Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[MaryJanet]

What to do.....What to do.....What to do.....

Thank You @RebeccaBoyd for the advice on closing off the nest box. I am actually considering closing off the entire end of the coop. I can then provide food, water, and a place to dustbathe all her own. They could all use Nest box #3 to lay their eggs. I can staple up some chicken wire to segregate Phyllis off. The only downside to that is that Phyllis would be stuck in the coop itself for the duration. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

Actions Which I Have Taken

I simply do not feel good enough about Phyllis being a reliable broody to get eggs for her to hatch. Therefore I had started watching the available chick supply. When I started looking yesterday there were maybe 10 Polish chicks available through the end of September. When I check this morning there were maybe 5. Only 2 within a date range that would line up with Phyllis in any way at all. So I bought them. On Aug 3rd, one of each of these will be arriving.

Buff Laced Polish
View attachment 2752044

White Crested Black Polish
View attachment 2752194


This left me with another issue. It is a 3 bird minimum for shipping. Chicken math is a real problem!

There were no other Polish available on that date. I was stuck. What to do for a third bird?

I thought.....

• I need a smaller bird like the Polish
• If it had weird head feathers that would help it to fit in
• What is available on that ship date, not a lot........

Spoiler: Here is My Solution

View attachment 2752045

A Frost White Legbar!

I am taking one more run at the elusive blue egg. Plus, I am going to have another white chicken very similar to my dear white leghorns.

They will arrive 25 days from when Phyllis started. Hopefully she will still be broody at that time, I can slip them under her at night, and she will accept them as her own. One of them will sure look like her.

I have not tried the slip in at night since I was a young lad on the farm. Hopefully Phyllis is as accepting as Speck was. If not, then Rose and I will be raising some chicks again. At least this time we will be able to raise them out in the run once the new coop is done and not have to keep them in the house for weeks.

This is how I am interpreting what the universe has told me to do. It is full of compromises everywhere. Ifs and thens are all over this plan. I am very apprehensive that I have missed something but the real failsafe is that no matter what, Rose and I can raise the chicks if I have no broody. I could have had a real disaster if I went with fertile eggs and Phyllis gave up the ghost.

What does everyone think?

Best plan ever!

 

[MaryJanet]

No frizzles? It sounds like a workable compromise. I know how you love chicks so this works out. However I thought only the cream Legbar lays blue eggs??? Everyone else lays cream or white. Maybe I've remembered wrong.

I also thought cream legbars lay blue eggs and the other legbars don't.

 

[MaryJanet]

I can barely find polish let alone frizzles.

19 out of 20 Frost Legbars lay blue eggs.........100% of Cream Legbars lay blue eggs.

I hate settling for best I could do. However, if I did not act today, I would be waiting until next year because there would be no Polish around. Plus, I'd love to take advantage of Phyllis being broody. I really hope that she will raise them for me.

I did not know that! Seems like blue eggs are very likely

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I also thought cream legbars lay blue eggs and the other legbars don't.

My Pet Chicken has on their web site for Frosted Legbars - "Frost White Legbars are a rare color sport of Cream Legbars, and they lay absolutely gorgeous, blue-tinted eggs. The "frost white" plumage is a color recognized in the UK, but not (yet!) in the US."
So they are some sub-category of Cream Legbar?

 

[BY Bob]

How exciting! I am happy for you. You have a new adventure! The coop expansion is on schedule?

Thoughts (as a newbie, take with a grain of salt!) --

1. Phyllis. If she is isolating herself, then maybe her being kept in the half-coop won't feel bad to her. But if she's only half-broody, then she will want to get out and about and do her thing too, and that she won't like. Have you checked her schedule for photo-shoot appointments? That could be a clue. International flights anywhere? She may be wanting to party and be seen, jet-set style. She isn't booked for an appearance on @featherhead007's brother's yacht, is she?

2. New crew addition for Fluffy Butt Acres. Very nice looking group. I did guess a legbar (based on limited knowledge of @RoyalChick's two roadrunners (?) and your clues), but wasn't guessing white, that could have been an obvious pick but I didn't think you wanted anyone that resembled TGHE. Of course I have a soft spot for the buff laced polish. You are going for the "there are so many different kinds of chickens here, nobody really stands out as weird anymore" strategy, correct?

