Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Just keep an eye on what's going on here

https://www.bhwt.org.uk/hen-adoption/

I have not found anything like that here in the US. Or at least not in the North East.

 

[RoyalChick]

Is it ok to bury some of the poop in during the winter? I heard it keeps them warm

Only warms up if it is actually hot composting which is hard to maintain in a dry coop.

 

[RoyalChick]

Ah! I forgot!

Tax
Baby Alice and Edwina
View attachment 2865444

Oooh baby Alice!
They are both adorable

 

[RoyalChick]

Ready

View attachment 2865447


Steady

View attachment 2865446

Go View attachment 2865445

That is a lovely series. Big jump!

 

[BY Bob]

I've been meaning to ask how Phyllis got on with the others when she reposted with them. How bad was the scuffling?

The last 2 nights Phyllis has roosted in the main coop so there have been no nighttime interactions. I am not pulling Phyllis off of a roost in the main coop of that is where she wants to be.

 

[rural mouse]

How can you feed 10 lbs of SFL to your small tribe? It must take a while to go through them. Yes, it’s cheaper in bulk quantities, but I can’t trust my PO Box to have 10 lbs delivered to me. (It’s a very small post office, in an even smaller town)

Order bees at the same time. I promise, you will get a call: GET DOWN HERE AND TAKE THESE BEES OUT YESTERDAY! Collect the mealy worms at the same time.

 

[BY Bob]

I've got to up my game with more choices, but I am more ready now. I think Butters is next, we'll see how it goes with her. She's acting standoffish today and yesterday, less willing to get in with the others in any activity, and resting more under the lilac bush when the others are still foraging. She has not squatted for me in over a week. Whereas Peanut and Popcorn both come over for a pet, Butters, although she has come over to say hi (or see if I've got anything good), she avoids my hand if I reach toward her. And I swear she has this worried, or "not happy" look in her expression/ demeanor, she sort of wants to join in but really can't do it with the gusto she had. Hazel looked a little like that. Maybe Butters is having an off day or two, or more likely the beginning of molting. Peanut hasn't molted at all either that I can tell. Popcorn had a very short molt where she exploded fluff feathers. Maybe she'll do more. Still watching Hazel's poops, but she is willingly eating lots of things now, just not the regular feed. She was pecking in either the oyster shell or the grit cup late today (couldn't see around the corner to see which).

Good catch on Butters. I bet you are correct and look forward to hearing so. I'm really glad to hear that Hazel is improving.

 

[BY Bob]

I just had the funniest experience. While I was keeping an eye on the chooks and ducks this evening, my mom took the opportunity to clean out my coop. She put a nice thick layer of new bedding in...and it has apparently ruined my chickens' lives.

I went out to collect the eggs at about 6:30 and it was getting pretty dark, yet every single chicken was out in the run. I didn't think much of it as I was getting the eggs, but as I walked out the coop door, one of my lavender orps walked in, took about four tentative steps into the shavings and then FREAKED OUT. She squawked and went flapping out the pop door. I was laughing so hard. Then I walked out in the run and tried to herd them to the pop door. They were just standing there looking at it like "We're not going in there!!" So I stuck one of my RIRs in there, but she came back out again. I put one of the buff orps and the lavender orp back in there and wouldn't let them come out. It was a game of chicken trying to walk back out and me gently pushing them back in. *Then* the automatic door starts coming down (slowly). The lavender orp is still trying to stick her head out, even as the door is getting closer and closer to closed.

Finally, the door decides that oops, there's still something (my arm) in the path and opens back up again. Meanwhile, I think the buff decided to flap up to the roost. After playing push the head back in with the lavender for a few more seconds, she decided oh hey, she can roost too. Once those two weren't trying to escape, it was a matter of putting in a chicken at a time and keeping her in there until she went to the roost. I was laughing so hard the entire time. Then I went in and told my mom about how she ruined their chickeny little lives by giving them too many shavings.

They just don't like changes.

 

[BY Bob]

Yes, it had changed in the carton without exactly decomposing in the traditional sense. It was several cartons of single-serve chocolate milk in a pantry area away from the kitchen and I had forgotten about it. The first carton smelled more or less okay when I opened it, nothing bad, no off-gassing. BUT I should have poured it out first and looked and then tasted a tiny bit, if it looked OK old ) I did not, and it did not. I had the jones for chocolate milk and I tossed it back to drink. Gaaaaaah! It had become a lumpy soupy off-tasting / tasteless mess. Luckily our kitchen sink easily converted to a hazardous materials safety eye wash mouth wash station.

Tax to come...

 

[rural mouse]

I use the deep litter method. But when I put new shavings in the coop, I just put it in one big pile, and let them kick it all around as they wish.

That's what I did with the straw last time.....then the found the rest of the bale....