Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Coco hides under my chair, and pecks my legs till I give her treats. (I know it’s her, because she’s the only one that does it. But she’s my little Coco, and can get away with practically anything!

Little Coco:

 

[BY Bob]

Lilly Update

The vet called today and while she had the labs back she did not want to tell me anything until she had consulted with specialists about what they are telling us.

I find this a little terrifying. I'm not certain I will sleep tonight.

Meanwhile Lilly had a great day today.

She sunbathed TWICE today and was really enjoying it!

She was active the rest of the time. Scratching a lot and she roosted on the high roost again today.

She had a great day!

 

[Kris5902]

@BY Bob i would suggest you consider looking into at least one or two of the 4 or 6AH batteries for those tools, it really helps (that and putting in a new blade! Lol or in my case not running the blade through as many nails!) the circular saw, recip, and jigsaw, as well as the angle grinder all seem to work better with the larger batteries.

 

[BY Bob]

Monday mugs

Blanche, Sophia in the background
View attachment 3000757

Nice!

 

[BY Bob]

Oh my gosh! You'd have panicked. Are you ok now?

I bet the hens were happy, out and about so early. Even Hattie is out. The predators took a night off I guess.

I think it was ACM who recently didn't put the hens away.

What about the reminder in your phone? Did it let you down?

Here's the good news, the coops were closed and locked down. The side drop door only provides access to the run, not the coops. Everyone was safe all night. There were just running free in the yard.

So less scary than it might seem. When I checked the roost cameras last night all was locked down as it should be.

 

[Kris5902]

Lilly Update

The vet called today and while she had the labs back she did not want to tell me anything until she had consulted with specialists about what they are telling us.

I find this a little terrifying. I'm not certain I will sleep tonight.

Meanwhile Lilly had a great day today.

She sunbathed TWICE today and was really enjoying it!

View attachment 3001256View attachment 3001257

She was active the rest of the time. Scratching a lot and she roosted on the high roost again today.

She had a great day!

Stay positive! She’s looking better, clearly feeling better, with any luck it’s something that even if not necessarily “curable” might be treatable and you may be able to maintain her quality of life for a good long while.

 

[BY Bob]

Question:
Is 19 weeks a good age to start laying eggs? My two little ones will be 19 weeks this Wednesday.

Could be but I think 21 weeks is more likely. Plus the weather has to be correct. You need enough hours of sunshine.

 

[BY Bob]

I've noticed that mine are more inclined to use inclines going up vs going down.

They all fly down. I think @RoyalChick bigger hens will ramp down sometimes. They would fly down out of a tree.

 

[BY Bob]

@Marie2020 If you actually have big and smart enough rodents like squirrels and rats, then go for the bar treadle that has some distance from the feed bin, because squirrels and rats will figure out pretty quickly how to open the door by sitting on the treadle. If the treadle is far enough away then they can't reach into the bin. Large treadles are nice and offer the hens lots of options of where to stand, but not effective if you have these rodents around. I can see how they are easier to train on. But my Buckeyes have all learned how to use it now, and also how to get in on the side of another one using it.

If you're going to have it exposed to the weather, not all treadle feeders are weather-proof, it needs to specify that. But you can also make a little tent over it (hang a tarp), or put it under a table, or a ledge of some kind.

Plastic tops can get chewed through by rodents of any size. The feed bin parts should be all-metal if possible.

Excellent advice! Thanks for helping!

 

[BY Bob]

@BY Bob I thought you’d get a kick out of this, since you seem to enjoy environmental control like I do. We are prone to power outages here, so I try to go with options that don’t have to be plugged in. But I do still love your coop power idea!

Very clever. I love it! Especially a great touch using the fan! Thanks for sharing.