Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Baby it's Hot Outside

I just checked the Temp Gauge that I have in the coop. Here is what it is reading. (The top temp and Humidity are from the remote sensor)

I put that into a Heat index calculator and this is what I get.

109 F and who is inside laying an egg!

Spoiler: Who is on the nest?

NO ONE! Thankfully!

The rest of the tribe is hanging out where I wet down the ground earlier. I will be going out to re-wet everything around 3:00 or 4:00 pm. Everyone seems to be bearing the heat just fine so far.

To go back to the sensor above, the bottom part of the sensor displays the inside temperature and humidity. You can see that the air conditioner has lowered the humidity significantly. It states that the SE facing side of the house is 84.9 F while the thermostat in the center of the house is showing 77 F. That is from the sun baking the back of the house. You can feel how much warmer it is just by walking into the kitchen. Right now the sun is dead overhead. Once it comes over to the NW side of the house, that side will start baking and until the SE side cools down the air conditioner will struggle to cool the house.

 

[featherhead007]

Baby it's Hot Outside

I just checked the Temp Gauge that I have in the coop. Here is what it is reading. (The top temp and Humidity are from the remote sensor)
View attachment 2739926

I put that into a Heat index calculator and this is what I get.
View attachment 2739916

109 F and who is inside laying an egg!

Spoiler: Who is on the nest?

NO ONE! Thankfully!
View attachment 2739920

The rest of the tribe is hanging out where I wet down the ground earlier. I will be going out to re-wet everything around 3:00 or 4:00 pm. Everyone seems to be bearing the heat just fine so far.

To go back to the sensor above, the bottom part of the sensor displays the inside temperature and humidity. You can see that the air conditioner has lowered the humidity significantly. It states that the SE facing side of the house is 84.9 F while the thermostat in the center of the house is showing 77 F. That is from the sun baking the back of the house. You can feel how much warmer it is just by walking into the kitchen. Right now the sun is dead overhead. Once it comes over to the NW side of the house, that side will start baking and until the SE side cools down the air conditioner will struggle to cool the house.

The air conditioner lowers the humidity down quite a bit, but raises the electric bill substantially! (Just saying)

 

[featherhead007]

I just put on clean clothes, and was going into town, but nooooo! The chickens with muddy feet just jumped up on my clean pants! (I shouldn’t have brought out meally worms for them, they attacked me)(occupational hazard I guess)

 

[featherhead007]

Even these two got me!!

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

I love it! What lovely birds!

How sweet.

 

[featherhead007]

I get that. It is hard to do the coop integration without removing the first coop. Perhaps you should tear down your house? They would likely move on then.

Tear down my house?…

 

[adwil21]

First thing this morning my grandmother called wanting to pick me and Rosie up to go pick some lettuce a friend was going to give her. I was finally forced after almost 2 years of avoiding it to tell her that I was not comfortable anymore with her driving. With the many health issues she has now she does not need her license but refuses to give them up. It looks like it is going to take my mom forcefully getting power of attorney over her to get them taken away. Now, I love my grandmother, and would do anything in the world for her, but dementia is setting in, and she has always been one that if you are not doing something for her she has absolutely no use for you. We also get into many arguments over how I am raising Rosie. I'm going to get her killed messing with horses, or kidnapped because I let her outside to play in our neighborhood by herself. If she had her way, and she's tried, Rosie would be afraid of her own shadow. Also she is a hoarder. Me and mom have tried for years now to go help clean her place up and just get rid of garbage and she throws fits and ends up in tears claiming we treat her like dirt.

Anyway, me and mom and Rose head down to her house, intending to pick her up and go pick this lettuce for her. Get there, and she'd had someone else go get it for her. Ok fine, you still need to go to the store and pay bills, lets go. Nope ends up sending me and mom to the store and bills can wait to the end of the month.

We get back and unload everything and convince her to let us help her by washing her dishes which had piled up. So she decides ok, she'd take a nap. While she's sleeping and mom is washing dishes me and Rose go clean her bathroom for her and do her laundry.

Due to her hoarding, she has a mouse problem. She claims she's only had a few mice for the last 2 months and has been setting traps and killing them. While yes it's true she's got traps set, and may be getting a couple here and there, but, this has been going on longer then 2 months.

Mom was almost finished with the dishes and I was waiting on the 2nd load of laundry to finish washing when we took a break and went outside to smoke. Out there maybe 5 minutes when it all went to crap. On our way back in as soon as we opened the screen door there he was. She has a 5 foot black snake in her house. Cue instant heart attack #1 for me. We scared the snake as much as he scared us so he doubled back and hid in the junk she had piled up along her living room wall.

