Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

It's a learning curve, don't be too hard on yourself.

I've made emergency diapers with a pair of under ware and a maxi pad. The incontinency pads are even better since they absorb more.

And adult incontinence pads should work fine too.

 

[RoyalChick]

I look at it like this.
I'm very interested (some may say obssesed by) in chickens.
I hope that more research and knowledge about them will improve their lot in life.
If for example, the reasearch into the chickens beak hadn't been carried out, the barbaric practice of debeaking may not have been reduced and in some countries made illegal.
In the normal flow of conversation I agree, it doesn't matter whether one calls them a flock or a tribe. It does matter when it comes to how you keep them though. Decent environments for a tribal species are rather different to that for a flock species.
In general I would prefer if people at least had reliable information to work with.
If for example you beleive that dust bathing is the chickens way of ridding themselves of parasites then instead of applying the correct chemical for a sever outbreak one might be tempted as many do, to chuck your chicken in a bath of DE and think you've done the right thing.
I've been pleasantly surprised by the reactions to some of the articles I've written.
Some people have taken on board, as they say, the information I've presented. In theory, eventually this trickles down to a better understanding of chickens and hopefully that better understanding will translate into a better life for some chickens.
That's why I bother.

And we love you for it!

 

[MaryJanet]

Thank you. Henrietta is a very pretty hen. She is my best layer of my flock. She's taking a break right now, but her molt is finally finished. She didn't go completely bald all at once but back at the end of November she was so pitiful looking I joked I needed to find a tiny paper bag with eye holes and stick on her head. Last season she started laying the first of march and would go 8 days straight without taking a day off. She didn't quit until the first of November. Her comb is starting to color back up slowly so looking forward to her starting back up again. Here are a few more pictures of her in her new coat. Her red got darker this year.
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This is Henrietta's daughter Bread. *note to self, stop letting mom name the animals*. Bread closely resembles her mother except she didn't inherit her mothers blue lacing. She is still a pretty young pullet and I hope she is just as good a layer as her mom.
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Ivy is having a hectic moult at present. Every few minutes another feather comes away.

 

[MaryJanet]

And we love you for it!

Absolutely! If I were in a more conducive timezone, I'd chip in but as it is, Kris usually speak my thoughts before I see any of it.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Ivy is having a hectic moult at present. Every few minutes another feather comes away.

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Ivy is still pretty even when she's scruffy. I didn't get a picture of Henrietta at her worst. The one time i did take pics of her while molting she gave me death glares lol.

 

[MaryJanet]

Ivy is still pretty even when she's scruffy. I didn't get a picture of Henrietta at her worst. The one time i did take pics of her while molting she gave me death glares lol.
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So funny!

I will tell her you said she's still pretty. She's not particularly vain though, so she may simply shrug and continue fossicking for snacks.

 

[RoyalChick]

Ivy is still pretty even when she's scruffy. I didn't get a picture of Henrietta at her worst. The one time i did take pics of her while molting she gave me death glares lol.
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She looks like you caught her with her petticoats showing!

 

[Ribh]

That's Notch, I don't like fish Ribh aka Donk, I don't like chicks Myth and Knock almost under the bush. Knock doesn't like anybody.

Definitely sounds like my tribe...

 

[Ribh]

I like Donk to.........unless I'm rolling down some bank in the pissing rain trying to get her off one of her nest.

Even the most wonderful of hens have their failings. I think I'd be hiding my eggs if Bucket Boy kept stealing them too.

 

[Scrambles83]

These are closeups from the photos BY Bob mentioned.

She's always been scruffy, now I know why. I ought to have considered the cost of her beak to her grooming.

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I often wondered about Bok and Penny’s beaks, they never seemed long enough to me. Now reading these old posts and having my new pullets without trimmed beaks I see my wonderings were correct. They were rounded but def had the point trimmed off before we got them.
Pic is from when we first got them at 18 weeks. Bok at the front, Penny at the back.