Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Had a bad few days. The Park has been shut due to Covid. I would have thought it one of the last places one is likely to catch it.
Anyway, the result has been people have been parking up on the edge of the park and walking in......with their dogs! Yesterday I intecepted 7 dogs off leads. two in the donkey field and one found right outside my house!!!
We are on the edge of the park and there is a track that leads from the main road up here. Today (I think some of the farmers threatened to start shooting the dogs) the police shut the track and it's been quiet. Tribe 1 and 2 have spent a fair bit of the day close to my house. This is Tribe 1, minus Treacle who is in the house having supper.
Tribe 3 have been eating breakfast and then heading straight for the bamboo. Because of where their best shelter spot is, they get tend to have to deal with the dogs first. They haven't come out of the bamboo today apart from when I'm there.
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Well that stinks. Why do dog people think it is ok not to be in control of their deadly pets? I am constantly amazed by how irresponsible dog owners can be.

A friend of mine has 3 hens. She was over our house visiting this weekend and she told me this story. They let the hens free range supervised late in the day. Her sister lives 2 doors down from her. Her sister let her little dog out without a fence or leash, unsupervised, and it immediately took off to chase the chickens. The chickens ran straight to my friend for protection. The dog still got one of them by the neck. Luckily her husband was able to intervene before the hen was killed.

What was her sister's response, O he was just playing. The husband's response was that the next time the dog would be playing with lead.

 

[micstrachan]

Had a bad few days. The Park has been shut due to Covid. I would have thought it one of the last places one is likely to catch it.
Anyway, the result has been people have been parking up on the edge of the park and walking in......with their dogs! Yesterday I intecepted 7 dogs off leads. two in the donkey field and one found right outside my house!!!
We are on the edge of the park and there is a track that leads from the main road up here. Today (I think some of the farmers threatened to start shooting the dogs) the police shut the track and it's been quiet. Tribe 1 and 2 have spent a fair bit of the day close to my house. This is Tribe 1, minus Treacle who is in the house having supper.
Tribe 3 have been eating breakfast and then heading straight for the bamboo. Because of where their best shelter spot is, they get tend to have to deal with the dogs first. They haven't come out of the bamboo today apart from when I'm there.
View attachment 2387426

Oh, dear. That’s scary. I hope your tribes stay safe.

 

[micstrachan]

The treat window is a success!!!!

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The orange fence is attached to the house. I opened the living room window and crumbled a few crackers up, every one came running!!

My dryer vent is right there too, so in the winter the chickens will have warm freshly seated air blowing.

Perfect!

 

[Ribh]

Well that stinks. Why do dog people think it is ok not to be in control of their deadly pets? I am constantly amazed by how irresponsible dog owners can be.

A friend of mine has 3 hens. She was over our house visiting this weekend and she told me this story. They let the hens free range supervised late in the day. Her sister lives 2 doors down from her. Her sister let her little dog out without a fence or leash, unsupervised, and it immediately took off to chase the chickens. The chickens ran straight to my friend for protection. The dog still got one of them by the neck. Luckily her husband was able to intervene before the hen was killed.

What was her sister's response, O he was just playing. The husband's response was that the next time the dog would be playing with lead.

I'm tired of dog owners. We don't have predators as such ~ just roaming dogs. It's not just my chickens. It's my cats, the beehives, the wild life on our property. Dogs don't leave any of it alone.

 

[micstrachan]

The Roosting Walk of Shame

Everyone knows that there is a distinct pecking order at Fluffy Butt Acres. Sansa at times stands somewhat outside the pecking order because of her friendship with Queen Lilly.

We have all seen Sansa going all Lilly at roosting time forcing Sydney and Phyllis off the roost.

Lilly really doesn't enforce things like she used to and Hattie has never really been a pecking order enforcer. She enforces order with a look.

That means that the one hen you do not want angry with you is Aurora. Add to that she is big. Nearly Hattie's size. And worst of all, that girl is crazy!

Well our resident meany must have done something to anger Aurora. She got singled out tonight at roost time. Aurora was not upset with Phyllis or Sydney, nope, just Sansa. And Lilly does not help at roosting time. Sansa is on her own.

Bad news for Sansa.

Aurora kept her off the roost until it was too dark for Sansa to get up. Thus Sansa was reduced to the Roosting Walk of Shame.

This is where she is sleeping tonight.
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Poor Sansa.

 

[micstrachan]

I told the Princesses that I dropped their jewels inside the new leaf pile. As you can see they searched for them diligently .. .. .. for many hours!

You may also be able to see that Maggie is not looking her best. Her molt is quite severe and her comb is not its normal brilliant red. It isn't pale exactly but looks a bit withered. I do hope she feels OK. I am doing everything I can for her in terms of extra protein, but I notice she isn't as interested in either the commercial feed or my treats.
She is however very interested in worms and bugs (you can see she is quite energetic in the leaf pile) so now I am resorting to digging holes in the garden to find delicacies for her.
I keep reminding myself that it is over a month since the vet suggested euthanasia and it has been a good month for her with lots of interesting chicken-ey things to do.
I think her life is still good but I am counting the days.

