Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[GregnLety]

I use shade-cloth in the summer - too. It doesn't seem like it would, but it makes a really big difference - 5-10 degrees! I am sure they are loving it - especially with your heat down there.

Will you eventually put the brooder on wheels (fully under - so they can still run under for some total shade/coolness)?

The brooder is elevated so do spend the hot part of the day under it. I will replace those panels covering the bottom of the western side with wire. By the time I got to that piece I did not see any more wire and needed to close it off. When I get home it will get a coat of white paint to help reflect the heat.

 

[Ponypoor]

My sweetheart flexi
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She was such a beauty

I do so love a nice barred rock

 

[Ponypoor]

The brooder is elevated so do spend the hot part of the day under it. I will replace those panels covering the bottom of the western side with wire. By the time I got to that piece I did not see any more wire and needed to close it off. When I get home it will get a coat of white paint to help reflect the heat.

It gets so hot in the barn in the afternoon and evening with the sun beating down on the west and north sides - I was thinking a shade cloth/screens would help. But the barn is 60’ , the Rooster Run has really good tree cover so the chooks hang out there during the day, but again in the evening it’s really warm in the Hen House.

I assume I can get shade screens on Amazon?

 

[Ponypoor]

Thank you. I don’t think I will get any.

I call them a petroleum by-product. Yep I don’t think the chooks will get to sample anytime soon, too expensive to buy processed food here

 

[Ponypoor]

Buenos dias everyone! I am in Mexico City Airport on my way to a job near a town that I can't pronounce. Coatzacoalcos is in southern Mexico between Veracruz and Villahermosa.

Is this with Tc Energy? Have lines down there. Be safe down there stay with the crew.

Oh I can’t wait to see what Lety has for you when you get home maybe Peacocks???

 

[Ponypoor]

Good morning all

Just researching some shade screen for the barn, it was so hot there yesterday evening, I had the stall fans going all night - upside is that it’s bright and sunny.

Need to put the fan in the hen house also the chooks were very warm also

Blanche tells me get hopping Hooman!

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok so it’s 21c already at 08:45am going to be very hot here today, I better get that Hen House fan in place.

 

[ValarieF]

Good morning all

Just researching some shade screen for the barn, it was so hot there yesterday evening, I had the stall fans going all night - upside is that it’s bright and sunny.

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Need to put the fan in the hen house also the chooks were very warm also

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Blanche tells me get hopping Hooman!
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Last pic of mug id POW worthy. Beautiful

 

[ValarieF]

I have those, hubby eats them. Maybe the chooks would like some lol.

They are called cheese puffs

 

[LozzyR]

Eli update
It is time I did a bit of an update on Eli.
Just a reminder of the sequence of events:
- At the end of April Eli had some sort of neurological episode and fell off the roost in the middle of the night. The following day she was unable to walk properly and kept falling over on her head.
- A vet visit confirmed that she had no broken bones and no swelling. And a blood test came back negative for Marek’s and Avian Leukosis.
- Eli retreated to a nest box looking like a very sick chicken.
- Almost immediately she went broody.
- While she is only a couple of days into being broody I move 18 day old chicks out to the Chicken Palace where they are situated right next to Eli’s nest box.
- I assume she won’t accept them as they are quite big and she has been broody only a few days. So I don’t even try.
- At some point broody Eli starts to talk to the chicks through the wall separating them - particularly if one of them sends out a distress call. But she makes no effort to get in and visit them.
- Eventually after 21-25 days Eli stops being broody

And now we come to today.

I have convinced myself that Eli has adopted the chicks.
She spends a lot of time with them. They are six weeks old so pretty independent, but they tend to hang with her.
I don’t know if she thinks she is their mother - I got one short video clip where she seems to call Pooh to have some of the apple core Eli found.
And I think she sometimes calls them to a good spot for digging.
Maybe she just likes hanging with young folk?
It definitely seems that she has a unique relationship with them. Neither of the other big Princesses would welcome being groomed by the little ones.
She does not seem to get aggressive in their defense - though honestly nobody really attacks them as they seem to be accepted as part of the tribe. And they are not really helpless little chicks any more.
It is very cute to observe but quite strange.
Eli has not gone back to roosting - she still sleeps in her nest box - I wonder if she does that to stay close to ‘her babies’. She doesn’t seem to have any neurological issue any more.

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So adorable!