Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

@Marie2020 I should add that cheapest of all is to save a couple of spoons of Greek yoghurt with live cultures and put it in a pot and fill the pot with fresh milk.
Cover the pot with a tea towel to stop dust getting in and leave it in the kitchen counter or near a radiator if they are on.
A few days later you will have new yoghurt. It won’t be as solid as store bought Greek yoghurt because that is strained, but it will taste fine and the chickens won’t mind.
You can keep going from batch to batch without ever buying new yoghurt, but I know you have had some mold issues at the house so you might want to start afresh with new yoghurt and fresh milk every couple of batches just to be on the safe side.

And for yoghurt tax here is Sylvie who gets more grey on her back every day it seems.
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Your are a precious and your chickens are beautiful

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

You know I just thought of something. @RoyalChick is a cat person. I now find myself with 4 kittens I will need to find homes for in about 8 weeks. I also find myself dragging my feet on placing 2 young so far sweet boys. We have all tried to convince her she needs a rooster one day.
@RoyalChick you need one of these cuties.

And while you are here, you can also choose between these 2 young men.

The top one is a cross between Bubba the Marans and one of the Cinnamon Queen girls. Very lightly feathered legs as you can see, much less then Tassels. The bottom one is a cross between Twiggy who was Silkie x Marans and I believe one of the orp girls. He has the beginnings of a muff and is developing a real pretty color pattern. His legs have a little more feathering, not much. He may have the same amount of leg feathering as Tassels one day. Due to Twig being the daddy I do not think he will grow as big as his brother will. He reminds me a bit of @Ponypoor Pretty Boy Floyd. Both are very sweet, and are up for cuddles. Both are also pre-spoiled thanks to grandma. They are already learning from the big boys and have started shadowing them. They also I have noticed watch over their sisters. Neither one will go to roost until all the rest of their hatchmates are safely on the roost. I have also refrained from naming either one yet so pick a boy and give me a name. He will know it very soon.

Ok, now to go hide in a corner while you ponder this decision.

 

[Lilion]

Just checking the weather here, looks like a stretch of good weather coming up - hope it stays as such - I will need more hay for the winter and so far everyone around here has had to just bale rotten hay and burn it

Now whether or not this continues remains to be seen but woohoo! 6 days in a row for nice weather!

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Weather tax

Look at that beard, muffs and eyebrows on this pretty girl - Muffy is a cutie pie
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Look at that wonderful, cool weather! We enjoyed a few days in the low 80s and I had decided we were done with that awful heat. Not so much.

Just went out, watered the run, turned on a phone, put out electrolytes and added ice in the water. If Eenie would let the chicks out in the run it would be better...but she's stubbornly refusing still.

I want autumn.

 

[bgmathteach]

@RoyalChick

This is not where I bought it from but it's the same probiotic

https://www.chickenvet.co.uk/beryl-s-friendly-bacteria

There's more of the description here.

https://shop.bhwt.org.uk/products/c...ia?_pos=2&_sid=8995af007&_ss=r#specifications

It's so very hard finding what is needed and I can't keep this for long.

I wonder if I could freeze the rest what do you think? I'll have to use it quickly. I'm banging my head trying to find all they need

Interesting that it doesn't disclose the actual bacteria strains! Though there are supposedly over 200 different strains present. @RoyalChick - thoughts? I know multi strain probiotics is definitely preferable to single-strain...but ?????

 

[Ponypoor]

Look at that wonderful, cool weather! We enjoyed a few days in the low 80s and I had decided we were done with that awful heat. Not so much.View attachment 3613971

Just went out, watered the run, turned on a phone, put out electrolytes and added ice in the water. If Eenie would let the chicks out in the run it would be better...but she's stubbornly refusing still.

I want autumn.

Holy Dinah - I am soooo sad for you guys down there, it's like this out west here. It might be cool here, but it's been hard on the farmers esp our potato crops, with mold.

And I have pretty much given up on a second cut of hay from my supplier. Not sure what will happen this winter or how much hay will be, but I am already cutting back on hay and feeding more grain.

 

[Ponypoor]

I watched her deliver all but the first one. They are big kittens, but they did not look that big until they dried off. We were so worried she would have a hard time as she is a little kitten herself. She had no problems at all. The first 2 were here within 30 minutes and she took about a 45 minute break. The final 2 came quick as well with only about 10 minutes between kittens. Everyone is doing well this morning. 2 girls and 2 boys it seems.

