Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

Just to share the various supplements we've just introduced (fingers crossed they work and then we can all happily reference later for all posterity)

To add into waterer #1...oregano elixir View attachment 2746110


To add into waterer #2...apple cider vinegar:

View attachment 2746120


To sprinkle where they range(calcium, vitamins A D and E)...View attachment 2746108



To add to layer pellets in feeder (kelp for probiotics and vitamins)..View attachment 2746109


And of course oyster shell...(which the flipping birds have had free access to ever since laying but apparently don't like to use a feeder for so now I have to toss on the ground because THAT makes it more interesting ) View attachment 2746121

Thank you.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

What breed is Princess, Kat? I keep losing track of everyone's flocks.

Princess is a Light Brahma (there are two of them). She is the one with the crippled leg so I have special “adaptive” quarters for her.

 

[Marie2020]

See you tomorrow everyone

 

[featherhead007]

What can I do? I was checking on the chickens, and Coco jumped up on my shoulder as I was walking into the house. I guess she wanted to come visit me for a while. So she’s sitting in my lap. I kinda wish she’d shaken her (dust bath dirt) off first!

 

[featherhead007]

See you tomorrow everyone

 

[MaryJanet]

The heat index is also known as the apparent temperature. It measures what the temperature feels like to the body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature.

This has important considerations for cooling. When the body gets too hot, it begins to perspire or sweat to cool itself off. If the perspiration is not able to evaporate, the body cannot regulate its temperature.

Evaporation is a cooling process. When perspiration is evaporated off the body, it effectively reduces the body's temperature. When the atmospheric moisture content (i.e. relative humidity) is high, the rate of evaporation from the body decreases.

The body actually feels cooler in arid conditions. There is direct relationship between the air temperature and relative humidity and the heat index, meaning as the air temperature and relative humidity increase (decrease), the heat index increases (decreases).

The phrase, "It's a dry heat" comes from this.

Around here we usually have very high humidity when we get high heat. It is that much harder to cool off.

Having never moved from Adelaide where the temps are high and the humidity low, when I started travelling around for work, I was appalled by an English summer of temps I would shrug off at home (around 30C) with high humidity. I was very surprised! I was so grateful for the desk fan provided by the hotel.

Side story: I prefer to stay in family run hotels in quaint old buildings near the centre of town whenever I'm in the UK. I'm sure the bigger hotels are fully air-conditioned, but they don't remember me from one trip to the next.

 

[featherhead007]

What can I do? I was checking on the chickens, and Coco jumped up on my shoulder as I was walking into the house. I guess she wanted to come visit me for a while. So she’s sitting in my lap. I kinda wish she’d shaken her (dust bath dirt) off first!

I am amazed, how tame my chickens are. Every one of them, love to be petted, and sit on or near me, as close as they can.

 

[MaryJanet]

It is about this famous French rooster. I was following this closely at the time.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/06/maurice-rooster-france-lawsuit/

What a sensible outcome!

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Here's a nuggets update. I have 2 silver based and 1 gold based.

This is the boy (I think)

These are the girls (I hope)

 

[MaryJanet]

You know what, I’m not even anxious any more. I know her days are numbered and will keep supporting her the best I can.

I'm so happy to hear this! They do live much shorter lives than we do. It's important to adjust to loss if at all possible. I know it's hard, but if we don't we'll be a mess year in, year out. I've already lost 4 (3 in a fox raid, 1 to reproductive infection) and I've only been keeping chooks for a few years.