Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Look at the ugly weather that me and Chaco had to breathe today (index said unhealthy) View attachment 2853716

That looks awful.

 

[featherhead007]

That looks awful.

not good for my sinuses, that’s for sure!

 

[featherhead007]

not good for my sinuses, that’s for sure!

Ever had a horse sneeze on you? It’s not pretty! (Just saying)

 

[BY Bob]

(I usually find bats in my garage, my barns, and had one even in the coop a month ago) But this is a chicken forum so…..

Are you the Bat Man?

 

[BY Bob]

Ever had a horse sneeze on you? It’s not pretty! (Just saying)

I imagine snot.

 

[featherhead007]

Are you the Bat Man?

Nope. I’m not the Batman! (I’m more like the Lone Ranger) HiYo, Chaco!

 

[featherhead007]

I imagine snot.

With a nose like hers, there’s a lot of snot!

 

[featherhead007]

With a nose like hers, there’s a lot of snot!

But her breath smells of carrots and apples

 

[LozzyR]

I've had so much grief over this issue.
In one of my early posts on this site I laid out a few basics for happy chicken keeping. In that list was "don't mix breeds". Needless to say I was dodging the bricks for quite a while.
The first problem is lots of people will tell you they have mixed breed flocks and their world is full of shiney happy chickens; mostly hens it seems here.
The first step perhaps is to make quite clear that "can" and "shouldn't" mean different things.
Next one has to go through the rather long and tiresome process of outlining when one can and when one shouldn't. I don't have the patience for it on the general threads. People want what people want and no advice with regard to the welfare of the chickens is welcome, nor is considerable experience of my own and many other keepers who also follow the basic tenet.
My experience and the experience of many others, including people with mixed breed flocks is given the choice, roughly, breeds will stick together. There is even a little saying to go with it: Birds of a feather stick together.
Not many people want to read this. What they want is oh sure, everything will be fine. You do what you want to do. It's your right etc etc etc......
Imo your best option nowis to at least house your Polish hens seperately from the others. But, there is no guarantee that Phyllis will get on with the newcomers. There is a better chance I think of Phyllis getting on with them than there is of your original hens accepting them. I could be wrong.
Should you decide to rehome Phyllis then you will probably end up with the same problem with the new pPolish chicks at some point.

Even with the mixed flock of Ex Batts and rescues I'm doing what I can with now, the divisions are obvious if one looks hard enough.

In my (very) limited experience, this seems to ring true. When I introduced two new ISA Browns to my existing one, there was no aggression, no pecking order. That changed dramatically when I introduced new breeds. Even though I don’t have ISAs anymore, that hasn’t changed. Charlie asserts her dominance over the Faverolles.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I took some pictures tonight to show the main roosting setup. For those who do not know, when the barn shut down we had to move our horses. Everyone was given roughly a months notice. Everyone at the barn was left scrambling trying to find a new place to board, and frankly there were not many options and outrageous prices for what I consider questionable care. Ok, our standards may be different but still, the best option was to attach a barn to the back of our house. It is not fully enclosed in, only 3 sides but the open area is blocked from wind by the mountain. The roost that Butter is on is about 12 feet high. She is the queen of that roost. Towards the front is another roost that Daisy, Holly and now Basil sleep on. When Bunny is not broody she sleeps with Butter and 90% of the time Momma hen is also on Butter's Roost. In these pictures notice the positioning. Butter has placed herself between Blueberry and Creamy. Bubba and the silkies sleep either under Butter or huddled right next to her. Between Bubba and Butter, no one messes with the silkies at night.