Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock
- Thread starter BY Bob
- Start date
Aussie-Chookmum
Obeying her avian masters
Hey Bob, do you think EEs can have Leghorn in them? I know they are Ameruacana mixed with different breeds.. is it ANY breed or certain ones? I don’t think I’ve ever read anywhere which breeds specifically soooo...
Anyway, I’m wondering cuz I think my flowers may have Leghorn in them.. they are so very flighty.. none of my others are... they CAN fly.. none of the others can... and they are SO curious! Not so much the others. They explore EVERY inch of run and yard.. run around chasing each other.. when a bird flies by they go running and flying after it along the fence as if to be saying “Wait! We are coming with you!” They get on top of picnic table and it looks like they are eyeballing the bird netting looking for holes possibly.. and it does look like they are trying to figure a way out of that yard... also, their shape makes me wonder...
Today I saw one fly from a perch to the top of the nest boxes... not down, not up... but across the whole run! I was like.. wow, I have chickens that fly!
My Leghorn, Tsuki, has flown from a standing start from the ground to the roof of the coop. That's 5 feet straight up!
- Thread starter
- #804
5 feet. That's great. They really can fly. That is the leghorn that I know and love. Tsuki is beautiful.
I would think leghorn is in the EE but at least My Pet Chicken won't say. I would start with a white egg layer. Who knows.
- Thread starter
- #805
They are very addictive...- Thread starter
- #807
Coop Updates
With apologies to @MaryJanet I have been off the boards the last day or so because it was time for coop updates. I will likely not be posting these there as well. Then again, you never know with me. I have had some issues cropping up and I was NOT going to wait for winter to arrive this time. This will be a long post because of the pictures, not so much the text. I assembled my needed lumber, not much, and started working on the coop early yesterday afternoon.
Here is what needed updating:
• Porch Roof
• Porch Framing
• Porch tie in to the run access
• Sagging porch floor
• Finally adding the Scalloped Edging that my wife has been wanting on the roof line since day 1.
• Updating and repainting of the Fluffy Butt Silhouettes (this I have saved for today but frankly that is art work and it may take longer.
• Painting the entire coop (did not get done yesterday)
Phase 1 – The Porch
The porch was not originally in the coop plans but as we looked to tie the coop into the run a 90 turn was needed and the idea popped into my head. My daughter is an architectural engineer and had done plans for the coop. By the way, that was awesome. She gave me a shopping list and I bought everything necessary to complete the coop in 1 trip. Just amazing. No extra trips to the store. That enabled us to build the core coop in 1 day. Very cool.
Well the porch itself was not originally in the plans and so we made a quick alteration and it was left to me to craft the porch on day 2. At the time I used left over materials form the coop build to fashion the porch. That is where my problems lay as I looked at the porch yesterday. Here is what I was looking at.
The porch is designed to be removed from the coop so that the coop door on the end can be opened. Both sides of the coop open so I can take a push broom and simply push the straw form one end out the other for easy cleaning. As you can see in the picture, I attached the porch with carabineer style hooks.
The roof was very thin plywood which had not weathered well. As you can see it is splitting and warped. No way that survives another winter. See below.
I did not have enough 2x2 left to finish the frame so one of the 4 legs was essentially relying on the warped and splitting roof to support it. Because of how it was built, the porch was not tied into the run extension correctly. I will show that later.
Finally, the floor was sagging because I had not supported it in the middle.
So I took the old roof off and cut my new thicker, treated plywood to allow for the automated door to pass unobstructed. I then cut 2x2s to finish the porch frame. You can see the new boards below as they are unpainted.
I put it in place on the coop and placed the new roof on it. I then screwed the roof fast. I decided to try leaving a large overhang on the side. I am hoping this helps to keep rain off the porch. We shall see.
I then corrected the tie-in to the run extension. This took a little creativity but I fit it all together nice and tight this time.
All floors in my coop come up for easy access to all sections. The floor of the porch simply lifts up. So I pulled it up and added two supports in the middle after marking how high I needed them with chalk line. I then hosed off the top of the porch floor to wet the plywood part way through. This provided it the flexibility so than when I put in back in place it would not hold its bow shape and but would rather flatten out.
I painted all of the new wood and reassembled. I still need to paint the underside of the new eve but it came together very nice. It is now solid enough to survive many a winter.
Scalloped Roof Line
My wife has wanted to clean up the roof line of the coop for some time. She never liked the 2x4s poking through the front wall. Her idea was to add a scalloped cover for the front. I purchased a treated board and used the lid off of one of the pretzel containers as a template. I traced it out across the board. Here is the stenciling.
