Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[notabitail]

Felicitas was sitting hanging over a ledge yesterday.

 

[TOMTE]

Today was a good day

 

[RoyalChick]

Today was a good day

That’s a lot of talking!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I'm honestly thrilled to bits she not a young girl and actually thriving where she is .

How are you? Rebecca. I hope you're not in to much pain

I had 2 pulled today. The one that broke and another one on the opposite side that was in danger of breaking the same way. The broken one gave the dentist fits. Of course a piece of one of the roots broke off and had to be drilled out.

I am sore, but, it is tolerable with a ice pack and the pain meds. I mean I am hurting, but this is a different kind of hurt. It is not the drive you crazy and in tears hurt that I've dealt with off and on since it broke.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel now and I am looking forward to being able to eat again. I've been on sort of a crash starvation diet surviving on scrambled eggs, yogurt and oatmeal. I have dropped 6lbs in 2 1/2 weeks. I know I need to loose a few pounds, I have been working on it slowly before the tooth broke. This crash course dieting is for the birds.

 

[Sylvester017]

Felicitas was sitting hanging over a ledge yesterday.
View attachment 4110677

She found a perfect place to hang her weighty derrière... birds are quite inventive

 

[Sylvester017]

Today was a good day

They certainly had a lot to say

 

[rural mouse]

I had 2 pulled today. The one that broke and another one on the opposite side that was in danger of breaking the same way. The broken one gave the dentist fits. Of course a piece of one of the roots broke off and had to be drilled out.

I am sore, but, it is tolerable with a ice pack and the pain meds. I mean I am hurting, but this is a different kind of hurt. It is not the drive you crazy and in tears hurt that I've dealt with off and on since it broke.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel now and I am looking forward to being able to eat again. I've been on sort of a crash starvation diet surviving on scrambled eggs, yogurt and oatmeal. I have dropped 6lbs in 2 1/2 weeks. I know I need to loose a few pounds, I have been working on it slowly before the tooth broke. This crash course dieting is for the birds.

Glad it's the feeling better sort of pain. Sorry you're hurting, though. Had a sibling end up on a mostly liquid diet a few years ago due to jaw surgery. It had to be wired shut, so ZERO chewing. My sympathies to you and turning soup into smoothies at least changes the flavor and nutrients....

bath time when I got home...Cardhu and Maizie, get back in! I was trying to get a quadbath pic!

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Howdy y’all!

TLDR - I’m still alive. Lot some chickens, added some chicks, and life is crazy busy.

Details - This will be really long. Sending in several posts with pics.

I know I have been MIA for quite awhile. But as some of you know, there are two things that tend to make me show up again. When I lose a member of my flock, or when I get new chicks. This time, it is a little of both. There is a lot to tell, so will split this in a few posts.

A few months ago, I lost one of my “firecrackers”. Spangle was one of my Sapphire Olive Eggers, and was only 7 months old. This hit pretty hard, especially since we don’t really know what happened. She seemed fine in the morning. We had medical appointments in Austin that day, and when we got home early that evening she was dead. I searched her thoroughly for any sign of Injury and couldn’t find a mark on her. She had laid an egg the day before and all seemed normal there. When I looked back at the security cameras for some clue to what might have happened, I could tell she seemed a little off early in the day but that was it. Our best guess is that she might have eaten a dead mouse that was poisoned. We try to only use rat poison in extreme circumstances , and never anywhere near the coop, but you never know. Here is a picture of Spangle from last September, and the spoiler is from the day she died.

Spoiler

Then a few weeks ago I lost one of my original chicks. Hazel was three years old, was one of my ISA Browns, and one of the two chickens I have been the closest too. The bad thing is I will probably lose the other one, Scarlett one of my EEs, in the near future. They both have Ascites, most likely EYP. Scarlett actually started showing symptoms first, and then Hazel. We think Hazel got worse quicker after the other hens tried to attack her. Bobby caught them right when it happened, and the next day we took both to the vet. He did ultrasounds on both of them and confirmed there was a lot of free fluid in the belly. He said Hazel had some minor injuries to the back of her head from being pecked but that he didn’t think there was anything serious. It she never seemed to be able to walk very well again after that, and we lost her a week later. Hazel and I got close after I saved her from almost killing herself when she was only a few months old. She managed to get her head caught between the dust bath and a 2x4 on the wall, and almost decapitated herself trying to get free. Plus it was July and really hot. So she was overheated when I found her. She spent a few days in my office in crate while I nursed her back to health. Here is a picture I took with her back in January.

Next post - new chicks.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Now on to happier news. Chicken math hit hard this month. Actually it seems more like chicken trigonometry.

I had decided that since I have lost a few this year and was about to lose a few more, that if I found one of the breeds I have been really wanting, like Lavender Orpingtons, that I would get 4-5 more chicks. Well thanks to some special circumstances, including my husband being an extreme enabler, and also due to agreeing to take a few that TSC thought might not makes it, I have somehow ended up with 16 new chicks. And 4 ducks.

None of them are Lavender Orps. But I did get two Chocolate Orps, and an assortment of other breeds. The worst part? At least 10 of them are straight run!! I seriously need my head examined.

Also, one of the ones we agreed to take to try to save has ended up being a meatbird. So in a few weeks we will have to process that one, or give it away to someone for them to do it. I have tried to distance myself from it as much as possible. Bobby has too, but has failed miserably and told me last night that one is going to break his heart. Which is ironic, since even though there are a few he is fond of he doesn’t get nearly as attached to the chickens as I do.

Here is the rundown of what we ended up with, including a few that are still a mystery. And yes, some of you will be thrilled to see o e specific bantam breed on the list, that I always kind of wanted but swore I would never get. Approximate hatch dates included.

4/8 - 2 Cream legbar pullets
4/8 - 2 Australorp pullets
4/8 - Grey mystery chick (SR? Pullet?)
4/8 - 2 Chocolate Orpington SR (TSC staff member swears she gave me pullets based on wing feathers, but I have my doubts as to accuracy.)
4/8 - 2 Mystery bantams, same breed, SR
4/8 - Black Silkie SR
4/8 - Bantam, (Porcelain D’uccle?) SR

4/15 - 3 “Yellow” Silkies SR (All slightly different colors. White? Buff? Partridge? Blue?)
4/15 - Mystery “Striped” Bantam SR
4/8 - 3 Ducks, most likely Rouen?
4/8 - 1 mystery yellow Duck. Runner? Something else?

We actually had two more chicks and one more duck that didn’t make it. They were some that we knew when we took them they were in really bad shape. But we also did save two chicks and one duck. That is the yellow duck, and its name is Lucky. That is because it is the ONLY duck from that shipment to survive. The post office “forgot” to notify TSC when it was received and the box sat there for almost two days at the post office.

Lucky almost didn’t make it. I found her one time lying on her back and getting cold, it was able to revive her and keep her going.

More details, and pictures, in the next post.