I were a visual predator, I might say 'none'

I think I see 2, but given the camouflaging weeds, I can not be 100% sure of the second one, and given my eyes, there could very well be more - especially if there are some little ones in there, too!

 

[featherhead007]

This is a great picture Alex. You should submit it for one of the competitions.

I’m embarrassed by this picture. He would not let me clip his spurs, he sees the clippers and he panicked when I tried. (Numerous times)

 

[featherhead007]

And ticks.

And mosquitoes !

 

[Gigachad poultry]

I'm going to a wedding today!

 

[RoyalChick]

The saga continues.
Babs failed to eject the egg. Bernie moved into the nest box and they discussed the egg situation.

Then Bernie took the egg for herself.

Then Babs decided that if you want something done well you have to do it yourself and she came in to more closely manage the egg situation

And she decided to adopt the egg herself while Bernie stood outside shouting instructions.