Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

Hmmm... I have not yet had roosters. Holding him in your arm to assert dominance and get him comfortable being handled seems ok. But capturing him with the dog going crazy on the other side of the see-through fence seemed kind of mean and scary for the rooster. Especially when he needs to show the hens he can protect them. A little warped for me. However, remove the dog from the picture and don’t shove his head down and the rest seems ok. I could probably have a more valid response if I actually had roosters. LOL.

 

[micstrachan]

Momma hen so far has 4 of her eggs hatched. I've decided since she's doing such a good job hiding where she's at and I have to move over a board to even see her I'm going to wait until all are done hatching before I move her. I got a better look at Pickles and she did in fact inherit her daddy's feathered legs. The cinnamon brown color on her I was not expecting seeing how butter is such a bright yellow. This little girl will be very interesting to watch grow up. And yes, I'm referring to Pickles as a girl until she crows.
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OMG. Nothing is better in this world than a momma hen and her chicks. I love this.

 

[micstrachan]

Dancing? If I want to crash into people, I’ll go to Walmart!

Haha! I’m the opposite. I absolutely LOVE dancing!!!

 

[micstrachan]

It's a volcanic-type rock that absorbs ammonia and stores it as nitrogen...how, I don't know. but it works. I know the Z stands for zeolite. Then when you clean out the bedding and compost it, the nitrogen is there and is available to plants, and the pdz is just tiny rocks and is neutral....People use it in horse stalls all the time. BYC people use it often on poop boards, like cat litter, makes it easy to scoop and keeps the odor way down. I use granules, sprinkled on the litter in the run when necessary, and under the roost on the poop tray there topped with hemp. Here's a picture of a bag I googled. A search on BYC will provide a lot more information.
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BTW, I buy PDZ granules for HORSES. Exact same stuff, but for some reason less expensive without a chicken on the bag.

 

[micstrachan]

Sorry, Bob, I have my hands rather full here but here's a double header for you:​

Olivia & Titania.
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OMG. I want them!

 

[micstrachan]

Actually maybe @cfonts is in the best position to talk about heritage breeds - I was interested in finding out why so many chickens have survived there and it's because Kauai has no mongoose, unlike the other Hawaiian Islands. If I am gathering this correctly from some very brief reading, it is thought Polynesians brought Red Jungle Fowl to the Hawaiian Islands ages ago, and Europeans introduced some modern chicken breeds, but mostly the wild chickens grew in numbers after the '82 and '92 hurricanes where domesticated chickens got loose and lost. So there's interesting research being done with DNA analysis of the chicken populations there, and it's possible that Kauai may turn out to have an important pool of preserved Red Jungle Fowl genes that could be helpful to the rest of the world in bringing some sanity and health back to the world's over-bred and in-bred chickens. Apparently the remaining Red Jungle Fowl in their "native" places are suffering from lack of wild places to live and the introduction of domesticated chicken genes.
https://www.livescience.com/57669-animal-sex-kauai-chickens.html
https://research.msu.edu/invasive-feral-chickens-provide-evolutionary-insights/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.13096

Chicken tax for Mugshot Monday. I don't recall if I've posted this one before. From early February. Once again it is Hazel I think (and Queenie in front). @featherhead007 - I have figured out what it is about Hazel, and maybe it's a Buckeye thing - they have a strong brow, with full feathers. They look quite studious and serious, in a way. So when they are intent on something, their expression is extra-intense! (Or they look like they're mad at you )

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It is interesting - Hazel has appointed herself Patroller of Queenie, but I also find them often foraging together quite peacefully. Maybe that's self-interest on Hazel's part? Queenie grew up free-ranging, so maybe they know she knows how to find things. They do all instantly rush over when they think she's got something.

Things are fluid and not set in stone, but Popcorn and Butters are generally thick as thieves when foraging, more so than any other pair. I call them Partners In Crime. Peanut floats between these groups.

I agree with the strong brow on Buckeyes... kinda like Brahmas. Plus their muscular build. They are more like birds of prey than any of the other breeds I have.

 

[micstrachan]

Chick tax: Coco says “I’m free, but I’m still not sure about this “
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OMG, heart melting!

 

[micstrachan]

Here's a couple more babies.
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Mocha again

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Coffee Bean or Bean for short

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Latte

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Cappuccino

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Shiloh also has super fluffy cheeks.

So precious!

 

[micstrachan]

Yes. That is correct. Each camera has a battery and when it gets low I bring it inside and recharge it. I bought spare batteries so I can always swap out a battery for a newly charged one.
The base station requires power but I keep that in my garage - I actually do have power to the Chicken Palace but it is so dusty in there I wasn't confident the base station should sit in there and the garage is a perfectly fine place for it (about 200 feet away from the cameras).
Does that make sense @Marie2020?

How big is the base station? My husband would NEVER in a MILLION years tolerate something like that in the house (despite the MANY VISIBLE cords from two terrariums and two fish tanks in the kitchen, living room, and as if today, bedroom), and the garage has only one outlet. I’m considering buying some sort of solar set up that he can’t do anything about if I hide it somewhere.

 

[micstrachan]

Hi folks. Having trouble catching up. 50 pages to go and may have missed some stuff along the way. It was an unnerving morning, as TWO young birds (Flo, pullet and Minnie, less than 2-year-old) were clearly NOT feeling well. For some reason my neighbor had thrown brown rice all over his yard and they got into it the previous two late afternoons. I have worked way too hard to slim them down and keep them healthy for them to have unlimited access to uncooked rice, so today I kept them home (except Dorothy and Ester who are not contained by my rinky dink poultry fence.) I thought they might be backed up, so mixed baby bird formula with water and coconut oil into a paste thinking the coconut oil would lubricate the GI tract. Flo improved pretty early, but Minnie took all day. Here she is with her droopy wings and tail:

And here she is at the end of the day.

I don’t know for sure that the rice was the issue, but it was the young birds hanging out in that area yesterday and two young ones were sick.