My only real worry is your thought of putting them under "Mother" Phyllis (now there's a new label!). Even if her schedule looks clear she may not be broody enough. What about @RebeccaBoyd 's experience with Henrietta wanting to kill the chick put under her when she seemed half-broody? But you do have quite a bit of time to watch her and gauge her broodiness. I'd still want to be there - practically in the coop with her - well before she wakes up to protect the chicks.

So much to reply to!

1. I do need to check her online schedule. That would be a good clue to her intentions. Once I segregate the coop tomorrow I'm going to have to keep a good watch on her when she gets up. Fortunately the main coop is plenty big enough.

2. It is not the white chicken but the Leghorn. With her top not of feathers I believe that she will look different enough for me. I thought about a Snowy Easter Egger but they are too big to hang with the polish the way I'm hoping the Legbar will. I do find white chickens extremely attractive.

I am a little off on the "lots of strange makes everyone normal tract" aren't I. That was not intentional. I was thinking size but not bantam. It really limited what I could do. That plus availability led to Legbar. I could have gotten the Cream Legbar but what fun is guaranteed blue eggs?

The process of putting them under Phyllis will require 100% observation to make certain that nothing untoward occurs. It will be an early morning for BY Bob. I am planning to place them under her before sunrise when it is still dark out. I can then sit in a chair by the coop and watch what happens on camera.

 

[BY Bob]

Best plan ever!

Thanks MJ.

 

[BY Bob]

I did not know that! Seems like blue eggs are very likely

Please don't jinx me.

 

[featherhead007]

How exciting! I am happy for you. You have a new adventure! The coop expansion is on schedule?

Thoughts (as a newbie, take with a grain of salt!) --

1. Phyllis. If she is isolating herself, then maybe her being kept in the half-coop won't feel bad to her. But if she's only half-broody, then she will want to get out and about and do her thing too, and that she won't like. Have you checked her schedule for photo-shoot appointments? That could be a clue. International flights anywhere? She may be wanting to party and be seen, jet-set style. She isn't booked for an appearance on @featherhead007's brother's yacht, is she?

2. New crew addition for Fluffy Butt Acres. Very nice looking group. I did guess a legbar (based on limited knowledge of @RoyalChick's two roadrunners (?) and your clues), but wasn't guessing white, that could have been an obvious pick but I didn't think you wanted anyone that resembled TGHE. Of course I have a soft spot for the buff laced polish. You are going for the "there are so many different kinds of chickens here, nobody really stands out as weird anymore" strategy, correct?

My only real worry is your thought of putting them under "Mother" Phyllis (now there's a new label!). Even if her schedule looks clear she may not be broody enough. What about @RebeccaBoyd 's experience with Henrietta wanting to kill the chick put under her when she seemed half-broody? But you do have quite a bit of time to watch her and gauge her broodiness. I'd still want to be there - practically in the coop with her - well before she wakes up to protect the chicks.

My brother said that I cannot bring any chickens on the trip (not even Phyllis)

 

[MaryJanet]

Please don't jinx me.

I take it all back.

 

[featherhead007]

So much to reply to!

1. I do need to check her online schedule. That would be a good clue to her intentions. Once I segregate the coop tomorrow I'm going to have to keep a good watch on her when she gets up. Fortunately the main coop is plenty big enough.

2. It is not the white chicken but the Leghorn. With her top not of feathers I believe that she will look different enough for me. I thought about a Snowy Easter Egger but they are too big to hang with the polish the way I'm hoping the Legbar will. I do find white chickens extremely attractive.

I am a little off on the "lots of strange makes everyone normal tract" aren't I. That was not intentional. I was thinking size but not bantam. It really limited what I could do. That plus availability led to Legbar. I could have gotten the Cream Legbar but what fun is guaranteed blue eggs?

The process of putting them under Phyllis will require 100% observation to make certain that nothing untoward occurs. It will be an early morning for BY Bob. I am planning to place them under her before sunrise when it is still dark out. I can then sit in a chair by the coop and watch what happens on camera.

Bob, what ever birds you find, cannot match Phyllis in any way. The Golden Laced Polish, is what I believe Rose would like.