Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

Yes. That is correct. Each camera has a battery and when it gets low I bring it inside and recharge it. I bought spare batteries so I can always swap out a battery for a newly charged one.
The base station requires power but I keep that in my garage - I actually do have power to the Chicken Palace but it is so dusty in there I wasn't confident the base station should sit in there and the garage is a perfectly fine place for it (about 200 feet away from the cameras).
Does that make sense @Marie2020?

Yes it does. Will look into all this
Thanks a lot

 

[Marie2020]

Sounds like it will be great - I did worry about security but got convinced that if I ran it all on my WiFi 'guest network' (which apparently I had already) that it won't represent a risk to stuff on my main network.
We have now gone so past my technical understanding that I will just show myself out quietly.

That's usually me. Coming with you

 

[featherhead007]

Side note. Kinda off topic, but.... you know you are a chicken lover, when you find an egg in your pocket, that you forgot while distracted by a nosy hen, standing right behind you.
Chick tax

 

[BY Bob]

Good day to you fluffy butt chicken peeps. I haven’t been myself lately, and I’m sorry. I promise to come up with more friendly jokes, softer puns, and less sarcastic remarks. (I was forced to make this apology, or she would peck out my eye) !View attachment 2581559

She does seem cross.

 

[BY Bob]

BeholdView attachment 2581810View attachment 2581811
I really want to take home this one, send me henergy.View attachment 2581812View attachment 2581813

They are so adorable! I feel the pull. Did all the eggs hatch?

 

[BY Bob]

Good to see your humor back Alex.

It is, isn't it.

 

[Shadrach]

Sorry, Bob, I have my hands rather full here but here's a double header for you:​

Olivia & Titania.
View attachment 2581014

Amazing.

 

[Shadrach]

Actually maybe @cfonts is in the best position to talk about heritage breeds - I was interested in finding out why so many chickens have survived there and it's because Kauai has no mongoose, unlike the other Hawaiian Islands. If I am gathering this correctly from some very brief reading, it is thought Polynesians brought Red Jungle Fowl to the Hawaiian Islands ages ago, and Europeans introduced some modern chicken breeds, but mostly the wild chickens grew in numbers after the '82 and '92 hurricanes where domesticated chickens got loose and lost. So there's interesting research being done with DNA analysis of the chicken populations there, and it's possible that Kauai may turn out to have an important pool of preserved Red Jungle Fowl genes that could be helpful to the rest of the world in bringing some sanity and health back to the world's over-bred and in-bred chickens. Apparently the remaining Red Jungle Fowl in their "native" places are suffering from lack of wild places to live and the introduction of domesticated chicken genes.
https://www.livescience.com/57669-animal-sex-kauai-chickens.html
https://research.msu.edu/invasive-feral-chickens-provide-evolutionary-insights/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.13096

Chicken tax for Mugshot Monday. I don't recall if I've posted this one before. From early February. Once again it is Hazel I think (and Queenie in front). @featherhead007 - I have figured out what it is about Hazel, and maybe it's a Buckeye thing - they have a strong brow, with full feathers. They look quite studious and serious, in a way. So when they are intent on something, their expression is extra-intense! (Or they look like they're mad at you )

View attachment 2581114
It is interesting - Hazel has appointed herself Patroller of Queenie, but I also find them often foraging together quite peacefully. Maybe that's self-interest on Hazel's part? Queenie grew up free-ranging, so maybe they know she knows how to find things. They do all instantly rush over when they think she's got something.

Things are fluid and not set in stone, but Popcorn and Butters are generally thick as thieves when foraging, more so than any other pair. I call them Partners In Crime. Peanut floats between these groups.

It's a very interesting topic. There are a few other places in the world where domestic breeds have gone feral with interesting results.

 

[RoyalChick]

A mighty big ‘chicken’ came to visit the Princesses today and was enjoying the sunshine and lack of snow.

 

[MaryJanet]

More Signs of Spring

While it was snowing again in NJ this weekend, , here in springy PA I planted flowers on the coop porch.

View attachment 2581512View attachment 2581513

Can you see my little chicken shadow around my feet? I have to be so careful with her. She follows me everywhere.

Lovely choice Bob, pansies are so pretty!