Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Ha I may need to zap my dad My brothers girlfriend did that to my Brother once when he was bullying me

Awesome - I am afraid it was me that taught my nieces to do that haha my poor brother in law got a good zap!

I like electric fencing to keep predators at bay; where I work is Grizzly territory so the electric fencing there is necessary at the camps, they can be very dangerous (the bears) so we try to mitigate any bear human contact by the use of the electric fence.

I have black bears here at home they are not so aggressive and electric fencing works well to keep them away, along with raccoons, fox, coyotes and wolves - and the neighbours bad dogs!

 

[Ponypoor]

Thank you! So a Buff Orp mixed with an EE? Nice! Do you think she would go broody if I gave her the chance? She once fell asleep on the nest and I thought she died. Oh, the tears wouldn't stop until I saw her move... I almost squeezed her to death

Buttercup conked out in the sun once and she looked dead! Bad buttercup! Scaring me!

 

[Ponypoor]

Love the calgon moment of your hen, hate that you get migraines.

Thanks I am better now but now I am awake ugh… and it’s pelting down rain!

But the chooks are all asleep, Mr P has his usual head sagging going on…

 

[Ponypoor]

I have a young roo with a crossbeak and he is perfectly healthy. He the lowest on the pecking order so we often feed him away from his dad so he gets his share. He will also be last to roost because he knows he can dine hassle free once his dad roosts.

Smart young Roo! Is the beak from an injury so you think? Or born with it?

 

[Ponypoor]

He is a splendid fellow. I knew you would love a Polish. You a great service taking him in.

And funny thing is, since I came home he has been so quiet and accepting of me, I can step over him without him flipping out! And he walks by with our running!

I think being away and then returning made him realize I was ok and to be tolerated! He even bred a couple hens in front of me (could have done without that hahaha!).

Or maybe it was worming him before I left I am going to worm him again tomorrow, just in case…

 

[Ponypoor]

Cholo is the king of wattlesView attachment 3362578Cholo Jr in the background is working on a good set tooView attachment 3362581

Yep agreed he is resplendent!

Hey you still set to fly out Sunday?

 

[Ponypoor]

Okay.. Here is Bolt, and her RIR hatch mate, Barbeque View attachment 3362588

They are lovely! I so enjoy my chickens, if I had known how much fun they were I would have got rid of my horses years ago

 

[Ponypoor]

I found some old videos of my chickens. I think I will share some of them for New Year celebration.

Here is 4 babies chirping and dust bathing from half a year ago.

Awe !!!! So cute ! I love that dust bath you made for them!

 

[Ponypoor]

Hi folks. Just got back tonight from skiing with the family this week. Here is a pic my wonderful neighbor friend sent when he cared for them this week:
View attachment 3362631
The little red coop is not really in use. It’s just sitting collecting dust and I hang the feed cups on it.

Anyway, I miss them! I can’t wait to hang out with the chickens tomorrow. It will be raining all day, however.

Did I miss anything big this week?

Hi Michelle! Sounds like you have fun

Lady F laid he first egg! And she was able
To enjoy the fruits of her labour as Bob dropped - haha

Valarie also had a first egg - a blue one

Seems some have been afflicted with frost bite but overall I think everyone survived the cold ok.

Big news is Rebecca and her Mama Hen who decides to go broody on the hill side under a rock ledge! We are all sitting on tenter hooks waiting to see if she is ok and hatches any babies! Oh I didn’t see any update yesterday on her! @RebeccaBoyd how are things with Mama?

 

[Ponypoor]

Why Frostbite this time?

i need to figure out why Glynda got Frostbite and Daisy, the greatest hen ever, never did. What do i need to change to prevent this from happening again?



I have kind of hinted around at this today but I wanted to pull my thoughts all together in one post.

This is not nearly the coldest weather I have shepherded chickens through. Daisy, the greatest hen ever, survived temperatures at least a low as -10°F (-23°C) with no damage at all to her magnificent award winning comb.

View attachment 3362611

So why now when, while the temp was down into single digits but definitely not down below 0°?

I went to the photos of roosting and lined them up with the coldest temps.

On Friday night it went down to 6°F (-14°C). Friday night she roosted like this.

View attachment 3362671

On Saturday night it went down to 4°F (-15°C). Saturday night he roosted like this.
View attachment 3362672

On Sunday night it went down to 15°F (-9°C). She roosted like this.
View attachment 3362673

On Monday night it went down to 15°F and she was in the Cluckle Hut again.

That's 3 nights in the Cluckle Hut with 3 other hens on 2 of the nights. I have not had this many chickens overnight in the Cluckle Hut ever before. It could be that I have a ventilation issue in the Hut with that many hens in there at one time.

The wind chill is another potential issue. On Friday and Saturday wind chills were approaching -20°F (-29°C). That's cold enough to cause frostbite in a matter of minutes. Always before in such situations I have locked them in the Main Coop. This time I did not. This may have been my biggest mistake. If i had disabled the automated door they would only have been able to roost in the Main Coop and Glynda would not have been exposed to the wind.

I have plastic over most of the windward facing portions of the coop run complex but not on the potion directly under the house. If Glynda caught the wind that was where it happened. I could line that portion with shower curtains as well.

I do need to think on this further but this is where I find my thoughts today. If I am going to add ventilation to the Cluckle Hut I need to do it soon while it is warm out and before the next cold snap.

The easiest solution to all of this is to lock them down next time and not let any of them out of the big coop. No matter what I think that was my big error. Poor Glynda is paying for it right now.

I would lean towards wind as the culprit, my horses are out in all sorts of weather without frost bite, but that one year my horse got her ears wet and the high winds we had with it caused her frost bite.

My cheeks were frosted when I was in the wind, I can be out in -38 with no wind and I am fine! But the times I got frost bite it was the wind and it was only around -10C and -15C.

I would leave them in an area without wind next time.