Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

The October girls turn 5 months old tomorrow. I noticed that Meeko and Grackle were maturing and getting pretty red in the face about 2 weeks ago. I assumed by the end of March I would need to be on the lookout for their first eggs. In the last week I have spotted both Meeko and Grackle in the tote in the coop. Ok, you girls are practicing getting ready for the end of March. Look what I found in there this morning.
View attachment 3428429
For size reference, here they are with a Goose egg. Goose lays a a silkie size egg like her mother.
View attachment 3428431
Here we have a Lilly egg, followed by the two new ones, then Goose's along with a Buff orp egg. Yup I am convinced these 2 are pullet eggs.
View attachment 3428432
Not enough convincing, here in the carton. Bottom row, normal egg, then the 2 new ones. very skinny.
View attachment 3428433
Now I do foresee a problem when these eggs come to size in a few weeks. They are a 2nd generation Marans cross. their eggs could be easily mistaken in the future for a pure marans egg. Oh well, one is speckled, you all know me, I love a speckled egg.

Those speckled eggs are just lovely.

 

[Lilion]

Your birds look very healthy. How old are they? Their feet look so perfect!

Not sure when they hatched. We got them fully feathered in August. Here's a picture of what they looked like then. The farmer wasn't sure how old they were. I'd love an educated guess. This was August 23, 2022.

 

[ManueB]

Saturday Synopsis 5/4-5/10

- By-Bob had a humourous encounter with his Lady Featherington and some sushi - Lady F grabbed a whole sushi chunk and scarfed it back in one glutch down the gullet! His description was hilarious!
He has been super busy at work and could not be a scribe for Aurora on Wednesday.
Hattie is laying again. Link to the picture.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26608577
Link to Aurora video.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26608585

-Royal Mouse - snow-backed chicken pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26599807

-Chicory Blue - A few huge eggs!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26600603

-Valarie took some beautiful photos of her flock.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26600728

-TX Chicken Noob glow up pics of her chicken.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26606730

-Lilion a video and great pics of her chickens
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26604348

- RoyalChick was worried about Eli, who had a very odd-looking poop one day. She was on poop duty the next day, and all seems ok now - maybe something she ate...?
She is also looking into getting some chicks to strengthen her flock. She has been researching breeders in her area; she is keen on getting black-colored hens.
She also continues having Eli and Babs fly onto the rafters to roost at night. Time will tell if that continues!

-Featherhead007 had a bit of a scare when his gateway was opened, and he 'sort of' misplaced 3 of his ladies. Thank you, Jaffar, for saving the day! (Alex, I hope you finally gave him some steak!)
Hen Hen-Rietta has a sore on her foot that Alex is treating - We hope she will be fine.

- RebeccaB posted about her marshmallow chicks roosting, but mama Chiquita wanted them in their nest with her.
(https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26598534)
Rebecca decided to hatch! Follow the link for details on what is in the incubator.
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Also, here is a link to pics and video of the marshmallow crew
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'

- Kris had a run-in with an eagle; from what I can gather Sammy got a torn earlobe from attacking the eagle, but Little Sister has a severe wound on her back. Kris is waiting to see what her Husband thinks about the wound
(https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26598813)
Kris reported that her 'Eagle Girl' seems ok; we will follow this closely to ensure it stays that way.
Kris' Little Sister, who had the run-in with the eagle, is doing fine - yay!

- Micstrachan dropped in to post some fantastic photos of her gals; sorry to hear she is again ill with evil covid. Also, her lovely Little Mill's limp is getting worse, and her belly is swollen.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26609598
News with Micstrachan is that she has an order in for some chicks end of March/beginning of April - I, for one, can't wait to see them!

- Ponypoor is heading home (yay!), so she will be offline for a few days. She will try to give an update each night.

-Pastel is sick with a cold and home from school, and her pullet laid her first egg to make her feel better. The link is to the egg picture.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26614381
Willow the pullet that laid the egg link
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26600515

Some fluffy butt Friday links randomly chosen:
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'

Thank you so much for putting up the work. For someone like me who reads about two third of the posts, it's perfect to see what I missed.
Some windy and poopy ex-batt's butts from this Friday. (That's pretty hard to pronounce for a non-native English speaker).

 

[bgmathteach]

Not sure when they hatched. We got them fully feathered in August. Here's a picture of what they looked like then. The farmer wasn't sure how old they were. I'd love an educated guess. This was August 23, 2022.View attachment 3428478

I think they look about 6 weeks old. Were they brooder raised or broody hen raised? I think the broody hen raised tend to feather out quicker. Maybe 8 weeks at the oldest.

 

[BY Bob]

Haha. I don't have enough eggs, just buy some lol... four laying hens don't give me enough eggs... wait... four??? Guess who laid her first ever egg today??? I started crying because my baby girl grew up!!View attachment 3426808View attachment 3426809

What a gorgeous egg! Congratulations!

 

[BY Bob]

Just know that a fat hen - it makes laying more difficult, and can cause egg binding and/or prolapsed vent. Both are serious conditions - that can lead to permanent injury and death. Not to mention that being overweight can cause fatty liver disease - which invariably leads to early death of the hen.

While veggies are fairly healthy - fatty things like sunflower seeds, meal worms, BSFL etc in excess (just like with humans) will negatively impact their health. Also, lots of high carb foods, like millet, corn, etc...in excess also increases rate of obesity.

Dangers of Obesity in chickens

You need to feed them more lean protein, like chicken.

