Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

That would normally be Branch, but he is still a little lost himself. Once I finish the laundry, even under protest he is coming inside for some tv time. I think he needs his emotional support person more right now.

SHRA tax

 

[BY Bob]

I love that gif of the dancing chicken. Thank you for posting that Alex. It is little things like that, that are much needed right now.

How about High Speed Sansa?

 

[BY Bob]

Terracotta cookies?

You don't want me telling her you said that.

 

[BY Bob]

That would normally be Branch, but he is still a little lost himself. Once I finish the laundry, even under protest he is coming inside for some tv time. I think he needs his emotional support person more right now.

He is lucky to have you.

 

[BY Bob]

I’m very glad that Jaffar waits until I bring him back outside to get “his rooster crowing on”! He crows once inside to wake me up, then after a half hour of snuggling, he goes out to see all his lady friends. Then I feed Arizona and put her out too. It’s surprising just how loud a stubby little Cochin can be!
No gurgling in his throat this morning either. Yay!

Great news!

 

[BY Bob]

We had a hailstorm , it's stopped now
View attachment 2989458

Holy crap! Everything OK?

 

[bgmathteach]

Spot on. There was enough weight on a late 60’s caravan door stoop to just push it over the edge… like so many other things, I just hadn’t gotten to fixing it, and the little soft spot and gap in the flooring right at the entrance allowed gnawing and it got bigger without my noticing it. The little monster widened the gap to about a 2” hole, and got in in the early morning. Absolute carnage.

Spoiler: Awful Mink story

I noticed it was too quiet when I approached to open the door, and upon opening started cursing like you wouldn’t believe. Initially no one would come out, I had to pull out most of the fallen, before I could even step inside. I herded the survivors out from the back roosts and tossed some Feed Out by my trailer and set to cleaning out the rest. As I was pulling a youngling out from behind the dog crate broody box there was a scurrying noise and I spotted it. It was still in there. I covered the door hole with a nest box, fetched my raccoon trap and a smaller mink trap and a garden claw/weed hook thingie with a long handle.

It took almost an hour to trap it. It was terrifying, hissing and jumping at me in attempts to escape. The roosts made cornering it very difficult. The little bugger was strong, like you wouldn’t believe strong. It almost forced its way out of the raccoon trap, and I had to hold the flap closed. It bit my finger through the The trap, despite the hand guard, because of the way I had to hold the trap to keep it in. I set it out and weighted the trap door closed with a rock, then covered it with a stove rack and then plywood to keep it dry, because it was pouring rain to boot. It actually got out past the flap door of the trap but was trapped by the rack. Then I had to wait for the .22, again. I will be buying a .22 and possibly a .303 once the house is done and I have a place for a gun safe. And I will be getting my PAL (possession and acquisition license) because guns are harder to own here. But those two days and waiting on it really drove in the “you need to have this tool, even if you don’t really like them” lesson.

I upgraded my phone and it didn’t like the 3000+ photos I hadn’t backed up on the data transfer, or I would repost that picture… lol such a cute bull! After the mink attack I heard a predator kerfuffle a couple nights later outside and set a trap to be prudent; two days later I caught this! I don’t have neighbours, the farm proper is about 2km away… and he was not happy! I believe that this might be why I haven’t had as many rodent issues with my feed in the barn, and it reassured me that the last year or so I kept swearing I heard a cat outside and everyone thought I was nuts, I wasn’t! View attachment 2989532
Sad story tax:View attachment 2989533

The Cat and the hen are cuties!

I've encountered carnage like that once. My brother-in-law, a carpenter, gave me a coop he had made for my niece that she no longer needed. It had a plastic corrugated roof...but NOTHING under the roof. I had it 2 days...and a racoon pulled the roofing up (broke it at a screw-head) enough to get in...all 18 of my pullets dead. It was not a pretty sight!
Terrible thing was, as we were moving it into place, I commented that there should be some welded wire under the roof panel. His reply was: she's used it for 2 years. Nothing will get in there! I should have listened to my own instinct...it was totally my fault.

 

[BY Bob]

Nope, given a little seasoning and heat and they will often happily eat their distant and not so distant relations… they have more trouble playing the chase me game with turkey legs… and their undeveloped babies? “You mean that thing that just popped out my vent wasn’t a snack? Then what do you do with them? Huh?”
View attachment 2989497

Aurora with a turkey leg for those who have missed it.

Spoiler: Aurora eats a Turkey leg

 

[Lonewolfgirl]

View attachment 1633786

I have been wanting to do this for some time now. I knew once I started doing this there would be no going back. So I am now diving in and I hope you all enjoy coming along for the ride.

First of all let me tell you how we view our flock as that will help you to understand why we treat them like we do.

Our birds are our pets and we treat them as such. We do not care if someone is not laying eggs. They are welcome to stay at Fluffy Butt Acres until they pass naturally. (Now don't go telling them that! I would hate for word to get out) We do thoroughly enjoy the fresh eggs.

I plan to tell stories from the past as well as from today. I hope you all enjoy and will share stories of your flocks as well.

Cool

 

[Lonewolfgirl]

The Cat and the hen are cuties!

I've encountered carnage like that once. My brother-in-law, a carpenter, gave me a coop he had made for my niece that she no longer needed. It had a plastic corrugated roof...but NOTHING under the roof. I had it 2 days...and a racoon pulled the roofing up (broke it at a screw-head) enough to get in...all 18 of my pullets dead. It was not a pretty sight!
Terrible thing was, as we were moving it into place, I commented that there should be some welded wire under the roof panel. His reply was: she's used it for 2 years. Nothing will get in there! I should have listened to my own instinct...it was totally my fault.

That’s sad