Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Hello everyone. Longtime lurker here and I will return to it shortly as life is too hectic to keep up with you guys. Just wanted to weigh in the the eagle debate. I have watched juvenile bald eagles come after my birds. The only reason they haven't carried one off was because I was able to get to the chickens while my rooster held them off. I don't know about an adult though. I've never had one. I am very close to a river and am located in Minnesota. We have lots of bald eagles but never any goldens. It is my guess that the juveniles cannot compete for hunting grounds over the water and seek food elsewhere. Do not rule them out of your equation. I wish you all luck with your predator issues.

Minnesota, I can tell ! You type with an accent.

 

[featherhead007]

Minnesota, I can tell ! You type with an accent.

I’m kidding. But the information is important, thanks

 

[featherhead007]

Are Chickens Holding a Charity Car Wash?

This was in my neighborhood. I hope they had a permit.
View attachment 2811519

Let’s see the size of the egg!

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

Minnesota, I can tell ! You type with an accent.

I have always been told my accent gets heavier when I'm telling a story

 

[featherhead007]

I have always been told my accent gets heavier when I'm telling a story

I’ve been to Minnesota (don’t ya know)

 

[featherhead007]

I’ve been to Minnesota (don’t ya know)

I’ve been told, that I speak with a Washington DC/California accent. That’s quite a mix!

 

[rural mouse]

Like my friend @RoyalChick, I am having trouble visualizing your property from the photos. I like her idea of a smaller enclosed area for when you can't be with them and then let them free range when you can supervise seems to be a reasonable compromise and what I do with mine. You seem to have a ton of open space.

Somewhere between 1 and 2 acres. Was the corner of a 20 acre plot, the rest belonging to the house below the coop. The whole of it is inside a section framed by the road. Most properties are 10-20 acres, creek flowing through the middle of the section. We're built into the curve of the hill rising from the floodplain. Mostly volcanic rock strata under us (makes for fantastic tasting but hard well water). Continental divide is roughly 10 miles away from us. Let me see about some other pics. Meanwhile, Storm seems to have decided I am Mama sub. She put herself there, then ran back and forth across my shoulders when I tried to get her to hop off (leaned into perch options)

 

[featherhead007]

I went out for a drive just a while ago. (Took Jaffar with me) bought some meally worms and Jaffar had no problem eating some on the way back! He loves riding in my old Lexus with me. What a good roo!
yes I did get some strange looks from other drivers, but I’m sure that they were eyeballing me, not my beautiful rooster Jaffar!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

As someone who has lost chickens to weasels, it is obvious when you have a weasel. They only usually take 1 chicken and usually do it at night. The wound is also very clear. You will find a chicken with no head or a head barely attached. This was no weasel.

Yes, they kill quickly with a bite to the neck, but my neighbor had a different experience as far as numbers, his whole coop of pigeons was killed by a weasel in one night, the bodies left strewn around the coop. It probably expected to retrieve them later on I suppose.

 

[BY Bob]

Hello everyone. Longtime lurker here and I will return to it shortly as life is too hectic to keep up with you guys. Just wanted to weigh in the the eagle debate. I have watched juvenile bald eagles come after my birds. The only reason they haven't carried one off was because I was able to get to the chickens while my rooster held them off. I don't know about an adult though. I've never had one. I am very close to a river and am located in Minnesota. We have lots of bald eagles but never any goldens. It is my guess that the juveniles cannot compete for hunting grounds over the water and seek food elsewhere. Do not rule them out of your equation. I wish you all luck with your predator issues.

Thanks so much for coming out of the shadows with this truly helpful information. Hopefully someday we can hear about your chickens.