Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

She's the third hen I've had here that doesn't lay eggs.

That's very interesting.

I'm glad you waited until Ivy was laying before you shared that bit. @MaryJanet might have entered a depression contemplating that end result for her.

 

[MaryJanet]

It was in my mind! But I thought better of sharing it.

 

[LozzyR]

Evening Bob, just thought you might appreciate this video
Excuse the bad camera focus halfway in,
plus I accidentally covered the mic for a few sec.
The chickens have decided the space between the wood panel
and Yuki's cage is a prime sitting and chatting / dirt bathing spot,
they're in and out of there all day, lol

Your chookies are lovely.

 

[LozzyR]

Photos from the Weekend

I took a ton of photos over the weekend. I'll post by the hen.

Lilly
I think these photos of Lilly are especially lovely.
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Sansa
Here is Lilly's besty Sansa
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Lilly and Sansa on the catwalk.

 

[Kris5902]

Thank you;
it's not so hard as the last time she hatched, she lost both babies then,
one to a snake and one just flopped over dead, that was horrible, she was making
a very sad screaming sound looking for her chicks. She got over it eventually,
and then went broody again just two months after.
Things are more secure now and she has more chicks this time,
so at least some should survive, I really hope!

Hopefully not intruding here, but is there a possibility of a fatal gene somewhere in the breeding? If there have been a few unexplained chick deaths that could be a possibility, especially if both the random fatalities were fizzles. I’m currently trying to figure out a tail-less situation genetics wise, I have stopped breeding the hens in that pen, cross my fingers that it isn’t my Rooster, and I will try again with different hens. We have had issues here with tracking down a genetic problem (it was a Ram) that didn’t crop up until his grand-daughters were bred, but then was 90% fatal to the third generation, even without significant back crossing. Sorry if this has been covered/mentioned already. I’ve been absent a while here, and of course it has a lot to do with your lines and what you’re looking for in your breeding. I’m Also trying to breed out overly large eggs to avoid prolapse issues (Mrs B. clearly had at least one daughter, but most of Sammy’s daughters were Missy’s I think)

 

[LozzyR]

I would have tried to make a video this morning, but one of Gracie's four babies was found dead no idea how or why, it was just fine yesterday, no marks, no symptoms of anything on any of them. Ugh, just one of those things that happens with chicks I guess, but why did it have to be the only frizzled chick out of the bunch?! Anyway, so I had to go bury it, so no video of a crow-off today, but I'll get one eventually. I'm gonna be paranoid about the chicks for a week now.

I’m so sorry to hear that.

 

[Kris5902]

Look at you, outsmarting chickens! Your high school guidance councilor would be so proud.

"Frankly, I never thought she would achieve this level of success. I mean outsmarting a dog, sure I could've seen that. You know, fake throwing a ball and all that. But 3 chickens, Wow! With a fake wall too. Very clever, very clever. That's quite an achievement. We are all very proud here, very proud indeed. Maybe she will win a Backyard Chickens award or something and we can add it to our trophy case!"

It’s easier said than done...

Phyllis Loves the..........

...........roof I put over her nest for her.
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Talk about not being able to outsmart chickens.

I feel your frustration, today I found a nest in the potato cage, and spent most of the day trying to convince my Roosters to convince the girls to use the nice little improvised boxes I gave them. The hay crop was better than expected there’s no room for them to nest in the barn! And where am I going to put a brooder on the 24th when my 90 chicks come in?!?

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Very nice! Looks like it may get several customers.
You had a lot more success than I did on coop improvement this week. Today I got help undermining the foundation of my step.
Thank you ladies!

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But I think I get the last laugh because I created a ‘fake wall’ so they could undermine that foundation and not mess with my step.
Fingers crossed that my ruse worked!
And now just because she is cute, here is Minnie inspecting construction from the top of her ladder.


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Looks like she has the start of a fancy do too!!

 

[BY Bob]

Hopefully not intruding here, but is there a possibility of a fatal gene somewhere in the breeding? If there have been a few unexplained chick deaths that could be a possibility, especially if both the random fatalities were fizzles. I’m currently trying to figure out a tail-less situation genetics wise, I have stopped breeding the hens in that pen, cross my fingers that it isn’t my Rooster, and I will try again with different hens. We have had issues here with tracking down a genetic problem (it was a Ram) that didn’t crop up until his grand-daughters were bred, but then was 90% fatal to the third generation, even without significant back crossing. Sorry if this has been covered/mentioned already. I’ve been absent a while here, and of course it has a lot to do with your lines and what you’re looking for in your breeding. I’m Also trying to breed out overly large eggs to avoid prolapse issues (Mrs B. clearly had at least one daughter, but most of Sammy’s daughters were Missy’s I think)

This is fascinating to me. How do you go about figuring this out? Without testing them of course.

 

[TopazMaster91]

Hopefully not intruding here, but is there a possibility of a fatal gene somewhere in the breeding? If there have been a few unexplained chick deaths that could be a possibility, especially if both the random fatalities were fizzles. I’m currently trying to figure out a tail-less situation genetics wise, I have stopped breeding the hens in that pen, cross my fingers that it isn’t my Rooster, and I will try again with different hens. We have had issues here with tracking down a genetic problem (it was a Ram) that didn’t crop up until his grand-daughters were bred, but then was 90% fatal to the third generation, even without significant back crossing. Sorry if this has been covered/mentioned already. I’ve been absent a while here, and of course it has a lot to do with your lines and what you’re looking for in your breeding. I’m Also trying to breed out overly large eggs to avoid prolapse issues (Mrs B. clearly had at least one daughter, but most of Sammy’s daughters were Missy’s I think)

That's actually something I'm now wondering about, but if it's a genetic thing it'd be from the rooster- last time she hatched the chick that just up and died was hers, this time it was the only frizzled chick from a different genetic mother; she hatched one from her own egg, three from the other mother. But if more chicks just randomly die with no injuries and no symptoms of anything, it'll definitely be time to try to look into that possibility, because I do NOT want to let chicks hatch only to die a week or two into life.
I'm hoping it's just a failure to thrive / bantam chicks
are super tiny and fragile kind of thing.
Otherwise it'll be difficult to figure out what is really going on...
Anybody know if crosses with male Japanese bantams
(not a super short legged one) are more fragile or likely to die?