Chicken Butt

☆ July 14, 2013

chickiebutts

These are three of the baby chickies, who have been growing very quickly.
And are now exploring far and wide.

Yesterday, they ate out of my hand. So did Snake.
I’m officially a chicken convert.

THANK YOU to all you other chicken-lovers who left info and suggestions in the comments of Snake’s post – much appreciated, there is so much to learn!

Comments

25 Responses to “Chicken Butt”

  1. Bruce Evans
    July 14th, 2013 @ 7:03 pm

    Update on Snake’s foot?

  2. shreve
    July 14th, 2013 @ 7:32 pm

    B ~ Not 100% healed yet but WAY better, improving daily.

  3. NancyD
    July 15th, 2013 @ 5:48 am

    I have to say I am surprised that it took you this long to connect to Mike’s chickens, given how close you are to the other animals. (LOL) These chickens are in for a wonderful life with you! Are there any farm animals left that you have not made that connection with?

  4. PATR
    July 15th, 2013 @ 6:39 am

    And such cute touches they are…. Fluffy butts.

  5. shreve
    July 15th, 2013 @ 6:41 am

    N ~ nope, it was just the chickens, I had issues :)

  6. Marg
    July 15th, 2013 @ 7:11 am

    I thought all chickens had ‘crowns’ on their heads, these guys with smooth heads look like pigeons to me. Maybe it’s just because they are still too young to have headgear????

  7. Janet in Cambridge
    July 15th, 2013 @ 8:08 am

    You’ll need to start a new Category–> “Chickens”

  8. Carol
    July 15th, 2013 @ 10:22 am

    Most hens have a little red ‘comb’ on their heads when they get a little older. Love chickens, they have so much personality. I’m glad you’ve gotten to know them.

  9. Kimmy
    July 15th, 2013 @ 11:36 am

    Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!

  10. disrhythmic
    July 15th, 2013 @ 1:19 pm

    Welcome aboard! :D Have you tried coaxing them onto your lap? My girls come running to roost on me whenever I go out to the coop. Fluffy, squishy bird bodies are therapeutic. :)

  11. Liz
    July 15th, 2013 @ 4:07 pm

    Oh, dear. Chicken love makes one clucky, literally. I used to sit and watch my crew for ages, and it was like watching Days of our Lives but so much better. It’s hypnotic, and the drama! Wait for the drama!

  12. Farmer Lady
    July 15th, 2013 @ 7:06 pm

    I’m glad you got over your ‘issues’ with chickens and can now enjoy their unique personalities. They are a lot of fun. I’ve had poultry for many years, and love them.
    This trio looks like silver laced Wynadottes?
    I’m curious as to how Charlie and Chloe view the chickens? Do they ignore them as belonging to Mike? Or do they want to eat them?
    Enjoy the chickens! They’ll teach you a lot.

  13. outback
    July 16th, 2013 @ 9:58 am

    But we still kill chickens with abandon, do we not? On the order of 7 billion a year.

  14. Su
    July 16th, 2013 @ 12:44 pm

    In case you get another case of bumblefoot, some sources say to NOT lance. I’ve had luck with just soaking in epsom salt (usually 2x/day) and then applying antibiotic ointment, and sometimes I’ve mixed the antibiotic ointment with DMSO, which is supposed to help things absorb into the skin. And penicillin shots, whether I’ve lanced or not.

    And I didn’t comment when you posted the watermelon picture, but do you feed the rinds to the horses or cows? You might not eat the rinds, but many animals think they are wonderful.

  15. Tori
    July 16th, 2013 @ 4:11 pm

    Oh! I just got my own chickens this year! I love watching them putter around in their run. I live in Guelph, Ontario which is one of only a few cities in Canada that let you keep chickens (well, hens) in your backyard. Between our various pets, big vegetable garden, hens and plans to start keeping honeybees, my partner and I have started calling our house ‘The Farmlet’.

