Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Men collect chickens too!

Many men. but they just don't post it on BYC!

 

[Kris5902]

Thank you Kris for your detailed descriptions of what to consider, especially the removal of snap bands. It does make a case for zip ties, maybe at least to start with, if I decide to pull the trigger and try banding at all, because it would be less of a struggle to get them off if anything bad happens!

Anytime here are the snap bands I was using. Helpful cat toes for size reference I don’t know where my Aussie coin ended up, so I also used a euro:

Too big for my layer girls, and they go from too big to way too tight on my meat girls legs very quickly... When I say they have thick legs, I really mean it! Also the width and rigidity of the plastic, which gets worse as they age, makes them too hard to safely cut and just awful to take off. The other ones I ordered would hardly fit on a pigeon leg! You will quickly begin to notice the differences between each girl... I can tell purple, yellow one and yellow two apart easily now. the farm store in town had some nicer looking ones but they were expensive so I went to Amazon. I rarely use them, but I also have between 80-160 birds here at a time, and with large groups of very similar looking ones, they are useful for me from time to time.

 

[goldenfingers]

Well, I found myself also assuming gender, and discovering one can't tell with internet handles! For some reason I have assumed more women than men keep chickens. In the sense of backyard chickens. But is that true? It's an historical, traditional thing and definitely binary in terms of gender roles. Tales of how it used to be -- the man out in the fields and and doing things requiring greater strength, and the woman tending to things closer to the farmhouse with kids and a garden and providing the meals, the household chicken flock were part of that. Old fashioned for sure. What actually is the ratio now?

Goldenfingers comes from being a piano performance major decades ago at the university. Nowadays it would be more like mushfingers, but one can reminisce, right? And Mrs. goldenfingers plays an equal role in our chikeneering exploits.

 

[RoyalChick]

Thank you for your response, I agree with you the bands getting too tight is a big problem from what I hear. I don't think monitoring would be an issue because it's four birds I see multiple times a day, but ease of removal is definitely one, which @Kris5902 mentions. The food dye idea is interesting, but I will have to think about that. Maybe if I keep dithering this will sort itself out as I become more aware of each hens' personalities and characteristics...

Could toe-nail polish work?

 

[Kris5902]

Well, I found myself also assuming gender, and discovering one can't tell with internet handles! For some reason I have assumed more women than men keep chickens. In the sense of backyard chickens. But is that true? It's an historical, traditional thing and definitely binary in terms of gender roles. Tales of how it used to be -- the man out in the fields and and doing things requiring greater strength, and the woman tending to things closer to the farmhouse with kids and a garden and providing the meals, the household chicken flock were part of that. Old fashioned for sure. What actually is the ratio now?

We had this discussion a while back
... maybe mid October? Good luck finding it it seems that predominantly BYC members to tend towards being female. This is likely due to the small homestead, Backyard Keeping, stay at home wife, trend. Especially as there’s a high percentage of North Americans. Where men in livestock circles are far more likely to be involved in a more large scale agricultural production model, than on a smaller backyard scale. Notable exceptions here of course, who we are very grateful for!

 

[RoyalChick]

Which is why I took so long to reply. Think nothing more of it!

Feels like a 'wear it with pride' situation to me!

 

[BY Bob]

Do chickens take naps? Canna doesn't seem to want to keep her eyes open???

They can in warm and safe environments. Patsy would nap in the sink. She was very sick though. I have seen them nap in the sun as well.

 

[Kris5902]

Could toe-nail polish work?

My only concerns would be the chipping, toxicity, and the “ooooh, shiny... different (MUST peck it!)” reaction. They will try to eat anything it seems, especially if a feather-brained rooster looking to “get some” says it’s tasty (Sammy, Dean, Cass... you know I’m talking about you right?)

 

[RoyalChick]

We had this discussion a while back
... maybe mid October? Good luck finding it it seems that predominantly BYC members to tend towards being female. This is likely due to the small homestead, Backyard Keeping, stay at home wife, trend. Especially as there’s a high percentage of North Americans. Where men in livestock circles are far more likely to be involved in a more large scale agricultural production model, than on a smaller backyard scale. Notable exceptions here of course, who we are very grateful for!

Not sure about the stay-at-home wife trend. Is that true? I wonder if we were really nice we could get the moderators to share some demographics.

 

[BY Bob]

Well, I found myself also assuming gender, and discovering one can't tell with internet handles! For some reason I have assumed more women than men keep chickens. In the sense of backyard chickens. But is that true? It's an historical, traditional thing and definitely binary in terms of gender roles. Tales of how it used to be -- the man out in the fields and and doing things requiring greater strength, and the woman tending to things closer to the farmhouse with kids and a garden and providing the meals, the household chicken flock were part of that. Old fashioned for sure. What actually is the ratio now?

There are a number of men on this thread. I couldn't say though.