Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

No he has no interest in her, he seems to be in love with Muffy, who submitted to him today, Mr P ran over and gave him a thumping! How dare he take one of his ladies!

Tonight Bert decided to roost with the cool girls (those darn Azur who have been roosting anywhere but the Hen House), I chased the girls down off the stall walls and they started their march to the Hen House, but Bert flew off somewhere else so I had to go find him.

There he was on some boards, he wouldn’t move so I grabbed him by the tail to drag him out (I couldn’t reach him), WELL you would have thought it was The Exocist the noises he made - he is his Dada for sure - the same hellish screams - poor Truly almost fell over with shock, and Mr P kicked up a ruckus, I tried to calm Bert but he was beyond that. So I set him down and immediately he shuts up; then the brat turned looked at me and gave me ‘the finger’ (ok the stink eye but if he had fingers I am sure it would have been that!) and marched after the cool girls.

Who BTW didn’t even bat an eyelash, too busy stuffing their faces with a snack before bed!

Never a dull moment here I apologized to him and told him he was going to get some luvin every night from now on, oh he was thrilled to hear that I am sure.

Just like @featherhead007 you have never failed to make me laugh.
You should write children's books about chickens. They would surely learn about them from you

 

[Marie2020]

When Agatha and Tina arrived then there were five

My first three the three musketeers

 

[Marie2020]

Princess refusing to come out if the garden yesterday and it was gone 5.30pm. She did nothing but eat all day sardines included

 

[Ponypoor]

Just like @featherhead007 you have never failed to make me laugh.
You should write children's books about chickens. They would surely learn about them from you

Good afternoon Marie- hope you’re doing well today.

 

[Ponypoor]

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Princess refusing to come out if the garden yesterday and it was gone 5.30pm. She did nothing but eat all day sardines included

That’s good! She is enjoying herself

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Hello FBA ! It's the beginning of a very rainy day here. I hope you will forgive me for taking the opportunity to post a long delayed Pony Sunday post even though it's Tuesday. I'll make sure to post a few chickens pictures in there.

First, I wanted to comment on the soft egg issue and the link to calcium and nutrition. In December we took one of the younger hens, Kara, to the vet for a number of issues (I wrongly feared ascites) amongst which laying problems and soft shell eggs. The vet's recommendation, per usual, was to switch back to layer feed only and a calcium and vitamin D3 supplement in the water. The point I wanted to share, is that he said to do this for a month : he considered this was the required length to see if the problem actually came from nutrition or not.
In her case it did nothing to help, so I went back to my usual way of feeding.

We call Kara the witch, because she is such a bully !
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Kara from a different angle.
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Pony Sunday on Tuesday anecdote : at the beginning of March we had two snow storms on consecutive weekends. This coincided with lambing for our village's young couple of shepherds. It was the first year that the lambing took place in their new hoop shelter in the mountain. Because the mobile phone network was down for two weeks, the town couldn't get to the society that usually clears the mountain road, so getting up there was quite a feat, and in fact they had two of their SUV stuck by the shelter for a few days, only the old tractor from the 1960's made it down ! But everything went fine, their power generator held up, and they had around 150 lambs born between the 25 February and the 10 march. I managed to run up during the first storm (though I really regretted it as I had a bit of a fright coming down) and they took me in to show me the babies. I was amazed at how warm it was inside the hoop under the snow, with just the animal heat (and how strong it smelled ) ! Now all the snow is gone, and in another two weeks they will take the lambs out to graze.

The hoop shelter under the snow.
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Can you spy the pony in the snow ? Hint : it's a canine.
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Spoiler

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This is Carlos, an Anatolian / Pyrenneese mix LGD. This dog belongs to another shepherd down the valley and no human can touch or catch him. In late summer the herds mix on the furthest mountain pasture and when they sorted the sheeps out, Carlos followed this herd instead of his. He stayed all winter in the mountain with the rams, was there when the ewes came back from the plain, and now he is part of their LGD's but still no one can catch him. I think he may be better off here, as he is getting properly fed and both humans and dogs are much less mean.

Some of the lambs now
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And some chicken tax :
11 out of 16 in a picture, I rarely get more
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And a twofer from a few days ago as it's pouring now. Annette and Laure
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Have a nice day everyone!

Very interesting story! I see Kara has a bandage on her left foot. For bumblefoot? So Kara keeps everyone in line? What is her rank? I don’t recall hearing her name before. edit: So that was an egg inside Kara there in the X-ray, very cool.

 

[Marie2020]

That’s good! She is enjoying herself

It's been raining heavily earlier this morning and it's to chilly for her today. She's just had sardines with rice and layers pellets so her crop will be content at least. She's pottering around the back a little where there's less wind chill but then going back into her run

 

[Marie2020]

Good afternoon Marie- hope you’re doing well today.

I hope you're to and that the weather is kinder to you

 

[ChicoryBlue]

https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/eggs-meat/how-a-chicken-lays-an-egg-inside-of-an-egg/

This was interesting and informative, thanks. Begs the question of why a second oocyte is released prematurely...hormones control that I think...then it causes a reversal in peristalsis, due to other body signals/hormones...all these cascade effects...guessing that soft shell eggs have a similar problem, hormones causing peristalsis and a too-rapid travel through the system.

Breeding for high(er) egg production is the cause? I know the "heritage breed" Buckeyes were "improved" since the 1970's for "better" egg production, to make them more popular and save them from disappearing, to "conserve" the breed.

I also wonder about endocrine disruption via pollutants or plastics. Thinking of all the farm products, chemicals, water piping, etc.

 

[BY Bob]

Fingers firmly crossed here for her Bob

More good eggs. 2 from Phyllis and 1 from Glynda. I am very hopeful it was a one-off.