Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

The Trouble with Beards

I know that occasionally I get soup or whipped cream from a fancy coffee in my mustache. I can usually lick it out with my tongue and wipe with a napkin. Easy clean up.

I have never had a beard but I am reasonably certain that the benefits of Aurora's beard (warm wattles for example) outweigh the downside. But with no hands to help, her beard got her in a sticky situation today.

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Yes that is spaghetti hanging from her beard! She walked around like that for quite a while today. Lilly tried to help her but she was afraid Lilly was trying to actually peck her and kept bouncing away.

It remained on her beard for some time. She tried eating it herself, shaking her head, even scratching it with her foot, still the pasta clung to her beard.

Hysterical.

Oh dear. Poor girl, so undignified!

 

[BY Bob]

Maybe it know's there's chicken feed in side the coop and is trying to find a way to get inside of it?

Maybe. Hopefully the yard wide camera will provide additional knowledge tonight on what it was trying to do.

 

[goldenyears]

OK, how about some pictures of the chicks from back in April of last year?

Let's start with Fluffy Butts, what better place?
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Here is Jabber. He was crazy from the start.
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And here is Hattie, so sweet and friendy from day 1.
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nice pics! I have a new herd coming in March...

 

[mixedUPturk]

As I look at the time stamps, the skunk was around the coop for 40 minutes! That seems like a long time. There is nothing there to eat. What was it doing?

Hunting yes sir they do eat chicken.

I do not know how I can safely remove a skunk in a suburban neighborhood without angering everyone. I may just have to continue armoring the run.

Cover the trap with a heavy blanket. Very slowly and quietly. Opportunist is right, cant remember who put that forward, but to me that makes more sense than the weasle who would have gotten them all just for sport. Great big like that im not surprised, the pred section has many accounts of skunks. Usually theyre after eggs and idk how it wouldve gotten into your run but id place my bet he was after your flock. Also makes sense a skunk would have left her behind.

 

[goldenyears]

So I saw proof today that the chicks are fully grown. I was like, "Please get a room. The coop is empty right now. I don't need to see this!"

Here they were afterwards......
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this is a family site! guess little ones are in your future!!!!!

 

[goldenyears]

I'm going to take a time out from previous story to celebrate a big event. We got our first egg of 2019 today!
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I saw Lilly working on a nest today on the coop cam and later she was complaining and running in and out of the house while everyone else was free ranging. I am pretty sure it was my little enforcer.

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I think this excited Jabber as he was "giving her the wing" all afternoon. She wanted nothing to do with him and kept slipping away. From my kitchen window it looked like Jabber thought he had the OK once when he clearly did not and my Alpha hen, Patsy, came racing over and gave him a chest to chest stare down. He was better behaved the rest of the afternoon.

Patsy had this look when she came after him. She stared at him while standing chest to chest for a full minute. Unfortumately i have no idea if anything was said.
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I just got that same look from my wife...

 

[SusanFelts]

How big is your garden Susan and how many chickens do you have.....I know, I'm terribly nosey.

 

[Shadrach]

Gourmet Chickens
On the menu today at the Chicken Palace: Slow cooked venison 'au jus' with mashed cauliflower in a toasted egg-shell crust.
@Shadrach did remind us many pages back that chickens like meat, and mine are clearly carnivores at heart. It was pandemonium for a few minutes after this dish was served (I only gave them a bit so I will need to try and get video next time. They simply went nuts for it!).
It was a good way to use up the venison that has been languishing in the freezer because the guy who hunts the deer gives me way more meat than I am really able to eat.

Yup, they love a bit of meat here to.
Watching them fight over a mouse reminds one that they're not quite so cute.

 

[Shadrach]

We do have a TV, but DH is the couch potato that's watching it mostly and control's the remote controls for it. For me, I can really take it or leave it for the most part, except when it's time to watch the new's. I prefer to listen to a talk show radio program here instead.

I used to listen to the radio a lot. Now I mostly put music on when I finish for the night.

 

[SusanFelts]

[Not nosey at all Shadrack... I am still trying to figure out this site and how to respond, but maybe this will work. Let me know if you get my response. My fenced garden space is 30x30.' So, when I decided to add chickens I felt this was plenty of space for both hobbies... vegetable gardening and Chickens. At the moment, I have just two hens at this site. They are 8 months old now, and one of the girls laid the first egg yesterday! I'm so excited. I moved my other two older girls over to my goat barn when I got the new gals because the old ones ( 6 years) had begun to crack and eat their own eggs. I just heard today that if this happens you can mix one of their eggs in with their food and they will stop this habit. Have you ever heard this? The two I moved to the goat barn seem very happy there, so I just may leave them there.... u

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