Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ribh]

Difficult to say about the old. When I was younger than the age I am now, 65, seemed old. I'm not sure when old starts these days. I prefer senior.
Hippy, not a chance. Hippies were something that afflicted middle class Americans.
I was what gets loosely described as a biker in my youth.
My daughter sent me some photographs a while ago I had left in her safe keeping when I came to Spain.
This is me at 22 years old if my memory serves me. I rode that bike from Delhi to Bhatkal.
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I am missing posts again! The man rode bikes when he was younger but he also definitely ran with the hippie crowd.

 

[RoyalChick]

I think it started out as an injury. Now it seems she has ear mites.

Yes. They are a formidable enemy because they are very smart and have hands like human hands so they can open latches, lift lids etc.
And as you can see, they climb well.
Terrifying.

 

[BY Bob]

I think it started out as an injury. Now it seems she has ear mites.

O no. How do you treat those?

 

[BY Bob]

Who speaks chicken?
What is going on here? It is not a squeaky door hinge on the Chicken Palace it is Diana. A moment before she saw something out of the window and craned her neck towards it and sort of 'shouted'. I was right there and couldn't see a thing. Then she started this noise and was very alert for quite a while. The other two Princesses didn't seem that bothered by it all. And 10 minutes later everyone was fixing their feathers for the night. Would love to know what this sound means.

I would not be surprised if they were wary right now because last night the outside coop cam picked up these lovelies.

And tonight another one (or is this a possum?)

But all these are after dark and it was still light and I was right there looking out of the same window as the Princesses. Very puzzling.

Those raccoons are crazy. I would be terrified to see that going on outside my coop. Thankfully you have Fort Knox for a coop.

Hattie was making the same sound the other day while standing next to my chair for some time having finished grooming herself. Hattie seemed contented to me. I am not really sure what it means though.

 

[RoyalChick]

Chick Fix

I wanted to make a food call video for @RoyalChick so mealy worms did the job.

Well that was interesting. Armed with Sydney's food call (thank you Bob) and some chopped up raisins and blueberries with a garnish of their regular food (yes people, I chopped raisins for my chicks!) I tried to get the baby Princesses interested in a treat.
The recording had a dramatic effect, but not exactly what I was hoping.
They started in a mad panic as always as I approach. Then when I pressed play, they froze for a good two minutes. Stock still listening. Then they started busily preening themselves.
No interest in the food or me.
Maybe PA-chicken and NJ-chicken are different languages and 'come eat' translates to 'time to tidy up'!
Anyway, my next step is to source some live meal worms and try again.
I also had an idea - Bob, if you have other good Sydney sound clips - like general soothing or chattering Mamma sounds - it would be kind of you to send them my way and I will try them out on the baby Princesses. I wish I had thought of this earlier, I imagine having a sound track of soothing mamma chicken sounds would be really nice for them!

 

[Shadrach]

O no. How do you treat those?

,
I'm not sure. Permethrin, while it will kill them, cannot be used close to the eyes or into the ears as far as I know. Fat Bird is going to the vet at 1700hrs and I'll find out what Gloria thinks then. At the moment I'm wiping permethrin liquid on the outside of the ears and around the eyes where I can see one or two mites moving. I've sprayed around the back of her head as well.
Here they put coconut oil in the ear to smother the mites.

 

[BY Bob]

Bombs Away

I was getting some pictures of Hattie and Aurora from a chickens eye view over the weekend and our favorite serial photo bomber showed up again.

 

[BY Bob]

Well that was interesting. Armed with Sydney's food call (thank you Bob) and some chopped up raisins and blueberries with a garnish of their regular food (yes people, I chopped raisins for my chicks!) I tried to get the baby Princesses interested in a treat.
The recording had a dramatic effect, but not exactly what I was hoping.
They started in a mad panic as always as I approach. Then when I pressed play, they froze for a good two minutes. Stock still listening. Then they started busily preening themselves.
No interest in the food or me.
Maybe PA-chicken and NJ-chicken are different languages and 'come eat' translates to 'time to tidy up'!
Anyway, my next step is to source some live meal worms and try again.
I also had an idea - Bob, if you have other good Sydney sound clips - like general soothing or chattering Mamma sounds - it would be kind of you to send them my way and I will try them out on the baby Princesses. I wish I had thought of this earlier, I imagine having a sound track of soothing mamma chicken sounds would be really nice for them!

I will see what I can do. I'm limited to about 18 seconds by the email size limits. It is interesting that it seemed to make you less frightening to them.

I seriously don't understand the aversion to new foods.

 

[BY Bob]

Some Good Shots of my Big Girls

I think these came out nice.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Bombs Away

I was getting some pictures of Hattie and Aurora from a chickens eye view over the weekend and our favorite serial photo bomber showed up again.

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Such lovely girls!! I can't wait for the Fluffs to grow up. Hattie is just so special!