Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

This works. I have ceramic eggs all over the place. Wherever I want them to lay.

I'm hoping I find my ceramics when I clean out the coop this spring. Mine tossed them out of the nest boxes and hid them all.

 

[ManueB]

Just normal chicken pictures


Poopy
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Foxy taking a bath right by me. View attachment 3384026

Foxy and Meimei bathing
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Foxy and Inky
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Foxy and Inky
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Chickens (excluding Meimei and poopy)
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Meimei is on the right (dirty dirty butt. We gave her a butt bath yesterday, which can last a week... She can't press her feathers down well enough. She only started to have this problem since egg laying. I am a little concerned. Anybody have any thoughts?)
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Preening
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One of mine has always had a poopy butt, Nougat. She's in good health but she doesn't manage to maintain her butt clean. We trim her butt feathers every three months or so and it definitely helps. Even if she has no health issue, poopy butt can attract pests and flystrike at worse, and she is not a hen that tolerates bath easily.
I don't know if Meimei has an health issue that causes this, just saying it's not always the case. I saw it explained as lazy butt.

Nougat.

@knoturavggrl I've been also struggling with Merle who gave signs of broodiness I didn't get as soon as she started to lay and went broody 10 days after. Now she's on and off, going inside her nest seems to set her in trance when she's normal before. What I do is that if she's been in the nest for more that two hours I take the eggs off and sometimes that's enough to get her out. If not I tempt her with treats (sunflower seeds). I'm trying to get her to come out on her own...it works most days but sometimes I have to pull her out.
I think just laying pullets are confused with their hormones acting out and I don't want to be too hard breaking her..but not sure i'm doing right, I'm new to broodies too. The only one I've seen before was Chipie when she hatched last year...
Merle

Hope everyone has a good day. @TX Chick Noob, I'm also sorry about your injury and hoping for the best outcome.
************
Gaston and Léa for Tuefer Tuesday. They have become very good friends but poor Léa has to bear Piou-piou's terrible jealous bullying.

 

[rural mouse]

2fers

Twirp and Cheetah warming their toes

The VERY unlikely duo once again: Thing and Belladonna

And the divide and conquer idiots: Kren and Horus

 

[RoyalChick]

Twofer Tuesday

 

[Ponypoor]

They also have a reputation for going broody....

Really?! Sheesh - well guess it doesn't surprise me. Seems my lot in life to have broody crazy bats hahaha! I will have to build more nest boxes then in that case!

 

[Ponypoor]

2fers
View attachment 3384547Twirp and Cheetah warming their toes

View attachment 3384548The VERY unlikely duo once again: Thing and Belladonna

View attachment 3384549And the divide and conquer idiots: Kren and Horus

Ooooo! is Belladonna a Dark Brahma? Love those fuzzy legs/feet

 

[knoturavggrl]

One of mine has always had a poopy butt, Nougat. She's in good health but she doesn't manage to maintain her butt clean. We trim her butt feathers every three months or so and it definitely helps. Even if she has no health issue, poopy butt can attract pests and flystrike at worse, and she is not a hen that tolerates bath easily.
I don't know if Meimei has an health issue that causes this, just saying it's not always the case. I saw it explained as lazy butt.

Nougat.
View attachment 3384539

@knoturavggrl I've been also struggling with Merle who gave signs of broodiness I didn't get as soon as she started to lay and went broody 10 days after. Now she's on and off, going inside her nest seems to set her in trance when she's normal before. What I do is that if she's been in the nest for more that two hours I take the eggs off and sometimes that's enough to get her out. If not I tempt her with treats (sunflower seeds). I'm trying to get her to come out on her own...it works most days but sometimes I have to pull her out.
I think just laying pullets are confused with their hormones acting out and I don't want to be too hard breaking her..but not sure i'm doing right, I'm new to broodies too. The only one I've seen before was Chipie when she hatched last year...
Merle
View attachment 3384541

Hope everyone has a good day. @TX Chick Noob, I'm also sorry about your injury and hoping for the best outcome.
************
Gaston and Léa for Tuefer Tuesday. They have become very good friends but poor Léa has to bear Piou-piou's terrible jealous bullying.
View attachment 3384540

Beautiful chicken pictures and the scenery where you live is postcard worthy.

Thank you for sharing with me what you do. That is how I plan to handle it as well. I’ll remove the eggs daily, make sure she is coming out to eat if she does to decide to sit for a long while. I don't think I will try and break them per say just support them by making sure they get up to eat and drink until they decide to stop.

 

[Ponypoor]

One of mine has always had a poopy butt, Nougat. She's in good health but she doesn't manage to maintain her butt clean. We trim her butt feathers every three months or so and it definitely helps. Even if she has no health issue, poopy butt can attract pests and flystrike at worse, and she is not a hen that tolerates bath easily.
I don't know if Meimei has an health issue that causes this, just saying it's not always the case. I saw it explained as lazy butt.

Nougat.
View attachment 3384539

@knoturavggrl I've been also struggling with Merle who gave signs of broodiness I didn't get as soon as she started to lay and went broody 10 days after. Now she's on and off, going inside her nest seems to set her in trance when she's normal before. What I do is that if she's been in the nest for more that two hours I take the eggs off and sometimes that's enough to get her out. If not I tempt her with treats (sunflower seeds). I'm trying to get her to come out on her own...it works most days but sometimes I have to pull her out.
I think just laying pullets are confused with their hormones acting out and I don't want to be too hard breaking her..but not sure i'm doing right, I'm new to broodies too. The only one I've seen before was Chipie when she hatched last year...
Merle
View attachment 3384541

Hope everyone has a good day. @TX Chick Noob, I'm also sorry about your injury and hoping for the best outcome.
************
Gaston and Léa for Tuefer Tuesday. They have become very good friends but poor Léa has to bear Piou-piou's terrible jealous bullying.
View attachment 3384540

Oh I love Merle - she is just lovely

Piou-Piou makes me laugh, she has turned out to be such a nice little hen - even if she is a bit saucy

 

[knoturavggrl]

If you don't have fake eggs, put 1 or 2 of the eggs they've laid into a couple of the nest boxes and leave them for 24 hours. At this time of year, they might freeze but for just a day should be ok. Instinct says to lay eggs in safe places and where one lays another will follow as its likely a safe place.

I do have fake eggs, ceramic ones in each of the boxes. So far they ignore them completely and go to the back corner of the coop to lay in the bedding. I have never seen a pullet enter the nest boxes not once. I guess they do not like the type I got

 

[Ponypoor]

And the reason for not getting it fixed?

Well, I was 3hr drive to Edmonton and I only went to Edmonton when I flew back and forth to home for my days off (worked 2 weeks on 1 week off).

And then it would have been fruitless to get a new windshield as every week I was getting hit by debris, and thus a new crack. When I got home to Ontario, my brother-in-law ordered a new windshield for me (he works for a automotive business and gets my windshields for me).

Thankfully that one big divot was below the eyeline so not a distraction for my driving - but when it hit the windshield I thought for sure for a second the whole windshield would go! What a huge CRACK/SMACK sound it made!

Then when I got home we were under covid lockdown so what did I do?

I bought a couple Silkie chicks

Stanley (black), and Roxanne (red)