Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[TX Chick Noob]

I feel like I owe a “picture tax” of some type for such a long post. So since all my pictures of Strider appear to be well hidden in some old computer file or flash drive, here are a few pullet pics instead.

Scarlett has taken to flying onto my back/shoulder lately. In one of them she is supervising while I inspect Crystal’s surgery incision (she had an impacted crop).

And all the girls enjoying a treat. I think this one is the first time I gave them eggshells.

 

[RoyalChick]

I feel like I owe a “picture tax” of some type for such a long post. So since all my pictures of Strider appear to be well hidden in some old computer file or flash drive, here are a few pullet pics instead.

Scarlett has taken to flying onto my back/shoulder lately. In one of them she is supervising while I inspect Crystal’s surgery incision (she had an impacted crop).
View attachment 3288934
View attachment 3288935

And all the girls enjoying a treat. I think this one is the first time I gave them eggshells.
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Those are wonderful pictures!
The first one - eye to eye is a hoot. And I love the rafter roosted hen in the second one.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Those are wonderful pictures!
The first one - eye to eye is a hoot. And I love the rafter roosted hen in the second one.

That is Speedy up on one of the roosts. She is a few weeks younger than the other 10, isn’t laying yet, and is the bottom ranked hen. She had a hatchmate that I got her from the feed store with but Bonnie was unfortunately killed by a snake a week or so after I got them. She stays up on the roosts a lot to avoid the other hens.

When we take treats out either my husband or I am usually holding some in our hand behind our back for Speedy while we keep the others occupied in front of us.

Speedy

I just took those a few minutes ago because I realized I didn’t have any recent photos of her. I’m sure none of you can guess what happened when I leaned over to take a picture……

(Yep, it’s Scarlett)

 

[ManueB]

Lovely post as always. I am beginning to think I need the recipes for these home made brandies. Is it fruit+sugar+brandy?
My mother made sloe gin from blackthorn (sloe) berries and that was beautiful in color and yummy!

This how we do it but obviously it wouldn't be the same elsewhere. We go to Italy to buy 90° alcohol ( it's illegal in France). We make a "syrup" by melting sugar in heated water, the exact amount of sugar depends on what fruit or plant we use. The proportion of alcohol and syrup is always half and half, to obtain a final result slightly less than 45°. We then leave the alcohol, the syrup, and the fruit or plant for a certain amount of time, usually one month for plants or spices, and three months for fruits. Then if we used plants, we take them out and filter, with fruits it depends (we leave the cherries, the grapes, but take out the lemons for limoncello).

Good questions and nope the 2nd one did not bother me at all. As far as a slow-gait. All 3 of our horses are gaited breeds, 2 Tennessee Walking Horses and Rocky Mountain. This means they will both Pace and or Rack. A Racking gait if you listen is a 4 beat smooth gait and what my dad prefers. A slow-gait is sort of the equivalent of a slow trot. Definitely not the walk that the Dr. told her to stay at. Papaw is what she calls her grandfather.

Thank you so much for that explanation. I'm really ashamed that I didn't even know of american gaited breeds, and I'm going to look up more about these on the web. I only knew of a few european breeds, islandish, lusitanian and spanish, they are considered quite rare and expensive here if they really have the four or five gaits. Rosie is really lucky to grow up with those horses ! (And I find Dirt really beautiful on those pictures.)

 

[RoyalChick]

This how we do it but obviously it wouldn't be the same elsewhere. We go to Italy to buy 90° alcohol ( it's illegal in France). We make a "syrup" by melting sugar in heated water, the exact amount of sugar depends on what fruit or plant we use. The proportion of alcohol and syrup is always half and half, to obtain a final result slightly less than 45°. We then leave the alcohol, the syrup, and the fruit or plant for a certain amount of time, usually one month for plants or spices, and three months for fruits. Then if we used plants, we take them out and filter, with fruits it depends (we leave the cherries, the grapes, but take out the lemons for limoncello).

Yup - that sounds like what my mother did with the sloes - the alcohol was regular gin. Also she left the berries in for months (sometimes years when she forgot) and it turned the gin a beautiful deep red color and the sloes were completely dessicated!

 

[bgmathteach]

Finally caught some Cheetah pics.

From August 6 (before moult)
View attachment 3288859Note the curve of his "mane"View attachment 3288861Note the saddle feathers


Today

View attachment 3288864View attachment 3288865(Twirp is also starting to look ruffled)View attachment 3288866View attachment 3288867His mane is definitely assorted lengthsView attachment 3288868View attachment 3288870He's still surprisingly sleek looking rather than rumpled like the ladies. The last pic really shows the blue legs too.

I think he is handsome - molting or not! He is such a beautiful and proud looking boy! (even in mid-molt!)

 

[Marie2020]

I have to admit we ALL had ham this morning. I know it's salty but it was thoroughly enjoyed by one and all

 

[Marie2020]

This is a sad tale, and reading your post, one can feel how much loosing Strider still hurts. Maybe sometime you can share with us those good memories you have of him. It sounds like he was the horse of your life.
To be honest your story and Alex's have me reconsidering getting a pony, I'm not sure I'd be able to deal with what you had to go through.

This was a beautiful and honest follow-up to a hopeful post! I have two language questions for you southerners and @RebeccaBoyd I hope you won't get upset with the second one.

First, what is slow gait, is it a slow trot ?
And second, I first thought Rosie's papaw was her dad, as we say "papa" in french for dad, but then I looked it up on the web, and it said "southern expression for paternal grand-father". So I hope I'm not being rude by asking if Rosie's pawpaw is her dad, or her grand dad ?

I thought of you and @Ponypoor yesterday evening, we tried our first ever jar of homemade cherry brandy. I was afraid it wouldn't be tasty as they are not sour cherry but plain sweet ones. Well I love it and I'm sure our three jars won't last long .
So, tell us all, to which of the positions you applied for should we be having a toast ?
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That looks really delicious

 

[LozzyR]

Mr Jimmy Pickletoes is well over 150lbs… I think he’s closer to 200 TBH… View attachment 3288440
For size reference… his head barely fits on my lap!

I showed some of my colleagues your lap goats and they thought they were adorable!

 

[LozzyR]

It is with great sadness that I announce the peaceful passing of my beloved Daisy. I had no warning as honestly she has had a great month in truth. Today I saw her dust bathing, bullying her way to more then her fair share of dried cherries and picking on Twiggy. I went out at dark to make sure everyone was roosted and do a final egg check when I found Bubba snuggled up beside her. She was still warm so she could not have been gone long as I had went out back to dump out some leftovers a hour prior and she was scratching around. I have her body wrapped up and in a box and will bury her in the morning. I will admit to feeling angry and cheated that she was only 2 1/2 years old and not a high production breed, yet I've lost her to presumed tumor in her reproductive tract.
Rest in peace my sweet girl. I hope where you are now there endless minnows and young snakes for you to eat.
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I’m so sorry Rebecca.