Awwww kittens are so cute - puppies are adorable, but there is just something about kittens

It's like the debate between lambs and goat kids - I think baby goats are soooo cute

 

[bgmathteach]

You know I just thought of something. @RoyalChick is a cat person. I now find myself with 4 kittens I will need to find homes for in about 8 weeks. I also find myself dragging my feet on placing 2 young so far sweet boys. We have all tried to convince her she needs a rooster one day.
@RoyalChick you need one of these cuties.
View attachment 3613854
And while you are here, you can also choose between these 2 young men.
View attachment 3613856View attachment 3613858View attachment 3613872
The top one is a cross between Bubba the Marans and one of the Cinnamon Queen girls. Very lightly feathered legs as you can see, much less then Tassels. The bottom one is a cross between Twiggy who was Silkie x Marans and I believe one of the orp girls. He has the beginnings of a muff and is developing a real pretty color pattern. His legs have a little more feathering, not much. He may have the same amount of leg feathering as Tassels one day. Due to Twig being the daddy I do not think he will grow as big as his brother will. He reminds me a bit of @Ponypoor Pretty Boy Floyd. Both are very sweet, and are up for cuddles. Both are also pre-spoiled thanks to grandma. They are already learning from the big boys and have started shadowing them. They also I have noticed watch over their sisters. Neither one will go to roost until all the rest of their hatchmates are safely on the roost. I have also refrained from naming either one yet so pick a boy and give me a name. He will know it very soon.

Ok, now to go hide in a corner while you ponder this decision.

Oh, @RebeccaBoyd , you put @RoyalChick in a very tough position, you know. Both of those boys are nice, handsome, and desirable - which to choose???? And, of course, picking ONE from all 4 kitties....my, my, my....that is tough, too. Be careful, she may just end up going home with 3 or 4 'additional' companions, not 2!!!!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Oh, @RebeccaBoyd , you put @RoyalChick in a very tough position, you know. Both of those boys are nice, handsome, and desirable - which to choose???? And, of course, picking ONE from all 4 kitties....my, my, my....that is tough, too. Be careful, she may just end up going home with 3 or 4 'additional' companions, not 2!!!!

Well I also have a boy in Corona's group of chicks. Fairly confident it is a pure Marans and a Holly son. Corona has not allowed me to be as hands on with her chicks so it is semi wild still. I have started working on it at night. I did not offer it to @RoyalChick because I am trying to bribe with tame very friendly boys.

 

[notabitail]

Awwww kittens are so cute - puppies are adorable, but there is just something about kittens

It's like the debate between lambs and goat kids - I think baby goats are soooo cute

So does Mrs. @BY Bob .

 

[bgmathteach]

Okay, I caved and did it:

I still have 2 broodies that have been broody for over 5 weeks, aren't breaking, and will never hatch chicks as they are low on the totem pole, get pulled out of the nest boxes...so then hop into any open one that has eggs....hence the eggs end up starting, getting chilled, and dieing.....

So......






Here are my new additions...I will give the older 2 to one of the girls (my young, first time broody), and the 4 younger ones to my DC girl that is a proven mom. (They were on sale at TSC. This year, seems whenever they have a few 'fliers', on the weekend, they all go on sale......$1 each for the 2 straight run EEs - the two older ones) and $2 each for the 4 younger pullets (one an EE the other 3 black sex linked - they aren't as prolific a layer as a red sex link - regardless of the specific name - and are half BR (boys have yellow head spot and are barred, girls are not barred and frequently have a bit of red in their hackles - I'll cross them back with a BR roo)

Meet the newbies:

The whole bunch


Mr. Scaredy pants he hugged my hand for a long time before he 'stood up' a bit. But I do suspect it is a boy based on early comb development - we will see, though

The second EE straight run (again, a bit older than the others. She has very pretty muted markings on her wings:

The youngsters: 3 Black star pullets and one EE pullet:

The last one has no white on her wings, and already has a bit of red seeping through as a rusty colour on her head. The first and second black stars have white on their elbow and wing tips, respectively. And the first is the EE pullet. It doesn't show well in the pic, but she has quite puffy cheeks, so I am sure will have a nice little muff going a she grows.

I needed more chicks like I need another hole in my head - I already have 57 (15 are slow-grow meat birds - the rest are 'keepers' except for the 'extra' roos) But, I just couldn't let my girl continue to sit - especially my sweet DC girl - she has lost so much weight, even with me making sure she gets up in the am and clipping both food and water to her nest box......and she is such a good mom - I just had to do this for her...and the young girl - fiercely determined to hatch...her too...now hopefully they will both accept the chicks. I'm pretty confident about my DC girl, but unsure about my youngster ( she is a black Jersey Giant pullet, just under 1 year old this week) I am putting the slightly older chicks with her because as long as they can find the food and water (which I will show them), they should be okay as long as they get to nest in the box with her at night for warmth ( meaning the closeness of the nest box - since they are partially feathered, and it isn't too cold, as long as they have that closed space and each other, I think they will be okay if she doesn't cotton to them. I can easily set up a crib so they will have their own protected space with food and water to get away from the bigs if she doesn't protect them/adopt them.