Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

It is the egg eating that has earned them the term "Dreadful". I also was unable to teach them to roost. They spent the first 2 years while in a long coop not a tall one so they never had the opportunity to learn. Therefore they sleep on the ground, in their own poop on top of each other and are constantly dealing with dirty butt feathers. Again they are beautiful birds, get along with everyone and for them friendly. They came standoffish, they are leaps and bounds better then when they first arrived. Gryffyns sister Flurry is a downright sweetheart of a hen. She is also the prime egg eater. There is enough stuff to like about them that I am willing to try them again in the future. From chicks I raised myself mind you. Maybe bantam cochins next time. For such big girls their eggs are tiny. Not much bigger than a silkie's egg.

My rooster Rudy slept in my bed with me last night, and the only problem I had was that he wanted to snuggle up really close and hogged my pillows! What does that tell you?

 

[featherhead007]

It is the egg eating that has earned them the term "Dreadful". I also was unable to teach them to roost. They spent the first 2 years while in a long coop not a tall one so they never had the opportunity to learn. Therefore they sleep on the ground, in their own poop on top of each other and are constantly dealing with dirty butt feathers. Again they are beautiful birds, get along with everyone and for them friendly. They came standoffish, they are leaps and bounds better then when they first arrived. Gryffyns sister Flurry is a downright sweetheart of a hen. She is also the prime egg eater. There is enough stuff to like about them that I am willing to try them again in the future. From chicks I raised myself mind you. Maybe bantam cochins next time. For such big girls their eggs are tiny. Not much bigger then a silkie's egg.

Come on, he was a beautiful bantam Cochin and a great soldier:

 

[SimpleJenn]

Cochins are 100% on my list

 

[TOMTE]

I've heard buff cochin roosters are great big sweethearts. I'd also love some

 

[rural mouse]

Thank you so much for the explanation !
They are sisters, from a plain black hen and this black and white rooster. I think it's what is called silver ?
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Annette is black and white. Looking at the example you linked, she could be reverse pencilled but not "properly". These are her feathers I picked in the coop this morning.
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In the same hatch, there is Laure whose feathers look quite like the reverse pencilled pullet you posted.
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Lulu who is mostly black but like Melissa has a few white shaft (and the only chicken who went out in our first snow today)
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Pied beau, black with yellow leakage, and Petit Blanc, white. This was when they were three months old.
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All from plain black or brown pullets, but it's possible that one eloped with another neighbour 's bigger white rooster.

It remains rather mysterious to me and it makes it all a bit magical !
Another thing that had me wondering is egg size. The six eggs I was given to hatch were all rather small, between 55 to 60 grams ; but three of the four hens lay (or laid since Laure is now on an implant) much bigger eggs, around 70 g. Could this come from their dad ?

@RoyalChick and @rural mouse the other day I mentioned to my partner that you two use a wedge to split wood. This morning there was a surprise package in the mailbox for me . So please tell me again- what tool do you use it with ? Let me just say that if I don't succeed my pride will be very, very wounded .

You are correct on the rooster. He is silver. Looks like he has some lacing which can do all sorts of things when crossed with other things.

Annette's feathers look like one of the variations of incomplete or partial lacing.

Laure has incomplete lacing. The black edge doesn't wrap around the feathers far enough to meet the black edge on the next feather, which is what makes the lacing look. Whiskey has the same thing going.

Egg size could certainly come from the father. ALL of Cheetah's offspring came from large eggs. All except 1 of the girls lay small eggs and those all the same shape

Your birds are all unique and gorgeous. And I love seeing them.

The package:

Tap the blade/pointy end into a cracked in the end of a log.

Beat on the fat end of the wedge with one of these long handled hammers until you drive the wedge through the length of the log. Repeat until pieces are small enough to fit in the stove/fireplace or are size you like.

Dawn breakfast

 

[Ponypoor]

This is nutz! Now that the sun has risen over the mountains, all the roosters in the neighborhood are silent! It’s actually spooky

Well of course they are quiet, it’s rest time! They are resting up after a hard morning of crowing!

 

[Ponypoor]

Oh how fun!!! There's a pond down the road that I sometimes swim in during the summer (actually it's at a private development off my road where you're only supposed to be there if you're a resident or guest, but shhhh).
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I love it over there. I've seen some cool birds at the pond, green herons, swallows, cuckoos, flycatchers, and more. I haven't walked back there in winter yet. I'll do that this winter!

Speaking of winter, we got our first snow overnight!
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It's not much (there was a bit more early this morning) but I'm still excited

Winters here are beautiful!
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They're not sure what to think about the snow, but they want out of the run! Sorry girls, too many hawks around!
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No snow allowed.

The chooks don’t like it!

Feb 2025
Sue walking carefully on the green stuff

 

[Ponypoor]

In preparation for the temperature drop and snow coming yesterday evening me and mom cleaned the stalls and deeply bedded them. In the summer they get 1 to 1 1/2 wheelbarrow loads of sawdust. In the winter months when it is cold they get 4. I also cleaned and deeply bedded the coop too. My chickies need to stay warm. I told mom about Mrs. E Tuesday. She had caught glimpses of her. She was not thrilled at first, claimed we were not running a chicken rescue. While we were out cleaning Mrs. E introduced herself and was very curious about what we were doing. Actually she was underfoot the whole time being a busybody while we were cleaning out the stalls. Mom was amazed and said she had already made herself right at home. She has actually. She let mom pick her up and hold her while she was taking a break. Mom likes her, thinks her coloring is striking. While mom was holding her George walks by with his silkie army. She called him over to her and was like, here, meet your new girlfriend, introduce yourself. She then asked me what a cross between them would look like. I told her your guess was as good as mine, his chicks should have some form of his crazy head feathers. Well, mom is going to find out next spring. Little George is her boy, she plans to find out what all his crosses will look like next year. Umm...mom, you are the one person who has hissy fits when a hen goes broody and hatches chicks. I was told to shut up, her rooster is allowed to have as many babies as he wants. They will be her chicks and she will decide who and how many we keep. How can 1 little rooster have so many people fighting over who he actually belongs too? Back off people, George is mine. They have opened the door though. I do not want one complaint next year when every single hen that goes broody gets eggs.

Have you told her about poppet yet?

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Come on, he was a beautiful bantam Cochin and a great soldier: View attachment 3993176

I promise you I do not base my opinion of cochins off of Jaffar. I admire and respect him and I miss him.

Right now at the moment, I actually like my 2 cochins. It is winter though, they are freshly molted, clean and stunning. I also only have 1 hen laying who is laying in the porch nesting box. I am not having to make a mad dash out to rescue a egg every time one is laid. That will come this spring and summer when the girls start laying again. That there alone will make you hate a bird. They are Rosie's and were grandma's girls. That is the sole reason they are still here. Rosie wants me to hatch off some of their eggs so she can have their daughters. Hah, that is a chore in itself to get one of their tiny eggs. They lay the egg and before the coating is even dry they immediately eat it. When I can get their eggs their fertility was never the greatest. I think part of that is their extra fluff in the booty department. I did hatch and raise 1, a lovely black girl named Perdita. I really liked her and she looked like a black version of her momma. Curse that husky that took her while she was broody and sitting on eggs.

Thankfully the cochins cannot get to Poppets nest or else they would already have broken her up themselves by eating her eggs while she was off to eat and dust bathe.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Have you told her about poppet yet?

Considering the effort it would take to remove the hay to break her up. Me and dad both decided it is best to be a surprise when and if she comes off with chicks. He will take the heat as he was the one who does not want to mess with the hay.