Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Wild or misplaced feathers can be easily snipped off with scissors
Many chooks have one off colored feather that looks out of place, Please don’t cut it off. (It’s an accent feather) very chic!

 

[RoyalChick]

I have too, gently, on a feather sticking positively sideways out from a thigh, but found nope, it's definitely attached, and they didn't like me touching it!

Like this one.

 

[Ponypoor]

Such bad luck today. I am trying to pick up some scratch grains for the chooks. But me and Jaffar ran into a problem. TSC was having their asphalt resurfaced,
( hate that smell ). And my local feed store has a huge truck making a delivery of feed, blocking the driveway.
My chooks are gonna have to wait for their junk food!

Sir Jaffar is so patient with me and my driving. View attachment 3689367

Looks like she is having a snooze there

 

[featherhead007]

Looks like she is having a snooze there

That’s Sir knight Jaffar

 

[GregnLety]

Happy Thanksgiving or as they say in the oilfield, Happy double time and a half

 

[Ponypoor]

Happy Thanksgiving or as they say in the oilfield, Happy double time and a half

Yep the guys loves holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving for everyone of my neighbours to the south - I am proud to have such good neighbours and I am always thrilled when I see visitors cars on the road

 

[Ponypoor]

Egg Update!!!

This morning I took extreme care while removing Henny from her nest, I moved the eggs keeping them in the same position I found them, once she was off the nest I did a very quick candling - Fluffy’s egg’s chick had popped through the air sac, but not Curly’s.

Once Henny went back on her nest I replaced the eggs under her in the same position the were in - and guess what?! Fluffy’s egg was chirping

Hopefully all goes well and when I get home I will have chicks.

 

[Ponypoor]

That’s Sir knight Jaffar

Very sorry sir, autocorrect struck again!

 

[Sally PB]

Well, I'm not sure what's going on with Robin. Of my four Bielefelders, she has the biggest comb, so big it flops over. She has the biggest wattles. Both are very red. Yesterday, I noticed her spur buds were 3-4 times as big as the other girls'.

In pictures online, her comb is larger than what they show for females, but not quite as big as a roosters'. Ditto with wattles.

She has squatted for me. She goes into the nest, sits for a bit, scratches around.

Her feathering coloring is (and always was) that of a female. Her actions are that of a female.
So where are the eggs? They are nearly 28 weeks old!

I'm just impatient, Robin. You do whatever you need to do. Same for all the pullets. I can buy (cheap, bland) eggs at the store.

 

[Ponypoor]

Rubber is handy around the coop & runs

My first attempt to cover a latch, it's lopsided but the left side is the weather side so it works fine. This was some tire rubber found on the side of the road.
View attachment 3689372

The lower one came out better and the Spud there more or less approves. View attachment 3689374
View attachment 3689375

I made this next one out of a bicycle inner tube and rubber cement. It covers the twisting latch for the coop back door, over which I also put a child-proof oven knob cover, so it collects snow and ice otherwise.
View attachment 3689376
The rubber bungee holds the flap down in the wind enough and also theoretically acts as predator slow-down / foil if the back door does get undone.

Next I recently bought a 4-foot (x 10 inches?) piece of rubber and use it now to cover the auto door control panel box. I've left it long to see how it behaves in the wind etc and then I'll cut off what works best. I had the control box located on the right under the tarp but it was too drafty above and particularly below it in winter, and pulling the tarp up to get at it now and then was a pain and fatigued the tarp material.
View attachment 3689382

Hazel posing. She's molting slowly.
View attachment 3689400
Her eyes seem okay from this distance but I'll get a real close look tomorrow. I wanted to give her a day of me hanging with her and everybody and not trying to grab her to examine her or dose her. She's never been particularly calm, and definitely not snuggly. She trusts me less since I grabbed her twice a day for 12 days to give her medicine. Though halfway through the course she seemed to understand the routine, what would happen, and became much more relaxed on my lap. She never turned down the walnuts bits at the end!

View attachment 3689401
....But probably she's not posing, she's standing there keeping an eye on me!
Dear Hazel.
View attachment 3689402

She looks great, Mr P hates me handling him also. And he won’t take treats so that makes it harder for me to ‘make friends’ with him.