What did you do with your flock today?

[Shetland lover]

Last night before it was dark I went out a little earlier than usual for a coop check. The hens were up on the roost...except Martha, back in a nesting box, acting broody. Nope, not happening. So up on the roost she went.

The juvies were running around, making lots of noise. When they tried to roost with the hens they were blocked. So eventually they noisily, and with much ado over nothing, fluttered up onto the A-frame.
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The top is at eye level and they continued to bluster and fluster but started to settle down as I stood next to them, and calmly told them what handsome boys they were.

Zacchaeus was pushed into the back as you can see by the photo. He'll have the last laugh, although I anticipate him being a little lonely at first. The other four cockerels are going to auction on Saturday.
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Rahab abandoned the brooder, has taken her bunch into a nesting box two nights in a row.
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Tamar wasn't using her box, but still is using her brooder.
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Aww, I wish the boys well and hope they all find fantastic homes
I could recognise which one is Zacchaeus in the photo. He has something about him. Once he's got over losing his brothers, he'll really blossom, I think.
And such perfect floofs. Too cute for words

 

[Shetland lover]

Yeah, I mean, she has a tumor-like thing on her thigh. But we're positive that it is not cancerous as it grew after an injury.

I never knew what happened. One day, about two years ago, I grabbed her and found a huge gash under her wing.

At the time, I took her to a vet who should've stitched her up and didn't, so maybe this pouch-shaped wound healed improperly, and now, she probably has an abscess or a granuloma (a type of tumor that could've grown in response to foreign material lodged into the wound).

But her current vet wants to be sure what it is before he touches it, so he took a sample of her tissue and we're waiting for the biopsy results to know how to proceed.

I'm honestly more worried about the fact that I'll probably have to take her back to the vet if we want to remove this tumor, and she's a very skittish hen, so she's really had a bad time during her previous vet visit.

I took her in a box but she fought the hell out of herself to get out of it, so I took her in my arms, and she was panting and got this explosive diarrhea. Stress truly hit her hard.

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Poor Callia!
We had similar issues with Alice in terms of travel and being taken to the vet. She had a 3 hour round trip to a specialist avian vet when she had EYP. She was so distressed by the whole experience and the vet couldn't do a lot for her other than antibiotics and painkillers. We opted to not put her through it once it became obvious she wouldn't survive treatment anyway.
I also had to hold Alice all the way there and back. Fortunately, she didn't have the explosive diarrhoea.
The only thing that helped Alice was to have her sister, Gladys, with her or my ex-batt, Peggy. I also put a few drops of lavender oil on her feet. Not sure it helped but it didn’t hurt to try.
I really hope Callia is OK

 

[Shetland lover]

This afternoon I took a photo of Zacchaeus, the cockerel I am keeping, and noticed his leg ring looked a little tight.
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So I headed back outside at dusk with a pair of wire cutters and a new green zip-tie. I was able to locate Zach without my headlamp, he's smaller than the other boys. You would have thought I was butchering him, the noise he made! After I replaced the ring I turned him rightside up but made him stay on my lap until he stopped struggling. When I put him back on the roost the blue ring boy reached over and bit me!

It didn't hurt, but I will be glad when the four go to the auction, Saturday. Things should be calmer...

Cockerels are such drama queens!

 

[Shetland lover]

I once found a young possum hanged in bird netting I'd placed over my chicken run. It was not a pretty sight. I use hardware cloth now. We live next to the woods, and while we have coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossums in abundance, the only predators I have dispatched are venomous snakes. I even have removed and released rat snakes who found a chink in the hoop coop "armor". They serve a purpose, so I let them be.

This is more or less my philosophy. I even re-home the rats we catch!

 

[Shetland lover]

They will eat any grape, any size. No cutting necessary.

Mine won't eat green grapes. But they are spoiled brats

 

[Shetland lover]

This time a leghorn pullet was hanging in the same spot in the netting. Not moving, I thought the worst, but she was alive. DH helped get her unstuck. I took that area of netting away. I think they wanted to get up in the tree, and got stuck coming down. She just had a couple abrasions, one behind her comb, and on her leg.

So glad you found her in time. Lucky pullet!

 

[Shetland lover]

My vet friend (who is coming tomorrow to examine Stan) finally got the results of the bloods we took from Penelope. She had leukaemia. It was a bit of a shock but when she didn't bounce back properly after we wormed her, my next best guess was some type of cancer. I had suspected reproductive cancer, given her history of laying 2 eggs a day and occasional egg binding. I should have guessed leukaemia as I was certain she was anaemic and she didn’t respond to treatment for it.

 

[fuzzi]

Aww, I wish the boys well and hope they all find fantastic homes
I could recognise which one is Zacchaeus in the photo. He has something about him. Once he's got over losing his brothers, he'll really blossom, I think.
And such perfect floofs. Too cute for words

He tried to crow this morning

 

[fuzzi]

I'm at the auction, doesn't start for another hour. I brought 4 of my 8 week old cockerels.

Limey and Dominique cross

Blue and Purple bands

There's everything here, chicks, ducklings, eggs, ducks, chickens, rabbits, quail, a Tom turkey and even this beauty, a pheasant I believe

And goats!

No goats, yet. Gotta wait...

I do not need a goat...

 

[Shetland lover]

He tried to crow this morning

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Aww, I love It when the young boys try to crow!

I remember the first time Stan tried to crow. Stan watched his dad let out a magnificent crow, threw his heart and soul into copying him - head back, chest puffed out - and out came...a tiny, pathetic squeak