Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[CCsGarden]

 

[CCsGarden]

Look at her butt!

 

[CCsGarden]

 

[rural mouse]

@ChicoryBlue that looks great! I mentioned putting pavers all over the little feeder cave under the coop, hubby said he'd keep an eye out.
I went out just before sunrise this morning to get the birds up. Decided that Samara and Morinth needed some handling. Once they realized I was just checking them over and petting them, they both were chill with it! And ever jealous Liara wanted held too (Ash was SO mad at me for it though, they're besties)

After breakfast there was a break in the rain so kiddo and I went out with mealworms so I could get the punkin halves out of there. They were very poopy.
View attachment 3669258
The chicken kid and the flock. Shep adores her and like, rubs up to her like a cat? Wanting pets.
View attachment 3669259
Getting pets.
View attachment 3669260
Kasumi/Thane. Big legs on them!
View attachment 3669261
Samara and Morinth. They didn't come get mealyworms from my hand BUT today was their first ever mealworms and they ate all the ones I tossed their way.
View attachment 3669262
Chickens squat for other reasons right? Samara did a couple times when I reached over top of her or went to pet her. Maybe just a "nooo don't touch meee" squat?

That's a receptive to rooster motion. Also means close to laying.

 

[featherhead007]

It was a real squat, not a frog-walking evade-your-hand squat? Maybe she's older than you think?

Your DH can ask at Home Depot or other store about broken pavers, when they might be available. I happened upon the employees there clearing out a space to put more in. They will sell them much cheaper. Here's the two grey 16x16 ones I got, the halves still fit together, though when I bought them I didn't know if I'd use the halves together or separately. I do use some large stones to hold down the edges of the aviary netting, so I'm always on the lookout. I'm kind of a hoarder that way!
View attachment 3669273

That’s an expressive way to say that, CB!
“Frog walking-evade your hand kind of squat”. My chooks do this too especially when they are molting.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Well, either way the nest boxes will have fresh pine needles tonight. I feel like it was a "don't wanna be touched" crouch even though she didn't waddle away. Mostly because I don't have any calcium set up yet I need to rig a holder for it!

 

[Ponypoor]

What I’m going for is to elevate the floor of the run away from the water from the runoff around the run - my remediation measures haven’t been truly proven yet, like with a winter thaw. But with the cracks between the stones I do want some moisture and worm & bug access up into the bottom of the litter over the course of a season, to maybe get some nice decomposition and biological activity going, and for the gang to dig down to the stones to explore and get at it if they want. Basically a deep litter situation, which would work on bare ground, if that bare ground had good drainage.

So small gravel or the trench river stones would work here too for drainage, for awhile, but I think the litter would sift and mix too much (given the determined work crews here), and end up down at the actual bottom, all thoroughly mixed in. I wouldn’t be able to do a reasonable clean out once or twice a year without removing a bunch of gravel or having river stones to sift through. I’d possibly end up where I was before with a too damp or maybe soaking wet litter? So this, maybe hair-brained idea, is that some moisture and worms /bugs can come up through the cracks (and down from any snow or rain that blows in) but it will be limited.

This is the brick pavers I have, with loose hay that has been sitting on top of them over the summer. There are a gazzillion bug, spiders and what-not under the hay and cracks between the bricks. And the chooks have a blast digging through it.

I am in the process of pulling up pavers we’re the tats have tunnelled under them, backfilling and replacing the pavers - hate rats.

Edit: ummm - Rats not tats

 

[Ponypoor]

From the Audubon web site. Varies depending on the bird species -
https://www.audubon.org/news/understanding-basics-bird-molts

Are molts obvious?​

Yes, though more so in larger species and in longer feathers on the wings and the tail. When birds are molting, you can usually spot the missing primary flight feathers by looking for a gap in the outline of the wing. The molt typically starts with the inner-most primary feather and works out; similarly, the central tail feathers tend to be shed first. At the same time, the plumage on the body is also being swapped. In black or darkly colored birds, the new feathers are noticable as they contrast with the faded old ones.

When does molting occur?​

Molting is energetically expensive—as is migration and breeding. So, birds make sure these three activities don't overlap. For many of our North American songbirds, that sweet spot in the calendar is July into early August. Townsend’s Warblers, for instance, go through a complete molt during this time, after they're done mating, nesting, and tending to their chicks, but before they embark on their southbound migrations. Other birds such as Gray Flycatchers fly down to their tropical grounds first to wrap up the process there. Tree Swallows, meanwhile, may begin the swap up north, pause for migration, and then complete it after arriving at their wintering destinations. Many species also have a partial molt in late winter or spring, replacing their head and body feathers but not their flight feathers. That's how a male Scarlet Tanager can switch to olive-green for the winter and back to luminous red for spring and summer.

Thanks! That was really interesting

 

[RoyalChick]

I feel really bad for Sylvie. She doesn’t seem to have got the hang of this broody thing at all.
When she is off the nest she runs around frantically making that broody bok-bok-bok sound. She doesn’t focus on eating, drinking or bathing (though I have seen her do all three), she just runs around aimlessly and apparently frantically. Like she lost her car keys.
When the others are peacefully napping or busy digging she charges into them at full speed. They get annoyed and beat the crap out of her.
I am hoping she will give up on her own. And I hope when she does she can reintegrate peacefully. It seems to me she has lost a lot of friends.
Babs and Bernie are more tolerant of her behavior than the other Pentagonists. You can almost feel their frustration with her!
Piglet has stopped giving her eggs and is laying elsewhere - somewhere Sylvie hasn’t discovered. Babs still supplies her an egg every day.
Poor Sylvie. I think she may be up on the roof again.

 

[Desertvalleychickens]

Whoa! Fluffy Butt Acres is ramping up my reaction score really quickly!