Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

It's cold but thankfully no snow here.

The best news is princess muck had over an hour in the garden today with a nice bit of sun.

Time to charge up her hot water bottle now. She actually snuggles up and it lasts for hours. Mine is still luke warm in the mornings so a great help for people with a lone chicken and no electricity View attachment 3725771
View attachment 3725767Rechargeable hot water bottle

Very clever solution.

 

[BY Bob]

Living in an ice world. This all fell as sleet yesterday topped by freezing fog this morning.the few cars that have gone by today make the scariest cracking sounds!View attachment 3725817View attachment 3725818View attachment 3725820

Please stay safe. That's nasty.

 

[Ponypoor]

@Ponypoor that hen was so proud of herself too!
I love those condos, what pampered chooks you have!
My dad is really excited to make the coop for me. Hubby...well he's happy we're getting eggs and "dad knows I'm gonna be a bug up his butt as soon as the ground thaws right? My girls better be sitting pretty by the end of spring!"

Oh! He told me not to put eggs in my pockets so I busted out some yarn and started drafting a pattern for a (machine washable) egg carry basket.
View attachment 3726107
Mine will hold up to 7 but if I am clever I could make the pattern modular to hold even more.

That sounds like chicken math is going to be happening! And it should, you need to do succession planning, as the older girls stop laying them younger ones come along. I have a whole basket full of free loader lawn ornaments here!

Here are three of them! Sophia, Penelope (the boss hen), and Blanche. Granted Penelope will be8 and the other two, 6 yrs old in a couple Months so they have earned retirement.

 

[Ponypoor]

Word of advice, make the coop just a little bit bigger then what you think you need. The satin silkie girls already proved chicken math is real.

Yes good advice, I have that one Hen House which is 4x10, and that second one is 6x10. They sleep only in there, and the nest boxes are in there. I had to make the second one to put my new up and coming ladies.

 

[Ponypoor]

I have lost internet. A surprisingly likeable Verizon Bot told me sweetly it will be out for at least 24 hours.
I have patchy cell phone coverage if I am lucky.
So no TV, no PC, no coop cameras, no BYC.
This wouldn’t phase me normally except that the temperatures are plummeting tonight so tomorrow would be a good day not to go outside.
I can already hear that the mice have all come inside to warm up in my walls and ceilings.
See you all when I reconnect to the world.
Tax (if it will upload).
View attachment 3726114

Be safe!

Oh and you reminded me I needed to climb up into the attic to put out mice bait hmmm well tomorrow is another day.

Marty, sunbathing dreaming of summer

 

[BY Bob]

I love the colours you painted your cools with

Also really glad no damage to them, it was wild here also, but still hardly any snow - very icy though

Now the deep freeze hits here.

Thanks for the kind words on the colors. Mrs BY Bob chose the mint for the main coop and the peach for the Cluckle Hut was suggested by someone on this thread.

Stay warm. Darn Canadian air has reached here tonight. Please take your air back.

Weather whining tax

 

[BeastBaby]

Let me know what you

I love the flag pole idea. I’m sure there’s an easy way to anchor the netting to the base- maybe just a carabiner for easy removal.

The problem I see is that it will have very limited usefulness. It’s exclusively protecting that one hardware cloth resting spot? Are you hesitant to draw it out and away from the building? You could create a 15’ (or any distance, really) halo of extra safe space radiating away from the palace if it went from the flag pole and over to the bushes. Maybe set three poles in amongst the shrubbery to tether it to, parallel to the three anchors you’ll have on the wall?

 

[BY Bob]

Oh they were watching everyone learning where they put things, they can unzip things also I am sure he watched you put it there, then when you weren’t looking - bam! He flew in, grabbed it and took off!

They are so smart.

 

[BY Bob]

Maybe I should get the adjustable kind in which case I can do less that 45 degrees.

I would suggest that. There may be a reason you need to vary angel's as well to control the drape of the netting.

I thought I would start off using PVC pipe as the flag pole. Mainly because I have a bunch of 8' pieces in the barn. My plan was to drill through it so that I can pass a wire (or zip tie) all the way through the pole and tie the net to it

PVC pipe will work great. I would highly endorse its use.

 

[rural mouse]

Pony Sunday

A BFTP as it’s too cold for me to be out there taking horse photos

Lulu
View attachment 3725788

Truly scratching her ankle
View attachment 3725789

Truly and Reenie looking for apples on the apple tree
View attachment 3725790

I ordered and received my new StarLink receiver, and I might go and see if I can set it up, but it’s really windy and cold, and I don’t want to climb up a tower to mount it. Maybe just put it on the ground for now

Statlink: worth it. You're going to need to test several spots for best signal before mounting it.

Visitors before the COLD.