Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[knoturavggrl]

For pretty much the next week I like many people on here are going to be dealing with dangerous temps. It is 54 right now, by midnight tonight it will drop down to 8. Mom and dad are outside preparing the horses stalls and the chicken coops and beds. I am useless out there as all I can do is point out things. I was told to get the eggs and come inside when I told mom she went a little overboard with the hay bedding in the coop. I appreciate she deeply bedded the coop with hay. Some of my finicky hens will not. They prefer deep sawdust which they have with a light layer of hay. Yup I'm talking about the cochin girls who do not roost. I'm worried though. I worry about the momma's and their 8 week old chicks even though they should and will be fine. I'm really worried about Momma hen. Thankfully she seems to have the lip of the rock in her cave as a roof but still, she is going to be exposed to the cold weather. The chickens that roost with the horses will have a wind break so that is good but with these temps I worry about frostbite on combs and toes. 2/3rds of my flock have large combs and wattles. Looking at the next weeks forecast thankfully we should get no snow or rain so it will be a dry cold. If we can make it till Tuesday we should be good. Will be back in at least the 30s and out of single digits at night. Thursday we should be back in the 50s. I will probably have a hen inside at night the next few days. Holly is back to being fully feathered while Butter is rough and going through a slow molt. She is definitely not feathered enough to withstand the next few nights temps so mom already said she is bringing her in. There is one thing Butter is good at, ensuring every so often she gets house chicken privilege's one way or another.

Dealing with same dramatic drop tomorrow too. My husband was home today and he put up ply boards over the plastic I had up. In addition to the cold we are getting fierce winds I was scared the plastic would be ripped down. It is dark in the coop but better dark then windy and frigid. Also, put up a wind block tarp between the roosts and wire mesh inside wall. Between that and the straw I out down I hope all will be well. It is hard not to worry though! I am right with you! I will feel so much better once I get through a full year with my coop.

 

[RoyalChick]

I forgot it was Thursday. Here is Bernie having a quick sip.

 

[featherhead007]

I forgot it was Thursday. Here is Bernie having a quick sip.
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Do you keep water in the coop too?

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Look how smart Little Loosey Goosey is. She is in-between Butter who will protect her from the 2 bullies on one side. The other side she has Bubba and he will keep the bully on the other side from pecking her. Branch is directly under her and he will keep the bottom girls from trying to pull her down. Those silkie smarts of hers are starting to shine through.

If she continues to use her brain, and silkie feistiness, one day this little girl could go far in the pecking order. Are we seeing the development of a future Queen in the making?

Look at her little feets, she has the heaviest foot feathering out of the entire flock and is only about 5 months old. I simply adore them.

 

[RoyalChick]

Do you keep water in the coop too?

Yes.
They have water in the coop, in the run, and outside in their chicken yard. The last, is usually wild water.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Ask Aurora
Today's question comes from Jaffar!
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Jaffar Asks,

I’m a good rooster but I need some Wednesday advice from the expert. My hens won’t listen to me, when I call them to come under the porch, where it’s warm.

Coco-Rico! what’s a rooster to do? “



Dear Jaffar,

First let me say, I love your name. Your owner truly expects a lot from you to give you such a name. Great character and having a parrot as a pet, marvelous. I have always wanted a parrot for a pet. Just Imagine….

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But I digress, on to the issue at hand.

Like all roosters you seem to think we hens are dense. Right, it is warmer under the porch. I bet the hens in the tribe have all heard that line before. They come for warmth and then you surprise them with unwanted “affection”. Just like all those times you told them you had food for them and it was a piece of stick. Just to get them closer so you could have your way with them. They are on to you and good for them.

The problem with you roosters is that you are always so whiny. Please girls come over here. Please girls don’t fight. Stop picking on the young ladies. Uck! Gag me.

Let me teach you one thing. If you learn this you will be so much less frustrated than every other rooster on the planet.

YOU ARE NOT IN CHARGE

You are here to serve and protect us hens. Period. If you do what you are asked, come when called, and are always willing to die for our safety then you are doing your job well. Stick to those things. Don’t try and tell us what to do.

