Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Omg. I've been worrying about this.

Is he okay today

He’s at the veterinarian office recouping. Major antibiotics regiment.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

He’s at the veterinarian office recouping. Major antibiotics regiment.

A human cut off his comb? Like they want to let you grow him then take him for cockfighting?

 

[featherhead007]

A human cut off his comb? Like they want to let you grow him then take him for cockfighting?

I don’t understand that kind of cruelty. All my birds are loved from the day that they hatch. Loved, treated well and with respect. And with the best feed I can find. He must have been lured outside my gated compound somehow. Had to be human interaction, because there’s no breach in my security

 

[RoyalChick]

Results

@RoyalChick does this meet your baby fix now? @Ponypoor what about you?

I am still working on the video. Lovely! It seems very stressful to be a mother hen with all those wayward babies who won't stay still!

 

[RoyalChick]

I stood/sat out there filming for the whole half hour. The twittering/purring of mama and babies is soothing...even the "Mama, HEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPPP!" Even if my sister wasn't visiting, this would be a great vacation.

The other soothing thing is watching/listening to hummingbirds. Both activities have enough action to be engaging while steady enough sounds to be calming. And being ignored by all the birds helps remind the world doesn't feature me (or any other human) in the center of it.

I feel this even without the babies. It is how I feel when I sit out with the Princesses foraging. They make little satisfied chirps which I find soothing. And they are somehow constantly busy and calming at the same time.

Tax: Pooh being busy and soothing.

 

[RoyalChick]

They are adorable and thanks to momma's who do not try to eat me friendly as well. I also have a favorite who I have everything crossed is a pullet as well. I'm hoping both Georgina and Georgette are pullets. If I had to choose just 1 of them though....a certain little dalmatian spotted chick speaks to me.

Yes - that one is very, very special!

 

[Ponypoor]

I wrote her comment without thinking of this consequence. Just edited it. Or better to delete it?

I didn’t think it was true at the time, and could have calmly proved it online right then, but her next comment, disparaging people looking for cheap birds and this is what happens when you do, sent me over the edge and I got ticked. I had been getting the space to examine Hazel ready nearby while we talked, and as I returned to the truck I said No, I wasn’t after cheap birds, saving money. I waved at the truck. Look, here you all are. This visit is going to be several hundred dollars at least, isn’t it? (The intern nodded.)

For what it’s worth, one can purchase birds from any large commercial seller, that has the most strict of bio-security, but all it takes is one wild bird to infect you while flock with something.

Or maybe bringing home with you on your shoes hot the vehicles tires. Maybe something from the feed store….

The only way to be 100% bio-secure is to have a closed system. Negative air flow, completely hands off, feed that is treated with some sort of a method of sterilizing feed and water. Of course this is not only practical but who could afford this?!

I feel that the Vet was engaging in a bit of berating, it’s highly unlikely that they get many poultry pets. Vets are generalists, they are not specialists with poultry or any other animal - they know generally what to look for and treat.

Now someone like my small animal Vet who has her own flock, grew up on a working beef farm, worked with large animals, and knows the pet side poultry is someone that I really value. She did berate me for not worming my flock more, which I took to heart. I did know that round worms could migrate to an egg, which she told me ‘once you see that you won’t unsee it!’. Now that’s what we all need. - a Vet with the practical side of things.

When I bought Petunia to her we discussed an antibiotic, and we both decided it was prudent if she had an egg she couldn’t pass.

This is what a Vet should be doing, they should be discussing things with the owner, I don’t see that this day and age though. Are they over worked over stressed? Are they not using any sort of practical experience they have gained? Are they getting that experience? All questions that these days I feel new Vets are lacking in.

Anyways I am glad you stuck up for yourself. You know your flock best not the Vet. And you know how to handle and treat them - you are indeed a poultry expert.

 

[RoyalChick]

I wrote her comment without thinking of this consequence. Just edited it. Or better to delete it?

I didn’t think it was true at the time, and could have calmly proved it online right then, but her next comment, disparaging people looking for cheap birds and this is what happens when you do, sent me over the edge and I got ticked. I had been getting the space to examine Hazel ready nearby while we talked, and as I returned to the truck I said No, I wasn’t after cheap birds, saving money. I waved at the truck. Look, here you all are. This visit is going to be several hundred dollars at least, isn’t it? (The intern nodded.)

I think I would edit your post with a sort of 'FACT CHECK' - just so some random person doesn't stumble across the misinformation.

 

[RoyalChick]

Pooh enjoying wild water for Thirsty Thursday. I have done a bit more investigation of the leak in the pipe in the run that I think is part of what is attracting rats.
There is some heavy digging in my future.
In good news, I managed to kill two rats in their burrow with dry ice. Still a long way to go and rat proof feeder is still hitchhiking slowly across the country.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I don’t understand that kind of cruelty. All my birds are loved from the day that they hatch. Loved, treated well and with respect. And with the best feed I can find. He must have been lured outside my gated compound somehow. Had to be human interaction, because there’s no breach in my security

I had first thought that he tangled with an animal. Is it a clean knife-like cut, or a ragged tear?