Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Bridge is gorgeous but I love blue & white crockery!

She's beautiful! (That bird)!

 

[Ribh]

A Better Day

Let me start by pointing out that the conditions were much improved today. It was a little warmer with a lot of warm sunshine and no wind. The ladies took advantage of it today.

We started by hanging out on the patio this morning. I chose the patio because it has full sun. And then I pulled out the big guns to try and cheer this lot up, PURPLE CORN. There has been no purple corn at TSC for months. I saw some the last time I was there and grabbed the last bag. I have been sitting on it for weeks so they would finish the yellow corn which I had gotten for them. Today I said, "why not!" and grabbed the bag when I headed out. I could almost swear Hattie screamed for joy when she saw others eating it. She did make some sound of recognition and bullied her way through Sansa, Phyllis and Lilly to get dibs on my hand.

Everyone was more active and hanging around with me in the sun. Here are few candid shots.
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And how about these two hanging out near to each other.
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Later in the afternoon I went out to take them a treat. All 6 of them were laying in the sun dustbathing together. I felt so bad interrupting them.

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Only 3 were willing to give up their bath for snacks!
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These three stayed in their warm dusty holes.
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Afterwards, these two hung out for a while.
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Some observations from the day.

• Hattie is quicker to peck than she usually is. Hattie growls less, pecks more when food is involved. Sansa and Sydney both got nabbed by her today
• Aurora is much less aggressive when going after food and quickly gives way to Lilly. Aurora used to respect the pecking order only to a point and was not shy about taking food from Lilly. That did not happen at all today. In fact she was even flinching when Lilly looked at her and would back away even when Lilly was not interested in her.
• Aurora is still favoring her leg. She did run around early in the day but by roosting time you could tell it was sore.
• Aurora is not chasing anyone at roosting time and just waits until everything is settled inside before she goes in now and simply roosts.

Tonight's roost photo.
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That sounds like the flock has dealt with Aurora. Wonder why Hattie was the designated enforcer?

 

[Shadrach]

I want to recommend a chicken book to you all. I'm posting it here because most from the three threads read this one.
It's a hard back so that in itself makes it a nice object to own. It's the best all round chicken book I've come accross. It's not about how to keep chickens; it's about chickens.
The book is very well presented and contains bits of knowledge about chickens I've not found in many other publications.
I suspect if one wanted a greater depth of knowledge one would need to read studies and papers which is fine, but often difficult to access.

 

[featherhead007]

Hmmm What else can I say to make Ribh laugh?

 

[featherhead007]

I want to recommend a chicken book to you all. I'm posting it here because most from the three threads read this one.
It's a hard back so that in itself makes it a nice object to own. It's the best all round chicken book I've come accross. It's not about how to keep chickens; it's about chickens.
The book is very well presented and contains bits of knowledge about chickens I've not found in many other publications.
I suspect if one wanted a greater depth of knowledge one would need to read studies and papers which is fine, but often difficult to access.
View attachment 2425147

Where to get such a book?

 

[Shadrach]

Mel is improving daily. She's got her appetite back and her attitude, much to the displeasure of the juniors.
Unfortunately Fudge is not well. She has a crop issue. It's not compacted but it is slow. She doesn't look at all happy and isn't eating properly. This is recent so I'm on the problem relatively quickly. The thing is I'm not sure what the problem is.
She's going to get wormed and hit with coccivex as a starting point.
I had her in the house early this morning for an inspection. Her crop was large and squidgy but no odour. This hopefully means it's not full on sour crop yet.
I did get a decent amount of water into her by syringe and some frozen coconut lumps. She had four crop massage sessions over two hours after which I put her back with her tribe.
I'm hoping this is nothing too serious. She was incredibly well behaved and just sat on my lap as I fed her the water and did the massages.

 

[Shadrach]

Where to get such a book?

A paperback version can be bought here. I would search for the hardback version myself.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...field-keywords=the+chicken,+a+natural+history

 

[Ribh]

I want to recommend a chicken book to you all. I'm posting it here because most from the three threads read this one.
It's a hard back so that in itself makes it a nice object to own. It's the best all round chicken book I've come accross. It's not about how to keep chickens; it's about chickens.
The book is very well presented and contains bits of knowledge about chickens I've not found in many other publications.
I suspect if one wanted a greater depth of knowledge one would need to read studies and papers which is fine, but often difficult to access.
View attachment 2425147

I was going through Amazon yesterday trying to decide on a chicken book so this is very timely! Well done, Shad ! but I am still waiting on the one I really want so pull your finger out & get a move on please!

 

[featherhead007]

A paperback version can be bought here. I would search for the hardback version myself.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=the+chicken,+a+natural+history

thanks

 

[Ribh]

Mel is improving daily. She's got her appetite back and her attitude, much to the displeasure of the juniors.
Unfortunately Fudge is not well. She has a crop issue. It's not compacted but it is slow. She doesn't look at all happy and isn't eating properly. This is recent so I'm on the problem relatively quickly. The thing is I'm not sure what the problem is.
She's going to get wormed and hit with coccivex as a starting point.
I had her in the house early this morning for an inspection. Her crop was large and squidgy but no odour. This hopefully means it's not full on sour crop yet.
I did get a decent amount of water into her by syringe and some frozen coconut lumps. She had four crop massage sessions over two hours after which I put her back with her tribe.
I'm hoping this is nothing too serious. She was incredibly well behaved and just sat on my lap as I fed her the water and did the massages.

Glad you're onto it fast. Hope it sorts out quickly.