Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

I found it. Congratulations!
Link copied here I think.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poultry-shaming-contest.1503805/post-25378389

Yep, that’s it. Thanks RC

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

You Can't Go Home Again

Not if Aurora is running things.

Every evening when I have all the ladies out to free range, the big girls go to bed first. Tonight, for example, Hattie and Lilly were actually roosted when I opened the door to let them out. Lilly did come out but Hattie was not having it. She stayed roosted.

So usually the bigs all roost, I close of access to their site of the coop, and the Polish eventually find their way to the Cluckle hut and go to bed via the door to the big run.

Something New Happened Tonight
Tonight when Sydney went in and roosted, Phyllis went in and roosts a well. Here she is next to Hattie on the main roost.

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Well I started the camera and recorded what happened when Aurora realized Phyllis was in there on the roost. It takes Aurora 4 minutes to fully evict Phyllis from the coop.

So she wound up in the Cluckle Hut with Betty.

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Something in the Air

Betty was also looking for alternate roosting locations tonight. Everyone new chicken tries roosting here but decides it won't work. Betty came to a similar conclusion and went to bed in the Hut.

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@Ribh @Aussie-Chookmum @MaryJanet @LozzyR @micstrachan @ChicoryBlue @Shadrach

Poor Phyllis. At least she has her own place and a feathered buddy to snuggle up to.

 

[featherhead007]

I woke up with the same dream I have been having lately. About an English teacher who I was (very fond) of in high school. Does anyone have dreams? I seriously need an interpretation of this! Lately I’ve had the same recurring dream

 

[kk+chickens]

This scene greeted me at the coffee pot this morning.

Someone is very proud of having partied with his lady friend!

it’s really cool that you’re posting this cuz i’ve been having a hard time finding pics of what my little guy is gonna look like (he’s got the same coloring, easter egger, but only about 16 weeks old)

 

[featherhead007]

I woke up with the same dream I have been having lately. About an English teacher who I was (very fond) of in high school. Does anyone have dreams? I seriously need an interpretation of this! Lately I’ve had the same recurring dream

Off topic “Chicken tax”:

 

[rural mouse]

How many chickens have you got now? I was looking at your thread for a bit trying to catch up but it was a little overwhelming (I’ve missed SO much… I absolutely don’t know how some people start at the beginning of threads and actually catch up!)

1 thread at a time...the bigger challenge is staying caught up on the 1, while catching up on a 2nd...

 

[rural mouse]

1 thread at a time...the bigger challenge is staying caught up on the 1, while catching up on a 2nd...

I haven't managed that yet.

 

[rural mouse]

Egg update.

May have chicks sooner than I thought. Last night, Jess was turning them every 5 min and talking softly to them every time she turned them...

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Monday Mugs & SHRA taxes

I have switched to a treadle feeder, because of moles, at least I think they are moles. Tiny, tiny eyes, very short tails, and go about finding food by smell. Can't keep them out with this setup, if there is a way, at least for winter I think I'm stuck. I found them coming in under the skirt of the moveable coop run in broad daylight. Taking food away for the night obviously wasn't working. I fear weasels following the moles. I think the chickens are safe in the coop at night, though it is double-walled plastic. I am considering setting up the electric moveable netting around everything, but getting it into the ice and frozen ground (shale driveway) seems really, really hard, and would have to be moved or carefully shoveled every time it snowed. The solar charger for it is useless this time of year, means charging it every day. Maybe a plug-in conversion kit is possible.

Butters today. She was the first to "get" how to use the feeder. She is the most calm and least wary. Also the biggest hen, I think she eats more. She was hitting the crushed eggshells a lot the last couple weeks and just started laying again.
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Peanut's neck, mostly. Her face is still filling in from her molt. Peanut is Alpha hen, and she also learned the feeder very quickly. She and Butters eat side-by-side first thing in the morning. Hazel nips in from the side corner when these two are eating.
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Popcorn, bottom hen, learned right after Butters. She would step on it and start eating, then get booted off by Peanut and Hazel, and the treadle would close them out. She was and is highly motivated to get what she needs; she has to wait on the others to get at the feeder. Luckily Butters and Peanut just get a quick bite in the morning and then soon take a break, so she pecks and explores around a little biding her time and gets in pretty quickly.
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Hazel, an earlier picture from this winter. Hazel hitchhikes from the side on everyone else. She is barely learning and I am training her specially now to approach from straight-on and stand on the treadle, which she will do in training so far. Haven't seen her eat on her own. She has found she just has to watch for when somebody else steps on the treadle to eat, and then rush over and get in on that action. She is the most wary and is only now getting somewhat used to the feeder, though I had it sitting in the run for a few days before I started training them on it. Strangely, Hazel is not 2nd hen when it comes to the chopped greens meal, Butters seems to be more assertive and Hazel backs off. Hazel is more like a rooster? She will get in and eat a bit, but then step away and watch out and peck around the sides for flung bits. She does a lot of calling. She'll readily eat out of my hand if I grab some for her, but she won't butt in much on anyone; she will sometimes peck Popcorn away but not take her place eating, she just does it "because". So Popcorn goes back and forth between the two chop bowls.
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I love these photos. Until now I've always thought the Buckeyes were a really deep rich red. I've changed my opinion and these girls look like a rich chocolate brown. Either way that are still as lovely as ever.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Look Out Big Girls, Here Come the Polish Ladies!

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This is so heartwarming to see. Free ranging and they are together by choice. Phyllis is a outcast no more.