Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Grandma The Chicken]

I'm in the contest for text to speech but Valentine's Day edition. I don't know what DeepAI was thinking when I told them "chickens" and "Valentine's day" in the same sentence.

This is how a chicken is supposed to celebrate Valentine's Day.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

My wild water puddle (aka pee pit) is froze solid, and dumb Truly picked that spot to roll this morning, and then while (trying to) get up she slipped and fell down - I tell you at 05:00hrs when it’s pitch black outside and snowing/raining and you see your 1000lb horse go crashing down you freak out just a bit.

I was trying to keep chickens in, and go try to help her up….



Thank fully she managed to get up on her own, I don’t know how! Tonight I will give her some Phenylbutizone (like aspirin), as I am sure she will be sore.

And now I see Blanche Penelope Marty and Henny all roosting early at 2:30 - what’s that all about??
View attachment 3732905View attachment 3732904

I would have thought they would have at least another hr or more to eat and frolic around. Henny bless her wee toes is still dragging along her babies - they will be 9 weeks tomorrow she’s such a good mama!

Poor Truly, and how scary for you!

 

[BY Bob]

Okay… I am angry now. I found Dakota eating something up on her platform. She was eating an egg! I don’t know what to do about that. I have to babysit her closely and try to protect the rest of the eggs laid by the other birds. I can’t have egg eaters in my tribe

I have found that ceramic eggs seemed to work. I'm so sorry she is doing this. I know it can be hard to break her of.

 

[BY Bob]

I find something sitting away from the edges is very helpful against bullying.
Mostly I use tree stumps but I have used buckets or overturned chairs.
The key is they can fit between the item and the wall.
Then they chase each other round and round it but nobody can get cornered.
Often the bully gets bored going round and round and moves on peacefully.

 

[BY Bob]

I'm in the contest for text to speech but Valentine's Day edition. I don't know what DeepAI was thinking when I told them "chickens" and "Valentine's day" in the same sentence.
View attachment 3733254
This is how a chicken is supposed to celebrate Valentine's Day.
View attachment 3733255

I love grandma. No AI is ever topping her. Well done!

 

[rural mouse]

Proof positive NIMBUS is laying

It landed in the nest box as I opened the coop.

 

[RoyalChick]

I have found that ceramic eggs seemed to work. I'm so sorry she is doing this. I know it can be hard to break her of.

Maybe it was a broken egg? Mine scarf down a soft shell egg or a broken egg in seconds but so far have not attacked an intact egg.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Ah! So good!! Thanks for the tour!
Oh so many good ideas. I particularly like the bucket idea for dead ends, and the cinder block log holders. I feel like I could probably build tiny cinder block pyramids with at least two logs spanning them at different heights so it would create both a roost and a “fence”.

My older ladies are content to harass from ground level, but not only are Albert & Whiskey only seven months old, they’re also very athletic! It’s the leghorn in them. They love flying and perching way up high. So there is no height that new gal Perry can reach that will shake them off her tail. She also happens to be of a more standard build, favoring middling 1.5 foot high perches over the four foot high ones where she might find some reprieve. Maybe she just needs a long ramp to get up there, like the Spuds have.

Buckets are one of my favorite tools! So useful for so many things. I can't get or carry the big log stumps @RoyalChick has & are great. But an upside-down bucket firmly set into the litter / ground works well. It's light and you can make easy changes in layout. Also, they like to drum on it.

I don't have enough "under" places. I want to make another place or two like under their veranda & coop - a low card table would be ideal.

Cinder blocks: places sell different kinds, different sizes/materials/weights and with differently-sized & -shaped holes. I had no idea of the range! Also, ensure the blocks won't tip over however you use them. Building a base of them together on their sides would work. Here, placed singly on end, I sweep the bouncy litter away and make sure they are firmly on a paver underneath.

Perry will have to go through her integration, just try to ensure there is enough space available for the number of chickens, and always somewhere to escape to and from, whether high or low. Usually the bouts of intimidation and attacks are short-lived. Just make sure Albert & Whiskey aren't so serious and persistent as to be really wounding her. They have the most to lose if she decides to be a social climber, they want to make sure she doesn't pass them in pecking order. Maybe Perry does have spunk and drive and sees them as equals since they could be pretty close in age. They'll have to work it out.

 

[RoyalChick]

Buckets are one of my favorite tools! So useful for so many things. I can't get or carry the big log stumps @RoyalChick has & are great. But an upside-down bucket firmly set into the litter / ground works well. It's light and you can make easy changes in layout. Also, they like to drum on it.

I don't have enough "under" places. I want to make another place or two like under their veranda & coop - a low card table would be ideal.

Cinder blocks: places sell different kinds, different sizes/materials/weights and with differently-sized & -shaped holes. I had no idea of the range! Also, ensure the blocks won't tip over however you use them. Building a base of them together on their sides would work. Here, placed singly on end, I sweep the bouncy litter away and make sure they are firmly on a paver underneath.

Perry will have to go through her integration, just try to ensure there is enough space available for the number of chickens, and always somewhere to escape to and from, whether high or low. Usually the bouts of intimidation and attacks are short-lived. Just make sure Albert & Whiskey aren't so serious and persistent as to be really wounding her. They have the most to lose if she decides to be a social climber, they want to make sure she doesn't pass them in pecking order. Maybe Perry does have spunk and drive and sees them as equals since they could be pretty close in age. They'll have to work it out.

I use a hand cart to move the logs and then I sort of tip them into the Chicken Palace and wiggle them into location. It is a good workout!
I want to put the fence energizer on a log - it is currently on an upturned bucket but I worry it isn't stable enough.
I love those cinder block structures - very clever - but I worry about the tipping over issue, Everything in the Chicken Palace is on a hill - quite a steep hill - so to get a flat surface I would have to do some digging.
I wiped out on the hill yesterday just outside the Chicken Palace trying to hot wire that area against the foxes. The combination of ice, mud and the slope was too much and down I went. Bloody nose. I am glad the Princesses were locked inside their Palace or they might have tried eating my nose off my face!

Tax: Bernie says - Who, me?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Proof positive NIMBUS is layingView attachment 3733387It landed in the nest box as I opened the coop.

A warm egg is a wonderful thing!