Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

I had a red tail hawk here all morning. Scree, scree, scree, and the chickens were so nonchalant about it. I had to stay out with them to make certain nothing bad happened. Finally the crows came by and it moved on.

Now THAT is scary, Bob. I don’t think even your cat can protect them from a Red Tail Hawk. They live here, but I have yet to see one from my yard.

 

[micstrachan]

Thirsty Thursday
Bernadette and her hooligan friends dosing themselves on vitamin water. I really hope it helps!

Precious babies!!!

 

[micstrachan]

Breakfast again today. This time clearly a squirrel. I appear to have a ready supply of squirrels somewhere nearby. I hope the supply lasts and he doesn’t go ‘hey, those chickens taste just like squirrel’

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Dotty is a bit off today. Nothing I can see wrong but a bit lethargic. She was so busy and healthy yesterday.

I hope Dotty feels better!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

2fer Tuesday

I give you the Phyllistines!

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Is that a grow box next to Phyllis?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Here is an example of my worry about Bernadette. She gets where she needs to get but with some difficulty.

She's not giving up, she still has energy to go eat, and Lulu saw what B-Bear needed to do and got out of the way for her landing! Am hoping the vitamins will work again. Gotta give it a few days like last time.

 

[RoyalChick]

She's not giving up, she still has energy to go eat, and Lulu saw what B-Bear needed to do and got out of the way for her landing! Am hoping the vitamins will work again. Gotta give it a few days like last time.

The dynamic between the three of them is quite adorable. They definitely make way for her if she needs space to totter about and land. They also cuddle up to her if she bleats.
She for sure has not given up on life and I haven’t given up on her. It is integration I am worrying about and how much special needs adaptation is required. It is hard to tell as I am not yet sure what she can and cannot do.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Ok, I think my mother has lost her mind.
Backstory, I went mushroom hunting again this afternoon and was gone for 4 hours. In that timeframe she went out to water the horses. The chickens were all dustbathing in the middle of the isle. Normally Bubba would get up and move if she came close, this time he was super comfortable and did not run away. She claims while watching him she thought he was acting sore and moving one of his legs all jerky. She reached down to pick him up and he stood up and moved about 2 feet away but appeared to be limping. He flopped back down on his other side and began dust bathing again doing the same jerky movements. Apparently she was panicking and thinking crap we got rid of 1 of our boys and the keeper goes and kills himself. I get home and she waits about a hour before she casually asks if any of the grow out chicks were pure marans. Yes, the corona chick. It's a boy right? No I'm 100% positive it's a girl and she's not going anywhere. This is where she tells me what happened with Bubba who is strutting around perfectly after his bath. She thinks I need to get another boy to grow up incase something happens to Bubba. . This is the woman who just 2 days ago said I had too many roosters. I have a suspicion selling Basil brought this on as of the 2 marans boys he was her pick. That and Bunny is going broody and is probably a few days out if that from setting. It has already been determined she is going to get 3 of her eggs and no more when she commits. If one is a boy, I have to hang onto him for a while. I have decided she no longer gets to put her input in on numbers plain and simple.

 

[micstrachan]

Is that a grow box next to Phyllis?

I have a couple grow boxes that I plan to pull out this weekend. I’ve been pulling out large sections of Burr Clover and would like to replace the bare patches with like a chicken forage pasture blend.

 

[Ribh]

Thirsty Thursday #2

I did not expect this as my number 2 post but I figure Betty drank some pool water today.

It happens to every chicken here at least once. Let's hope Betty has learned her lesson.

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You got the hair dryer out didn't you, Bob? A wet frizzle is indeed a sight to behold.

 

[BY Bob]

Now THAT is scary, Bob. I don’t think even your cat can protect them from a Red Tail Hawk. They live here, but I have yet to see one from my yard.

A red tail could carry Phyllis off.

Think about that for a moment.

Those were my usual hawks before the Cooper's showed up. There is a lot of cover for them to use because of that. I built up things to protect them from red tails and Hattie is good at managing taking the tribe from cover to cover.

The Cooper's is a different thing. I was however distressed that they did not react appropriately when the red tail was around today. Let me say not everyone ignored it. Hattie was hidden in the apple trees. Aurora had the rest of them on the deck.