Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Could be seasonal? The increasing daylight seems to be affecting my birds.

He's brand new at being a rooster. I keep hoping he'll settle down at some point but he is really out of control right now.

 

[BY Bob]

Today's wet hen (and rooster) afternoon warming snack is left over frittata with broccoli, bacon, cheese, and potatoes.

 

[BY Bob]

I thought I would go ahead and continue my story today.

Having settled in with my flock of 4 the first thing I knew was that I needed bigger living quarters. The crate was too small for more than 2 or 3 birds. My dad agreed to donate me and old shed that we had. I then ran actual chicken wire (who knew it was not for chickens!) up through the woods stapled to trees to provide a run for them. You can actually see the wire on the left side of the photo I posted with the last entry in this story. This proved to be a disaster. The chickens would be in for a few days and then my Mom would be yelling, "Those birds are on the porch again messing it up!". Little did she know what my dad had in mind and how the mess would get exponentially larger.

How were the chickens breaking out? They were not going under or over, they were going through! I started finding where the chicken wire had come unwound. I would wind it back together and assume it was a manufatured flaw I had missed. After the flock had gotten out a few times i decided to watch and see how they were doing it. I did not put the two things together until i watched Brownie break out. I watched in amazement as she put her head through the wire and then began pushing for all her might against it. Eventually where the hexagons joined would unwind until she had a hole big enough for her to push her body through. Then it was freedom for all! The whole flock was out. At that point we gave up on the run and they were free range birds.

That first spring Speck went broody. We swapped the eggs out for golf balls but she didn't care. This was just what my Dad was waiting for. One Saturday he showed up with a box of peeps. Everytime I tell this story the number of peeps raises. I think the lst time I said there were 50!) As near as I can accuartely figure it was 10-12. That night we stuffed them under Speck and in the morning she was the proud momma of a large flock of chicks. My Dad told me I could keep any hens but they were mine (and Speck's) to raise. Unknown to me at the time, they were all roosters and for eating purposes. They were not broilers but rather some large white roosters. My dad called them White Rocks.

This went on every year for almost 10 years. A quick estimate has Speck raising about 100 to 120 eating roosters for us. Of course a flock of 16 is a lot more work than a flock of 4. After a while I came to very much dislike the summers when the flock expanded. My mom hated the large flock of chickens as they dug up her gardens pooped all over her porch. Speck was so proud to be a mom and even when they were nearly full grown she would lead her flock of boys through the yard. Her tiny black and white body 1/2 their size.

When I left for college the core group of 4 had been reduced to 3 with only the loss of Lucky. My dad would eventually return the 3 of them to the farmer who had originally provided Speck and Rooster Cogburn to me. Speck would live to be 18 years old. What an amazing hen she was. She showed me what a great companion and pet a chicken could be.

However, the extra work associated with raising the eating roosters had soured me on raising chickens and that was the opinion I had when my wife saw the chicks at Tractor Supply one day..............

My dear wife and I have been married for 31 or as I like to say Thirty Onederful years. There are certain times that I simply cannot deny her, hence the 31 years.

One Saturday my oldest daughter was home and we had to run to Tractor Supply for litter pan liners and food for the cats. Tractor Supply had the only litter pan liners that my wife liked so there we went. Everyone decided to come because they knew the chicks would be there and they wanted to see them. We did it all the time.

"Look how cute."
"That one is standing in the water."
"Did that one just poo in the food dish!"
"They are just too cute for words."
"OK lets get out of here."

This time was different and my wife couldn't take it. She wanted chicks to raise. I was immediately opposed. I knew how this would work out. Just like my brother she would give them up. She would last longer but once they were no longer cute little chicks she would tire of them and I would have a decade of chicken responsibility thrust into my lap. All that work required to take care of all those meat roosters came rushing back.

"No" I said, "they are too much work".
"I'll take care of them"
"You don't know what you are getting into"
"You do, you will help me"
"No"
"My friend Jody has chickens, we can do it"
"We can do it, I just don't want to"

Honestly she was wearing me down. Then I saw the sign, 6 chicks minimum. We do not live way out in the country. We have the largest lot in our development but a development it is.

"There is no way we have room for 6 chickens, the mess, the coop, etc."
"What if i can find someone to take 4 of them?"
I thought this was my way out so I grabbed it. "If you can find someone to take 4 of them, you can have 2."

She was thrilled. She immediately called her friend Jody. She already has chickens, whats 4 more? Well apparently 4 more chickens was more than Jody could bear. No was her reply.

We have all seen people whose dreams have been crushed, whose very joy has been sucked out of their life by say a pass interference that wasn't called (see New Orleans Saints). Those photos of fans so devastated that they cannot leave the stadium until hours after the sporting event. Those people looked cheerful compared to my wife. She was destroyed. I have never seen such utter devastation on my wife's face.

It was so bad my daughter came to me and said, we have to get her these chickens Dad. Look at her. So without any place to put them, no coop, no brooder, no anything, we bought 6 leghorn chicks (supposedly all hens), a heat lamp, chick starter, a food dispenser and water dispenser and headed home. I told her we had to find a home for four of them but she did not care. She had her chicks. Here she is holding one of them.

At first I thought an old aquarium would be big enough for the chicks, not even close. I remembered an old foot locker my youngest had used at college that had gotten left at our house. However I needed to cover it or the 3 cats would have a field day with the chicks. My oldest was an engineering student in college and she reminded me that she had brought some chicken wire home which she had used for a college project and we had a lid. The chicks had a place to grow up. My wife was thrilled, my oldest loved the chicks. All was good.

Only I was thinking of the future. I did not have a shed like my dad to donate to the chickens. At some point soon they were going to need a coop.............

 

[biophiliac]

Hope it won't be a long wait for chapter 2!


ps - I know just how your wife must have felt.

 

[drumstick diva]

need more

 

[BY Bob]

Hope it won't be a long wait for chapter 2!


ps - I know just how your wife must have felt.

I will try to tell the coop story this weekend. I had intended to tell one long historical chapter each week until we caught up. You know what they say about intentions........

 

[biophiliac]

I will try to tell the coop story this weekend. I had intended to tell one long historical chapter each week until we caught up. You know what they say about intentions........

That's cool, I can be patient.

 

[PhipN FarmGirl]

Our other two residents came to us in April as chicks. My wife raised them until they moved outside and then they became my responsibility.

Hattie is our lavender orpington hen. She has not starting laying yet but i expect she will once the days turn longer.


Wow, they are beautiful!

 

[PhipN FarmGirl]

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.

Very cute coop!

 

[BY Bob]

Very cute coop!

Thank you. My wife picked the color.