Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[MaryJanet]

I have a question for you @BY Bob and friends. I was looking at a medium coop build in the articles and it has pictures and the steps in story, should there be specs or not really for a home build coop? I just wonder if I’m blinded by the forest for the trees or the pics are the specs so to speak. I know I can’t build something yet, carpenter friend reliability, weather, money and husband, and if I build the living area a bit bigger then I will be enticed to add more chickens but I am just doing some research and found a coop/run I liked that with roaming would feel so perfect for our backyard size.

I often look at the coop articles too and I'm sure they're written by ordinary folks and some of them might not know how to write specs, I don't. When the tradies built the funrun for us, they must've done their own specs from my sketched out floor plan, measurements and pegs (I pegged it out for them).

 

[RoyalChick]

Sure, I would love to!

This is Bistro in the foreground who lays lovely blue eggs. Clara (left) is sharing a drink with Isabella, with Ruth in the background.
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This is Rema. I just noticed yesterday that her wattles are a different size. I wonder if that's common?
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This is Rosa in front and Louise, the Buff Orpington. I have four BOs and Louise is the only one who has never been broody!
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Here is a bonus fluffy butt courtesy of Isabella!
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Those are lovely ladies thank you for sharing!
It may just be me, but Isabella's rear end has feathers that look a bit like @MaryJanet's Ivy.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I just got the auto door this summer. It's an Ador Door. It works great for letting the girls out in the mornings, but I have to close it manually at night because I live so far north that we still have blue skies at bedtime and the closing sensor isn't triggered. I can set it for a delayed opening, but not to close early. Once September rolls around this won't be a problem.
It is a bit tricky getting the girls to go to bed when the sun is still shining! I sometimes bribe them to go into the coop with raisins. I don't do it every night, but often enough that they stampede after me when I go in the coop in the evening just in case !

I have had the same door for 4 years I think. It works great down here in the south.

Aside from whether the chickens will go in when you want them to, is there no clock setting option on this autodoor? Only a light sensor?

 

[MaryJanet]

And a throwback FBF pic. Snow needs a clean up , white, huge chicken was a silly oversight. I watched and she physically cannot reach her head far enough to get to her butt, thanks Nature . I thinks it’s all old though, since I’ve changed their feed all seems well but the history of old poop remains and I’m not ready to corner and snatch up this3+ kg chook yet. Last time while I held her on the chair in the run to try and fix it, Belle jumped up on my shoulder, trying to protect her/make sure she was ok. They are sisters like Bok and Penny, but they are their own type of sisters and damn I love them. View attachment 2752793
And I miss Penny and Bok

Shad's method is to gently crumble the poop cakes between his fingers. Dr Mark cleaned up Mary with a quick rip like taking off a band-aid. I bathed Sandy but afterwards thought it might've been a factor in the infection she was euthanized for. Ribh used scissors.

 

[BY Bob]

With a set-up like that I have to share how Dotty keeps her tail at full sail.
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This is my favorite picture of Daisy, the greatest hen ever's, fully fanned tail!

And another with her showing off the "U".

 

[Lexicon]

Those are lovely ladies thank you for sharing!
It may just be me, but Isabella's rear end has feathers that look a bit like @MaryJanet's Ivy.

Yes, they do look similar in that way. Maybe Ivy has a bit of Brahma in her background?

 

[Lexicon]

Aside from whether the chickens will go in when you want them to, is there no clock setting option on this autodoor? Only a light sensor?

There is only a timer for the delayed opening, but no clock option on this door. It's okay really because I like to check on them anyway!

 

[Blazinga]

Respiratory issues in chickens can spread easily I'm told. What did the vet advise for the others - to watch carefully?

I'm still supposed to watch them all, but he didn't think it was contagious.

 

[MaryJanet]

My history with leghorns is sadly riddled with tragedy. I will provide a brief synopsis of what happened with the first 6 chicks.

The plan was to keep 2 chickens and then donate the other 4 to the farm up the road from my parents house from where my very first chickens came. I regret this especially now as i have 6 chickens currently. With what occurred, we should have kept them all. So once the were old enough, I took the 4 pullets to the farm. Sadly, a fox got all 4 of them. I've been upset with the farmer ever since because he took no efforts to integrate or protect them. They knew nothing of foxes or the like having been raised by humans in a suburban back yard.

The two we kept were named Dolly and Trisha and they were beloved by my wife.
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Dolly would pass away in a hawk attack. They were free ranging in the backyard and I heard a ruckus. I came out of the house to find a hawk standing on Dolly's back. I had no idea that hawks could be predators to them as when I was young, there were no hawks.

We sourced a replacement leghorn, Elphie. Her and Trisha were mates for some time.
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Trisha would become egg bound and have a prolapse of her cloaca. I did the best I could with her and she would live a few weeks more but eventually we found her passed away in the run.

Trish's passing would lead to Daisy, The Greatest Hen Ever, joining us as Elphie's friend.
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Wonderful hens, such a sad story. I'm cranky at the farmer too.

 

[MaryJanet]

So I meant to post this yesterday, but it was quite a day. Will post on that separately.

Here is a little demo on some of the chicken cooling methods I use.

This front part of the yard gets all day, hot sun. It’s just too hot and dry here to keep it green. It would take too much water and we are in a severe drought.

I completely understand about water conservation. You deserve a trophy for your brown grass.