Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

Fly high and kerchunk in bird heaven, Screamer
Neighbors dog got her.
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They are looking into an invisible fence between our properties. And buying me more keets/eggs in spring.

 

[rural mouse]

There is someone who makes silage for their chickens:

I can't find it now, but someone else did pretty much what the second video did, but they manually cut it into smaller pieces, and used gallon zip-loc bags.

do be sure you eliminate all of the air, so it doesn't spoil. I do want to do this - but with the f/t job and part-time teaching on top of my farm, I haven't implemented it yet. My goal the first year I try it is to have lots of small bags, and put them into a metal covered garbage can ( to keep vermin out) and try feeding a bag a day in the winter to give them greens/supplement. Hopefully I can do this next year!!!!

Thank you!!! Bookmarked.

 

[Ponypoor]

@Ponypoor
Here are the links to the various threads on feeding post crop surgery.
My speed reading summary is wait for some indeterminant amount of time up to 24 hours and then feed very soft food - as @bgmathteach describes, runny, for about a week. Here are the posts:

In this first one, azygous weighs in and she usually knows what she is talking about.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-problems-advice-needed.1678922/post-28883930

This one relays what the vet told them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...cken-after-crop-surgery.1679440/post-28902947

Another one.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...cken-after-crop-surgery.1679440/post-28896695

Yes 24hrs with just fluids than very soft food.

I did this, gave her about a tblsp of soaked chick starter. She ate some of it. She had been drinking water quite a bit and her crop is watery. I removed the water for the night and will see how her crop is in the morning. If it hasn’t emptied I will put a crop-bra on her.

Re: incisions - yes they are offset, the incision was dry when I came home today and seems ok. The first 48hrs is when inflammatory response is the greatest and then subsides, along with pain levels at least in mammals.

I used lidocaine ointment on the skin prior to the surgical scrub, read up on this and consensus was that topical lidocaine is fine for birds as long as not used long term.

Just checked the camera and she and Betty are snoozing.

Poor wee Petra is relegated to sleeping in a box

She’s been good about not escaping during the night!

 

[Ponypoor]

There is someone who makes silage for their chickens:

I can't find it now, but someone else did pretty much what the second video did, but they manually cut it into smaller pieces, and used gallon zip-loc bags.

do be sure you eliminate all of the air, so it doesn't spoil. I do want to do this - but with the f/t job and part-time teaching on top of my farm, I haven't implemented it yet. My goal the first year I try it is to have lots of small bags, and put them into a metal covered garbage can ( to keep vermin out) and try feeding a bag a day in the winter to give them greens/supplement. Hopefully I can do this next year!!!!

The issue with silage/haylage is the risk of botulism. Even farmers who do this for their cattle test their product to ensure it hasn’t gone and produced botulism. For me the risk is just too much, in the past it was so common to hear about so and so’s cattle dying from contaminated corn silage or haylage.

I would call up your local Ag centre and see if you can talk to someone about it, or a local farmer who does haylage/silage. Haylage is in those white plastic covered round bales.

 

[rural mouse]

Big Boy
To those of you who sought to reassure me about how big Mr. Chips would become, I thank you for temporarily calming my nerves, but now it is time for a reality check.
Mr. Chips is a big boy!
He is not quite 15 weeks old, has just started honking, and tonight he weighed in at 2.2kg/4lb 13oz.
That is about the same as Pooh and already bigger than Piglet.
I don’t know when cockerels reach mature weight but I am guessing at least 6 months, so 9lb doesn’t seem ridiculous as an adult weight.
Yikes!
It is hilarious to see how terrified he is of Pooh who weighs only 2oz more than he does. Calypso still has a pound on him and I have not yet weighed Tassels.
I am drifting back into the panic zone.
Also he bites so I am going to need some chicken handling gloves, and I need a bigger bag for weighing him - poor guy was in a very uncomfy position in the bag!
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1. Twirp (barely 4 lbs sopping wet) karate kicked Hector in the face....double her height, and while I don't know what he weighed when she did it, at full size, was more than double her.

2. Backtrack a few days on Shad's thread. There was a discussion about rooster size. The hens crouch in such a way as to transmit the roo's weight straight into the ground.

