Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

She has 4 of the Rural king Orp girls eggs. I was in a bind last night when I moved her and put her in chicken jail. She was throwing a fit and they were the closest big eggs I could grab. By 10 am this morning those 2 girls had laid again so I gave them to momma hen as well. I thought about just leaving her with 2, then thought better of it incase only 1 hatched.

Oh that's great, those should be lovely babies

 

[bgmathteach]

Kinda depends upon your climate and run space. My place, the grass is just starting to green up and snow is frequently measured in feet. I'm going to build heavy to hold up to the wind, roomy enough that staying inside for a few days isn't a problem and with heat sources/keeping water liquid at -40 methods. Someone in Florida is going to build in hardware cloth with 1-2 solid walls on the side of prevailing winds/afternoon sun, and possibly with lots of panels that can be opened/closed depending upon the weather each day. Are you in town, suburb, country? Can you have roosters? Will your birds be coop and run only, coop & run with supervised excursions out, tractor &pasture, coop&free range on their own recognizance? Do you want a coop you can walk into and stand up in or something in smaller height dimensions? On stilts so they can have shade under it or built to the ground?

Yes to all of this - great thought-provoking and important questions!

P.S @notabitail you mentioned transporting to a new property (hopefully) down the road. Sturdy sheds-turned-coops aren't too bad to transport. Also, some of the larger coops that are elevated, you could build in 2 halves (with the now 'center wall' not 'built', and have the 2 halves screwed together - if both halves are on elevated 'stilt' legs, you can easily make panels to go between the 'legs' on the outside...so it could be 'broken down' in the 2 halves and make it quite moveable, but still a fairly large coop. It would also them make the bottom half easily 'wrapable' with a clear tarp IF you are in a cold climate, to give them some protected but sunny space in the winter.

I will try (if I have time tomorrow - with only 3 hours sleep last night, I REALLY need to get to bed now.) to sketch out what I am thinking - to give you some ideas in terms of 'modular', and take pics of it.

 

[Ponypoor]

She is not the only hen that got set yesterday. Holly has been broody and sitting on nothing on the porch. I've been removing her and trying to break her. Grandma came in yesterday evening and set her with 6 eggs. I now have 4 broody girls sitting on eggs. Holly was close to being broke darn it.

Your Grandma is an enabler!!

FYI Marty's eggs will be hatching this weekend

 

[Ponypoor]

I don't think so.

I checked. All of the chickies are present and accounted for.

Phew! Good! I was worried there

 

[bgmathteach]

She is not the only hen that got set yesterday. Holly has been broody and sitting on nothing on the porch. I've been removing her and trying to break her. Grandma came in yesterday evening and set her with 6 eggs. I now have 4 broody girls sitting on eggs. Holly was close to being broke darn it.

Speaking of all of your girls, dare I ask about Meeko?

 

[TX Chick Noob]

How is your foot doing? How is your low girl doing? Are the 'distractions' helping reducing her being denuded? I see lots of small caged-bird toys...have you been able to rig up a few visual barriers? (no-see spots, like a hanging drape or something?)

Hope all is going better for you and for her!

Foot is healing. Started work again on Monday. Have to take regular breaks to prop it up for awhile. Still a few weeks before I get clearance to try to walk without the boot.

Low girls (most of the flock has at least a few feathers missing, with three being pretty bare) are maybe a little better. Need to apply the anti-peck stuff again. Haven’t been able to set up any really good hiding areas yet. But have been trying to rearrange the buckets and trash can a few times a week to mix things up and give a bit of a barrier. And have been putting assorted things in the hanging treat bag a few times a week to occupy them.

I will. Once I go through the 57 notifications I have.

Let us know if you haven’t figured out how to turn off some of the notifications. This thread can definitely make them overwhelm you.

Random pic

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Almost forgot, the friend with the chicks that I have mentioned before (the one with the “problem son”) called yesterday. He was worried about one of his hens and wondered if I knew what was wrong. She keeps sitting on the nest all day. If he takes her off she will go eat then runs right back. Has been growling and even attacked the dog.

I almost died laughing. Told him it was time to set up a broody breaker.

 

[BY Bob]

I just LOVE that last one. Wish Davis was grinning - so makes me thing of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland!!!

That's Éowyn

This is Davis. He is also large and hairy.

 

[RoyalChick]

OMG, my heart was in my throat until I hit the spoiler button!

You really got me good!

It was pretty gruesome even so!

 

[bgmathteach]

Foot is healing. Started work again on Monday. Have to take regular breaks to prop it up for awhile. Still a few weeks before I get clearance to try to walk without the boot.

Low girls (most of the flock has at least a few feathers missing, with three being pretty bare) are maybe a little better. Need to apply the anti-peck stuff again. Haven’t been able to set up any really good hiding areas yet. But have been trying to rearrange the buckets and trash can a few times a week to mix things up and give a bit of a barrier. And have been putting assorted things in the hanging treat bag a few times a week to occupy them.


Let us know if you haven’t figured out how to turn off some of the notifications. This thread can definitely make them overwhelm you.

Random pic
View attachment 3464281

Please remind me how big your coop/run is? Dimension wise...I think I might have some ideas. (So, width, length, height)

Am I correct that most of the coop/run complex has mesh walls (or at least 2 of the walls?) given the state yo live in, I would assume heat is more of an issue than cold is for you and the girls.

I am sure that being back to work is wearing you out right now, but if you are able, could you do a rough sketch of the 'floor plan' of the coop/run space? (permanent part including roosts...and then a rough idea of 'footprints' of the moveable items like the buckets, etc....and I will see if what I am thinking will work.

Thank you!

And please - DO elevate the leg frequently and, if possible, bring an ice pack for maybe once in middle of the day. Don't overdo it, but do keep up with exercises & stretches.