Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

My point exactly...I have been drug into 'modern ages' kicking & screaming the whole way! Technology (and Work) has now invaded my entire life...not just work life, but work has invaded my personal life, too. Before COVID & 'zoom meetings', etc. I managed to keep the 2 separate. Not anymore, and I hate that invasion! I still don't own a cell phone (well, technically I do...I own a very old tracphone that no longer has the technology to make calls, but I keep it because it can make 911 connections. I only own that because I had to drive cross country alone about 15 years ago & bought it for safety.)

Also, as a side rant: no one knows how to do math anymore, nor if an answer is reasonable. They let calculators do the work, and never question an answer. REALLY? You buy 3 - 1 cubic ft. bags of potting soil to fill your 8 ft. by 4 ft. by 6 in. raised bed and you have soil left over?

Your bill at the register is $15.21 You give the cashier a $20 bill, then realize you have the 21 cents. They stare at you like you just asked them to give you their liver when you hand them the 21 cents!

Technology is great...but only if you use it as a tool, not a crutch!


Rant tax: Mugs for MondayView attachment 2978789View attachment 2978790View attachment 2978805View attachment 2978806View attachment 2978809

Handsome roo

 

[BY Bob]

I’m just going to leave this here…
View attachment 2979765
Off a local poultry lovers page I follow on fb. That poor mumma will be run off her feet!!!

That's a lot of babies! I'm tired just thinking about it!

 

[BY Bob]

On Jan 22 I decided to try the Flockstar app to keep track of eggs and chicken health etc. Minnie had laid one of her teeny eggs the day before and I put it in the app as the first entry.
Haven’t had an egg from anyone since.

They heard and are keeping you from using it!

 

[BY Bob]

Yesterday's mug, forgot to postView attachment 2979834
Jessica is definitely broody, has at least 1 white egg under her, isn't pecking at me but is steadfastly refusing to be encouraged off the nest. Temp at coffee brewing time: 11F. Location of the nest: upper bank of boxes above the crock pot. Honestly, I'll be shocked if anything hatches, let alone survives the early days, but if she goes this easy now, it bodes well for the summer.

He is so handsome.

 

[rural mouse]

Ouchie. Just interested: Roosters never molt, right?

Awesome!

Wrong. They molt. He just hasn't been successful in growing in new neck feathers. At least where he lives it rarely freezes. He also gets pampered so likely spends the cold nights inside watching movies and eating mealy worm laced popcorn.

 

[Ponypoor]

Ummm, nope, not even close to one day's haul!

I have a few more chickens than you...I'm getting between 28 - 34 chicken eggs per day atm, and was getting 3 duck eggs most days, but just had another of my August hatch start, so now getting 3 or 4 duck eggs per day. I presently have 91 birds: 9 ducks, 1 of which is a drake, 2 of the hens will be 5 in April,(no longer lay in the winter) 1 hen will be 2 in June, and the rest were July (2 - both laying now) or august(3 - 1 of which just started laying Sat.) hatches. And I have 82 chickens, 9 of which are Roos, and the girls range in age from 5 & 1/2 months up to almost 5 yrs. old. My molters (4) and my older (3 yrs. and up) girls aren't laying now, and a couple of the heavier breed newbies aren't laying yet. I expect that by the end of Feb, I will be getting 50+ chicken eggs per day. I sell some - I was just barely keeping up with demand late fall.early winter...but the surplus that I will have this spring will either go into the incubator (I am planning on breeding my own instead of buying hatchery, plus I am starting developing my own meat breed - will be breeding 2nd and 3rd gens this year). Extra beyond that goes 1 of 2 places: a colleague at work is really struggling financially ( she is part-time, no benefits!), so I give her 1-2 doz. per week, and I donate the others to my church's food pantry. (Well, I give some to my elderly neighbors year round, too...and sometimes family, etc...you know how that goes.)

Wow that's awesome! Now that is a flock!

I think it's great you have the ability to support your community

 

[rural mouse]

But in all my years of having chickens, my roosters never seemed to molt.

Slow molt rather than fast. easier to see when the only feathers showing up can only match the rooster

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

BFTP:
Oh, my, Toothy jr is quite fetching! I've seen ( and Love) Drumstick...but this is the first I've seen Toothless & his son! What breed/cross is Toothy Jr? He looks quite leggy, is he part game?

Yes Toothy Jr was half game, Old Momma hen was his and Snickers mother. Toothless was a easter egger x Wyandotte cross.

 

[bgmathteach]

Handsome roo

Thank you! He is a VERY sweet boy. Mix of Cuckoo marans, white rock & dark cornish. He is short, but VERY heavy....I didn't intend to keep him when he hatched as a chick (Momma was DC/WR cross, daddy Cuckoo marans), but he is now going to be one of my foundation stock for my meat bird endeavour. He will live until he passes naturally!

Suggestions for a name? I never thought of one that seemed to fit.....but since he is a keeper, I think he needs one.

 

[Ponypoor]

Yesterday's mug, forgot to postView attachment 2979834
Jessica is definitely broody, has at least 1 white egg under her, isn't pecking at me but is steadfastly refusing to be encouraged off the nest. Temp at coffee brewing time: 11F. Location of the nest: upper bank of boxes above the crock pot. Honestly, I'll be shocked if anything hatches, let alone survives the early days, but if she goes this easy now, it bodes well for the summer.

A handsome little man

I have my two silkies steadfastly loving a golf ball between the two of them in the same nest box. I have left them to it as its been so cold and they are missing feathers. So they are now into a couple weeks doing this.

Twice a day I haul them off their nest to eat, drink and poop, then they race back to their nest box and snuggle back together positioning that golf ball tenderly

I am almost tempted to find some chicks for them, but it is waaaay too early for chicks here. Still getting -25C temps.

Well keep us updated as to egg status - I live vicariously through those hatching eggs