Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

Silly moggy! Tis the season for scrapping and carrying on.

Took Sherlock for a walk the other day and caught Castor trotting down the driveway. Looked like he was on a mission. Surprisingly, he turned and trotted right back when I called him...then proceeded to roll/squirm all over the open part of the drive. Poor Sherlock wanted to play and Castor was "I'll sniff noses with you then smack you and smack again whilst squirming."

 

[Ponypoor]

I am also worming today. Aurora and Aster definitely have a worm issue.

Ever since I read about round worms showing up on the eggs I have been so paranoid about that !

 

[TX Chick Noob]

I only wish they were real chickens !

The older our little powder puffs get, the more my husband agrees with you that they are feather dusters, not chickens.

I don't know enough to know what questions I have!
Any tips, tricks, things that seemed to work.
Someone here said to pop the chickens under the hen's rear end for example. I would not have guessed that..
Bob told me he did it just before dawn. Others have said once it is dark. Which did you do?
I assume you trade out eggs and replace with chicks. Did you add in broken egg shells?
How many days old were the chicks? I have to balance the Marek's vaccine. It takes a while for the vaccine to 'take', but the older the chick the less likely I imagine she will accept them. Not sure what the sweet spot really is.

Reply further down.

Niamh was trying to remove my wedding ring the other day. They do love shiny things.

Several of the chicks keep trying to eat my ring. And the one I wear around them is silicone, so now it has a small nick in it.

The trouble with one day old is that the stats from studies suggest I would lose half of them to Marek’s in the first 2 months.
Same as if they were not vaccinated.
If I wait 10 days then 90% will survive.
Small breeds at 6 days maybe? Or take a risk on 5 days. Hard to know what to do.

Maybe give her a bath to wash dirt and dust off her, dry fluff and put her in a clean brooder crate in an area away from the others, wait for a few days to acclimate, then introduce some 6 day old chickies.

I put 4 day old chicks under unproven Sophia and she did great.

With Indigo, the chicks were 1 day old when it “didn’t work”, and then 2-3 days old when she decided her babies were missing and tried to get back in to them.
With CoCo, they were already 3 days old when I didn’t feel it was working, and closer to 6-7 when I decided she was trying to adopt the bantams because she couldn’t find “her chicks”, and I put her back with them.

In both cases, I tried tucking the babies in around 10pm, and then checking about every hour (usually by trying to peek in quietly using a red flashlight). My concern both times was that they didn’t seem to be tucking them under, and would peck at them or push them out. I kept trying to tuck them underneath or under a wing. Since both did end up trying to find/raise their chicks after I separated them, I think it just took a little time for their maternal instinct to fully kick in, and I had been too afraid of a chick getting hurt to be patient.

I also had only moved the mom’s to the mini-coop nest box on the same day I gave them the chicks. If I had the opportunity to know I would be giving them chicks, or even suspected, I would have moved them out there several days before to settle in. And yes, I had them sitting on fake eggs, but did not put any empty egg shells. That is an interesting idea.

Coco has been my “extreme broody”. Starting from when she was only 4 or 5 months old, and doing it over and over each year. And every time she has seen or heard chicks, she has gone broody a few days later. Indigo had only been broody a few times.

So you definitely have Marek’s on the property? I hopefully don’t. My first 10 chickens were vaccinated, none of the rest have been. Sometimes you just have to take a chance and hope the vaccine kicks in early enough, but with Tassels I suspect you could wait until they are 5-6 days old. Especially if not too many of them. I actually had more trouble getting the chicks to accept Coco as mom, than I did getting her to accept the chicks.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Caturday

Well Éowyn decided it was time to meet the Phyllistines in person yesterday. Much like with Gucci she started by sniffing Niamh's head poof. Niamh then followed her around for a bit.

View attachment 4137471View attachment 4137472View attachment 4137473View attachment 4137474View attachment 4137475

They Éowyn lay down perhaps thinking someone would lay next to her like Gucci used to. This was when Nimue decided to check her out.

View attachment 4137476

Here's some video of them getting to know each other.

As you can see it all went swimmingly. Cats and chickens hanging out together.

