Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Oh, yikes. Poor darlings. Has a respiratory infection gone through your flock that could’ve caused a shell gland issue?

Well not that I am aware of. Other than Sophia being ill back in the summer everyone is acting normally- of course I have older ladies who are slow and rickety, but everyone seems to have acting normally.

Having said that it is migration times and I have seen ducks flying over and I know they can carry a virus chickens can get which causes brittle eggs. But I would think that something like that would go through the whole flock and cause all the eggs to be affected.

This morning I caught Topsy in the nestbox eating a brittle blue egg that broke in the box. Did she lay it? Maybe. I cleaned out the box and she was back in there when I left for breakfast.

 

[Ponypoor]

Special day for the girls! Last time I tried to give them dubias, they were scared of them and ran away whenever one would move This time it only took them like 20 seconds to check them out and realize they're food!

Belated thirsty Thursday pic (don't worry, she didn't get any of my drink. She was very interested in the shiny can and the sound of the carbonation)
View attachment 3952873

Those beetles are huge! And they don’t fly?

My chickens would be on them like sharks!

 

[Ponypoor]

I keep a colony of dubia roaches to breed so I can feed the nymphs (their young) to my leopard gecko. Every once in a while I need to do a cull, get rid of most or all of the adult males depending on if I need more nymphs for my leo or not, as well as any unhealthy ones

They're one of the healthiest feeder insects out there with a low fat and chitin content compared to high protien and calcium! Extremely easy to care for too.

Depending on where you live they may be illegal though, like Florida, because that is the perfect climate for them to not only survive outside of their enclosure, but also breed, and would likely become invasive quickly. They're fine to keep here in Michigan because they wouldn't survive in our cold, dry (relatively) climate. They wouldn't survive more than a week outside of their enclosure here, even indoors. And escape is rare anyway, since they can't fly or climb. They're designed for life on the tropical forest floor.

If anyone wanted an idea for a healthy chicken treat...

Very interesting insect. Illegal to have here in Canada though.

 

[TOMTE]

Very interesting insect. Illegal to have here in Canada though.

That stinks... I know for a fact dubias wouldn't be able to survive outside of an enclosure long enough to breed in Canada, so it's strange that they're banned. I'm guessing it's simply because of misinformation and the stigma around roaches in general

Tax. A belated fluffy butt!

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Welcome to Bob’s thread! We would all love to see some photos of those chicks (esp me I love babies)

4 weeks old Brahmas

 

[Sylvester017]

Giv

Give her some time and an open back chair; she’ll be biting you in no time.

???

Teehee! I just got it!!!