Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

Maggie is warming herself in the sun. Temperatures are dipping into the 30s at night this weekend. I don’t know if that is too cold for her to cope given she is half naked.
All you cold-climate people any advice? It will be 38 on Sunday pre-dawn. Probably a few degrees warmer inside their roosting area.

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I haven't turned on heat in the coop yet, inspite of Nellie's semi nakedness. I do have more birds and she tends to roost between birds....with space separating her from others at the moment. The coop feels warmer than outside temps when I go out in the morning. I'm not planning on turning on heat until it's actually down to freezing. If I have a moult turn straight up nekkid bird, I may change my mind, but as long as they're all semi-feathered and the weather isn’t snowing/blowing 20s windchill, I'm going to leave well enough alone.

 

[RoyalChick]

I haven't turned on heat in the coop yet, inspite of Nellie's semi nakedness. I do have more birds and she tends to roost between birds....with space separating her from others at the moment. The coop feels warmer than outside temps when I go out in the morning. I'm not planning on turning on heat until it's actually down to freezing. If I have a moult turn straight up nekkid bird, I may change my mind, but as long as they're all semi-feathered and the weather isn’t snowing/blowing 20s windchill, I'm going to leave well enough alone.

Thanks. Helpful. I think we won't go into freezing territory for several weeks and the Chicken Palace is very sheltered (I might close the pop door at night just in case it is windy). It also stays a bit warmer than outside because it heats up from sun shining through the windows and is insulated so it loses that heat a bit gradually.

 

[Ponypoor]

Distressed night late last night. Leftover pizza from the fridge. Left out on the table (maybe 10 minutes) went to eat the delicious stuff, and bit into a pile of black ants . No I didn’t swallow it, but it was gross thinking that it would be safe (it wasn’t)
OMG gross tax
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Well look at it this way: extra protein!

Reminds me of my BIL, he grabbed a paper bag of chow mein noodles and was snacking on them after a few bites he noticed very small wee ants on them

Oh he was freaked out and threw the bag in the trash. That afternoon we noticed he had something stuck in one of his teeth, I looked closer and started laughing - it was an ant leg! Hahahaha. He survived, so shall you

Protein Tax
Penelope dust bathing, Blanche behind her

 

[Ponypoor]

Maggie is warming herself in the sun. Temperatures are dipping into the 30s at night this weekend. I don’t know if that is too cold for her to cope given she is half naked.
All you cold-climate people any advice? It will be 38 on Sunday pre-dawn. Probably a few degrees warmer inside their roosting area.

View attachment 3282542

Well a couple weeks ago, I put Dorothy in her nest box and put the Cozy Coop panel in front of it to warm her up she was chilled.

I always look at them, if they are hunched and scrunched up then they are not happy. Maybe if you have a crate to put her in at night and keep it covered with a towel to help keep droughts out and some body heat in, that should suffice. I am fortunate to have the feed room/office which is heated to keep them in if they are chilled.

I tried to keep her by the panel during the day but she refused - so every so often I would drag her into the heated room to warm up. At night I closed up the hen house so it kept it fairly warm in there.

 

[Ponypoor]

Hit the elbow right on that painful part? I hate that too.

Yup

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I present to you The Chiquita lady:

Banana Tax:​

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Did I ever tell you how Chiquita got her name? The first night I brought her home mom was offering her treats of dried fruit mix. She ignored everything but the banana chips which she devoured. Banana's are still her favorite treat and since she was a yellow silkie who loves banana's she named her Chiquita.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Maggie is warming herself in the sun. Temperatures are dipping into the 30s at night this weekend. I don’t know if that is too cold for her to cope given she is half naked.
All you cold-climate people any advice? It will be 38 on Sunday pre-dawn. Probably a few degrees warmer inside their roosting area.

View attachment 3282542

Last year Butter went through a hard molt during the end of November when the temperature dropped. She had to spend a week inside the house in a crate because if I let her outside within a hour she was visibly shaking. Guests did not know, but during Thanksgiving dinner I had a naked hen sleeping in my bedroom.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

Distressed night late last night. Leftover pizza from the fridge. Left out on the table (maybe 10 minutes) went to eat the delicious stuff, and bit into a pile of black ants . No I didn’t swallow it, but it was gross thinking that it would be safe (it wasn’t)
OMG gross tax
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the chickens thank you!

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

Guests did not know, but during Thanksgiving dinner I had a naked hen sleeping in my bedroom.

lol. sounds exactly like something I would end up doing in the same conditions.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

owwww that hurt, and even worse was witnessed by a coworker…

I ran literally, into the cubicle partition here, smacked right into it with my left arm/elbow, ow!

It’s my glasses, I need them for reading, but when I need some info I tend to jump up, take off galloping and that’s when the darn cubicle walls jump out at me. All because I forget to take my glasses off!

Ditsy Tax
Whiskers knows how to put her nest foot forward, and then ignore me while picking for bugs

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poor you! I (without the use of glasses) often end up running right into walls that I just don't remember being there, even though 2 seconds ago I could visibly see it.

who's that fluffy polish in the back. a rooster?