Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

You're getting the "LOOK" the Hawk needs to get! Doesn't she like car rides?

The car ride was fine. There were dogs everywhere when we got there. BIG dogs. Burmese for example. She was really on edge.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Thirsty Thursday wasn't a success here, but I managed to get some photos from the previous days.
Temperatures are slowly dropping back to normal seasonals ( meaning under 30f /0c) and I'm also getting a hot water bottle in bed ! Our bedroom isn't heated, and I've noticed I sleep so much better when it gets cold.

I was wondering for those of you that live in real cold climates : do you have special clothes to deal with it, or do you just stay inside most of the time ? Also, are houses very well isolated or do you spend crazy amounts heating ? Sorry, these are very naïve questions I realize . It made me laugh so much when I lived in the US as a teen and I was asked a few times if we had television .

Merle is now laying normally . I'm very relieved!

Let's have a drink
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Léa and Merle
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Théo and Cannelle
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Merle and Piou-piou's eggs
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@ManueB There's been an article on British(?) houses and how they may not be ready to deal with the changing climate, did that prompt your question?

Thirsty Thursday wasn't a success here, but I managed to get some photos from the previous days.
Temperatures are slowly dropping back to normal seasonals ( meaning under 30f /0c) and I'm also getting a hot water bottle in bed ! Our bedroom isn't heated, and I've noticed I sleep so much better when it gets cold.

I was wondering for those of you that live in real cold climates : do you have special clothes to deal with it, or do you just stay inside most of the time ? Also, are houses very well isolated or do you spend crazy amounts heating ? Sorry, these are very naïve questions I realize . It made me laugh so much when I lived in the US as a teen and I was asked a few times if we had television .

Merle is now laying normally . I'm very relieved!

Let's have a drink
View attachment 3338347
Léa and Merle
View attachment 3338351
Théo and Cannelle
View attachment 3338358
Merle and Piou-piou's eggs
View attachment 3338365

What a beautiful sheen on Theo's tail!

Our house is well insulated, we built with six-inch walls before it was in the regulations to do so, but I love the light and we also have a lot of (Low-E) windows, probably too many, there's not a lot of wall space! We heat with wood but with electric backup. Wood isn't too expensive in the rural area I live, and we buy green and DH stacks it which saves money. DH always asks for oak whenever possible and dries it for two years. If / when we get too decrepit to deal with wood the plan is to convert the stove to gas or buy a new one. Wood is now about US$750/year and our electric is maybe US$150/month, which includes the whole house (two radiant towel warmers upped it a lot but we love love love them. They heat the bathrooms to boot)

I love to sleep in the cold, as long as I have good blankets so I can adjust my warmth. It's best anywhere between 50F (10C) and 60F (15.6C). Windows open whenever possible. But I'm conditioned to it, I spent most of my youth sleeping in a large drafty uninsulated cabin in the woods from late Spring to late Fall, even during light snow, with just a stone fireplace open on two sides that really didn't do much. At best the house when all closed up in the daytime was ten degrees F warmer than the outside on a sunny day, if you really kept stoking the fireplace. Plus we went camping on occasion. There wasn't much difference except the "bed" was not as comfortable and there was dew (no tents). So I get almost claustrophobic in a too-warm sleeping situation.

I spend a lot of time outside if I can, and use different clothes for different temperatures, especially wind conditions. It's critical to be in layers as @RoyalChick said, especially to avoid any chilling from sweat when active. So when going inside and outside throughout the day, the routine is basically just stripping down or layering up. A lot of northern US households have traditionally had "winter wear" and "summer wear" and storage cabinets or cedar chests for storing different clothes. We just stuff everything in our working closets, as many things are used during the cooler summer days too anyway.

I'm not in the extreme cold like @Ponypoor now though. Wool and/or quilted cotton layers over a soft inner layer, then a hooded layer. Balaclavas for head and face, and/or headbands, sometimes caps. Eye protection most days. A hooded windbreaker if it's windy. Insulated gloves or wool mittens. I have a pair of Tough Duck leather mitten covers I love. Soft wool socks, in one or two layers, inside insulated boots. Different boots for different activities.

Made me think of an extreme picture to put in here - Here's me years ago near the very top of Whiteface Mountain in New York USA (above Lake Placid) on the icy path above the weather station, just before we turned back because it was getting too stupid dangerous to be hiking it in telemark ski boots without crampons. We had skied six miles up on the beautiful Veteran's Memorial Highway. The rock you can see is covered with glazed ice, the only place to get a grip was on the snow. It was a beautiful day and an incredible descent down the Highway on skis too! We have done this several times since then but never made it up that path again mostly because the conditions have never been as good. Snowing like crazy, howling strong wind, freezing fog making the path a giant icefall (yes, @Kris5902!).

Weather tax. The Buckeye babies from 2020

 

[RoyalChick]

It is good to be home. Today is sunny and calm and just above freezing so I can sit out and keep the Princesses company.
Per the winter layers discussion I really recommend silk as the first layer - it is warm and light and soft on the skin.
Diana is a mess and could do with some silk longjohns. I see new feathers at the back of her head just behind her comb but I don’t see any sign of a new tail and her body seems to be getting more naked by the day.
She is so funny - she often shakes her tail for some reason, and now without an actual tail she just shakes her whole back end!
I am filling up her feeder with 22% starter feed. I assume that is OK for an adult? She is eating fine but has a lot of feathers to grow.

 

[Lexicon]

Has something gotten into the coop? Lemming, vole, rat?

I know that some rodents live under the coop. We trapped one vole this fall that was getting too brazen, but didn't bother keeping the trap set up. The hens have killed two rodents. The only evidence was blood that was not from any of the hens. This was over a year ago though.

 

[bgmathteach]

Poor Annie. Not a good time to be molting. Chickens do so many things right but I can't understand why they molt when it is so cold. I originally thought it was just based on when the were hatched and a simple number of months until feathers wore out and were replaced but Hattie switched her molt by months this year. I really wish they had better natural sense on their molts.

I had assumed it had to do with daylight and temperatures......but that was just a wild guess. Is there any sense of what does trigger it? I wonder if there are any studies on molting in chickens? Probably not, other than the 'deprive of feed and force molts' that the big ag. business used to do was studied for their benefit - not for the chickens nor general knowledge.

 

[micstrachan]

Blessed, ground soaking, much needed rain?

YES.

 

[bgmathteach]

"Forced' Molting studies on hormonal and 'fasting; induced molting.

US egg industry practices - now & then

@BY Bob I wonder if they do this late molting....BECAUSE they aren't molting post brooding?

What induces molting in Roosters?

 

[RoyalChick]

"Forced' Molting studies on hormonal and 'fasting; induced molting.

US egg industry practices - now & then

@BY Bob I wonder if they do this late molting....BECAUSE they aren't molting post brooding?

What induces molting in Roosters?

Interesting thought. It seems plausible. There must be a variety of triggers of which anorexia while brooding is one seen in the wild.
But then plan B kicks in to ensure new feathers for winter.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Let me just say last nights hot flash was a blessing in disguise. I threw open the window and left it open. Thanks to that I was able to capture this this morning without him even knowing.

Twig says Rise and Shine.

 

[RoyalChick]

Let me just say last nights hot flash was a blessing in disguise. I threw open the window and left it open. Thanks to that I was able to capture this this morning without him even knowing.

Twig says Rise and Shine.

Just lovely. A perfect crow. He looks quite pleased with himself!