Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

That's chilly but not cold. At least not for us. Although I think @RoyalChick might still have some snow around.

Ha ha - no snow now. Still cold at night though!

 

[BY Bob]

I have been laughing so hard at this. I haven’t watched all the videos yet but I can’t stop laughing. As you say, WHY? Just why?

There are 3 boxes plus a 4th in the run. WHY!

I am very curious about @Shadrach thoughts.

 

[BY Bob]

Happy FBF!
Compliments of... RUBY!
View attachment 2670075

She’s doing so well, I’m just tickled!

I'm so happy for both of you.

That video really shows off her spectacular feathers. I really love her depth of color.

 

[RoyalChick]

There are 3 boxes plus a 4th in the run. WHY!

I am very curious about @Shadrach thoughts.

It would be very interesting to know what would happen if you removed the barrier between #1 and #2. Would #3 become favorite, or would they all pile in together into a bigger #1.

 

[BY Bob]

And you reinforced her... But then look @ some of the names my lot carry!

Indeed. You wonder why they are so nuts. They have to spell and pronounce their names!

 

[BY Bob]

Time that I took a pic of the barn/coop at nesting time. Jaffar and Emily are still in the run, for a late snack. (Explains why Emily is so big) !
View attachment 2670183

That is very cool. Thanks for sharing. I was not picturing them correctly.

 

[BY Bob]

I kind of want to die. Queenie was killed today, we think by a hawk. Butters may have been the first target but she escaped with a couple of big tufts of hackle feathers out of her neck. A hawk, we think THE hawk, came back and flew down towards the body, while I was gone digging a grave for Queenie, DH saw it and chased it away.

Spoiler: What likely happened and why I can't deal

We were home, out and about, and they were out in their yard. There was no sound that we heard, and it happened around the corner of the house just out of sight while we were moving the big wire run over to their yard to set it up there. We suddenly noticed we didn't see any chickens around, I went looking, only finding Queenie's body and seeing no others. Whatever it was had eaten some of her. But she was warm still, and limp except for her legs. Eventually one Buckeye came out of the coop box. The four had run into the coop tractor and up into the roosting enclosure, Butters far into the nest box. I need to check her body again but I found no blood, and she let me handle all of her except her neck area was very tender.

I am so sorry. I feel I got Queenie killed. And she is particularly dear to me. I have tried to let them be chickeny and also have been putting into place safety measures to try to minimize risk, which I knew there was - I accept that to some degree but I feel particularly guilty about putting the electric fencing not up to the back house deck. Peanut had tried to run under there before and encountered the fence. I had thought about doing that, but it would be in the way of gas deliveries and DH didn't want them hanging out on the deck and pooping on it. I think Queenie, who had also run to the house when there was a previous attack in this same area - another reason to not have widened the fence area to include this spot! - and she had run that way when this hawk came I think, and of course couldn't get past the net. There were fluff feathers there. She fought back though and made it halfway back towards the coop where she either died because of her injuries sustained already, or was overtaken again. I think Butters was attacked first and then Queenie, which makes her inability to escape due to what I did with the fencing, denying her the house which she probably had time to run to, really hard.

There aren't enough emojiis in the world

O my gosh. I'm so sorry. You gave her a wonderful place to live and friends to live with. I know it doesn't help but she was loved and cared for and she knew it.

I know all to well what you are feeling. I wish I could take it away for you.

 

[BY Bob]

Aww love the stories!!!
I have 5 hens all barred rocks.
Meanie (who was mean as a baby but very sweet now) and she loves cat treats .
Becka who was picked on as a baby chick by the others in the flock. I kept her because I felt bad for her and made an early connection. (I raised 16 chickens last summer for meat and kept 5 for eggs)
Laney, she's my favorite and loves to follow me and comes running for me whenever she sees me walking around, she's best buds with meanie.
Daliah- she's friends with bekah and is very protective of her.
Betsy-shes my biggest chicken and seems very motherly.

They all look the same but they all have certain markings that I can tell them apart by. They also have different personalities. They all love sunflowers and they seem like they enjoy music being played. This is them late last fall.

I have a real soft spot for Barred Rocks. They are very pretty and your tribe is no different.

 

[PlentifulPrairie]

I have a real soft spot for Barred Rocks. They are very pretty and your tribe is no different.

Thanks! Yeah, me too. My first ever chicken as a kid was a barred rock, it was a rooster (Jolly) and I'd play with him outside everyday... Swings, trampoline, sandbox, he'd ride on my bike handle bars..

 

[BY Bob]

So beautiful! I had a thing for birds long before becoming a chicken lady.

Me too. I have always loved birds. My yard is a song bird paradise.

My youngest daughter was home from college one summer and was sunbathing by the pool one morning after a late night out. She came in to get a drink of water comparing about the racket the song birds were making. They were so loud.

Her mother and I just laughed at her.