Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[LozzyR]

Yes she loves to help. There are two problems. (1) Her idea of helping is not always that helpful; (2) She has suicidal tendencies - there is not a piece of junk - dropped screw, broken staple, rubber band, piece of plastic - that she won't find and start devouring. So I am always diving to the floor to grab her and pull crap out of her beak. It is exhausting! But Chicken Palace is coming together and this weekend I am going to rake the ground to make sure it is safe. I am hoping next weekend the Princesses can move in. I am so excited! There is still lots to do to finish - but moving in will be a big milestone.

I’m lucky mine are more discerning; previous owners thought it was a great idea to bury broken glass in the garden beds and now, every so often a piece surfaces in the run. It’s a lot better since I started doing the deep litter method.

 

[LozzyR]

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I'm back! The Bigs came running to see me and I even got 5 minutes with the newbies!

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Gorgeous fluffy butt!

 

[LozzyR]

For the first time in over two years, a cat has appeared in our back yard! It wandered across the top of the chook run, then disappeared over the neighbours’ fence. Chickie and Charlie were in bed and Lucy was in the garden by the back door so it didn’t see any of them. I growled at it over the fence, I don’t know how discouraging I was. Is that the end of unsupervised free-ranging?! It wasn’t a very big cat.

 

[Ribh]

Hattie likes to eat sawdust. I am always waiving her off from that. Lilly just wants to direct what I'm doing. I need to take her ideas into consideration.

I might suggest running a magnet over everything to find any screws or nails. A rake may not show you everything.

I keep finding stuff that got buried years ago. The chickens dig up the most extraordinary things.

 

[Shadrach]

For the first time in over two years, a cat has appeared in our back yard! It wandered across the top of the chook run, then disappeared over the neighbours’ fence. Chickie and Charlie were in bed and Lucy was in the garden by the back door so it didn’t see any of them. I growled at it over the fence, I don’t know how discouraging I was. Is that the end of unsupervised free-ranging?! It wasn’t a very big cat.

Domestic cats are unlikely to try and kill a chicken. What they do do is worry the chickens.

 

[BY Bob]

Bringing Nolia back from the vets last night you could see a change in her demeanor once we got to the section of track that leads to the driveway.

She knew. That's sweet. They are smarter than most humans think.

 

[BY Bob]

I keep finding stuff that got buried years ago. The chickens dig up the most extraordinary things.

Right now it sends like mine are intent on digging Daisy, the greatest hen ever, up. They have destroyed the Daisies I planted on her grave and are down 6 inches. I'm going to have put something over top of her.

 

[MaryJanet]

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I'm back! The Bigs came running to see me and I even got 5 minutes with the newbies!

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They're flourishing!

 

[MaryJanet]

I’m lucky mine are more discerning; previous owners thought it was a great idea to bury broken glass in the garden beds and now, every so often a piece surfaces in the run. It’s a lot better since I started doing the deep litter method.

I've got similar problems. Because the house is nearly at its 100th birthday, it's been around since before garbage collection was properly organised and the chicken's patch is a midden. Bits of crockery, glass, bits of metal, bones, there's all sorts out there. I keep a bucket for collecting all that stuff and I add to it every day.

 

[MaryJanet]

Right now it sends like nine are intent on digging Daisy, the greatest hen ever, up. They have destroyed the Daisy's I planted on her grave and are down 6 inches. I'm going to have put something over top of her.

Oh dear that's the last thing you'd want.