Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Mugs on Monday.
I also have an idiot here. He may have picked a fight an hour ago with a rooster five times his weight and almost had a heart attack when he realized he was being fought back.
The challenger Théo
View attachment 3397224
The Challenged, Gastounet
View attachment 3397226
Crazy little Blanche, still with us and going into hard molt mode on top of her other issues. I think her two main motivations for fighting to stay alive are the daily scrambled egg I give her and making Chipie's life total hell.
View attachment 3397223
And Cannelle who's now the most healthy and active of my ex-batts after giving me such a scare in autumn. Under this angle she slightly reminds me of @micstrachan beautiful Margo, (but she had a much more impressive comb).
View attachment 3397225

Oh that Theo ! Silly boy. Glad he is ok though.

 

[Kris5902]

Crazy Weather
It is 44°F (6.6°C) this morning in the main coop just days after going down to single digits at night. This has to be confusing to the ladies for sure.

View attachment 3397227

I don’t like the big swings… or the thought of singe F digits… at all!

 

[Ponypoor]

Happy Pony Sunday everyone.

Today's contribution needs to be a shame the Russ post.
View attachment 3396857
My grandpa came up last night to play cards. They left around 1 am and 2 minutes later I get a phone call. It goes like this..."Are you missing a horse?" What? Nope not missing a horse, then I turned on the barn light. Crap, Russ's gate is wide open and he is out. They laughingly told me he was eating grass in the bottom. I grab my boots and a flashlight and tell Rosie I'm going to go catch her escape artist. I go out the back door to get his halter and a lead rope and Rosie meets me outside. I told her I thought she needed to go in so it would make it easier to catch him. She disagreed and then hollered his name. I did not even make it 4 more steps and I hear his hoofbeats. The naughty pony trotted right by me and stopped and put his head on Rosie's shoulder for a hug. I go up to him to put his halter on and he backs away and gives me the stink eye. Fine, I handed Rosie the halter, she says his name and he stopped dead in his tracks and allowed her to halter him and attach the lead. By now I'm calling him some not nice names under my breath. Rosie puts him in his stall and I found out Houdini has learned to open the claps to the chain that keeps his gate closed. Wonderful I tell you. I now feel I need to padlock his gate shut. He is too smart for his own good. Look at him this evening.
View attachment 3396862
This is the face of someone who was caught red handed mouthing at the chain again. He has zero remorse and will most definitely try it again. Everyone, please shame this big red goofball. He was traded stalls with Louis because he had learned to untie the knots and knock his boards down to the opening of the other stall to get out. It only took him 2 months to learn how to open his new stall door.

Yaaaaa.... I have one of those - but she lets herself and everyone else out! Too bad I can't train them all to let themselves out in the morning so I can sleep in!!!

 

[Ponypoor]

No. He's Whiskey’s brother, another bitsa.

He is thing of beauty Real Eye Candy

 

[BY Bob]

Mugs Monday
I figure a prison photo is appropriate.

 

[BY Bob]

I do do this and have been trying to teach the kids that the girls are his responsibility so we should let him feed them the treats whenever possible.

I was going to attempt unsupervised free ranging this summer but no longer on the table as an option. Supervised free ranging will have to suffice. I do wish it could be otherwise though.

I set out to not make a pet of Oreo as well. I wanted him to be able to fertilize eggs to continue the flock when we were ready to do that and to be a good lookout. I would be thrilled to have a Mr. P type relationship with Oreo.

Oh yes, I wear heavy jeans and boots and possibly gloves too if it keeps up. He was only a bit testy before Powder was taken but ever since it seems he has taken his job a lot more seriously. I will try kneeling down next time and see if that helps him calm down. He is only 6 months old so I have hope he will recover once some time has passed and once his hormones calm down. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I went through this as well. It felt super tight almost like it was cutting in (it wasn’t but felt that way) I was so very miserable and I dealt with it for days. Finally, I called my surgeons office and they said as long as I was not moving around I could loosen the splint! The relief was oh so amazing. Now, I am in no way saying for sure your situation is the same but please do call and ask because its quite possible it could be. Don't just sit with it like I did for days on end. Ortho surgery is tough

Sounds like you are doing the right things with Oreo. Be patient and he will come out the other side calmer eventually.

 

[featherhead007]

This pretty much sums up my day so far.

 

[Kris5902]

He is 6 months old and of course we just lost that pullet. He was testy before but it has escalated since losing Powder. I do set the bowl down in front of him when i bring treats out but I haven’t tried giving them one at time to him. Ill try that today. Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I just want him to not try and flog me he can be standoffish that’s acceptable. I am very grateful the kids seem to off limits to him its just me and my DH he will go after.

The problem being if he does suddenly get triggered by the kids, it could be a dangerous situation, depending on their age and awareness levels. The escalation after losing a hen and the hens more closely following him is very normal after they witness a predator attack. They are smart, and he’s taking his job seriously. It sounds like he could be growing into a superb rooster to me. You just need to get his trust and you should have an amazing guy. Sammy was actually taking full on runs across the yard at me. There were a few pecks and bites here and there at first, but now he’s the most delicate, gentle chicken to people in the yard. It took quite a while to develop my understanding with Sammy, but the work was 100% worth it, because he has made everything else much easier, and I haven’t had a single human aggressive rooter issue since in the free range flock.

I think, if I had to reduce my flock, if I was moving, or something like that… who would I keep? Out of the nearly 80 birds here if I were to keep only 20-25, I would keep Sammy, and two younger boys, because I think Sammy isn’t very fertile anymore, and a selection of hens that tend towards the crazy behaviors, like Rebecca’s crazy Old Bat, or my Grey Mama, Bully Girl, and Goldie, the ones that are borderline “is this crazy chicken worth the trouble?” Because those are the ones that truly are…

 

[micstrachan]

Mugs Monday (from the archives)

And Mani Monday for Bob.

 

[Kris5902]

Yaaaaa.... I have one of those - but she lets herself and everyone else out! Too bad I can't train them all to let themselves out in the morning so I can sleep in!!!

And then the chickens! Get those hay burners doing the chores for you…