Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

No question about it now. Definitely a cockerel!View attachment 3115378
about 1 -1.5 weeks ago

View attachment 3115380
1-2 minutes ago

Roos need love too!

 

[bgmathteach]

I'm not sure how good the pictures came out...but @RoyalChick , I think this mystery chick wants to communicate with Lulu!

If you enlarge the photos, you can see she is starting to get an antennae, too! Just when I thought I was getting an idea of what she was, she is also starting to show hints of brown on her hackle feathers! Unfortunately, again, these were taken a few minutes ago, so it was dark, and you can't see that. I'll try for some better shots on Saturday...so y'all can be puzzled, too!

 

[bgmathteach]

Shad had a LOT of hard wood. It takes some serious effort to get it to ignite. Most of what I have is pine....using the torch would be a problem. Definitely recommend practicing on a scrap piece of the same type of wood used in your coop. Then practice with a poopy board. Is it possible to set the temp on the torch lower?

TY for this!
Mine is built with H.D. dimensional lumber (pine) and plywood (?I'm assuming also pine?) Practice it is, then. This spring when I do clean out..once finished another small mobile coop...just in case there is an oops! in the one that I want to do it in..... (my first/oldest coop).

 

[featherhead007]

I'm not sue how good the pictures came out...but @RoyalChick , I think this mystery chick wants to communicate with Lulu!
View attachment 3115393View attachment 3115395
If you enlarge the photos, you can see she is starting to get an antennae, too! Just when I thought I was getting an idea of what she was, she is also starting to show hints of brown on her hackle feathers! Unfortunately, again, these were taken a few minutes ago, so it was dark, and you can't see that. I'll try for some better shots on Saturday...so y'all can be puzzled, too!

I see that hood ornament (so cute)

 

[ManueB]

Okay, so I'm pretty ignorant around this, as I don't have international friends (well, except the newly acquired through Fluffy Butt Acres), so don't ship generally across country borders. Couldn't we ship one to you? Or would that be prohibited? It isn't (I don't think) a highly dangerous nor flammable chemical......

I"ll pay my tax when I get home tonight!!!

It's prohibited but many still do it. Before Brexit most horsey people in France got their safeguard on a UK site because in our country you need a prescription and it was five time the price.

Okay, so ignorant me has asked this a couple of times before, but no one has 'bitten'.

HOW do you 'burn them out' without also damaging the wooden coop? Yes, I know what those propane torches are like, but haven't used one in forever, and then only once. How do you get it hot enough, especially in crevices, without charring the wood? Is it something someone can explain, or do I just need to get a torch and practice on scrap wood myself?

I do this with our hives, I'll try to answer but please allow me some translation mistakes! So, the flame only needs to be just quickly passed over to burn insects or larvae. Some hives are indeed made of pine. The body of the hive is pretty thick, but some of the frames are very flimsy. It does char the wood a little if you insist, which you have to for cleaning a hive as you want the yucky wax left over to melt. If you just pass the flame quickly over it doesn't char. You can't lower the temperature but you can adjust the gaz opening and have a bigger or smaller flame. This is a picture of me doing just that on Monday, sorry for the Monday face. You can see I'm staying quite a long time on the same spot to scratch off yucky stuff. The wood never catches fire. In a coop you would need to empty it completely from the bedding.

 

[Marie2020]

Agatha shells are breaking again. She's had 4 calcium so far and from now on I'm there with her as she lays. I had too pull out her shell this morning

 

[rural mouse]

No question about it now. Definitely a cockerel!View attachment 3115378
about 1 -1.5 weeks ago

View attachment 3115380
1-2 minutes ago

Hes going to be beautiful!

 

[rural mouse]

Good morning Friday! Wednesday was 70F. Thursday high winds and spitting snow. This morning

7 of them sheltering from the wind on the lee side of my Siberian pea tree. The adult chickens have been spending part of their mornings going through the debris under them....not so sure it's going to happen today, though.

Fluffy butt mugs

 

[lightm]

Sorry all, I seem to be hogging the thread today.
I will be off doing chores so will shut up soon. Meanwhile, here is the temporary display for the green striped egg I blew out. I thought it looked cute there.

View attachment 2853418

Oh, so very cute (but maybe hide the blow hole at the bottom? Is it because it would sink too low the other way?). I really want that pitcher too!

 

[WhoDatChick]

At night with a good strong headlamp sneak into the coop and look for little crawling nasties along the roosts, nest boxes, and in crevices. They pop if you squish them and will sometimes leave little red smears if they have been feeding off your chickens. They are awfully common, as they can come from wild birds, they tend to live in the coop not fully on the chickens, and come out at night to feed. Think the chicken version of bedbugs. Occasionally they may hang out on a chicken during the day, usually around the face I have found, and when I see a lot of head shaking or scratching I know its time To check and treat for them again. My temporary coop/trailer arrangement has a problem with them, but the layer tractors don’t.

Have you ever tried Adams flea and tick spray.. not sure if they sell it there but you could probably order it. It is the best.. it’s harmless to animals and will kill every creepy crawly out there! I spray it in the coop for mosquitoes.. it will kill anything that crawls where you sprayed for a long time. I think it’s the solution!