  16. Jenny C
    July 17th, 2013 @ 1:54 am

    These little guys are really quite pretty. Cuddle-yums.
    I was wondering the same as Farmer Lady (12) – do Charlie & Chloe connect the chickens & “chickies” (love that word) with you & Mike and therefore treat them as part of the farmily? If so, that’s astonishing.
    Glad Snake’s foot on the mend. Does he have a robust crow early in the morning?
    Not long ago, I visited my 90-yr-old grandmother who lived next to a tree nursery that also kept hens and a rooster. The rooster perched next to my bedroom window, and at 4:00 a.m. on the dot, he would crow the weirdest sound: cock-a-croak-doo, cock-a-croak-a-…dooo! I couldn’t be irritated with him, as I woke up laughing at 4 a.m. every morning.

  17. sherry
    July 17th, 2013 @ 2:13 pm

    oh they are so CUTE!!! if you ever get the chance…. when one of mike’s chickens is setting on her nest, gently slide your hand under her chest to her tummy and feel how soft, warm, and full of room it is under there. it’s like they puff up with air so they don’t crush the eggs but keep them warm.

    my grandma had chickens, and she would talk to her roosters and then they would crow. HILARIOUS.

  18. Rayjay
    July 17th, 2013 @ 2:27 pm

    Guess What!

    -oh, wait…

  19. Deanna
    July 17th, 2013 @ 7:05 pm

    You were right not to google bumblefoot but I couldn’t help myself. Yeek. Saw some surgery with and without (I think) anesthesia. And some who treated totally without surgery. But they all had gross stuff inside. Antibiotics suggested but not the one with the painkiller cuz it’s very dangerous for chickens. As usual, you are my hero for helping the least of these, who are so important.

  20. ChristineV
    July 19th, 2013 @ 10:40 am

    chicken and duck butts are amoung the wonders of the world

  21. Dace C
    July 19th, 2013 @ 1:12 pm

    Now that you have discovered you like chickens, check out this web site.

    http://www.backyardchickens.com/

  22. Robin Penrod
    July 22nd, 2013 @ 9:50 am

    I love my flock! I love watching Gregory Peck, the rooster, his crowing, his alarm ( I let them free range and hawks sometimes visit) the way he “beeps” to the girls when he finds food for them. I too have some that will eat out of hand, let me pick them up and will roost on the chair I am sitting on to preen. I start my day off every morning watching my amazing flock. Of course they all have names! Lola, Frieda, Freda,Flo, Elsie, Mildred, Betsy, Bonnie, Betty,Vera and Gladys :)

  23. Randi
    July 25th, 2013 @ 12:55 am

    Hey Shreve :) was happy to see you have chickens now…. Have you given them shredded cheese? We trained ours to come to my smooch sound with shredded cheese! They love it! And they go crazy for watermelon too

  24. Sea Wolf
    August 8th, 2013 @ 7:27 pm

    We had chickens all the time while I was growing up. My first pet was actually a hen named Henny Penny. She would follow me all over the place while I looked for bugs for her to eat. She followed me to the school bus in the mornings too. Though, I didn’t find her waiting when I came home.

    Sadly though, in the case of Snake. It could be a chronic thing. Reason is breeding. We had egg chickens and we had meat bred chickens. Their body build is not the same. Meat chickens have a heavy body and they are bred to be killed young for the table. As they get older, they get heavier and their legs and feet can not sustain the weight without breaking down. Meat chickens were never produced to die of old age. My first experience with this was a group of mongrel rock hens. They were given to us because the folks that had them had too many. They were young when we got them and just figured to keep them as egg layers. They got big and did lay eggs but all of them were soon hit with bumblefoot. The hens were so big and heavy that, as they jumped down from the perches, the impact on their feet was tremendous. They just weren’t designed to take this. There were three roosters and they were afflicted the same way. Snake might be a meat chicken cross as his legs do look a little heavy. If he sleeps in a house, make sure that the perches are low to the ground so he isn’t impacting his feet by jumping. Hope he heals up. We didn’t know the cause way back then. We tried home surgery and some got better, some didn’t. Problem was that the ones that got better had it again within a year. Lower perches and a good layer of soft hay to land on on the floor instead of a hard floor will help.

  25. shreve
    August 13th, 2013 @ 4:29 pm

    SW ~ THANK YOU for all this info and the suggestions! I will get on it.

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