Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

Chick fix
For anyone needing a chick fix here is a video of how they play roosting shenanigans before bed even though they actually go to bed under the heat plate. I guess they are practicing for later.

In the video there is a short bit where you can see Bella continuing to practice her running and flapping. She is the only one who really does that.

And in these pictures you can see that Lulu is having a really, really bad hair day.

View attachment 3055367View attachment 3055368

In other news, raising the feeder has helped a lot. They still pull a lot out and some of it falls down to the main part of the Chicken Palace which the big Princesses appreciate.
And after her visit to the brooder, Minnie has started roosting on the roost right by it. I don’t know how that is going to work when I put the fire escape in so the chicks can come and go. I hope she doesn’t molest them too badly.

She may be protective of them and keep the others away instead. This is where mindful observation come into play.

 

[RoyalChick]

She may be protective of them and keep the others away instead. This is where mindful observation come into play.

That crossed my mind too - but she is the lowest ranked of my 4 Princesses so I doubt her view counts for much!
Diana and Maggie have shown absolutely no interest in the babies at all.
Dotty is a bit of a scary lady, so need to watch out for her.
Hopefully together we will navigate this OK.

 

[featherhead007]

Awww...I don't think Alex is puny......

Tax:

Hey, you guys....come help us dig...
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Heard there's good treats in Austrailia...and Cassowary's to protect us!
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How long to you think it will take us to dig there?View attachment 3055237
?Dunno?

I don’t think I’m punny either (but am I cheeky?)

 

[featherhead007]

I don’t think I’m punny either (but am I cheeky?)

Probably not.

 

[Kris5902]

I will look into this. Do you have a picture of a label off your feed with animal protein? I’m not sure what to look for.

I think I will go back to non-soy and let their little bodies adjust to the sesame meal.

The blue is the icky veggie based feed, and the yellow label is my animal protein containing one blue is from otter co-op (Vancouver based around Langley) and the yellow from top shelf (Vancouver island based near Duncan) both are 18% layer rations

 

[Kris5902]

The cochin girls are trying to drive me crazy. Between Holly going broody and choosing the nest in the coop as her spot and me moving the chicks outside the cochins have had to resort to using a different nest. 3 of them have taken to it with no problems. The other 3 are evil. If they can not lay where they want to then if I want to get their eggs I have to retrieve them from the middle of the horse stalls. It is fine if they choose Dirt's stall, he leaves them alone. Louis and Russ, eat them every chance they get. Their new favorite spot, in between Russ and Louis stall and the boys fight over who gets the egg. This morning, I rescued 2, yesterday they beat me to all 3.

I wonder if this is on purpose? The putting them between Russ and Louis… maybe the chickens are betting on who gets it? Wagering some scratch, or maybe it’s just for sheer entertainment? Like going to the race track and not betting… just to watch the horses run?

 

[Kris5902]

Ya hate when they waste feed.... Oi boy...

Oh, I just wait until they clean it mostly up… unless we get a big rain it’s fine for a few days on the ground… and considering everything else they eat, I’m not awfully worried about ground contamination

 

[Kris5902]

That make me nervous seeing them on their own.

I tell my gang they need to stay together, or like a wildebeest on the Serengeti they will be lion food if they go off on their own

Buttercup just looks at me then and says ya ya whatever human...

My favourite is “why aren’t you with your rooster!?! Go find you rooster!” I then toss some treats to said rooster and soon they have the ladies in tow, and a little whoopie if they are lucky as well.

 

[Kris5902]

Never underestimate a roadrunner! That was exceptional on her part. Well done Minnie

The only chickens I've seen fly better were true leghorns.

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And leghorn crosses are also exceptional flyers… my sweet Sammy is only half leghorn, but he can still get lots of air (or he did when he was younger…)

 

[DaisyBuff]

I'm sorry you lost you little one. Please do not blame yourself, sometimes in the first few days you will loose some for no rhyme or reason. My cousin who hatched her first chicks from my eggs went through this heartbreak as well recently. She had 8 hatch and sadly in the first 2 days lost 5 of them. When she picked up her 2nd batch of hatching eggs she told me she knew now why when I hatch chicks I like to keep them for the first few days before I offer any for sale. The 3 that survived are thriving though and growing like weeks.

Thanks, I'm glad that the 3 that survived are doing great! I also had one more pass of a naturally weak body. I still have 10 chicks, gave them a little look over, and the rest are completely healthy and happy to my examination. They are energetic, peepy, and playfull! I surely have been hoping and praying the rest will all make it with no problems! BTW, beautiful profile picture! I love horses they are my favorite animal!