Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[bgmathteach]

I have been a little absent here because yes, we have a baby! And I was a little worried about him at first. She had twins but I lost the second baby who was a girl. She was breech and her lungs were filled with liquid.but I’m happy to say we have a health little baby boy, no name yet, who was born at 12:30 am Wednesday morning (more like Tuesday night…) pacific time. I’ve been run a little ragged. He’s only drinking from one year so I am milking out the other (Both DH and I have tried everything to get him to take the other!) I also have 6 new chicks under Creamsicle, one under my new barred Mama (who isn’t quite as attentive) for 17 baby chooks this year. One broody still sitting and last night I evicted three more hopeful mamas from nests. View attachment 3139614
Mr Jimmy is most certainly the Father because the little girl had his elf ears, and he is the only Goat on the island with those because after a hundred years or so of naturalizing here the Saturna Feral Goat is almost a breed unto itself! Sort of like a landrace chicken breed.

@Kris5902 He is soooo cute!, what a wonderful little 'dalmation saddle' he has going there! He is even more adorable standing up than in a cuddly little curled ball...if that is even possible.

 

[ManueB]

Does Grochatila 'listen' at all to commands? Not that many cats can be 'commanded', but my cat knows a few words. She certainly knows the word 'NO', as she is like a toddler when she wants out at night (too many things that go 'bump in the night' for her to be out...things that are much bigger than her & would win) She will either hiss at me or take a swat at my leg, then turn around and saunter away. Basically like a toddler having a tantrum! But, she clearly knows the word 'NO and, while she may not always be happy with it, she generally respects it. My point being that a clear 'NO' to her around the baby chicks and she gets the message. Someone once dropped off some baby chicks they couldn't care for a few years back and one hopped out of her arms (about 2 weeks old, so half flew half hopped); completely new to me,/us, Cleo saw it fall/half fly to the ground and ran up to it...smelled it, looked at me, and turned and walked away! I think chickens have a distinct smell, and she new it was off limits. Her turn of the head away from it, as she walked away I think, was a stress response (like a dog can't look at something it wants but knows is off limits). Could I be 100% certain that she wouldn't have pounced if I hadn't been there? No, in all honesty, I couldn't. However, given the huge amount of other prey for her....and if she had been properly introduced prior, I don't think if would have been an issue. That said, I do NOT intentionally tempt her with 'free ranging chicks' with no adult hens to act as 'guard'. I don't have any bantams, though. Also, she has been 'duly chastized' by the adults. Something like that may have to happen to him for him to 'truly 'earn their respect.


How is Grochatila around your small Rooster? I'm assuming, since your hen hatched eggs, that your Rooster has accepted her? Maybe introduce your hen and chicks to the rooster in a safe-ish (read, enclosed space with you present to observe). Most Roos will accept their offspring, imprint on them, and protect them. If he seems to accept the chicks, and your cat is afraid of him, it might work to place mom, chicks, and Roo for a few hours a day in small pen (safe one) with Grochatila able to see them (after a formal introduction with a severe 'NO' if he seems 'too interested'. That said, I still would be very careful until they are fully grown, or until the Roo takes offense at him being to close and gives him a bit of a flogging. Again, it REALLY depends on your cat!

Tax in next post..this one is too long already.

(P.S. I love Grochatila's name!!!)

Cleo seems like she's very obedient! He does listen and is quite afraid of me in fact. But I still think it wouldn't stop him when I'm not watching. Curiosity killed the cat.
His real name was Lila, because we mistook the male / female sibling one for the other when they were baby. We changed it to Tila when we understood our mistake and it turned to Grochatila because he has such a Garfield vibe.

Théo isn't the chick's father, he wasn't mating Chipie anymore when she got broody. He hasn't shown any interest for now, we'll introduce him to them in a day or two. He's just hurt his foot pretty badly so he might end up in lockdown.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Rehab the Prefab

Since last Friday I have been on a quest to rehabilitate the old prefab coop from 2013. I promised Mrs BY Bob that I would beautify the backyard this year. So I decided that it rotting away in front of the shed was unattractive. I thought that I could paint it in a day and be done.



Right

I finished the majority of the work last night. I did a quick assembly this morning before work.

I also decided that I wanted to make it pretty so if I use it then it will not "junk up" the backyard.

On Monday my dad was over and told me how insane I was to be wasting so much time on it. This was while i was using a small craft brush to paint the corners of the peach panels.

"Just paint the whole thing with the spray gun and be done. The chickens don't care."

Mrs BY Bob cares.

What do you all think?

View attachment 3133316View attachment 3133317View attachment 3133318View attachment 3133319View attachment 3133320View attachment 3133321View attachment 3133323

There is still work to be done. The nest box is missing 2 bolts, has no floor and no roof. It needs a new coop floor and a new ramp.

Despite that I think I have saved it for a few more years. The run is in much worse shape and will need wood work to be made whole again.

You did a wonderful job, and no, spray paint would not look so nice! The roof shingles look questionable, but is there that sticky tar paper underneath which will help?

Peanut last night at supervised free range, late Monday Mugs

 

[bgmathteach]

You did a wonderful job, and no, spray paint would not look so nice! The roof shingles look questionable, but is there that sticky tar paper underneath which will help?

Peanut last night at supervised free range, late Monday Mugs
View attachment 3139650

That is both a calendar pic & frame-worthy! What wonderful composition and detail at such a close-up!

Mine are always a bit blurry really close....almost like the camera can't focus that close.

 

[Marie2020]

Agatha is still low, for now I'm putting it down to the egg laying situation because she laid another soft egg yesterday and the calcium caused more problems because I had to pull out a very soft shell. Plus she's been in the clay too much so that too could likely have created even more problems

I have just ordered Hefar Sulf and I'm this will help a little. I may have done wrong but I've found activated charcoal has help all of my animals in the past and it helps against metal and chemical poisoning as well as fights bacteria so I administratored a little of this in water as well as cleaned her and put a little honey in her vent. Electrolytes water is always here for her.

I came across this site http://www.poultrydvm.com/views/symptoms.php that may help us to answer a few problems we are coming across daily

 

[featherhead007]

Tuesday two fer:
View attachment 3139598

I have been a little absent here because yes, we have a baby! And I was a little worried about him at first. She had twins but I lost the second baby who was a girl. She was breech and her lungs were filled with liquid.but I’m happy to say we have a health little baby boy, no name yet, who was born at 12:30 am Wednesday morning (more like Tuesday night…) pacific time. I’ve been run a little ragged. He’s only drinking from one year so I am milking out the other (Both DH and I have tried everything to get him to take the other!) I also have 6 new chicks under Creamsicle, one under my new barred Mama (who isn’t quite as attentive) for 17 baby chooks this year. One broody still sitting and last night I evicted three more hopeful mamas from nests. View attachment 3139614
Mr Jimmy is most certainly the Father because the little girl had his elf ears, and he is the only Goat on the island with those because after a hundred years or so of naturalizing here the Saturna Feral Goat is almost a breed unto itself! Sort of like a landrace chicken breed.

You could name him Alex (if you want to)

 

[featherhead007]

There was a twofer chick pic! My broody DCs!

I know

 

[featherhead007]

I think that is a(two-fer)^2 ( two-fer squared), as there are actually 4 chickens in that pic

 

[featherhead007]

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Is she molting maybe?

Some of my ladies are going through a small molt with loose poops.

It looks that way to me too. @Marie2020 don't Agatha's feathers lay flat and tighter normally? Her tail looks off and her side feathers a bit rough, as if there are changes going on in the underlayments, much like a molt.