Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[kattabelly]

I keep a container of Virox wipes in the barn. It’s why my hand are so dry, and I am surprised I haven’t damaged to phones or my laptop out there using those. Peroxide is the ingredient in Virox. Very strong peroxide! Bad on the skin…..

I'm scrupulous in certain situations, like when handling sick or especially vulnerable animals or anything to do with other people. Having worked in human healthcare, including assisting with oral surgery, it's hard to fight the instinct to be horrified by what's considered maybe not best practice but at least "ok" for veterinary treatment on a farm!

When it comes to myself, I'm the total opposite Basically never clean anything and my immune system seems to be pretty robust as a result - I never get sick and I've never had food poisoning or even a slightly upset stomach from eating slightly contaminated or "off" food.

 

[kattabelly]

Antibiotic resistance tax / because I missed wattle Wednesday:

Bertha contemplating murder yesterday, while waiting to use "her" nest box.

 

[Ponypoor]

I'm scrupulous in certain situations, like when handling sick or especially vulnerable animals or anything to do with other people. Having worked in human healthcare, including assisting with oral surgery, it's hard to fight the instinct to be horrified by what's considered maybe not best practice but at least "ok" for veterinary treatment on a farm!

When it comes to myself, I'm the total opposite Basically never clean anything and my immune system seems to be pretty robust as a result - I never get sick and I've never had food poisoning or even a slightly upset stomach from eating slightly contaminated or "off" food.

Oi boy - you do know you just jinxed yourself right?

Don’t tempt the fates

Rooster rump Friday

 

[Ponypoor]

Antibiotic resistance tax / because I missed wattle Wednesday:
View attachment 4242521
Bertha contemplating murder yesterday, while waiting to use "her" nest box.

Lots of arguments over those perfect nest boxes here! Though have to say with most of my ladies moulting it’s pretty quiet at the moment.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

It's because even when it was being used to treat or prevent other infections, it also kills a lot of the campylobacter bacteria that are found in a chicken's gut and shed in their faeces - but not all. Some survive and this leads to strains of the campylobacter that are resistant to enrofloxacin, and related antibiotics like ciprofloxacin which is used in humans.

Campylobacter infections in humans are often caused by contaminated meat but can be picked up in other ways too, including through the faeces of a chicken kept as a pet. (Ever handle a chicken and then take out your phone to take a picture or something? You might've washed your hands after that but did you disinfect your phone too, or did you not clean it and then touch it again later on while eating a sandwich?) Exposure to tiny amounts like that might not be an issue for most people but could be really serious for someone with a compromised immune system. If the infection they pick up is resistant to antibiotics, it's not easy to treat.

Ciprofloxacin is also one of the few antibiotics used to treat other bacterial infections like anthrax. If antibiotic resistance genes were transferred from campylobacter to those other bacteria, that could be a huge problem.

It's because even when it was being used to treat or prevent other infections, it also kills a lot of the campylobacter bacteria that are found in a chicken's gut and shed in their faeces - but not all. Some survive and this leads to strains of the campylobacter that are resistant to enrofloxacin, and related antibiotics like ciprofloxacin which is used in humans.

Campylobacter infections in humans are often caused by contaminated meat but can be picked up in other ways too, including through the faeces of a chicken kept as a pet. (Ever handle a chicken and then take out your phone to take a picture or something? You might've washed your hands after that but did you disinfect your phone too, or did you not clean it and then touch it again later on while eating a sandwich?) Exposure to tiny amounts like that might not be an issue for most people but could be really serious for someone with a compromised immune system. If the infection they pick up is resistant to antibiotics, it's not easy to treat.

Ciprofloxacin is also one of the few antibiotics used to treat other bacterial infections like anthrax. If antibiotic resistance genes were transferred from campylobacter to those other bacteria, that could be a huge problem.

Thank you for this! I immediately had to clean my phone before doing anything else

 

[Sally PB]

Do you have any tips for dealing with winter/cold weather. I'm in michigan and it's starting to get cold around here. This will be my first winter keeping chickens so I'm a bit worried.

