Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Had a CT scan today on my abdomen, had to drink 3 bottles of nasty stuff and walk for 45 minutes. Still feeling very sick from the drink I had to have.
1 week until tonsils come out. And also 1 week until my tiny peepycheepies hatch.
Here are the babies at bedtime last night. Red likes to perch on hands. Squatch likes to rub under your hand like a cat. Yeti is already doing wing-assisted leaps. Blue is reserved but she does play with the others!
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Concerned about you Jenn

 

[ILoveDaffy]

Lulu isn’t doing well, she has laminitis which is a serious condition in horses

I had my farrier out to trim everyone’s hooves and I dosed poor Lulu with extra pain meds.

Meanwhile check out good Reenie, her stall guard is broke, but she just hangs out in her stall - good girl!

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And guess what it’s doing again here
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Yep snow.

The fabric shed across the way at work collapsed.
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And here are two buff Orps to enjoy.
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Oh dear. I'm so sorry about Lulu. Lamenitis is so awful. Which feet?

 

[featherhead007]

I dunno, is it me? Sybil? She's laid every single day since Nov 28th.

My smallest redhead lays the biggest eggs, go figure?

 

[TOMTE]

Had a CT scan today on my abdomen, had to drink 3 bottles of nasty stuff and walk for 45 minutes. Still feeling very sick from the drink I had to have.
1 week until tonsils come out. And also 1 week until my tiny peepycheepies hatch.
Here are the babies at bedtime last night. Red likes to perch on hands. Squatch likes to rub under your hand like a cat. Yeti is already doing wing-assisted leaps. Blue is reserved but she does play with the others!
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Phew... You've got this, Jenn. Hopefully soon you'll be done with all this medical stuff. Hang in there

Chicks feather in so quickly. They don't have stumpy wings anymore!

 

[SimpleJenn]

Thanks. We're finding out if there's a reason behind the digestive issues I've had my whole life, or if it's just something I have to deal with.
I was told to drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day for my liver, which still shocks me. I didn't know coffee was so healthy.
I have 2 more tests to do, then hopefully I'll be done. Lots of health issues in the family.

And yes! They are growing stronger and prettier by the day! Squatch is full of pins right now.

 

[rural mouse]

The abominable snow pup

Has to go swimming

And found a buried tennis ball and a bone

Meanwhile, the birds are laying some....and finally getting a bit of sun around the coop...and refusing to go any farther (I can't blame them, it's over the tops of my boots).

 

[TOMTE]

Thanks. We're finding out if there's a reason behind the digestive issues I've had my whole life, or if it's just something I have to deal with.
I was told to drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day for my liver, which still shocks me. I didn't know coffee was so healthy.
I have 2 more tests to do, then hopefully I'll be done. Lots of health issues in the family.

And yes! They are growing stronger and prettier by the day! Squatch is full of pins right now.

I also need to figure out my digestive issues... Ugh. I had one scan done last year(?) where they injected me with something so they could see how my liver, pancreas, etc were working. Had to lay still for I think 2 hours but it was kind of cool watching my guts do their thing on the monitor Everything looked normal there so on to the next tests. Eventually. Have to wait for my insurance to re-up since my renewal form got lost in the mail

So basically, I feel ya. It's no fun not knowing why your body can't handle food. I really hope you get answers

Tax:

Magrat is being picked on. She had a bloody comb (and head) yesterday evening and they're still going at it today. I'll have to spend some time in the cold today pinching necks until they get it— LEAVE HER ALONE!

 

[featherhead007]

The abominable snow pupView attachment 4053678

Has to go swimmingView attachment 4053679

And found a buried tennis ball and a boneView attachment 4053680

Meanwhile, the birds are laying some....and finally getting a bit of sun around the coop...and refusing to go any farther (I can't blame them, it's over the tops of my boots).

I’m going to call him Titanic, because your dog gives me that sinking feeling

 

[ValerieJ]

No measurements yet but I did get lots of pics of the playhouse yesterday.

I'll put pics and ideas under a spoiler since there's a bunch.

Spoiler: the playhouse

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The goal is to make this into a two story coop. We'll put walls around the deck to make it the ground floor of the coop. Underneath, we'll fence it up with hardware cloth, and that will be part of the run.

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It is bigger than it looks. Just eyeballing (and I'm really bad at eyeballing measurements so...) maybe 8' by 8'? And the ceiling is tall enough that I can stand up straight in there. Maybe 8' at the roof's highest point. And that's just the main "house" part. Walling off the deck will make it about twice as big.

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The hatch could make a great access door for the chooks to get to the run below during the day. Lots of reinforcements to make though. This playhouse is a favorite of squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and groundhogs. As you can probably tell by all the nut shells laying around and lots of prey means lots of predators sniffing around, too.

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Below on this side, we could make it one big door for cleaning.

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The tree growing through the deck needs to come down if we're going to go through with this. And there's a lot of brush removal and cleaning up to do around the area. So many fallen branches and trees (which is something else to think about— definitely don't want huge branches or trees coming down on the coop and run).

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There are several good spots for nest boxes, roosts, and ventilation. I'm thinking we'll keep the front window, close off the door where a slide used to be attached, and nest boxes will go on one of the sides. Keep one or both of the side windows for summer and make it so we can shut them in winter. More ventilation higher up.

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More pics from inside. The back (last pic) we could leave open. It'll look, feel, and be more roomy. I figure the chooks could use that railing as a roost, maybe (not the only roost, obviously).

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You can't see the deck because it's under a layer of snow and ice (which I tried to clear off with my boots to no avail ) but if you follow the rope you can kind of see the other post which rotted through and broke years ago, and that's the other edge of the deck.

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The swingset portion I think would be perfect to build a run off of, which they'd access from under the playhouse. Plus with another hooman access door, maybe at the A-frame part?

So that's all I've got so far!! Ideas from you all are more than welcome! I'll be sure to bookmark them so I can go back and look when we're really starting the planning process!

Bonus pictures of the teeter totter which has seen better days

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I think it's perfect! Good ideas! I love repurposed buildings for chicken coops. Saves a lot of work. Or does it?

 

[featherhead007]

I also need to figure out my digestive issues... Ugh. I had one scan done last year(?) where they injected me with something so they could see how my liver, pancreas, etc were working. Had to lay still for I think 2 hours but it was kind of cool watching my guts do their thing on the monitor Everything looked normal there so on to the next tests. Eventually. Have to wait for my insurance to re-up since my renewal form got lost in the mail

So basically, I feel ya. It's no fun not knowing why your body can't handle food. I really hope you get answers

Tax:

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Magrat is being picked on. She had a bloody comb (and head) yesterday evening and they're still going at it today. I'll have to spend some time in the cold today pinching necks until they get it— LEAVE HER ALONE!

Mag, there’s plenty of room for you in California. I only let the prettiest of chooks live on my ranch. Four miles away from George Lucas property. We share the same airport