Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

It's Friday here. Happy FBF!

View attachment 2881578
Please excuse Alice's dirty bottom.

She's still lovely.

 

[rural mouse]

Twirp's fluff while she explores nest sites. She hasn't laid yet, but is prepping.

And yesterday morning after opening the coop and turning off the lamp. Taken from under the yard light (which is blue toned) . How many birds can you find?

This is when an auto door would be nice, but seeing them evening and morning helps keep on top of crop monitoring.

 

[BY Bob]

Yes I do! But I have loads of turkey vultures and I think I often mistakenly worry when it is them. I know them when they land, it is in flight I struggle. I know crows just fine ‘cos of how they fly.

The difference between a turkey vulture and red tailed hawk is easy to identify when they are flying. The underside feathers of a turkey vulture are black. The underside feathers of a red tailed hawk are cream colored.

 

[BY Bob]

My attempt to check in on the big roost has been thwarted by Minnie who has decided to sleep up against the camera. She must be able to hear when I activate the camera because she turned around to glare at me.
View attachment 2881633View attachment 2881634View attachment 2881635

The cameras emit a light of some kind that I believe they can see at night. If you have one camera pointed at another one that is on at night you can see the light beam. It's blue.

 

[BY Bob]

Tegan’s Adventures

So Tegan’s had a big week. I didn’t mention it at the time but last week she had a trip to the vet. She was making this really weird wheezing noise and after what happened to Charlie, I thought it prudent we had a vet visit. I was delighted to hear that Dr Nikki was back for a few shifts, so we went and saw her. She checked her out and said she couldn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary, her breathing sounded clear. So home we came and she was very pleased to be let out.

View attachment 2881641

She seems back to normal, and of course she’s gone broody again.

That's a week of big events for a lady. I'm glad to hear that she is ok.

 

[BY Bob]

Twirp's fluff while she explores nest sites. She hasn't laid yet, but is prepping.View attachment 2881646

And yesterday morning after opening the coop and turning off the lamp. Taken from under the yard light (which is blue toned) . How many birds can you find?View attachment 2881647
This is when an auto door would be nice, but seeing them evening and morning helps keep on top of crop monitoring.

I see 3. Is that correct?

 

[RoyalChick]

And while geese are big too, they aren't a threat to the chickens, and make so much noise flying and fly in such distinct formations, I can't see @RoyalChick NOT being able to id those.

Yup I am good with geese and crows. It soaring big birds overhead that challenge me specifically. Hawk vs Turkey Vulture. Owl vs eagle. This is definitely on my self improvement list. Unfortunately that is a long list!

 

[RoyalChick]

The difference between a turkey vulture and red tailed hawk is easy to identify when they are flying. The underside feathers of a turkey vulture are black. The underside feathers of a red tailed hawk are cream colored.

Yes. So I can see in my field guide. But up against a blue sky all I see is a black silhouette. Or maybe they are all Turkey Vultures.
Maybe my eyesight is the issue. Maybe binoculars would help.
This is embarrassing.

 

[RoyalChick]

The cameras emit a light of some kind that I believe they can see at night. If you have one camera pointed at another one that is on at night you can see the light beam. It's blue.

Yes - the info on it says animals can't see it - but I now have pretty definitive proof that is untrue. A cat, a chicken and a raccoon have all shown quite specific awareness of the light.

 

[RoyalChick]

I see 3. Is that correct?

I see three as well - but given I cannot see black vs cream feathers on a big bird overhead, that may not be reliable!