Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I wonder where the superstitions about women on the boats being bad luck comes from? Both Haying and Fishing are hard work, and any sort of growing anything. Do you remember the series “Random Passage” from years ago on I think it was CBC? I forget the whole relationship but the woman who wrote the book it was based off of was my Papa’s Niece. He was born on Cape Island in the early 1920’s.

Well I once mentioned it to my dad (re: women being bad luck on boats) and his reply was "we get on the boats to get away from women, where else can we go where they can't nag us".

Wow dad! Really ??!!

 

[featherhead007]

That’s one of the things about my chooks. They may not like a treat, but they won’t let anyone else near the bowl, just to be superior! Brats!!

 

[featherhead007]

Well I once mentioned it to my dad (re: women being bad luck on boats) and his reply was "we get on the boats to get away from women, where else can we go where they can't nag us".

Wow dad! Really ??!!

 

[featherhead007]

Well, my old rooster BLU was black, and he sired seven little black baby chicks (five were roosters)

 

[Kris5902]

Yes his nose and lips scream give me smooches. I am just now starting to do that, It has taken us over 3 years to get over the terrible biting habit he came to us with. I still will never fully trust him not to bite though. If I could make a few rules that everyone had to follow at a boarding barn I would have 2.

1. No one under the age of 18 be allowed to handle or play with yearling stallions or any yearling really. 2 teenage girls just about ruined him when they taught him some very bad habits that were cute as a baby. At 15 hands and 1000lbs, those behaviors are flat out dangerous now. Thankfully he no longer rears or paws at you, but it took some time to break.

2. Unless you are the owner, no one who visits a public boarding barn shall be allowed to feed treats to the horses. The people who ran that barn actually sold peppermints to visitors to hand feed to the horses. That is how Dirt got his biting habit.

I would amend 1 to “without adequate supervision or training”, as I’ve known 15 year olds with more sense of responsibility and handling than some 30-40 year olds But I wholeheartedly agree, horses are large and potentially dangerous animals. It’s essentially the same as leaving a teenager unattended with a gun, or riding a motorcycle, or in charge of a significant fire. And I can’t believe that the people running the barn did #2… that is highly unethical IMO. Always ask the owner/handler before giving any animal anything, or attempting to pet them.

 

[Kris5902]

No one gets treats here (cat, horse, chicken) unless they do something good or some sort of trick/behaviour. Miss kitty sits up and begs, Truly shakes hands, bows thank-you, and poses, the chickens jump up on a bale, or ledge or come when I call.

Otherwise no treats. Food is for good behaviour. Not because they are standing there looking cute.

I had all three of my kitties trained to sit, Whisper would shake a paw, they all knew “no” and “down” and much like chickens (they had a shoulder sitting habit) had mostly learned not to leap directly at the humans face. If you think a chicken with wings flying at your head is scary, try as 15lb cat with claw extended for landing! The other huge thing was they never went on the counters or the kitchen table when it had food on it. If we were playing D&D or something that was fair game, but not at dinner time! A year or so with my mother broke them of that good habit though. “WTH do you mean you’re feeding them on the counter?!?”

 

[Kris5902]

Well I once mentioned it to my dad (re: women being bad luck on boats) and his reply was "we get on the boats to get away from women, where else can we go where they can't nag us".

Wow dad! Really ??!!

Was your mom witching *within* (seriously I wonder at autocorrect sometimes!) hearing when he said that? Or did he have enough sense of self preservation to keep himself from having to resort to going fishing for a month or two for his safety? I’d take an Atlantic Squall over some Angry women too!

 

[featherhead007]

Hard to take pictures and feed the apples to Chaco at the same time.

 

[RoyalChick]

Wow RC, you really do your research

Well the alternative was to find an emergency vet at the weekend!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Thirsty Thursday

Three hens grabbing a drink together.

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Notice Betty’s eyes closed? Maybe when she tilts her head (& built- in shade canopy) back the sun is just too bright!