She looks pretty vibrant to me! She just may have lots of days left. Just because the vet offered to euthanize does not mean she’s dying anytime soon.

 

[micstrachan]

Well that stinks. Why do dog people think it is ok not to be in control of their deadly pets? I am constantly amazed by how irresponsible dog owners can be.

A friend of mine has 3 hens. She was over our house visiting this weekend and she told me this story. They let the hens free range supervised late in the day. Her sister lives 2 doors down from her. Her sister let her little dog out without a fence or leash, unsupervised, and it immediately took off to chase the chickens. The chickens ran straight to my friend for protection. The dog still got one of them by the neck. Luckily her husband was able to intervene before the hen was killed.

What was her sister's response, O he was just playing. The husband's response was that the next time the dog would be playing with lead.

Good answer!

 

[Kris5902]

The Building of a Community

I can't locate a specific moment when it happened but sometime in the past 12 months this little thread of stories about my goofy hens became a large community. On 10/21/19 this thread had all of 174 pages. That is after having been started roughly 10 months before. In 12 months we added 1,911 pages.

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When I think about how apprehensive I was about starting my own thread I just don't know why. I had been on BYC for years but had not started a thread. Thinking back on it now it was the story of Nardole the Brave that brought me here. It lead me to follow Dona Worry and her thread Chickens of the Sunshine Motel. (It is also responsible for Mrs BY Bob's obsession with polish Chickens and brought us Phyllis) She inspired me to try this.

Look where we are now.

This has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I treasure each and every one of you and live to hear the stories of your flocks. All the joy and tragedy we have shared together. I feel so blessed.

Not to mention that this led to Sydney being able to hatch this year! Such a gift.

I don't know why I am feeling so reflective this morning. Maybe it is the fog, leaves, or last remnents of summer bringing it on. I can't say.

to you all, each and every one of you.

Thank you for having us all here, Bob. I love the diversity, and all the chat... even if I can hardly keep up anymore! (Don’t take a weekend off reading or you’re 30+ pages behind all of a sudden!)

I think it helps that we're a garrulous lot. It's hard to have a conversation with just yourself ~ though I have been known to try. Social media works really well for me. As a chronic introvert it enables me to engage with others more on my terms when & as I feel able to cope. I have my own thread to worry about too so if I'm short on people energy I'm quieter.

I do know what you mean though. I was struggling on BYC until I started my own thread & was able to make wider connections.

Lol, I still remember the first post I ran into you on, someone who sounded quite young and something about a venomous snake... I didn’t notice you were all Aussies, and was freaking out at the thought of some poor kid going into a chicken coop daily with a venomous snake hanging around. Just leave it alone??? OMGosh No! call someone and get that relocated before you get bit!
A Canadian (with an odd passion/interest in venomous snakes) attempting to inform Australians on good ways to deal with venomous snakes! Now I know how to check someone’s profile for their location.

I was going to start my own thread but I’m happy to hang out on yours. (And MJ’s, and Ribh’s (And Kris’ when I eventually catch up!)).

Don’t worry, I’m mostly just hanging out here, though I really should go catch up with a few people on my own thread too.

ok, I have no idea how to straighten out this comment mess... sorry everyone

 

[Ribh]

Lol, I still remember the first post I ran into you on, someone who sounded quite young and something about a venomous snake... I didn’t notice you were all Aussies, and was freaking out at the thought of some poor kid going into a chicken coop daily with a venomous snake hanging around.

lol Yep, we can take some getting used to. I really appreciate the profile location. Such a useful tool! It boggles my mind how some people react to quite timid wild life when I think of my kitchen literally teeming with blue ring octopus! They'd come in with the oysters when the man was doing those & we'd have to round them all up, hope we hadn't missed any & walk down the track to dump them all back in the bay! Deadlier than the snakes...

 

[Kris5902]

Had a bad few days. The Park has been shut due to Covid. I would have thought it one of the last places one is likely to catch it.
Anyway, the result has been people have been parking up on the edge of the park and walking in......with their dogs! Yesterday I intecepted 7 dogs off leads. two in the donkey field and one found right outside my house!!!
We are on the edge of the park and there is a track that leads from the main road up here. Today (I think some of the farmers threatened to start shooting the dogs) the police shut the track and it's been quiet. Tribe 1 and 2 have spent a fair bit of the day close to my house. This is Tribe 1, minus Treacle who is in the house having supper.
Tribe 3 have been eating breakfast and then heading straight for the bamboo. Because of where their best shelter spot is, they get tend to have to deal with the dogs first. They haven't come out of the bamboo today apart from when I'm there.
View attachment 2387426

I forget... are Farmers in your area legally allowed to do that? I know we can here... and I would 100% be in support of the farmers on that one, legal or not. It’s not that I am not a dog person; I love dogs, well trained and on leads when they are on someone else’s property or public places.