Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Greetings! Yeah...I missed 30 pages again! Tuesday and Friday my husband works a 10+ hour day so I'm alone with work, dog, chores, etc. Makes doing much besides checking that the chickens stay alive kinda hard.

Today I thought I'd just see how everyone behaved. Took a bit before anyone even came in, but eventually I had all the chickens and the triplets altogether. Manny was - relatively - well behaved. I thought he was going to ignore everyone. But he came back and did his thing.

See for yourself. Let me know what you think!

Today I learned full size chickens can get behind that run! But also, Manny's not inclined to follow. That's pretty good

That looked not bad at all. Momma has her defensive vibe going well!
I think you need a piece of junk in that corner to the right of the pop door.
Something the chicks can run under and Momma can run around so she doesn’t get cornered. She squeezed behind the crate ‘cos she had no place else to go.
The junk could be as simple as an upside down tote propped up on bricks so the chicks can go underneath and Momma can run around it.
I use plastic step stools like the one pictured below. Of course. Ow nobody goes under and I just haven’t got around to taking it out and hosing it down.

 

[Desertvalleychickens]

Wow they sure are growing up! How’s school - glad I am looong past that!

Yep, they are! School is great!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Teaching the hooligans to roost in the coop on their own is not going well. This right here is part of the problem, but, neither of us would have it any other way. As grandma's health declines the one constant she has that she still gets enjoyment out of is the chickens and "Her babies".

Grandma and Mom have also changed owly's name to Aunt Olive because of her green legs. In honor of grandma's Aunt Olive who was supposedly the nicest lady she knew. Yeah, call her what you want, to me she is Owly.

 

[Lilion]

The sound out of her mid video: Back Off Momma Warning. Looks successful. He's still hormonal idiot, sees her as one of his hens: "come on, lady! Put out, will ya!" She's educating him on "Don't EVER mess with Mama!" This usually happens when the chicks are tiny. Let them be and she (or one of the others coming to her rescue) will teach him. It may take a bit as they're all relying on instinct rather than practice to get there. The whole thing looked pretty good.

Whiskey tried with Storm. She screamed and walloped him....twice that I saw (probably a few I didn't see). I also saw others come running to her rescue. By the end of the 2nd day, he'd learned: broody means stand watch, find food, and DON'T TOUCH.

Mostly she ran and hid behind the fence with two of the chicks. The third was inside. I found it amusing how she tried to sneak in while his back was turned.

We'd never heard that screech Manny let out! Was he calling Sheba to get inside? She came in from the run right after. I thought I'd figured out their cackles and bwauks and crows.

Plan for Saturday, the first time I'll have time to work on it, will be lots of hidey-holes for the triplets, makind sure the run is baby-proofed, and maybe figuring out how to fix it up so they'll still have a place for them to get their food and water, but the big birds can't go.

How long will Eenie take them to the nest to sleep? She's always got them tucked away before the others even go in for the night. I think it's time for for them to sink or swim, but I don't want to block her from where she takes them to sleep. Right now that's inside the fence.

 

[featherhead007]

Teaching the hooligans to roost in the coop on their own is not going well. This right here is part of the problem, but, neither of us would have it any other way. As grandma's health declines the one constant she has that she still gets enjoyment out of is the chickens and "Her babies".
View attachment 3604586View attachment 3604587View attachment 3604588View attachment 3604590View attachment 3604592View attachment 3604593View attachment 3604594View attachment 3604595View attachment 3604596View attachment 3604597View attachment 3604598View attachment 3604599View attachment 3604600View attachment 3604601View attachment 3604602View attachment 3604603View attachment 3604604View attachment 3604605
Grandma and Mom have also changed owly's name to Aunt Olive because of her green legs. In honor of grandma's Aunt Olive who was supposedly the nicest lady she knew. Yeah, call her what you want, to me she is Owly.

18 pictures. 1 for each of them!

 

[featherhead007]

Jaffar seems to NOT want to return to his ladies. He wants to stay indoors. I que the birds to step up on my hand, but he’s totally refusing to do so. I don’t mind him being inside. I’m just worried that the ladies might need him. ( I know how they can be, without supervision)
Maybe he’s comfortable in the A/C system inside the house.

 

[notabitail]

Leash laws vary by city or county. It's possible there's no leash law in your area. There isn't one in ours. They are allowed to come and go as they please.

There are plenty by where I might live in the future. So a gun in case of stray dog threat to chooks is a necessity there.

 

[rural mouse]

Teaching the hooligans to roost in the coop on their own is not going well. This right here is part of the problem, but, neither of us would have it any other way. As grandma's health declines the one constant she has that she still gets enjoyment out of is the chickens and "Her babies".
View attachment 3604586View attachment 3604587View attachment 3604588View attachment 3604590View attachment 3604592View attachment 3604593View attachment 3604594View attachment 3604595View attachment 3604596View attachment 3604597View attachment 3604598View attachment 3604599View attachment 3604600View attachment 3604601View attachment 3604602View attachment 3604603View attachment 3604604View attachment 3604605
Grandma and Mom have also changed owly's name to Aunt Olive because of her green legs. In honor of grandma's Aunt Olive who was supposedly the nicest lady she knew. Yeah, call her what you want, to me she is Owly.

Worth the hassle of teaching them to go into the coop at night. I'm dumbfounded by how similar Owly/Olive and Havoc are, yet how different. Had to go get more pics tonight.

10 weeks now.


And a sweet momma moment

Granite is hidden.

 

[rural mouse]

Mostly she ran and hid behind the fence with two of the chicks. The third was inside. I found it amusing how she tried to sneak in while his back was turned.

We'd never heard that screech Manny let out! Was he calling Sheba to get inside? She came in from the run right after. I thought I'd figured out their cackles and bwauks and crows.

Plan for Saturday, the first time I'll have time to work on it, will be lots of hidey-holes for the triplets, makind sure the run is baby-proofed, and maybe figuring out how to fix it up so they'll still have a place for them to get their food and water, but the big birds can't go.

How long will Eenie take them to the nest to sleep? She's always got them tucked away before the others even go in for the night. I think it's time for for them to sink or swim, but I don't want to block her from where she takes them to sleep. Right now that's inside the fence.

She will move them on her own. Once she's confident of her ability to say BACK OFF, she will start moving them off the ground. Storm is still on the ground with the babes at 2 weeks. Jessica (last year) had hers up on the roost at the same age. Every mother is different and does the chick raising at her own pace. Storm was orphaned at 3 weeks, so I'm looking at next week and wondering if she's going to be done all sudden like or hang on to the babies until they're as big as she is.

Baby proofing the run, lots of escape spots and lots of food and water places are wise now. Otherwise, let them raise the babies and enjoy the "tv" show.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Worth the hassle of teaching them to go into the coop at night. I'm dumbfounded by how similar Owly/Olive and Havoc are, yet how different. Had to go get more pics tonight.View attachment 360465010 weeks now.


And a sweet momma momentView attachment 3604651Granite is hidden.

They do look similar don't they. Now, do not go saying Owly is a boy, I will not hear of it.