Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

Are all those feathers due to molting it’s something more worrisome?

It's moulting. They're both doing it. Jenny gets a bit under the weather when she moults but she seems basically healthy. Solomon is having a heavy moult this year and he's not a happy chap. He took a bite out of my finger the other day because I didn't hold the food bowl at the right angle for him. Talk about pissy.
Niether can be handled without a struggle. Inspection is a thick towel over the head and grab. One needs to be very careful of the feet. The claws are serious and they can bring their feet high under their wings so the grab has to be right.
Solomon will let me touch him now and the peck for my troubles will be half hearted. Jenny is the most dangerous of the birds here. She's very fast and means business.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

It's moulting. They're both doing it. Jenny gets a bit under the weather when she moults but she seems basically healthy. Solomon is having a heavy moult this year and he's not a happy chap. He took a bite out of my finger the other day because I didn't hold the food bowl at the right angle for him. Talk about pissy.
Niether can be handled without a struggle. Inspection is a thick towel over the head and grab. One needs to be very careful of the feet. The claws are serious and they can bring their feet high under their wings so the grab has to be right.
Solomon will let me touch him now and the peck for my troubles will be half hearted. Jenny is the most dangerous of the birds here. She's very fast and means business.

My Muscovy ducks molted a few weeks ago. The pond area looked like someone had a giant pillow fight!

 

[Kris5902]

The other night when I came home and Sammy was “missing” (little brat), I was frantically trying to find him and counting white bird butts and trying to get them to raise their little heads. DH was helping me look for him and said “I don’t see any big poofs of whit feathers”, right before he stumbled upon one! He was aghast and started to freak out... I said that was an old pile, from Sammy’s three sisters who are all shedding feathers like no ones business!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

O the trials of a first time chicken keeper. I remember it well.

Let me reassure you of one thing, you will mess up again. I have made so many mistakes since I started doing this. The key is to forgive yourself quickly. They will all become entertaining stories. I can already imagine the story you have from this one. It was snowing, the wind was blowing 100 mph, it was a white out, the chickens were laughing at me, I forgot to put a coat on, I was in my bare feet. Trust me, this will be a great story some day.

No chickens were hurt. You are good.

Thank you so much. One thing about the storm that IS a great memory was seeing how the pullets reacted to seeing snow for the first time when they came out the next morning. I will post that. But it is hard to hear your prediction, and also hearing the same from @Kris5902. Must be true! So I hope the chickens can survive ME!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

6x12 chicken tractors, My first foray into chicken keeping. I was on the phone looking for advice and DH almost called 911. I was feeding the cows in a windstorm and came home to a “relocated” chicken tractor, then I was standing in it mid windstorm on the phone with him when it landed on me... all the chickens were fine, I ended up bruised and muddied.

Things will go wrong... there will be catastrophic failures, you will most assuredly screw things up again. It’s how we react to failures, learn from our mistakes, and our overall desire to do the best to care for our birds that really define success. I’m still trying to figure out if the chickens were making concerned noises, or chastising me while I lay with my leg trapped under several hundred pounds of chicken tractor, squirming and using much “adult language” In The mud and rain. They were quite animated... don’t feel bad we all have a lot of beginning mistakes to live down!

Thank you for the encouragement Kris! I hope if/when more things go wrong there will be enough right in place that the chickens can manage until I can fix it.
Your story is awesome, in the old sense of the word. I don't know how you manage so many chickens PLUS building everything including your own Big Coop. I was picturing you trapped under the tractor with the chickens talking all around you. They probably were in Chicken EMT mode, figuring out what if anything they could do for you and realizing there wasn't much, and giving you directions and encouragement. Could your DH lift it off of you enough to squirm out, what happened?

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

I got to rub Trumps wattles yesterday ❤

And here is the only place you can say that and no one blinks an eye!!!

 

[WhoDatChick]

And here is the only place you can say that and no one blinks an eye!!!

Right!? And who could resist!....❤

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Right!? And who could resist!....❤View attachment 2404477View attachment 2404479

He does have splendid wattles and that comb is to die for!
Trump is a very handsome rooster!

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

I got to rub Trumps wattles yesterday ❤

And here is the only place you can say that and no one blinks an eye!!!

Isn’t that the truth???
I am having way too much fun here!

 

[WhoDatChick]

He does have splendid wattles and that comb is to die for!
Trump is a very handsome rooster!

He really is pretty great! And I cannot wait to hatch some little naked necks! They are just absolutely adorable! Just look at how cute he was ❤ .... so stinkin cute!!