Grandma also spotted the back end of the snake as he ran and swears she didn't know he was in there. This freaked her out so bad that for once she demanded we catch him even if it meant throwing everything along that wall away. 5 hours later, with about 10 different mice flying out at me when I'd move a box and half her living room clean. STILL NO SNAKE!! At this point me and mom are exhausted, when I came across a nest of baby mice and she had a idea. Since she refused to come home with us, her plan was to use one of her minnow traps and place the baby mice inside it to lure the snake in. I told her she's crazy but she swears it will work, she's caught copperheads before using that method. Fine, whatever, but that snake is too fat to fit through the opening. It also meant I got the lovely job of catching the baby mice. Now these were not pinkies, they had fur and could run around and jump. I hate mice almost as much as snakes and those little devils were jumping all over the box they was in so I was in the middle of heart attack 12 or 13 at that time. But I caught them, all 7 and they are now in minnow trap and its placed right beside her stove where we think maybe the snake escaped to.

It has been a long trying day and my nerves are shot. BUT, she wants all the junk out of her house now. While she is in this frame of mind me and mom plan to do as much as we can as fast as we can. Because one wrong word, or the wrong thing gets tossed she'll do a 180 and decide everything is once again useful and needs to stay.

So sorry you are going through this. My gram had dementia too, we all had to be around to watch her or she would beg strangers for rides to "go home". She would even take the kids toys and display them proudly on her kitchen cabinets saying she got them in the mail. So the kids were always crying for their toys back. Kept things interesting to say the least. I miss her more than I ever thought possible.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Well, today was heartbreaking and makes owning and raising chickens hard. One of my silkie chicks crashed today. Totally unexpected, it was perfectly fine yesterday and first thing this morning. At noon, it was found on it side seizing. I have no clue what happened, but before I could get it in the house it passed. This is the 2nd one out of 6 successfully hatched to pass and it was the 2nd biggest of the group. I'm going to be honest here, while they are adorable, and Rosie loves them if I can successfully raise just 2 of these for her I don't see myself hatching anymore for myself. After having large fowl raising true bantams is nerve wrecking. They were so tiny for so long that they were over 2 weeks old before I even felt comfortable letting them and momma free range for a few hours. I have a personal favorite of the group, and it is the tiniest but so sweet. I'm praying I do not loose anymore and that my tiny one thrives and turns out to be a pullet.

That is so sad. I hope the rest of your little chicks grow and thrive.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Well, I feel awful for adding this to the discussion. I have lost three Chickens in as many days. One Red Rock to the heat, I didn’t even know she was missing as I’ve been struggling with head counts with the new girls, four broody mamas, One batch of weanlings, and another attempt at brooding by my bully girl on top of this furnace we are experiencing as “weather”, and all the other chickens. Add in finger pecker and the buff lady in with Hawk and that’s 5 in less than a week. Roostie squashed his favorite hen, then accidentally cut her back when he was mounting her. She was on the road to recovery until today when I went into town. DH did not follow my I instructions for separation and she paid for it with her life. I was in town doing the feed run and letting my mother do her own shopping for a change. We also put down Little Red as his bumblefoot became complicated and was spreading rapidly. Roostie’s is responding to treatment though and the mamas are doing a great job with their babies. Also I soaked my cats today and it was so bloody hot they didn’t mind at all.

I am sorry about your chickens.
Pretty awful for you. When you think you are doing everything you can, and you think it’s going good, it’s devastating to lose a chicken (or any animal).
Having chickens (and ducks) has proven to be more complicated than I expected.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Good Morning Everyone,
Happy Tuesday!

at 4:30am it was a nice NORMAL 65 in the coop, I was a LOT of hard work but all the chickens are very well this morning.
View attachment 2739568



yesterday, 100 in the coop
View attachment 2739571

100 in the run, I went out at 9am and took every tarp down and redid them to get the best coverage I could. I finished that at noon & raked / hosed the run.

Then every hour until 7pm, I moved the food and sprayed the tree down, the far east end, the tree roots, light not to make mud in the middle, but not the chickens. They didnt want to get wet and I didnt want them to run from the spray and exert energy.
View attachment 2739581

Good Morning Everyone,
Happy Tuesday!

at 4:30am it was a nice NORMAL 65 in the coop, I was a LOT of hard work but all the chickens are very well this morning.
View attachment 2739568



yesterday, 100 in the coop
View attachment 2739571

100 in the run, I went out at 9am and took every tarp down and redid them to get the best coverage I could. I finished that at noon & raked / hosed the run.

Then every hour until 7pm, I moved the food and sprayed the tree down, the far east end, the tree roots, light not to make mud in the middle, but not the chickens. They didnt want to get wet and I didnt want them to run from the spray and exert energy.
View attachment 2739581

That was a lot of work! But your chickens look happy!