Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[knoturavggrl]

Twiggy definitely is staying. I really have not made my mind up on George. I technically have enough hens to have 4 boys, I just do not need 4 boys. Neither one has attempted to crow at all yet, and I'm not complaining. Truth be told, I'm watching George closely to see how he continues to develop. Right now I'm not liking his lanky look, especially since I have the tank Bubba. He does have time though to bulk up, but he better start doing it quickly.

What is your ratio? I am almost sure I have 10 pullets and 3 Roos. I am thinking of trying to keep 2 of the boys it is quite the quandary trying to decide what is ideal.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

What is your ratio? I am almost sure I have 10 pullets and 3 Roos. I am thinking of trying to keep 2 of the boys it is quite the quandary trying to decide what is ideal.

I have right at 30 total. With Twiggy and George that gives me 4 boys. No matter the hens I've always said 3 would be my personal limit. I should stick with that and I probably will. I still do not know the gender of the silkie Hoppy, leaning towards pullet, but they are still super tricky. Kit and Kat, in the last few days they are showing signs that one if not both are cockerels darn it.

 

[BY Bob]

Okay, this is a question that I have been mulling over... do their ear lobes keep growing as they get older?

I have noticed that Hattie has a very nice set of lobes as well and wondered if they were always this large or is larger ear lobes a sign of a long life?

Hattie now

Hattie at maturity in 2019

They seem pretty similar to me.

 

[RoyalChick]

It is probably a good thing you did not stop. I feel bad for Royal chick over her losses this year. I probably would have sent you home with a surprise for her and allowed you to take Baby. I might even have snuck in young George as a bonus seeing as how I've still neglected to post him. I'm still on the fence on keeping both him and Twiggy or just Twiggy.

Awwwww!!

 

[Ponypoor]

As most of you know I made the typical new chicken servant error of purchasing chicks before having the coop and run built. I also used the we will have plenty of time excuse to justify doing so.

So, we did indeed manage to get the coop built and secured in the nick of time (read that as a week later then intended) but we are still working on the run. Its mostly completed but we ran out of hardware cloth so its on a short temporary hold.

Today instead of working on the run I made gravity feeders and waters out of 5 gallon buckets with a kit I found on Amazon. Amazingly I participated in a DIY miracle as this actually went off with zero issues both feeders and waters were completed quickly and with no oh crap! now what?? moments. So now I have 2 waters 2 feeders of decent size for adult birds. My plan was to to have water and food available inside the coop and in the run.

I have read conflicting information on food in the coop. Some do so some say oh no don’t. Which camp are you guys in and why?

I don’t have feed or water in the hen house, but my gang is inside a barn when I am not around, so I keep feed in the alleyway of the barn.

I would recommend not keeping feed over night in the coop or run to try to prevent vermin…

 

[Ponypoor]

Two for Tuesday

Best I can do, they were not in the mood to cooperate yesterday morning!

Blanche and Penelope

 

[BY Bob]

I was going to try @BY Bob 's method of dry Ice, but I don't think I can possibly cover all the access holes. Maybe I will just cover as much as possible, and the dry ice may kill off some & lessen the #?

You do not have to get all the holes. Just the one where you pile up the dry ice. The CO2 is heavy and will push the oxygen out of the tunnels and suffocate them nicely. They just go to sleep. If 1 or 2 get away just redo in a week or two

 

[lightm]

That is sweet of you to say but trust me its not worthy of any jealousy. We had zero carpentry skills and lacked any experience. Its ugly as sin I just hope we did enough to keep them safe.

People on this thread will tell you that a self-made coop from zero carpentry skilled person is still better than a prefab.

I bet it was a good learning process and here is hope that it will last and keep them safe.

 

[lightm]

Goodness I have found a new thing for Diana.
I know they all love cabbage when I hang a whole one from a string. But when I have scrap leaves they sort of ignore it.
Well today I presented some scrap cabbage leaves to Diana and held them like a bunch of flowers.
You would think it was the best thing ever!

View attachment 3273353View attachment 3273358

Yes a cabbage bouquet will buy their hearts

Although some of my chickens, like Wendy, love to eat my rose pedals.

 

[rural mouse]

New tin from Amazon
View attachment 3273287

Methinks there are a few breeds missing.....not to mention some color variants.....some beautiful breed examples there, though.