 

[Ponypoor]

There is someone who makes silage for their chickens:

I can't find it now, but someone else did pretty much what the second video did, but they manually cut it into smaller pieces, and used gallon zip-loc bags.

do be sure you eliminate all of the air, so it doesn't spoil. I do want to do this - but with the f/t job and part-time teaching on top of my farm, I haven't implemented it yet. My goal the first year I try it is to have lots of small bags, and put them into a metal covered garbage can ( to keep vermin out) and try feeding a bag a day in the winter to give them greens/supplement. Hopefully I can do this next year!!!!

Wow they used banana plants?!

 

[RoyalChick]

She's got the Houdan stateliness.... Thing 2 would stand like that, and I see glimpses of it with Koonj.

Yes! She definitely has a way of holding herself upright that is rather elegant even though she is really rather an absurd looking little creature!
Blurry picture - but just look at that foot!

 

[knoturavggrl]

Shetlands aren't new at all (if that's what you meant?) - they're an old landrace that was brought back from the brink of dying out by a few breeders in Shetland, particularly Mary Isbister of Burland Croft in Trondra who's been working with those and other native Shetland breeds since the 1970s.

I am partial to land race breeds, all the colors one breed I’ll admit that I am quite tempted to go with these guys to bridge the gap. They sound like smaller versions of my SFH’s in personality and they lay blue green eggs .

Yay. I caught a Cookie fluffy butt.
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She did not approve of me doing that and demanded an explanation!
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Oh she is so pretty, I do love her and her feathered toes.

Big Boy
To those of you who sought to reassure me about how big Mr. Chips would become, I thank you for temporarily calming my nerves, but now it is time for a reality check.
Mr. Chips is a big boy!
He is not quite 15 weeks old, has just started honking, and tonight he weighed in at 2.2kg/4lb 13oz.
That is about the same as Pooh and already bigger than Piglet.
I don’t know when cockerels reach mature weight but I am guessing at least 6 months, so 9lb doesn’t seem ridiculous as an adult weight.
Yikes!
It is hilarious to see how terrified he is of Pooh who weighs only 2oz more than he does. Calypso still has a pound on him and I have not yet weighed Tassels.
I am drifting back into the panic zone.
Also he bites so I am going to need some chicken handling gloves, and I need a bigger bag for weighing him - poor guy was in a very uncomfy position in the bag!
View attachment 4251367

I will weigh in on the weight. I would think most of his growth is done, maybe a bit taller and he will certainly fill out. My guess is 6-7lbs fully grown.

As for the biting when eating tbf some of my girls do that and some are gentle. You haven’t hit the hormone rush phase quite yet. He may well be a bit of a jerk for a few months but most grow out of it in a short amount of time. My girls taught the boys what was acceptable and what wasn’t. As long as they can get away and they can in your beautiful set up, all should be well.

He is stunning and I have the best hopes for him turning into an awesome Roo

 

[RoyalChick]

I am partial to land race breeds, all the colors one breed I’ll admit that I am quite tempted to go with these guys to bridge the gap. They sound like smaller versions of my SFH’s in personality and they lay blue green eggs .

Oh she is so pretty, I do love her and her feathered toes.

I will weigh in on the weight. I would think most of his growth is done, maybe a bit taller and he will certainly fill out. My guess is 6-7lbs fully grown.

As for the biting when eating tbf some of my girls do that and some are gentle. You haven’t hit the hormone rush phase quite yet. He may well be a bit of a jerk for a few months but most grow out of it in a short amount of time. My girls taught the boys what was acceptable and what wasn’t. As long as they can get away and they can in your beautiful set up, all should be well.

He is stunning and I have the best hopes for him turning into an awesome Roo

Thanks for the encouragement. I am still working on the jungle gym now that the yellow jackets have mainly disappeared from the lumber pile.
I had a false start when I thought they were done and a couple of very slow and very angry ones emerged looking for vengeance. I fled.
But I now have most of the bits I need. Also some of my tree stumps that I had upright are gloriously unstable on the slope when turned on their sides - like this one. They are already a popular jump up and hang out location.

 

[featherhead007]

Of course I am thinking about you!.
I hope you're going to get good results

Keep us updated please

Posted: I’m home from the hospital! Yay a few infusions of antibiotics, breathing treatments, new effective meds, smart doctors, and pretty nursing staff.

Test results, no cancer in upper tracts, or lower tracts. Not even a single growth that needs removing. I praise God for such a wonderful healing.
Poor Dakota missed me terribly, but she let me hug her when I got home.