I cut out the scallops with my jig saw and then smoothed them with my palm sander. That was hot messy work as it was over 90 degrees F at this point in the day. I painted it. Then I used my circular saw, upside down, to square the ends of the 2x4s poking through the coop wall. I fastened the painted scallop to the 2x4s and this was the final result. (I also replaced the "F" and "B")
Now I need to fix the silhouette portraits of the girls. That may take longer than today. I have also decided to create and “In Memory” section on the other coop door so we can keep portraits of Jabber and Patsy up. I may even do 1 for Daisy. Picture of Daisy.
Did I ever tell you she was the Best Hen Ever!
With apologies to @MaryJanet I have been off the boards the last day or so because it was time for coop updates. I will likely not be posting these there as well. Then again, you never know with me. I have had some issues cropping up and I was NOT going to wait for winter to arrive this time. This will be a long post because of the pictures, not so much the text. I assembled my needed lumber, not much, and started working on the coop early yesterday afternoon.
Here is what needed updating:
• Porch Roof
• Porch Framing
• Porch tie in to the run access
• Sagging porch floor
• Finally adding the Scalloped Edging that my wife has been wanting on the roof line since day 1.
• Updating and repainting of the Fluffy Butt Silhouettes (this I have saved for today but frankly that is art work and it may take longer.
• Painting the entire coop (did not get done yesterday)
Phase 1 – The Porch
The porch was not originally in the coop plans but as we looked to tie the coop into the run a 90 turn was needed and the idea popped into my head. My daughter is an architectural engineer and had done plans for the coop. By the way, that was awesome. She gave me a shopping list and I bought everything necessary to complete the coop in 1 trip. Just amazing. No extra trips to the store. That enabled us to build the core coop in 1 day. Very cool.
Well the porch itself was not originally in the plans and so we made a quick alteration and it was left to me to craft the porch on day 2. At the time I used left over materials form the coop build to fashion the porch. That is where my problems lay as I looked at the porch yesterday. Here is what I was looking at.
The porch is designed to be removed from the coop so that the coop door on the end can be opened. Both sides of the coop open so I can take a push broom and simply push the straw form one end out the other for easy cleaning. As you can see in the picture, I attached the porch with carabineer style hooks.
The roof was very thin plywood which had not weathered well. As you can see it is splitting and warped. No way that survives another winter. See below.
I did not have enough 2x2 left to finish the frame so one of the 4 legs was essentially relying on the warped and splitting roof to support it. Because of how it was built, the porch was not tied into the run extension correctly. I will show that later.
Finally, the floor was sagging because I had not supported it in the middle.
So I took the old roof off and cut my new thicker, treated plywood to allow for the automated door to pass unobstructed. I then cut 2x2s to finish the porch frame. You can see the new boards below as they are unpainted.
I put it in place on the coop and placed the new roof on it. I then screwed the roof fast. I decided to try leaving a large overhang on the side. I am hoping this helps to keep rain off the porch. We shall see.
I then corrected the tie-in to the run extension. This took a little creativity but I fit it all together nice and tight this time.
All floors in my coop come up for easy access to all sections. The floor of the porch simply lifts up. So I pulled it up and added two supports in the middle after marking how high I needed them with chalk line. I then hosed off the top of the porch floor to wet the plywood part way through. This provided it the flexibility so than when I put in back in place it would not hold its bow shape and but would rather flatten out.
I painted all of the new wood and reassembled. I still need to paint the underside of the new eve but it came together very nice. It is now solid enough to survive many a winter.
Scalloped Roof Line
My wife has wanted to clean up the roof line of the coop for some time. She never liked the 2x4s poking through the front wall. Her idea was to add a scalloped cover for the front. I purchased a treated board and used the lid off of one of the pretzel containers as a template. I traced it out across the board. Here is the stenciling.
I cut out the scallops with my jig saw and then smoothed them with my palm sander. That was hot messy work as it was over 90 degrees F at this point in the day. I painted it. Then I used my circular saw, upside down, to square the ends of the 2x4s poking through the coop wall. I fastened the painted scallop to the 2x4s and this was the final result. (I also replaced the "F" and "B")
Now I need to fix the silhouette portraits of the girls. That may take longer than today. I have also decided to create and “In Memory” section on the other coop door so we can keep portraits of Jabber and Patsy up. I may even do 1 for Daisy. Picture of Daisy.
Did I ever tell you she was the Best Hen Ever!
Attachments
Wow, so many great ideas! Thanks for sharing 
Aussie-Chookmum
Obeying her avian masters
One word: Campines....
I'm guessing your Campines are good flyers too @Ribh . We know they are great escape artists!
Aussie-Chookmum
Obeying her avian masters
5 feet. That's great. They really can fly. That is the leghorn that I know and love. Tsuki is beautiful.
Thanks @BY Bob .
I think she's pretty nice too. She's the top hen and lets the littlies know it though! 
The Littlies aren't so little any more though!
Edited to show off my "babies"
Last edited:
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