Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

Good thing our yard is basically all sand! It rarely ever gets badly muddy.

I love sand too ~ better than dirt but still sticks to feathers. We have a raised 4'x4' sandbox for our birds under a 10'x10' canopy so when it rains they can still take a dry dustbath. However, the sand also accumulates in their feathers... case in point: Our Silkie Violet decided to quickly suddenly shake off her feathers w/ sand chunks flying right into my face/eyes

Sandbox under canopy ~ 2019 yard under remodel.

Dry sandbox during rain 2025

Violet & friend in sandbox 2019

 

[Candiru09]

I had a hen with a crop impaction, I had been giving Ducosate and massaging for a few weeks and finally decided I would do the surgery.

Gathered all the gear from my Vet, then told BIL he would be my OR Nurse. So we planned for the next night.

Next morning went to the barn to massage her crop as usual and no more crop

I think I scared it out of her! But it resolved so I was glad I didn’t have to remove anything.

Unfortunately she passed away about 5 months later. I am sure she had some serious health issues, she had been egg bound, laid egg in an egg…. Then the crop…. Then she was ‘sick’ nothing specific - and passed away suddenly over night one night.

I wonder if she had a heart issue.

Dang that sucks.
I haven't had any health scares with my birds yet. Which is good as I have no clue how to deal with stuff like prolapsed backsides or egg binding.

 

[Candiru09]

I love sand too ~ better than dirt but still sticks to feathers. We have a raised 4'x4' sandbox for our birds under a 10'x10' canopy so when it rains they can still take a dry dustbath. However, the sand also accumulates in their feathers... case in point: Our Silkie Violet decided to quickly suddenly shake off her feathers w/ sand chunks flying right into my face/eyes

Sandbox under canopy ~ 2019 yard under remodel.
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Dry sandbox during rain 2025
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Violet & friend in sandbox 2019
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Aw cute hens!
The spot where we have the run used to have a giant cottonwood tree stuff in the middle of it which we had ground up before we built the run. It combined with the sandy ground to create this mixture which the raptors love digging in. One time they dug this hole which was probably a foot and a half deep!

 

[Sylvester017]

Let me get back to you on that. All I know, is it saved Coco, CeeCee, and Dakota from crossing the rainbow bridge. But it looks likely like the same jar I have. Which they won’t sell anymore (unless I go to Mexico)

It's called Fix Mox now in two different sizes 250mg or 500 mg. Yours is probably 250 but plz confirm your mg for me.

 

[Sylvester017]

Dang that sucks.
I haven't had any health scares with my birds yet. Which is good as I have no clue how to deal with stuff like prolapsed backsides or egg binding.

We called a few vets around our area in advance of getting chickens so we'd have emergency contacts if a bird fell ill suddenly. We lucked out finding a vet nearby who is a dog/cat/exotics/bird vet. He's reasonable compared to an avian-only vet but it's still costly to use a vet.

DH took our Suzu to our vet this morning to clean out her hardened clogged nares cuz I didn't want to go digging in unfamiliar internal areas myself.

 

[drstratton]

I had a hen with a crop impaction, I had been giving Ducosate and massaging for a few weeks and finally decided I would do the surgery.

Gathered all the gear from my Vet, then told BIL he would be my OR Nurse. So we planned for the next night.

Next morning went to the barn to massage her crop as usual and no more crop

I think I scared it out of her! But it resolved so I was glad I didn’t have to remove anything.

Unfortunately she passed away about 5 months later. I am sure she had some serious health issues, she had been egg bound, laid egg in an egg…. Then the crop…. Then she was ‘sick’ nothing specific - and passed away suddenly over night one night.

I wonder if she had a heart issue.

You just never know sometimes.

She was doing great, nice and healthy. I'm just hoping it was because she was being a little glutton on some long grass. I'll keep a close eye on her and keep massaging until it's all clear. Hopefully we won't need to do surgery.

Thank you again for your help.

 

[Candiru09]

We called a few vets around our area in advance of getting chickens so we'd have emergency contacts if a bird fell ill suddenly. We lucked out finding a vet nearby who is a dog/cat/exotics/bird vet. He's reasonable compared to an avian-only vet but it's still costly to use a vet.

DH took our Suzu to our vet this morning to clean out her hardened clogged nares cuz I didn't want to go digging in unfamiliar internal areas myself.
View attachment 4242318View attachment 4242319View attachment 4242320

Yeah getting a vet is a much better idea then trying to fix it myself.

 

[RoyalChick]

That's what I was thinking too. You can see the grass in there. I was so happy to see that it was starting to break down. I was afraid that's what was causing the problem. But just didn't know.

I will see if I can find the cellulase. How do you administer that, does it come in pill form? I was thinking of giving her another dose of Docusate tomorrow, I'm not sure 2 days in a row would be a good idea. I will also go out peri today and massage her crop, if I can catch her...lol

I also need to figure out how administer the antifungal. I might see if I can find it in pill form when I'm in town tomorrow.

Thank you RC!

It is a digestive supplement that some people use. I got it in capsules on Amazon and just popped a whole capsule down the gullet.

 

[Sylvester017]

Aw cute hens!
The spot where we have the run used to have a giant cottonwood tree stuff in the middle of it which we had ground up before we built the run. It combined with the sandy ground to create this mixture which the raptors love digging in. One time they dug this hole which was probably a foot and a half deep!

It's so cute to watch them too! Our Silkies sometimes disappear in their dustbath holes & all we see is no bird ~ just dirt flying out of a hole!

Lately they graduated from the sandbox to using our raised garden bed which we let them use to direct deposit their fertilizer :

 

[Ponypoor]

Dang that sucks.
I haven't had any health scares with my birds yet. Which is good as I have no clue how to deal with stuff like prolapsed backsides or egg binding.

Thankfully these things are not common. Your ladies will be fine I am sure.