Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

This is truly terrifying and even though the Chicken Palace is built like Fort Knox I will be going around and triple checking to make sure nobody can get in.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...o-wood-with-stapler-gun.1562605/post-26854067

Fox are considered sly because of how they can break into almost anything. They are very smart and determined.

I don't know if I could sleep soundly with all the foxes around your house.

 

[BY Bob]

To continue the theme, here is Broody Butt.
There is in fact a chicken attached to the butt - as shown in the second picture.
It is Eli perching in my arm and complaining that I pulled her off her nest.
She grips my arm and buries her head in the food cup while cussing me out in language that is certainly not to be repeated in public.
Happy Friday everyone.
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Great photos!

 

[RoyalChick]

Look at clyde doing soooo much better now his head is up!

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That is great news.

 

[RoyalChick]

Fox are considered sly because of how they can break into almost anything. They are very smart and determined.

I don't know if I could sleep soundly with all the foxes around your house.

I must say that video certainly raised my blood pressure a bit.
I do think the Chicken Palace is pretty secure but I may revisit opening the bottom half of the windows as widely as I often do.
One good thing is that I have a lot of foxes in part because I have a lot of prey. It is a miracle of nature that I still have any squirrels given how many the fox family were eating!

 

[Ponypoor]

Look at clyde doing soooo much better now his head is up!

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Good to see he is improving, that always make me happy when I see mine do that when they have been illl.

 

[Ponypoor]

Fox are considered sly because of how they can break into almost anything. They are very smart and determined.

I don't know if I could sleep soundly with all the foxes around your house.

One of the Safety Inspectors I worked with has Brahmas - well she had a fox attack and kill a couple of her hens. This was caught on her camera system.

She went and put up an electric fence perimeter about 6 strands, which keeps the foxes out. I am doing that too, help keep the beasts out.

 

[ValarieF]

Good to see he is improving, that always make me happy when I see mine do that when they have been illl.

And he has the cutest waddles

 

[rural mouse]

I believe learning about different colored Barred Rocks marked the point when I gave up trying to understand breeds.
I mean if a Barred Rock doesn’t have to have black and white stripes, and a Leghorn doesn’t have to be white, then I give up and will just acknowledge them all as beautiful chickens!

Barred is the specific coloring of Plymouth Rock breed. It's a bit of a mouthful, so the Plymouth gets left off. All ____ Rock chickens are Plymouth Rocks. They come in Barred, Black, White, Silver Penciled (look like Primula and Belladonna without the feathered feet and smaller size), Blue, Buff, Partridge (Pear), and probably more colors. All (unless specifically specified for that color variety) should have yellow legs, eye color and body shape (including the "tent" tail) he talked about. The White Rock is specifically crossed with Cornish (@bgmathteach, the Dark Cornish? or are there other Cornish varieties?) to get the Cornish Cross meat bird that is mostly what you find in the supermarket. They grow super quickly and get processed around 12 weeks. Any being kept as pets HAVE to be put on a specially diet and even then will likely die on their own around 9 months: body simply gives up. The hybrid is usually unable to reproduce so breeders keep lines of Cornish and lines of Rocks going with the cross happening in other pens.

There are other meat bird lines that are more self sustainable (Rangers, and many of the heritage like Breese). Most of the meat bird specific breeds don't lay all that many eggs in a year. Dual purpose breeds lay more eggs and have enough meat on their frames to be worth eating also. Layer breeds are egg laying machines (we know the problems with that).

 

[featherhead007]

Barred is the specific coloring of Plymouth Rock breed. It's a bit of a mouthful, so the Plymouth gets left off. All ____ Rock chickens are Plymouth Rocks. They come in Barred, Black, White, Silver Penciled (look like Primula and Belladonna without the feathered feet and smaller size), Blue, Buff, Partridge (Pear), and probably more colors. All (unless specifically specified for that color variety) should have yellow legs, eye color and body shape (including the "tent" tail) he talked about. The White Rock is specifically crossed with Cornish (@bgmathteach, the Dark Cornish? or are there other Cornish varieties?) to get the Cornish Cross meat bird that is mostly what you find in the supermarket. They grow super quickly and get processed around 12 weeks. Any being kept as pets HAVE to be put on a specially diet and even then will likely die on their own around 9 months: body simply gives up. The hybrid is usually unable to reproduce so breeders keep lines of Cornish and lines of Rocks going with the cross happening in other pens.

There are other meat bird lines that are more self sustainable (Rangers, and many of the heritage like Breese). Most of the meat bird specific breeds don't lay all that many eggs in a year. Dual purpose breeds lay more eggs and have enough meat on their frames to be worth eating also. Layer breeds are egg laying machines (we know the problems with that).

“We Barred Rocks are very sweet, and we travel in packs!”

 

[RoyalChick]

“We Barred Rocks are very sweet, and we travel in packs!”
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Isn’t it piles of rocks, not packs?