Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Happy Friday

In the coop
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Barbarians at the Gate
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I want to break free…
I want to break free….

 

[Ponypoor]

How was I foiled by it?

Read back and find out

Penelope and Fluffy

 

[Ponypoor]

Haha, here is what my run looks like:
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The chickens were not impressed especially since I wasn't home to shovel them paths.

Yuck! You keep it. It’s another great day here- but we know that won’t last, I told the chooks get outside while you can!

 

[featherhead007]

She and her sister are proof good things come to those who wait. First you wait on the spots to appear. When they first pop up you are ecstatic for just the 2 or 3 they first give you. You have to wait a few more weeks and then those 2 or 3 explode into many. Then apparently you have to wait for tail feathers, for ages. You almost wonder if something is wrong with them at times when they have tailless butts while their siblings have full complete tails. That lack of tails....well....it then makes you wonder if you actually bought pullets. You know you buy sexed chicks, but, mistakes are made. Both are tailless and darn it if anyone can buy 2 boys out of a group of sexed pullets it is you. You finally feel confident to say they are pullets when they are 17 weeks old and finally relax and breathe. So yes, speckled sussex's can make you wait, but it is all worth it in the end. Now to just wait until they are a year old or older and imagine seeing them in all their glory. They were bought for eye candy don't you know. Spots....I love them.

 

[ManueB]

So the vet I saw immediately went into a scold / rant about my use of Baytril, kind of as I expected because it wasn't a plan agreed to with them, but because it is illegal, as she kept emphasizing, and asked where I got it, if it's from a foreign company it might not be what it's supposed to be, and the danger of resistance is really bad, and getting resistant campylobacter is really bad....She also said since there's no known withdrawal time and I should never eat any of the eggs from any of them (I think she thought I treated them all and I said only Anna's been treated).

She said if it is/was mycoplasma that it is a problem in my flock management. I said I don't know how they got it; I didn't get a chance to give a history - maybe Queenie had it? - but it could be wild songbirds in the run, or even the UPS guy (who has told me he routinely delivers where there are chickens strolling in the driveway); she said that the truck tires wouldn't transfer it after a few miles on the road, and I said what about his shoes? And she said nothing. I wasn't sure where this talk was going.

I think she made some valid points but was lacking in the empathy department, or if it's not empathy exactly, a sympathetic understanding of backyard chickens as pets and what that means, and how sick Anna appeared to me, her not getting better for more than a week, and the symptoms of swollen sinuses and her scratching her head and eyes and drawing blood. She did say she thought she did see red in the conjunctiva of Anna's eyes from the pictures but it's hard with pictures.

She suggested that she would have wanted to test Anna and then treat for specific diseases found, and for mycoplasma the treatment would have been sulfa_______, not Baytril, and I agreed that would be good, but that I didn't want her tested, and she asked why and I said b/c of the possibility of avian flu.

Here I'm paraphrasing because I only vaguely remember her speech, I couldn't bear to hear it I guess, so clinically, sternly and coldly, though I know I did hear her points I just don't remember how she said it exactly, because I was crawling under a rock. She said something like Wouldn't you want to know, and It would be good to know, and You should know, and how It's important to know to eliminate it (I remember I was slowly shaking my head No here), and If [she] suspected the flock had it [she] would have to report me as a certified vet or she couldn't practice.

Then later she said she didn't think this was actually a case of avian flu because I would be losing birds, (Peanut and Butters they believe were victims of genetics, Hazel and Popcorn doing apparently well) and she said she could just test strictly for mycoplasma, but we agreed since Anna has been taking antibiotics, since everyone is eating, drinking and acting well enough, the best thing is to wait and see how it goes, and to test if someone acts poorly again. But I see in her notes she didn't rule out a broad avian panel, so who's to know once a sample is given over what test is done on it, on whose authority?

She did listen to all the Spuds' lungs and hearts, and found everyone to be fine. Anna is not fine yet, you can see it in her eyes not open wide a lot, but she thought she needs more time to gain her strength back.

