Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

My most loyal egg customer picked up her eggs this morning and she shared heart breaking news. 3 times now she has bought eggs to hatch or chicks from me. She was slowly rebuilding her aging flock of hens. Prior to hatching chicks off me she had never kept a rooster, had evil ones as she called them. Well, you know my hatch ratio with boys, she ended up with a 25% percent of boys from chicks hatched. She also hatched out one of the first white fluffy feet Butter chicks. Instant love with that chick and it wormed it's way into her heart before it crowed at 5 weeks old. She placed some of her boys but kept that one and 3 more she was trying to pick a keeper out of from her late fall hatch last year. The white one was dubbed Moose as he grew huge but was her favorite chicken. Would come daily to sit on her porch swing with her. Tragedy struck 4 days ago as Moose and 3 young hens were killed. Her neighbors trail camera revealed the culprit. Huge raccoon. She is waging war on a coon that is too big to fit into her live animal trap. Her neighbor spent the weekend adding rat wire along all the sides and top of a coop made out of wood and metal. He is going to install electric fencing for her around the run and has promised her he will not stop until the coon is eliminated.

She shared these pictures with me of the boys she has left. They will not replace Moose but she has decided to hang onto all 3 now.
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Oh how sad

Darn coons. Darn foxes… darn rats!

Those boys are gorgeous eye candy

 

[Ponypoor]

On my to do list is to mix up some sand with wood ash from the fireplace and some dirt and give it to my Princesses to have some fun with.
I just use general building sand which is very cheap but comes in 50lb bags which is way more than I think I need.

Sand tax - guess who spotted a field vole!
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Did they eat it?

 

[Ponypoor]

There is something off with this picture.
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Ok my eagle eyed friends. Tell me what you see.

Is that a chick under her? It’s beak peeking out?

 

[bgmathteach]

So many people have asked me this. No, it's a brown barred rock.

A Brown Barred Rock? I didn't know they exist They are lovely I've only had PArtridge rocks & Barred Rocks (standard black & White)

 

[Lexicon]

Awwww such a sweetie, those are the ones that are special

Yes, in general this group of chicks are far friendlier with me than my first group. I have been pondering if it's because of the individual chicks' personalities or is it because I am more confident and able to discern how to interact with them better.

Does each group of chicks have their own culture?

 

[bgmathteach]

There is something off with this picture.
View attachment 3549693
Ok my eagle eyed friends. Tell me what you see.

An extra bit of 'fluff' at her breast

 

[bgmathteach]

There we go. Now, got to get my dishwater ran. I'll give you all about 10 minutes to guess who else is in the picture with Blueberry before I post the reveal.

It appears to be a bit of yellow, but I can't imagine Butter letting her crouch on her.

 

[RoyalChick]

Did they eat it?

It got away. But possibly not for long as I saw some kerfuffle going on near where Babs and Bernie were foraging.
I just loved the concentration on their faces. They were transfixed!

 

[Lilion]

My most loyal egg customer picked up her eggs this morning and she shared heart breaking news. 3 times now she has bought eggs to hatch or chicks from me. She was slowly rebuilding her aging flock of hens. Prior to hatching chicks off me she had never kept a rooster, had evil ones as she called them. Well, you know my hatch ratio with boys, she ended up with a 25% percent of boys from chicks hatched. She also hatched out one of the first white fluffy feet Butter chicks. Instant love with that chick and it wormed it's way into her heart before it crowed at 5 weeks old. She placed some of her boys but kept that one and 3 more she was trying to pick a keeper out of from her late fall hatch last year. The white one was dubbed Moose as he grew huge but was her favorite chicken. Would come daily to sit on her porch swing with her. Tragedy struck 4 days ago as Moose and 3 young hens were killed. Her neighbors trail camera revealed the culprit. Huge raccoon. She is waging war on a coon that is too big to fit into her live animal trap. Her neighbor spent the weekend adding rat wire along all the sides and top of a coop made out of wood and metal. He is going to install electric fencing for her around the run and has promised her he will not stop until the coon is eliminated.

She shared these pictures with me of the boys she has left. They will not replace Moose but she has decided to hang onto all 3 now.
View attachment 3549641View attachment 3549644

Those are beautiful boys! How sad about her others. Is love to let my chickens out, but I'm too worried about predators.

The other day our neighbor saw a BEAR! In Missouri! I knew there were some...more all the time...but I never expected to hear of one just a mile from my house!

On my to do list is to mix up some sand with wood ash from the fireplace and some dirt and give it to my Princesses to have some fun with.
I just use general building sand which is very cheap but comes in 50lb bags which is way more than I think I need.

Sand tax - guess who spotted a field vole!
View attachment 3549637

I mixed up sand and ash for my hens in the run and they ignored it entirely!

You can try a hen apron to protect her back and feathers. Getting additional hens also will help since you only have a few hens.

I would still stockpile eggs incase she is broody.

She's still on the nest a ton...sitting on golf balls, because I picked up the eggs. There were 3 today, so she did lay. She also tried to get out the egg door when I opened it. She's never done that before.

I'm thinking of moving Manny to my little coop. He'll hate it, but if she comes out with him gone, I'll know she's just afraid of him.

 

[Ponypoor]

Come on people think, and then look real close. Final hint, what is today on this thread?

Is she hiding a friend