Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[GregnLety]

That is a big one. How is the smoke at your place?

No smoke here, the wind is carrying it to the north. I didn't know there was a fire until I got an emergency alert on my phone yesterday afternoon.

 

[BY Bob]

Monday Mugs

 

[BY Bob]

Hattie House

Things move slower at Hattie House. Even dust baths are more laconic.

 

[featherhead007]

I think that my Hen-Rietta is not feeling well. She’s hanging her head as she’s perched on her place in the coop. Totally understandable with all the heat lately. And she’s my oldest hen. She’s got some sticky fleas I noticed too.

 

[bgmathteach]

The passing of Vanille and Caramel made a lot of difference in the chicken dynamics. It now seems I have two tribes of four : my original four ex-batts who live in the chicken zone, and the four teenagers who wander around and have their headquarters around our outdoor dining table. In between is Chipie the bantam freeloader. She gets badly bullied by the ex-batts and she terrorizes her four ex-chicks ! Now that the alpha hen Vanille is gone, Théo is the unrivalled leader of the ex-batts... but he will leave them in a quarter of a second if his sweetheart Chipie calls him elsewhere.
I'm definitely not used yet to counting only four .
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I tried to take mugshots of the teenagers. I really think Monday is the most difficult FBA holiday with my cheap smartphone and them moving or hiding all the time!

Tiny Piou-piou
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Gaston the cockerel who earned the ugly nickname of Gaston le cochon by piggying anything looking like food on our table. I'm afraid he's going to be huge.View attachment 3215485
Sweet Léa
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And Merle. Yesterday I discovered Merle has one white feather very well hidden near her tail. Now I'm wondering if she will grow into a black and white chicken.
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Théo and Chipie as close as I can get. Stupid Théo hurt his foot and he's got sticky fleas but he's not letting himself be caught, I'll get him tonight when he's roosting.
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Piou Piou looks like she is doing well. Still behind the others, but she looks good!

And, of course, Theo

While it may not be what you want, in terms of his rooster duties, it is VERY SWEET that he is so devoted to Chipie!

 

[lightm]

No no - I can be designated researcher - but definitely not vet!

OK deal. To me, a vet is a researcher, but with some pre-training, experience, and access to equipment. Sadly, probably many vets are robotic and don't research.

Sweet Foxy on my lap:

 

[lightm]

Piou Piou looks like she is doing well. Still behind the others, but she looks good!

And, of course, Theo

While it may not be what you want, in terms of his rooster duties, it is VERY SWEET that he is so devoted to Chipie!

@ManueB Oh, sorry. I noticed that it is Piou Piou who is the tiny chick as you indicated. Thanks @bgmathteach , you are kinda the secretary of FBA as you just remember everything!

 

[ManueB]

You still did a great job with the pictures. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Theo is beautiful. Is Lea the chick that is growing slower than everyone else? Is she doing well and putting on weight steadily?

It's Piou-piou (name on hold to see if she/he survives and what gender it choses!). From the beginning it has been late in growth and development and it's now about one month behind, half the size of Lea I would say. Other than that, it's active, doing well, eating and growing.
I was very pessimistic as all the threads on BYC about slow growing chicks ended with the chick dying between 6 and 10 weeks or staying very backward, but this one hasn't been showing signs of weakness up to now. It is much more shy with us than the other three however. You can sort of see the size difference next to Gaston and then next to Léa.

Monday Mugs

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Beautiful! But the hair....I'm straight back in my teenage punk goth days.

 

[Ponypoor]

They are so nasty. I'm glad you escaped successfully!

Aren’t they awesome though? I could have easily been an entomologist - this morning I was trying to save a spider from being gobbled up by Misty - too late he was a goner! The gals have every bug, spider and whatnot gobbled up within 2’ of the floor in the stalls hahahaha - Misty can use the extra protein, after being broody for so long she is only weighs around 4lbs.

 

[Ponypoor]

Monday Mugs

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Oh so beautiful all of them