A kind thing she said was how tame the Spuds are. But - hah! - none of them would be still for her when she held them to listen. So after she tried them, I helped and easily lifted each one with one hand under them and then held them gently against me, lifting a wing on each side for her to listen.

Then I waited a long time while she went back into the office (the exams are outside at the car unless the weather is terrible) and did her notes. Never waited that long before! (hah - were the Ag authorities going to come for me and my little ones? I envisioned a line of police cars coming along the road between the corn fields and turning in on the road ).

Clinical Summary --

Anna - smaller than sisters, tires more easily, recently treated for coccidiosis with Corid in the water. She had no improvement as of this past weekend, and treatment with baytril according to directions found online was instituted due to presumption of Mycoplasma
infection.
Ida - sneezes occasionally, otherwise good appetite and growing well
Tedi - doing well

At this time, all 3 pullets have clear eyes and nares. Lung sounds clear. Heart sounds normal with regular rhythm. All currently have a good appetite. No treatment necessary at this time. If respiratory illness recurs, recommend performing Mycoplasma PCR test or Avian
Respiratory Panel to determine exact cause and targeted treatment plan.

Baytril antibiotic is prohibited for use in poultry by the FDA. Online stores selling baytril directly to consumers are suspect, as this is a prescription only product, and product integrity is questionable. Use of enrofloxacin (baytril) in poultry is documented to cause
development of antibiotic resistant campylobacter. Campylobacter is one of the most common causes of foodborne illness in people. If immunosuppressed individuals are infected with antibiotic resistant campylobacter, consequences can be dire. There is no established egg withhold for enrofloxacin - recommended to never consume eggs from a chicken/duck that has been treated with enrofloxacin. As part of a flock, poultry often will share populations of commensal bacteria, and as such antibiotic resistant campylobacter could be present in all members of the flock after one member has received treatment with enrofloxacin.

How aggressive . Congratulations on staying calm! While I understand the reaction, I think the manner in which it was expressed very inappropriate. I’m the first to agree that antibiotics should come with a prescription only, but I don't see what she thought she would achieve by having such an attitude with you, except not wanting to see her again. And besides, it was in part because the vet did not call you back that you began the Baytril course.

I had not heard about Campylobacter and Baytril, so it is interesting that she explained this. It's worth looking more into.

In France where the list of antibiotics approved for layers is very short and any prescription by a vet needs to be mentioned for biosurveillance, the vet we are seeing tells us to do one month egg withdrawal when she prescribes an unauthorized antibiotics and there is no information. She has mostly prescribed children's antibiotics, but also rabbit sulfa.. for Coccidiosis. When I needed to get antibiotics for Piou-piou urgently as it looked like her wound could be infected , she actually prescribed them by mail after having seen just a photo before our physical appointment, because we couldn't get her there before a week.
She did this even though vets are closely controlled on what they prescribe. So I believe the vet you saw possibly may be more used to seeing chickens that are treated as livestock and thinking of global flock health, more than individual pets.

Butters passing does not seem at all like it was avian flu. And it's a fact that Anna responded to Baytril ; it seems very unlikely it would have helped her recover from AI!

So sorry you had to go through that on top of the rest.

 

[Gigachad poultry]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/04/vital-farms-founder-how-i-built-a-450-million-egg-company.html

This is interesting!

 

[knoturavggrl]

FBF

And an extra picture, still waiting on them to decide to lay some eggs but combs are still pretty pale.

 

[featherhead007]

But what about my chickens? They won’t eat from their feeder, they won’t eat my meally worm treats. I’m out of steaks
And all I was able to feed them, was some grapes leftover from the vine disaster. . Only thing they will do, is eat from my hand.

 

[featherhead007]

But what about my chickens? They won’t eat from their feeder, they won’t eat my meally worm treats. I’m out of steaks
And all I was able to feed them, was some grapes leftover from the vine disaster. . Only thing they will do, is eat from my hand.

Truth be told, molting is revolting!

 

[featherhead007]

FBF
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And an extra picture, still waiting on them to decide to lay some eggs but combs are still pretty pale.
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Speckled Suspects are such pretty birds!