Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

She is a Welbar that as far as I can understand is almost identical to a Welsummer but has a barring gene.
It is recognized as a distinct breed in the UK but I am not sure it is in the US which I think is the same for the Legbars.
She is a bit skittish - perhaps not surprising after all the stuff I did to her - but she stops by to chat if I am around.
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And she has wattles I love it! I only have one with them, so when I seee them I get eggcited ha The pattern is very lovely. I think Sophia is a legbar. But I always thought they were very large birds, am I wrong?

 

[BY Bob]

Baby #2 is out. It is still partially wet, but it appears like it could be a full silkie. It is also black.

Hooray!

 

[RoyalChick]

And she has wattles I love it! I only have one with them, so when I seee them I get eggcited ha The pattern is very lovely. I think Sophia is a legbar. But I always thought they were very large birds, am I wrong?

She indeed has a nice pair of wattles coming in!
Legbars are small and usually have a small crest.
The Roadrunners are Cream Legbars. Lulu is an Opal or Isabel Legbar and @BY Bob’s Glynda is a Frost White Legbar.
Roadrunners and Lulu pictures.

 

[Ponypoor]

I think so too. If he's fathered by the one I think (MIL flocks), then it's her big 3/4 year old buff Orpington x EE cross (king of her flock, and he might actually be 3/4 BO, not sure) and he's also the father of Maizie and Whiskey: Maizie off a BO hen and Whiskey off either Kren's mother or her sister, another BOxEE (she has several hens of that cross and those hens are half n halfs). Maizie's egg was a blue one, Whiskey and Kren both hatched out of brown eggs (could throw blue/green egg babies as we don't know what daddy throws). Maizie actually looks like daddy. The BOxEE hens are blackish with goldish heads/necks, so the boys are extra fancy looking. (The EE's she had were all mostly dark colors, but not all black, making for pretty birds anyway).

I was half interest in getting some Azure Blue chicks to throw under the broodies, anyone have any experience with these?

 

[BY Bob]

My Jubilee Orp has been broody 3 times so far this summer. Fortunately, she breaks easily. The first time was the longest, at 5 days. The second and third took 3 or 4 days. Even better: She gets back to laying in 4-5 days!

One of my 2 yo Black Australorps stopped laying mid-June. She has lost the upright "flag" part of her tail; only 2 feathers remain. It looks silly. She doesn't seem to have lost many feathers from the rest of her body. I hope this means she'll be back online and lay through the winter. I don't have any pullets this year to keep me in eggs.

Another early molt. Mrs BY Bob is calling for an early fall because of these early molts.

 

[Ponypoor]

She indeed has a nice pair of wattles coming in!
Legbars are small and usually have a small crest.
The Roadrunners are Cream Legbars. Lulu is an Opal or Isabel Legbar and @BY Bob’s Glynda is a Frost White Legbar.
Roadrunners and Lulu pictures.

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Hi Lulu

Not sure why I thought legbars were big heavy birds. I enjoy the many colours they come in.

 

[Ponypoor]

Another early molt. Mrs BY Bob is calling for an early fall because of these early molts.

I was wondering! With the coolish summer here I am expecting an early Fall and harsh winter! My gals had better get cracking and do their molting now!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

My girls also are early molting this year??

Is anyone else noticing this?

Oh yes, Hazel has been molting for 2-3 weeks now, a slow molt, looking slightly raggedy, but also acting a bit stand-offish. I've been giving them no-salt sardines every few days, which Hazel does like and eats.

 

[BY Bob]

I am behind 40 pages, so please forgive me if events have foreclosed my reply here. But I am hoping I might be able to help you with your stress, by re-framing the situation a bit. I am relating to you through my own experiences, so forgive me if I've got a terribly wrong impression.

As I see it, the short summary is that you are stressed because you are feeling how "in the middle" everything is, and you don't want to dilly-dally on doing the best thing for Bella, and you don't want to jump the gun either. You see the potential bad outcome, yet still have hope given how she is, still interested and chatty. You are wanting a resolution one way or the other, and that can be stressful when that is not forthcoming, when you are getting very mixed signals. You are looking for progress and a future of certainty. Certainty is an illusion in the chicken world, besides in most of life. My advice is to let go of some control over the decision to euthanize or not, and trust yourself to see the answer clearly when it reveals itself to you, and what may be needed for that, as the vet said, is to allow some time. Give yourself time also. Slow down. Feeling very undecided all the time is incredibly stressful. So what can you do about that? Decide to not decide. Take a few slow deep breaths and merely "be" with Bella, how she is in the current moment, without thinking about what the next steps for her are. Not knowing what to do means you do not have an answer from her yet. That's okay.

 

[fuentemoon]

Lets see, i think i have a pic from last week...

I have been dealing with my car all week. Got new rear brakes a few weeks ago. Tuesday i spent almost the whole day getting new tires (multiple shops, sorting financials etc.) Wednesday morning it wouldn't start. Still no car, hoping a part coming on Sunday fixes it.
Now i just have to figure out how to get to work tomorrow...