Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

@Sylvester017

Sending you my very best wishes

Every prayer & good wishes has been greatly loved & appreciated

 

[Sylvester017]

Best of luck today @Sylvester017

Nature (or the devil) tried to foil surgery plans w/ wind gusts up to 65 mph today causing our street to blackout at 5 a.m. My surgeon's street also was on blackout in the morning but we all made it to the surgery!

Trooper techy DH rigged battery lights so we could see to shower in the morning & the hens went to roost before we got home after 5 p.m. Aren't chickens just the greatest?!

Dana missed DH escorting her to the coop & she properly chastised him from her perch when he came home to lock the run!

Can a bird really love a human that much? Yes!

 

[Sylvester017]

Brush fires are no where near me. I would have to drive three hours just to see the smoke from the Pacific Palisades fire
A long ways away

Well, we can see it ~ a glowing red horizon toward the western ocean skyline. Our concern are the fires that start in the mtns behind us ~ so far quiet but here's a 2020 fire too close for our comfort!

 

[Sylvester017]

View attachment 4023237

Blame Ponypoor

@Ponypoor Your lake effect snow is here. Geeze, can't you keep this to yourself!

Everyone is getting chill weather while we're getting warm Santa Ana Winds at 65+mph coming down on us from the dry mtns?! Another few days of it too! Just when it dies down, Boom, here comes the blast!

 

[Sylvester017]

Like these?

That's an all timer!

Must be Texas patriots!

 

[Sylvester017]

Is this normal temps for this time of year?


Tax
It’s sunny! But rootin tootin chilly!

Shirly is eyeing the manure rake, wonder who knocked it over? The broom is still upright! Sylvester017 will be happy to see that
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Somebody is heavy enough to knock over that rake! Whoever it was knows better than to touch my broom ~ I need it in good shape riding for Halloween !

 

[Sylvester017]

I've crocheted a few coos, I want to remake this one now that I know how to properly loop stitch haha
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Tax, Samara
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Jenn, you are so freakin' talented
Sweet Samara....

 

[Sylvester017]

Their mother Poppet made me wait almost 11 months for that first egg. The silkie crew is 7 or 7 1/2 months old now, I figured I would have to wait at least until March for them to lay.

Look what I found a few minutes ago.
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One of them is laying. I suspect it is either Patsy or Martina the partridge girls. They have both been inspecting the nest boxes a lot during the last few days. I am fairly confident this is a pullet egg and a silkie one at that. Mrs E's face is just not red enough for her to be laying yet, it is still light pink.

The new egg is in the middle. To the left is one of my speckled sussex's and to the right is Goose's egg. Goose who is half silkie lays just a tad bit bigger egg then a pure silkie.

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Bless Silkies ~ they take turns laying all seasons of the year. We haven't missed getting at least one egg a day from some Silkie or another for weeks now.

 

[Sylvester017]

And then there were 32.

Twirp has gone to join her bestie, Cuckoo, also due to reproduction issues. The last egg I saw from her was almost 2 years ago and was entirely shell-less....and hers were ALWAYS extra-large. Feeling blessed to have her as long as we did, but already missing my other primary banana lover and adventurous lady. First to breach the baby fence, first to go walk-about. Intolerant of hormonal idiots. Curious about everything. Rest in Peace independent lady.
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Oh, that's so sad ...
When they have health issues I seem to draw nearer to them hoping their life is quality. Yeah, heartbreak but the sweetie had quite an extended life for having issues

 

[Sylvester017]

Last summer after reading about the avian flu vaccine being used on California condors to save them (vaccinations have finished, now they are monitoring), I came to the conclusion that there isn't widespread use of an avian flu vaccine because -

1. Similar to Marek's, a vaccinated but uninfected bird will show antibodies upon testing, which makes it indistinguishable from a non-vaccinated infected bird, and vaccinated birds can get infected but be fine with it and appear otherwise healthy.

2. A vaccine at this point can't be really specific because it mutates so much, and people want a magic bullet. For instance the human infections that are causing severe illness is a different genotype than the more common one infecting wild and domestic birds (so far). (Also, I read that people fear a more virulent strain developing if the virus encounters the vaccination. I'm thinking on this last point, that boat has sailed, vaccination or no.)

3. Cost. Maybe that should be #1 on the list.

Isn't partial protection still useful when a vaccine isn't matched exactly? At this point, a vaccine may be beneficial against what can be a severe disease. And so buy us and our birds time - don't viruses usually evolve to cause less severe disease over time, in order to more efficiently spread (by not quickly killing everyone it infects)?

So there is a conflcit in lines of thinking - vaccination of all domestic poultry and monitoring, which I think China does - versus the places/countries (U.S., E.U. etc) that are still attempting to control the spread of avian flu through quarantine and culling.

Maybe I'm off-base here, and I'll not post further on it if this is too sensitive, let me know. Also please correct any errors. But I see this as the same as a discussion about Marek's, and I don't see how our situation is pointing toward any other solution than widespread vaccination efforts, for both people and birds.

The beautiful Buckeyes sharing a moment, Summer 2023
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Dialogue never bothered me & By Bob made us aware of the AI issue infecting/killing big wild cats & people now.

I really love Buckeyes but late in the 2017 season I could only get Dominiques ~ I wanted both breeds but in the end we really loved our Doms too. Both breeds are better suited for cooler climate zones. We recommended both breeds to a Colorado snow-country couple & they loved both breeds w/ a Dom as their roo.