Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Aussie-Chookmum]

You and me both. I know jack about most of these breeds.

But you know more about chicken behaviour and society than most of us.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Well of my 3 EEs 2 were complete jerks, Jabberwocky and Aurora. Only Maleficent was sweet. So 2/3 are bad?

That's not a very large sample size to draw conclusions from ByBob...

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

No. Brown or tinted eggs happen when a dye called protoporphyrin is laid over the shell. Brown shells aren't brown inside & out. Blue & white eggs are. Have I made sense?

I know that the brown on Edwina's eggs can get scratched and scraped off. The blue on Alice's and Pepper's don't.

It surprised me the first time I saw the colour coming off one of Edwina's eggs!

 

[Kris5902]

For anyone who may be celebrating, happy Halloween...

It is certainly “different” here this year, and mostly not as good for anyone IMO. Usually there’s a big gathering at our Rec Center (which is located far enough from everyone’s housing to not be a big problem) with a pumpkin carving contest, Bratwurts, a bar for the adults, adults bring pails of Candy to give out to the kids. A Bon fire, Big fireworks display by our fire department, and fire extinguisher lessons/practice for anyone who is big enough to use one. Then Music and Dancing until midnight. Keeps the Ambulance calls, drinking and driving, and general mischief down. We have less than 20 kids on island and a lot of land to cover.

My friend just called me for the second time tonight, there’s three separate parties right across the street from him, each with very loud music, a small bonfire at every house, and cars pulling up all willy nilly with their 4 way flashers on. So far no fireworks. His chicken coops are right at the roadway, and needless to say they are all quite distressed. We both agreed, that although quite tempting (as he was patrolling for Racoons, which have also been going after his girls hard, with his BB gun), “accidentally” shooting at the party-goers (not the little kids mind, those big drunk ones!) would be considered inappropriate. Sheesh... it’s as bad as City Halloween out there from the sounds of things. I expect if there are fireworks that it will likely spook my other friends cows as well.

I’m going to be walking down to the farm in about 1/2hr or so, no, not because I was invited to their “celebration” (yep, a bunch of people there with a fire and wiener roast), but because it’s Shower day and I’ll be darned if their party gets in the way of it for a second week in a row! I expect it will be a nice walk through the trees, with the full moon, and thankfully no neighbors along the way partying.

 

[BY Bob]

Speaking of Crests

I just love the lacing on Flash’s crest.
View attachment 2394819

So do I. It's pretty amazing.

 

[BY Bob]

She’s sooooooo cute!!!!

I love how she runs with her head up, like a roadrunner. It's so cute.

 

[BY Bob]

Our Araucanas all lay blue eggs as far as I know. Alice does and so does Pepper who is a cross.

The breed standard in Australia is for the tail (not "rumpless"). Apparently it is the rumpless and ear-tuft genes that are associated with the lethal gene.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but Pepper's egg is ever so slightly greener than Alice's

View attachment 2394874

They are so pretty.

 

[Kris5902]

Our Araucanas all lay blue eggs as far as I know. Alice does and so does Pepper who is a cross.

The breed standard in Australia is for the tail (not "rumpless"). Apparently it is the rumpless and ear-tuft genes that are associated with the lethal gene.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but Pepper's egg is ever so slightly greener than Alice's

View attachment 2394874

It sounds like the Australian line is moving towards what was done in creating the Ameraucana here. Working to eliminate the Rumplessness and the lethal genes from the breed, which certainly seems beneficial. Of the three chickens I’ve had without tails (I also mean the tail bone, not just the feathers!) only Tailless has survived with any quality of life, she lays a cute little green specked egg, and her breeding is a Marans x Isbar, so I think there are other issues there, probably with my Isbar line... 3/27 hatch rate was pretty awful, even for my first attempted hatch.

Both of Chickie Hawks Rumpless offspring had a rough time of it, though they didn’t perish as very young chicks. One made it 19 weeks to slaughter, but it was a mess with bum cleaning every day. The other I culled at about one month, as it was not going to survive. He took a sudden turn for the worse at three weeks, failed to thrive, and was getting run over and picked on mercilessly by the other chicks.

 

[BY Bob]

That's not a very large sample size to draw conclusions from ByBob...

Just adding to the statistics in case someone is doing a study.

 

[BY Bob]

For anyone who may be celebrating, happy Halloween...
View attachment 2394886
It is certainly “different” here this year, and mostly not as good for anyone IMO. Usually there’s a big gathering at our Rec Center (which is located far enough from everyone’s housing to not be a big problem) with a pumpkin carving contest, Bratwurts, a bar for the adults, adults bring pails of Candy to give out to the kids. A Bon fire, Big fireworks display by our fire department, and fire extinguisher lessons/practice for anyone who is big enough to use one. Then Music and Dancing until midnight. Keeps the Ambulance calls, drinking and driving, and general mischief down. We have less than 20 kids on island and a lot of land to cover.

My friend just called me for the second time tonight, there’s three separate parties right across the street from him, each with very loud music, a small bonfire at every house, and cars pulling up all willy nilly with their 4 way flashers on. So far no fireworks. His chicken coops are right at the roadway, and needless to say they are all quite distressed. We both agreed, that although quite tempting (as he was patrolling for Racoons, which have also been going after his girls hard, with his BB gun), “accidentally” shooting at the party-goers (not the little kids mind, those big drunk ones!) would be considered inappropriate. Sheesh... it’s as bad as City Halloween out there from the sounds of things. I expect if there are fireworks that it will likely spook my other friends cows as well.

I’m going to be walking down to the farm in about 1/2hr or so, no, not because I was invited to their “celebration” (yep, a bunch of people there with a fire and wiener roast), but because it’s Shower day and I’ll be darned if their party gets in the way of it for a second week in a row! I expect it will be a nice walk through the trees, with the full moon, and thankfully no neighbors along the way partying.

We actually had trick or treating tonight. Here was our setup. I sat to the right of the tree. The candy bowl was 8 feet in front of us. This is Mrs BY Bob's favorite holiday. Sadly for the children we were 1 of only 4 houses handing out candy on our street. We let every child take 2 pieces of candy and still only gave away half of our usual amount.