Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

My sister sent me this.

 

[Ribh]

My sister sent me this.
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That is super! And very funny. Such a boy thing, strutting his stuff while the girls mill on the bank discussing if it's safe.

 

[LozzyR]

We got Davis because Dr. Zoidberg and Isabel did not get along and Dr. Zoidberg needed a friend. He wanted to play and Isabel does not play. She is above that. It worked like a charm. Then Dr. Z passed way too soon from colon cancer. But they were best friends.

You can see how much Isabel, on the left, liked both of them.
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Davis actually had a paw on Dr. Z as they slept.
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They loved to wrestle together.
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It was just what we had hoped and then Dr. Z passed.

Lovely kitties! Poor Dr Zoidberg.

 

[Shadrach]

Lock. She likes the figs. Still struggling with her legs but now it's just a matter of keeping the mites at bay. The lumps have finally gone although she does have small spurs. Mag was much the same and I didn't think I would ever get his spurs in particular looking anything more than fuzzy protrusions. He's got proper spurs now.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

We (people) tend to assume we can care adequately for these creatures. There are so many problems with chicken keeping now. The chickens we keep are not really fit for survival in so many respects. That's our fault to.
Chickens lay eggs and hatch clutches rather than singles because not many/all are going to survive. This gets forgotton about chickens. If a hen hatches 6 and 2 survive to breed then she's done her bit and done well.
There is nothing healthy, or survival learning/encouraging in the way we keep chickens. It's taken almost a decade here to get to the point where I beleive some of the younger chickens have something closer to their natual instincts working. The bantams and some of the cross breeds would with some luck, now be able to survive as a feral flock. The Marans and the heavier cross breeds are still far from fit for a feral life.
Even my friends Fayoumies which are incredibly hardy and aware still need feeding to maintain their population. A few only eat commercial feed when forage is poor. My friend is slowly reducing their egg laying capacity and this will help enormously with their overall health and ability to avoid predators. They've got the living in the trees sorted out now although some still roost in the open part of the top of his house.
There are a few fully feral Black Miniorcan flocks here now. A women on the next mountain keeps about twenty which she only feeds in the winter. But, she does tend the sick and injured and provides semi secure nest sites around the farm.

This is very interesting. So we have bred their survival skills out of them, basically. And made them less hardy?

 

[LozzyR]

She's got that look on her face that says I'm going to do that again.
Great picture.

That’s what she thinks!

 

[RoyalChick]

Lock. She likes the figs. Still struggling with her legs but now it's just a matter of keeping the mites at bay. The lumps have finally gone although she does have small spurs. Mag was much the same and I didn't think I would ever get his spurs in particular looking anything more than fuzzy protrusions. He's got proper spurs now.
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I am jealous. I love figs too!

 

[BY Bob]

Lock. She likes the figs. Still struggling with her legs but now it's just a matter of keeping the mites at bay. The lumps have finally gone although she does have small spurs. Mag was much the same and I didn't think I would ever get his spurs in particular looking anything more than fuzzy protrusions. He's got proper spurs now.
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I don’t remember seeing such color gradient in her feathers before. She is very lovely!

 

[Shadrach]

This is very interesting. So we have bred their survival skills out of them, basically. And made them less hardy?

Not bred out, more suppressed.

 

[MaryJanet]

I don’t remember seeing such color gradient in her feathers before. She is very lovely!

I'm surprised at her splashy colouring too! I'm glad her legs are slowly improving.