Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

O my goodness, she is so pretty!! What is her breed?

Hattie is a Lavender Orpington.

 

[notabitail]

Here is my newest lady Gianni.

So cute!

 

[Bella the Chicken Lover]

Hattie is a Lavender Orpington.

I'm putting that breed on my Chicken wish list

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Mayyyybeeeee I am where you were. I would like to repair the relationship my kids have with the chickens. Oreo, aka attack for no reason chicken, had a lasting impression on both my kids and it wasn’t good. Story is sweet, Lore thinks the kids are fun to chase if they run. He doesn’t attack them butttt if they run he is game to chase em off. I think he will stop this after this spring, he is huge and not particularly inclined to feats of physical prowess and his heart isn’t really in the fight, it’s clearly hormones. Time will tell for sure and I am watching him closely.

So, all that to say mayyybe they do not take up much space after all….

I am in no way enabling then if you are leaning towards silkies. I would either find some hatching eggs, or a few day old chicks and brood them yourself. Silkies like to snuggle. Let your little ones have visits with them daily. You will not have to train them to cuddle with you, they will do the training themselves by simply settling in and going to sleep. Even the roosters I have been around love to cuddle. That said there are exceptions to every breed, but in general for families with small children almost everyone recommends silkies as a possible breed. Having had them, I fully understand why. If someone new comes into our neighborhood who have small children who want to hold a chicken. Branch is my go to, I trust him fully to love being handled. He has been held by a child as young as 18 months, with supervision now.

 

[featherhead007]

I still say, silkies are not real chickens!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I still say, silkies are not real chickens!

Branch is as much of a real chicken as your Jaffar is a real chicken.

 

[notabitail]

View attachment 3747439
Branch is as much of a real chicken as your Jaffar is a real chicken.

Jaffar isn't a real chicken either...

 

[BeastBaby]

Hello all! It has been a really busy couple of weeks prepping the chickens for when we leave on vacation. It’s only a week, but they have clearly gotten used to a certain standard of space and won’t be happy if I force them into the “smaller” run during that time. So I’ve been toiling to make their run extension racoon/coyote proof. We’re nearly there!

Here they are hounding my MIL for worms while she was digging a trench for the skirt- she happily obliged them when they yelled “THERE! I see one, right there! Gaaaah don’t you see it, human?!”.

 

[BeastBaby]

Incidentally, since I’ve been spending all this time w the chickens in their run (as opposed to out and about in the yard), I got to see how Perry was progressing. It’s marvelous! She is still dead last (#7) in the hierarchy (duh), and Albert (#6) still bugs her- but the integration is about complete!

She learned to use the treadle feeder (sure, she’s never /allowed/ to use it, but at least now she knows how, and does so when nobody is looking!).

Depending on the company, she is welcome to stand in the sand box (pictured here w Quincy (#2) and Fez (#3)). I haven’t actually seen her dust bathe, but it’ll happen.

And I am certain she is friends with Quincy. They are often in each other’s company, and I have seen them grooming each other . I wonder if this alliance will help her rise in social ranking?

We’ll see what other changes will happen when she starts laying next week

 

[Ponypoor]

I did not consider mold. Too late now. It's buried.

At these cold temps I wouldn’t worry about mold - and I am sure as you say Phyllis will have that uncovered and gobbled up fast! They sure don’t forget were food is haha!