If we need a safe place to lay an egg. Find us one. In fact, find us several. We will inspect them until we find one that is satisfactory. You clowns can never get it right the first time.

If we have laid an egg and call out for an escort, you come running and escort us to the rest of tribe. Even if we can see everyone from where we laid the egg. You come running right away. Do NOT make us wait.

If we need you to watch the kids so we can have an afternoon out with the girls or for crying out loud just take a bath in peace without one of them jumping on our back or getting into trouble. You watch the kids. You wanted them after all.

And if you are offering a food to us, offer food. NO, A BLADE OF GRASS OR A LEAF IS NOT SOME SUPER TREAT WORTH CALLING US TO COME EAT! You better have a bug or a big juicy worm or something similar. Trust me, we will just start to ignore you if you don’t have something truly good EVERY TIME. Try to remember the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. If you don’t know it, get your human to tell it to you.

Acceptable phrases for you to say are,

• Yes Mam
• No Mam
• Thank you, Mam
• I’m sorry Mam. I’ll do better next time

One more thing……..

Please stop begging. It is demeaning to watch. And that silly wing thing you try to do. No one is falling for that old line. We will let you know when you can hop on for a quick ride. Don’t you ever jump someone who said no or is unprepared. It is a waste of time as we will just spit your stuff back out anyway. We will let you know when the time is right.

In summary remember this. The top hen leads the tribe. You do as she tells you, treat the hens under her charge with respect, stop trying to tell everyone what to do, and you will have an enjoyable life. Keep trying to tell the hens what to do and you will lead a sad frustrating life. We just don’t care what you think.

We all know you really only want one thing.

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This is great! I was chuckling throughout and left wanting more - I’ve read it three times now for more chuckles - plus to look again at her pirate & parrot outfit! I look forward to her next installment!

Roosters according to Aurora seem to be at the bottom of the pecking order, yet they aren’t about to get pecked by the bottom hen, are they? Or do they indeed get pecked? I’m not sure how to word this, but is it more accurate to say roosters in her world are more like satellites?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Warmer weather SHRA
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I don’t think you need to do an SHRA thing when it’s your opinion, and @RoyalChick was asking exactly that.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I only go this far..... no further!

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Finally zeroed in on what she reminds me of….

 

[featherhead007]

Finally zeroed in on what she reminds me of….

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I wasn’t gonna say it!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Where did you get that clear grommeted plastic that you are using diagonally under the eaves?

I looked for small tarps with grommets but couldn’t find any less than 6x6. I have clear shower curtains, but no grommets, and it would be a project to put grommets on and more important have it reinforced to withstand the wind here. Probably duck tape under the grommets? Last year I did shower curtains and poked zip ties through slits cut in duck taped parts (duck taped on both sides). They lasted but in some places the zip ties cut through the duck tape under wind stress and needed repairs. I think grommets along with heavy duck tape would work with shower curtains. I don’t have a grommet tool.

So I felt lazy and impatient and figured I would try a second set of what I got to go around the base of the Omlet MK2 Cube coop. They are not ideal but way easier to manage.
https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/eglu_weather_protection/21672/windbreak_for_eglu_cube/

The dimensions listed on the web site 30cm x 46cm are not accurate, I’d have to measure again to tell you, but they are more like 17-19 inches x 35-36 inches. There’s three grommets (two corners and a middle) along the long sides and just on the corners of the short sides.

They make a general small rectangular “wind break” that does NOT have the grommets along the length and I really wanted the grommets on more than just the corners.

They come as a set of three tarps. Two for the sides and one for the back. They are not ideal because there is an ungrommetted flap on two of them, if you look at the slides on the web site you’ll see they are made to fit around the back tractor levers. What I’ve got hooked up right now are the two side ones, with the flaps toward each other and overlapping. I could take better pictures to show you how it’s set up right now. It’s all an experiment!

Omlet has other tarps I’ve bought, and I see a difference in the materials and how well they flex in cold weather between some of them. I have not tried this tarp in a flexing / stress situation like this before (the set under the coop been working great so far).