Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

No problem. I have something to look forward to now.

Does Blu?he asked for another pinup.

 

[BY Bob]

There is something messed up with this chicken molting thing. At least for Northern hemisphere birds, you would think July/August would be the best time for a chicken to molt and here we all have them molting in December. Maggie is just finishing up and Diana and Elizabeth just started molting. It is insane!

It worries me for them every year. Silly. Get naked in the late summer when it is super hot, not in the winter.

 

[Kris5902]

Here we have my new rescues. I still haven’t managed to teach them about the waterers... I think they prefer the extra flavor of the mud puddles!

Little Red is learning to court the ladies a bit...

and this is an odd little friendship in the making, but if they are happy, so am I.

 

[Ribh]

She is gorgeous. There is depth in that expression! And I like this name. If it feels long after you've gotten to know her better, she could go by Desdi, Desi or Mona

Desdemona actually suits her really well. I did think it might be too big a name for her @ first but apparently not. She is a very calm, sweet ladylike chicken. She is the only one of my new ones I can handle without major dramas.

I think most people have seen this but here she is:

 

[Ribh]

Ester slept in the coop last night, but this morning she only came out for a couple seconds and then went back in. I currently have a little table and electric heater positioned outside the coop door and blowing in. She perked up a little bit after being in there for a while, so I brought a special meal of baby bird formula mixed with mash from their pellets. Dorothy and bridge were in there with her and shared in the feast. Now half the flock is in the coop enjoying the heat. LOL! When it gets just a couple degrees warmer out, I’m gonna shut off the heater, cause I don’t want tonight to be a shock for them. It did freeze last night, it is going to be colder tonight. I may bring Ester indoors tonight at roasting time and then let her out with her friends first thing. This is a tricky one, because she gets stressed out when handled. I don’t wanna stress her out anymore than necessary, but I need to make sure she is safe.

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Wow that's a dreadful moult for this time of year!

 

[micstrachan]

Here we have my new rescues. I still haven’t managed to teach them about the waterers... I think they prefer the extra flavor of the mud puddles!View attachment 2467669View attachment 2467670View attachment 2467671
Little Red is learning to court the ladies a bit...
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and this is an odd little friendship in the making, but if they are happy, so am I.
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Wonderful photos! Thank you for sharing!

 

[BY Bob]

Well speaking of Roasting... My morning chicken chores are now done, it is raining, and I am pleased to say that a very dark time in my relationship with DH is about to come to a close... it all goes back to this November, and it was so embarrassing I initially didn’t want to talk about it; now that it’s almost over, I feel I can share this with all of my dear friends here. We had our 11th anniversary this fall (though we don’t really celebrate it), but this very nearly ended our relationship. Sometimes it’s like you just don’t ever really know your spouse.

As most here will know, I do the bulk of the animal and housekeeping chores around here, things like fence repairs, oil changes in the generators, keeping the water jerrycans and propane tanks properly rotated so we don’t run out un-expectedly (splitting firewood is going to be on this list once we get the woodstove, I know it). DH, bless his heart, works far too much at too many “real” jobs, and thanks to his travel schedule between the islands, he also does almost all our shopping. He usually does the cooking as well, a 70/30 split with me only really doing big stews, pasta, and such. He also has a congenital heart defect, repaired by a modified Fontan surgery, a pacemaker, and is on medication to help control an arrhythmia, tachycardia, and atrial fibrillation. We mostly have a very low sodium diet because of this, which once you adjust to you honestly don’t really notice until you eat out. Or a disaster strikes...

Well, in early November I sent DH a shopping list (perishables, feed, etc) for his return trip, with some added winter staples. This was a little prelude to our big winter stock up shop, as thanks to ‘the Covid’ item limits were being introduced on some things here again. (We are ok for TP, don’t worry...) I usually get several flats/cases of canned condensed soups for the year on this big winter shop (enough to see us through the full year). Our “Covid shopping protocols” have included picking up, whenever it’s on sale or in stock: catfood, cat litter, the cheap TP we can use in the RV without clogging the plumbing or our DIY septic system. I added to this “Cases of soup, just the ones we usually eat” (vegetable, chicken noodle, and cream of mushroom) especially the cream of mushroom because we also use it in some casseroles and it’s often sold out.

He bought the low sodium cream of mushroom soup A full case of the Crud... It has been horrible, but I am finally down to the last two cans! I have been forcing myself to eat it, and far more frequently than I would normally, just to get it gone. I briefly considered donating it to our local food bag program... but then realized I couldn’t do that to people. We may not salt things, or usually cook with salt, but some things are just not to be messed with!

Chicken Tax: Little Red this morning
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Little red is quite the looker. Thank you chicken tax!

Almost 40 years ago now my father had his first quadruple heart bi-pass. At that moment my mother, who did not understand any spice other than salt, removed all salt of any kind from her cooking. I did not understand what flavor was until I met Mrs BY Bob, but that is another story. Because my mother removed all salt from our diet as a family, to this day the smallest amounts of salt are immediately recognizable by me and things will taste salty to me with a minimal amount of salt. Mrs BY Bob loves to salt the pasta water and every time she tries to slip it by me, I comment on how it tastes a little salty to me. I tell this story to say that I would have gladly eaten your bland soup for you.

Chicken Tax

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you for your observations, @Shadrach! Has there been any benefit in regards to potential respiratory issues, they're not being together, breathing each other's air?

I don't have the same shoes, I have special outside run boots that stay outside, but my winter overclothes have been the same mostly, though I've not been handling the other flock as much since this began. So yes this sounds like I'm doing a partial quarantine. Hmmm. Well, Queenie does not seem to be sick, and the Buckeyes have not gotten sick either yet.

Today Queenie has been doing a low purring/growly sound a lot, with her beak closed. This amount of it is new. She stops when I go over to her and pay attention or scratch with her. I wonder if this a lonely sound? Given that maybe all this has been for naught, I could set up a see /no touch barrier in the Buckeye run and put her there tomorrow. I've been thinking about how to make a place for her to roost in the divided area when she could go there, maybe the dog crate on a stand, with cardboard around it and a roost bar up in there.

I was thinking that if you are going to keep her, you should start thinking about beginning the integration process. I'll be happy to help you build a plan if you would like.

 

[BY Bob]

I have a little problem, or maybe a big one... it’s definitely a BIG bad-big-bird. And it has been lurking. I am almost certain it’s a bald eagle, especially having listened to it squeak/squeal all morning. I delayed letting the chickens out even longer than usual this morning, and I went out armed with my nerf gun. I think it has figured out that the big plastic pointing thing had less range than the brown long pointing thing (.22) I’m considering dipping a nerf ball in varathane, hoping to increase the distance/impact... any thoughts?View attachment 2467635
To put this little birdie in perspective: View attachment 2467634
That’s about 130-150 feet up in the tree, from about 400 feet away... it has to be at least two or two and a half feet tall! Als DH got me more ammo for Christmas! (An attempt at redemption for the soup incident?)

I don't think the nerf gun will reach it with any impact. That is pretty far up there. I don't think that I have tried anything at that distance. You might be able to annoy it at best. Darn, that is a little scary. Does it come any closer?

 

[Ribh]

I was thinking that if you are going to keep her, you should start thinking about beginning the integration process. I'll be happy to help you build a plan if you would like.

I was thinking the same thing. I can only do a partial quarantine too & was thinking if everyone is still well you are probably ok to start integrating.