Éowyn is so good with them and they are both as calm as can be.

 

[RoyalChick]

Your jungle is way more awesome than mine! I am going to let the brush along my fence line grow back in, hopefully this will help prevent them from flying over onto my neighbour's property.

I think they really love overgrown stuff. I am doing a bit of clearance at the moment. Cutting paths for the chickens and creating some open spaces for my chair and bench so I don’t get covered in ticks whenever I visit.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Ever since I read about round worms showing up on the eggs I have been so paranoid about that !

Oh, I really didn’t need to hear that Guess I will be doing this twice a year now!

 

[RoyalChick]

The older our little powder puffs get, the more my husband agrees with you that they are feather dusters, not chickens.



Reply further down.


Several of the chicks keep trying to eat my ring. And the one I wear around them is silicone, so now it has a small nick in it.
View attachment 4137497





With Indigo, the chicks were 1 day old when it “didn’t work”, and then 2-3 days old when she decided her babies were missing and tried to get back on to them.
With CoCo, they were already 3 days old when I didn’t feel it was working, and closer to 6-7 when I decided she was trying to adopt the bantams because she couldn’t find “her chicks”, and I out her back with them.

In both cases, I tried tucking the babies in around 10pm, and then checking about every hour (usually by trying to peek in quietly using a red flashlight). My concern both times was that they didn’t seem to be tucking them under, and would peck at them or push them out. I kept trying to tuck them underneath or under a wing. Since both did end up trying to find/raise their chicks after I separated them, I think it just took a little time for their maternal instinct to fully kick in, and I had been to afraid of a chick getting hurt to be patient.

I also had only moved the mom’s to the mini-coop nest box on the same day I gave them the chicks. If I had the opportunity to know I would be giving them chicks, or even suspected, I would have moved them out there several days before to settle in. And yes, I had them sitting on fake eggs, but did not put any empty egg shells. That is an interesting idea.

Coco has been my “extreme broody”. Starting from when she was only 4 or 5 months old, and doing it over and over each year. And every time she has seen or heard chicks. She has gone broody a few days later. Indigo had only been broody a few times.

So you definitely have Marek’s on the property? I hopefully don’t. My first 10 chickens were vaccinated, none of the rest have been. Sometimes you just have to take a chance and hope the vaccine kicks in early enough, but with Tassels I suspect you could wait until they are 5-6 days old. Especially if not too many of them. I actually had more trouble getting the chicks to accept Coco as mom, than I did getting her to accept the chicks.

Thank you. Very helpful.
I have been pondering how to reduce the Marek’s load by bringing Tassels into the house or garage into a clean environment.
Of course she herself will probably bring infected dust with her but the load would be less maybe than the coop where everyone lives.
As others have suggested, I could also make some attempt to clean Tassels herself. Not so sure about that. Maybe dust her with a microfiber cloth or something.

 

[RoyalChick]

Caturday

Well Éowyn decided it was time to meet the Phyllistines in person yesterday. Much like with Gucci she started by sniffing Niamh's head poof. Niamh then followed her around for a bit.

View attachment 4137471View attachment 4137472View attachment 4137473View attachment 4137474View attachment 4137475

They Éowyn lay down perhaps thinking someone would lay next to her like Gucci used to. This was when Nimue decided to check her out.

View attachment 4137476

Here's some video of them getting to know each other.

As you can see it all went swimmingly. Cats and chickens hanging out together.

Amazing. Éowyn is so calm.
Love it!

 

[knoturavggrl]

I really had work this time, but I got 2 of my three Xtra Cockerels a home this morning. They will have their own flock and were very much wanted. The family drove 2hrs to come get them.

Goodbye beautiful boys, live long and prosper

Chive and Tarragon

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you. Very helpful.
I have been pondering how to reduce the Marek’s load by bringing Tassels into the house or garage into a clean environment.
Of course she herself will probably bring infected dust with her but the load would be less maybe than the coop where everyone lives.
As others have suggested, I could also make some attempt to clean Tassels herself. Not so sure about that. Maybe dust her with a microfiber cloth or something.

I am now picturing you using one of @featherhead007 feather dusters on her or maybe one of these with a stick in it.....