Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

A few updates from the Chicken Palace just now.
I got 100% confirmation that Maggie did indeed lay an egg this morning. I just went back out and there were 3 more eggs in the nest boxes. One blue underneath the brown poop (that would be Dotty who is clearly not growing out of this issue), and two brown. So that means all 3 of the older Princesses laid a brown egg for me today. Really hoping Bob is right and it is a good sign on Maggie's health.
It is waaaay too cold for me to tinker with the electric fence or mark out the chicken garden. It isn't really that cold - about 28 degrees F - but there is a nasty wind and the weather channel says with wind chill it feels like 18 degrees F. I can confirm the weather channel knows what it is talking about. So I have come in to thaw out.
I think I will do an indoor chicken task instead and figure out what I have in my chicken medical box and see what else I need to get.

That really is fabulous news. I'm so happy for you and Maggie.

 

[WhoDatChick]

Hey everybody! I have caught up a bit... I don’t go too far back.. that is too overwhelming for me! So I’m sure I have missed a good bit!
I’m sure this will make you so pleased Bob.. here are the Brady Bunch eggs... Olive Eggers... as you can see they are not olive but they are three different shades of greenish tan ... and that “brown” one is not brown.. they appear so different in photos..

 

[RoyalChick]

Hey everybody! I have caught up a bit... I don’t go too far back.. that is too overwhelming for me! So I’m sure I have missed a good bit!
I’m sure this will make you so pleased Bob.. here are the Brady Bunch eggs... Olive Eggers... as you can see they are not olive but they are three different shades of greenish tan ... and that “brown” one is not brown.. they appear so different in photos..View attachment 2500030

That would be the pretty Brady Bunch. Right?

 

[Shadrach]

Finally, some chickens... Roostie is feeling better enough to do a little fence fighting with Sammy. And one of his hens was on the wrong side of the fence. They know they can just walk around it, but would rather have their little showdown from the relative safety of their own side of the fence!

Initially it was just the two hens scrapping, and I thought I had my camera going. Then they went still, and I saw I hadn’t actually recorded anything! That’s ok, after a solid stare down they decided to go for round 2...

It probably shouldn't but this made me laugh. It was the hens that did it.

 

[Shadrach]

In seeing this, Bok’s tail is ratty. She’s only ever done a soft moult but like her head being bald, new feathers haven’t grown back. I’m only mentioning it here because it’s been 12+ months and none of it is regrowing. Maybe she’s just a bit defective in the feather department.
You can see in the photos how the shafts are still there and there is still feather at the base underneath but none on the ends.
I have no idea why, she doesn’t care but I miss her beautiful full tail.

I think that will sort itself out when she has a full moult.

 

[Shadrach]

I lost my darling Daisy, the greatest hen ever, to complications from salpingitis. The rapid egg laying is a death sentence for most of them as so many things go wrong. It is crushing when you know there is nothing you can do to fix what's wrong with them. You have my deepest sympathies.

My Lilly has pretty much stopped laying and I'm thrilled. I hope she is with us for years to come.
View attachment 2499545

I think I like Lilly best.

 

[Kris5902]

They seem to be very nervous about you being behind them. Do they have a good reason to be? Has something happened in the past?

Really, it’s more that they know I bring treats and if they want some they need to face me to see where they land. They are more confused by my attempts to photograph their fluffy little backend. Which makes participating in fluffy butt Friday quite a challenge!

That was quite a video. I'm glad you captured that. Makes me a little less stunned by Aurora and Hattie's fight.

The other point is that these two girls are from fairly separate “tribes”. Roostie has never roosted in with Sammy, and Sammy had a thing going for Roostie’s previous CX Gfriends (same color as Sammy, if an entirely different body type), which has created a bit of a grudge between them. What I usually see is hen fence fighting behaviors between dominant hens in different Tribes and the girls in the different breeding tractors. I only rarely see this sort of thing among the larger free range flock, and then it’s usually the pullets sorting out their hierarchy or trying to move into a specific tribe within the greater flock. If that makes any sense?

So I have an overall flock of 47 chickens all sharing a coop, 4 of which are Boys. Those boys all have core groups of ladies, 4~7 hens, their own “tribes” that they mostly stick to during the day. Some girls just go off on their own a bit or float between the guys depending on who has found what interesting it’s bit of food. The new Meat rescues hang out right by the coop most of the time, and usually hookup with Dean, but aren’t really a part of his core tribe. I also have Roostie free ranging, but with a separate roosting arrangement with his tribe of 9 girls. The Orange fencing you see him fence fighting through is temporary and was mostly used to keep him “safe” during his convalescence. He went from a small yard completely fenced to now just a line of fence running between his hospital tractor and where the other free rangers are usually fed in the morning.
Cass and Tribe:

Roostie and Tribe 30’ away from Cass

Dean and his Tribe mingling with the Meat Rescues by the trailer coop

Sammy and his Tribe hanging out 30’ or so from Cass, with the layer breeder tractors in the background... you can see the same buff girl from the hen fight here antagonizing some of Chickie Hawks ladies in the background.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

I purchased myself a custom coffee mug for Christmas. It arrived today...

 

[Kris5902]

You potty trained a goat!

She certainly is working on it. Pretty cool right!

Night time we have her quite well trained to not pee the bed, but in the mornings as we are getting up she will want to pee beside DH’s side of the bed (without the litter box). Daytime is a bit More of a challenge though (my own fault for leaving the BIL jacket on a chair) She doesn’t pee in the truck anymore.so it’s still a mixed bag. I’m buying some diapers on the next town trip I think! She used the cat litter box once, we are training her to one with rags to absorb the liquid, as they hold a lot more liquid than a kitty.

 

[featherhead007]

So...... New chick delivery on Feb. 4th (From a hatchery) I wonder if I have the patience, to wait that long?
.

(Probably not)