I'm from the mitten too, so maybe this will help you. The entire thread has good information, but I linked to my post since we might have very similar climates. Where in Michigan are you? You can put your location in your profile, and then people will be able to see it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...aring-for-cold-weather.1644916/#post-28118747

 

[TOMTE]

I'm from the mitten too, so maybe this will help you. The entire thread has good information, but I linked to my post since we might have very similar climates. Where in Michigan are you? You can put your location in your profile, and then people will be able to see it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...aring-for-cold-weather.1644916/#post-28118747

There's at least 4 of us Michiganders on this thread now. Are we taking over?

@Candiru09
This will only be my 2nd winter with chickens but this is how we winterized the run last year:

This year we've expanded a bit, but we'll end up doing essentially the same thing with the landscaping cloth wrapped around the bottom. The stuff above it is greenhouse plastic. The landscaping cloth lets a little air through and the greenhouse plastic traps heat. There are windows cut into the cloth and the plastic so we can open them and allow for a breeze on nice days and during summer.

Here's what we have to work with this year. Need to make some alterations before we winterize.

(That is one tomato plant, by the way. It's dying now from the cold but the thing was massive. And we didn't plant it, it grew from a seed from a plant we had there a couple years ago. The ones we did plant this year didn't do well at all, go figure, LOL)

Good morning!

So, the litter in the "main" run (the winterized portion) was originally just dirt. Last fall I added a good layer of leaves, to give the girls something to do but also to keep the ground from freezing. They broke it down within a few weeks. I'm going to have to get off my butt and rake a ton of leaves for this winter soon. I don't think we're going to be having a mild winter again this year, at all...

I use wood pellets in their coop and just dump the soiled pellets on the ground in the run. As they get wet and break down it basically becomes sawdust. The girls love to bathe in it when they're stuck inside for winter or on bad weather days. And the composting process of pellets + poop + leaf litter keeps the ground relatively warm thru winter, compared to the air. Chicken feet appreciate that.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I’m not discounting Mr Wyandottey. He has shown himself worthy of praise every day. He’s very brave, and intelligent! And yes, I love my big boy buddy, Rudy the Wyandottey!

To me, love and grief for one is not a discount or knock on any other. Each one is so different, unique. The circumstances are unique too. The pain of loss reflects your journey with them. They are our companions in life.

 

[Candiru09]

I'm from the mitten too, so maybe this will help you. The entire thread has good information, but I linked to my post since we might have very similar climates. Where in Michigan are you? You can put your location in your profile, and then people will be able to see it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...aring-for-cold-weather.1644916/#post-28118747

Thank you!
I'm actually in an city of Michigan that doesn't allow chickens (despite the fact that my family has over 3/4 of an acre) so I don't really want to post the city i'm in. But I am in zone 6 if it helps.
They're petitioning for allowing chickens where I live so fingers crossed.

 

[Candiru09]

There's at least 4 of us Michiganders on this thread now. Are we taking over?

@Candiru09
This will only be my 2nd winter with chickens but this is how we winterized the run last year:
View attachment 4242555
This year we've expanded a bit, but we'll end up doing essentially the same thing with the landscaping cloth wrapped around the bottom. The stuff above it is greenhouse plastic. The landscaping cloth lets a little air through and the greenhouse plastic traps heat. There are windows cut into the cloth and the plastic so we can open them and allow for a breeze on nice days and during summer.

Here's what we have to work with this year. Need to make some alterations before we winterize.
View attachment 4242556
(That is one tomato plant, by the way. It's dying now from the cold but the thing was massive. And we didn't plant it, it grew from a seed from a plant we had there a couple years ago. The ones we did plant this year didn't do well at all, go figure, LOL)

View attachment 4242558
View attachment 4242559
Good morning!

So, the litter in the "main" run (the winterized portion) was originally just dirt. Last fall I added a good layer of leaves, to give the girls something to do but also to keep the ground from freezing. They broke it down within a few weeks. I'm going to have to get off my butt and rake a ton of leaves for this winter soon. I don't think we're going to be having a mild winter again this year, at all...

I use wood pellets in their coop and just dump the soiled pellets on the ground in the run. As they get wet and break down it basically becomes sawdust. The girls love to bathe in it when they're stuck inside for winter or on bad weather days. And the composting process of pellets + poop + leaf litter keeps the ground relatively warm thru winter, compared to the air. Chicken feet appreciate that.

Thank you for the advice! The coop looks really nice. Using leaves is a good idea especially since our yard has 3 huge trees that drop a ton of leaves each year.
Let's hope for a mild winter.
By the way I love the silver laced wyandottes. I own a gold laced one.