 

[BY Bob]

A few mugs for a gloomy day:

Hey, what's that thing she's got?
View attachment 3428359

Hmm, I don't know
View attachment 3428358


I think we should peck it!!
View attachment 3428360

If I were you, ladies, I'd follow my example
View attachment 3428361

Walk away, just walk away!
View attachment 3428363

That was excellent!

 

[BY Bob]

I discovered the hard way yesterday I need to work on handling the Marshmallows outside of the chicken coop. Inside, I can get one and after a minute they will settle right down and cease the "omg someone is killing me" shriek. While egg collecting yesterday I discovered that Chiquita had them playing on the hay pile. They saw me round the corner and their flight instincts took over and they scattered. All except one, it burrowed into a crack in the hay stack. Naturally I had to rescue said chick. The second I touched it it let out the "death is coming" shriek. Seconds later I have Chiquita on the war path attacking the back of my legs. Now I'm trying to settle down a dying chick and a angry fuzz ball. I assumed if given that minute it would settle down and quit acting like it was being killed. I did not get that minute. Chiquita kept it worked up, and then she let out a cry for backup. My loveable Branch answered the call and he came tearing to us. He meant business, I do not care if he is my buddy, in his frame of mind at the moment I was being flogged. I let the chick go so he did not have to cross the line that shall never be crossed. Instead of sitting down and holding a calm marshmallow I had to calmly remind Branch I was not the enemy. Chiquita ran off to uncle Dirt with her crew while Branch postured, growled and once chest bumped me before he was calm enough to let me touch him. I then picked him up and he settled down while I rubbed his favorite spot at the back of his neck and told him he was a good boy. He really was in that moment. He thought the chicks were in danger and he was coming to do his job. Now I need to figure out how to not be flogged and handle the chicks during the day.

You have to handle them constantly. It can't be every couple of days it needs to be every day. Food is the way to their hearts. Whatever their favorite food is you need to bribe them with it. With my leghorns I used Cheese Its of all things. You can hand them out. Low and slow with your hand. If you give them a snack every day for a while they will assume you will always have snacks.

They are very wary.

I have work to do with Glynda again. I have not spent enough time out with her this winter. She is a little jumpy right now.

 

[Lilion]

I think they look about 6 weeks old. Were they brooder raised or broody hen raised? I think the broody hen raised tend to feather out quicker. Maybe 8 weeks at the oldest.

They were probably hen-raised. I didn't ask, but the farmer was giving them away because he had too many. I doubt that he'd have purposely hatched them given he had more than he wanted.

So, if they were 6 weeks old August 23 that would make them about 8 months old.

Manny's little spurs are about 1/3 of an inch. lol

 

[MaryJanet]

Saturday Synopsis 5/4-5/10

- By-Bob had a humourous encounter with his Lady Featherington and some sushi - Lady F grabbed a whole sushi chunk and scarfed it back in one glutch down the gullet! His description was hilarious!
He has been super busy at work and could not be a scribe for Aurora on Wednesday.
Hattie is laying again. Link to the picture.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26608577
Link to Aurora video.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26608585

-Royal Mouse - snow-backed chicken pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26599807

-Chicory Blue - A few huge eggs!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26600603

-Valarie took some beautiful photos of her flock.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26600728

-TX Chicken Noob glow up pics of her chicken.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26606730

-Lilion a video and great pics of her chickens
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26604348

- RoyalChick was worried about Eli, who had a very odd-looking poop one day. She was on poop duty the next day, and all seems ok now - maybe something she ate...?
She is also looking into getting some chicks to strengthen her flock. She has been researching breeders in her area; she is keen on getting black-colored hens.
She also continues having Eli and Babs fly onto the rafters to roost at night. Time will tell if that continues!

-Featherhead007 had a bit of a scare when his gateway was opened, and he 'sort of' misplaced 3 of his ladies. Thank you, Jaffar, for saving the day! (Alex, I hope you finally gave him some steak!)
Hen Hen-Rietta has a sore on her foot that Alex is treating - We hope she will be fine.

- RebeccaB posted about her marshmallow chicks roosting, but mama Chiquita wanted them in their nest with her.
(https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26598534)
Rebecca decided to hatch! Follow the link for details on what is in the incubator.
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Also, here is a link to pics and video of the marshmallow crew
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'

- Kris had a run-in with an eagle; from what I can gather Sammy got a torn earlobe from attacking the eagle, but Little Sister has a severe wound on her back. Kris is waiting to see what her Husband thinks about the wound
(https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26598813)
Kris reported that her 'Eagle Girl' seems ok; we will follow this closely to ensure it stays that way.
Kris' Little Sister, who had the run-in with the eagle, is doing fine - yay!

- Micstrachan dropped in to post some fantastic photos of her gals; sorry to hear she is again ill with evil covid. Also, her lovely Little Mill's limp is getting worse, and her belly is swollen.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26609598
News with Micstrachan is that she has an order in for some chicks end of March/beginning of April - I, for one, can't wait to see them!

- Ponypoor is heading home (yay!), so she will be offline for a few days. She will try to give an update each night.

-Pastel is sick with a cold and home from school, and her pullet laid her first egg to make her feel better. The link is to the egg picture.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26614381
Willow the pullet that laid the egg link
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26600515

Some fluffy butt Friday links randomly chosen:
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'
Post in thread 'Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock'

Very much appreciated! Thank you so much for taking the time.