Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

I noticed in one of your pics that it was looking quite green. Nice!
But lawn mowing is one of those chores that house guests can take responsibility for.

I thought about letting him mow, but decided that I wanted to do it. Mowing is relaxing for me. If they want to clean the house then I’m good with that!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I thought about letting him mow, but decided that I wanted to do it. Mowing is relaxing for me. If they want to clean the house then I’m good with that!

How are the guests dealing with your feathered visitor's inside? I'm sure your like me and continue with the routine of letting them in.

 

[RoyalChick]

I thought about letting him mow, but decided that I wanted to do it. Mowing is relaxing for me. If they want to clean the house then I’m good with that!

Sounds good. Enjoy mowing!
I think cleaning kitchen and common rooms is well within what house guests should do. Cleaning shared bathrooms is a bit on the margin and I think asking them to clean areas of the house only you use is probably inappropriate.
However, buying chicken feed, helping you clean up chicken poop - definitely!

 

[bgmathteach]

I finally managed to caught a video of Gastounet being terrorized by Chipie!

She really is evil- starts by cooing and acting all nice and then she turns on him .

Aw, poor Gastonet! He was being such a good boy.

 

[bgmathteach]

Happy FridayView attachment 3283879View attachment 3283880View attachment 3283882View attachment 3283883

Wow, Glynda's butt is really filling out! ( well, as much as it will for her breed, anyways!) She is really growing up And look at her tail!

 

[bgmathteach]

90/10 Rule

I have just responded to the Cracked Corn article today. They quote the 90/10 rule when providing treats to chickens. I thought that perhaps a visualization of what that means might be useful.

Here is a bit of a copy of what I posted.

Chicken feed rates are most commonly expressed in studies as weight or mass not volume. Most of these studies were done to measure the delivery of antibiotics in feed. Despite that they do give a starting point to determine how much your chicken eats per day.

If we use a study done by B.B. Buck in 1985 they categorized feed consumption as a % of body weight.

So if we look at a 3.5 lb chicken, say a Polish or a Leghorn hen, they consumed 6.7% of their weight by day in feed. Let's convert lbs to ounces in order to make determining 10% easier. 3.5 lbs × 16 = 56 oz x 6.7% = 3.752 ounces of feed per day. That is about 3/4 of a cup.

View attachment 3283917

10% of that would be 0.3752 oz of corn or no more than a palm-full per day.

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Let's look at a bigger chicken, your typical layer. Not a dual purpose bird like an orpington, just a standard hen say around 5 lbs. In the study, a 5.5 lb chicken consumed 5.0% of their body weight. 5.5 lbs × 16 = 88 oz x 5.0% = 4.4 oz feed per day. That is approaching a cup of feed.

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10% of that is 0.44 oz of corn or again, no more than a palm-full per day.

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As you can see despite increasing the size of the chicken, it is still about a palm-full of corn per day.

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Great visualization here, @BY Bob !

I'm good with the calculations , but I appreciate the alternative (visual) representation! Nicely done.

 

[BY Bob]

Great visualization here, @BY Bob !

I'm good with the calculations gig), but I appreciate the alternative (visual) representation! Nicely done.

I think the photos are helpful to people. And just what does 90/10 mean in a practical sense is something I wondered for a long time as a newcomer this site.

I like to show my work just for you. I assume you double checked it!

 

[BY Bob]

Wow, Glynda's butt is really filling out! ( well, as much as it will for her breed, anyways!) She is really growing up And look at her tail!

Glynda and I had a special morning.

She got a little upset when she saw I had chicken proofed my tea cup. So she got even by jamming her beak into the sippy spot!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Glynda and I had a special morning.

View attachment 3283952View attachment 3283954View attachment 3283955View attachment 3283956

She got a little upset when she saw I had chicken proofed my tea cup. So she got even by jamming her beak into the sippy spot!

View attachment 3283957

How dare you not share your drink with her. Don't you know coffee and apparently tea are meant to be shared with our feathered friends. They do not care if it may not be good for them, they need to taste test.

 

[BY Bob]

How dare you not share your drink with her. Don't you know coffee and apparently tea are meant to be shared with our feathered friends. They do not care if it may not be good for them, they need to taste test.

Glynda likes tea.