Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[fuentemoon]

I stopped by Wilco (farm store) last night after work and learned something silly, that explains at least some of the mistaken identities. They have to put the lable on the chick bins for what ever chick was ordered even if what was sent was wrong! They had some gold laced wynadotts that were clearly blue

I also gave a little lesson about production breeds to the nice young woman working there. The only day olds they had were RIRs and cornish, so no chicks came home with me. Everyone else was at least a week old.

Apparently my cat have been taking lessons from the chickens, hard to tell here, but she was rolling and kicking.

What is that cat doing?

 

[BY Bob]

Out and About

I was able to confirm that they are leaving the nest.

I have no idea what Glynda did while she was off but Lady Featherington was out eating and drinking.

 

[Marie2020]

Princess, get a hose and soak Marie!

Hey, now don't go giving her ideas. She emptied my bazil plant pot today then hide under my living room table

 

[Marie2020]

Good night all have sweet dreams

 

[janiedoe]

Good night all have sweet dreams

Good night, Marie. Sleep well.

 

[Ponypoor]

Good night all have sweet dreams

Night night
Sleep tight

 

[Sylvester017]

First silkie out and she is a black from a Fluffy egg.

View attachment 3849424

I'd scoop up your black Silkie in a heartbeat if I was there!
Altho black in chickens was never my favorite color cuz we have such blazing hot sun that black bleaches and turns a reddish brown so that the black lustre fades badly, we found the darker our Silkies have been the smarter they've been in our flock. Coincidence? Or genetic anomaly? Don't know but that's the way it's been too many times for us to ignore.

Our smartest and best temperament Silkies have been first the blacks or dark partridges (very dark w/ faint gold collars), a silver partridge that turned darker w/each molt, and a Moorhead partridge (gold body w/black crest/feet/tail feathers).

Our blue Silkie is fairly intelligent but all our paler gold/buff partridges were either very shy or very hyper scaredy cats and not the smartest. Forget white -- after having one white Leghorn she stood out like a perfect aerial target so we never got another white chicken, or splash, or paint. Can't vouch for the temperament of a white, splash, or paint Silkie cuz we never had one of them.

Our blue/gold partridges - sweet, shy, shrinking violets, hence her name "Violet" & brother "Trumpet" named for his trumpeter swan honking crow - they were sweet & pretty but not the sharpest tools in the toolbox. Trumpet got re-homed at 7 months while our Violet lived over 11 years before passing.

"Mini" the all-black Silkie - from the start went into high foraging mode outdoors and was not intimidated by other larger breeds while shrinking Violet would hide from them all. Meanwhile Mini acquired a trick on her own to tap on the floor fan controls to let us know she wanted us to turn it on for her. She stood in the breeze on hot days! She heard me call out to DH so often she learned to call him w/ my tonal inflections - I kid you not!. And she knew her name, never hesitated to immediately come running - even on her last day of life when she came running to me when I called her to rush her to the vet's ofc for a bleeding ovarian tumor (which ended her amazing life)! Like featherhead misses Sir Jaffar is how tearfully we miss this little "Mini"

Our next Silkie "Amber" was sold to us as a dark partridge but she was basically all black. The breeder was embarrassed that we were sold a deformed chick and made good to replace her. We agreed to a replacement chick but also kept Amber so the breeder wouldn't cull her! Amber had missing toes and a couple more malformed. She didn't walk fast like new chicks do and obvious she had other internal health issues. She lived only a month with us before passing but in the meantime we cuddled and walked around the house w/ her. She sat on my computer desk and pushed her way to snooze under my hand. After eating her chick feed & water she would tug at my or DH's pant leg to pick her up & hold her. She would cry if left alone so we took her w/ us on car errands and she was fascinated by all birds she saw out the window. All these quirks were never taught to her - she just did these on her own. We committed to keeping her as a special needs house Silkie but she only survived a month w/ us before passing. She was another smart dark Silkie that would have been phenomenal had she not had health issues.

"Suzu" - (the replacement chick for Amber) is a silver partridge that has gone progressively darker w/ each molt and we bought a gold/buff partridge at the same time. The gold partridge has been a snotty bully yet scaredy cat at the same time, a whinny clucker, and yells when she wanders off alone -- so much for Silkies' reputation being quiet! Ginny spooks easily & picks on Suzu all the time. Suzu has learned to dart away from Ginny's pecks or sometimes just ignores her. Of these two girls Suzu the dark is obviously matured but not Ginny the lighter gold.

At 3 yrs old Suzu has molted progressively darker and Ginny remained gold.

Our 3 newest chicks are dark partridge, moorhead partridge and sweet little blue partridge. So glad we didn't get any more light gold or buff birds. So far these newest Buckaboo Farm chicks have incorporated sharing territory w/ the 3 older birds although the two groups stay out of each others' way most of the time. I love that the 5 Silkies are recognizable at a distance by their different colors. The big cuckoo pattern hen is our old Dominique breed.

 

[Ponypoor]

I'd scoop up your black Silkie in a heartbeat if I was there!
Altho black in chickens was never my favorite color cuz we have such blazing hot sun that black bleaches and turns a reddish brown so that the black lustre fades badly, we found the darker our Silkies have been the smarter they've been in our flock. Coincidence? Or genetic anomaly? Don't know but that's the way it's been too many times for us to ignore.

Our smartest and best temperament Silkies have been first the blacks or dark partridges (very dark w/ faint gold collars), a silver partridge that turned darker w/each molt, and a Moorhead partridge (gold body w/black crest/feet/tail feathers).

Our blue Silkie is fairly intelligent but all our paler gold/buff partridges were either very shy or very hyper scaredy cats and not the smartest. Forget white -- after having one white Leghorn she stood out like a perfect aerial target so we never got another white chicken, or splash, or paint. Can't vouch for the temperament of a white, splash, or paint Silkie cuz we never had one of them.

Our blue/gold partridges - sweet, shy, shrinking violets, hence her name "Violet" & brother "Trumpet" named for his trumpeter swan honking crow - they were sweet & pretty but not the sharpest tools in the toolbox. Trumpet got re-homed at 7 months while our Violet lived over 11 years before passing.
View attachment 3855515

"Mini" the all-black Silkie - from the start went into high foraging mode outdoors and was not intimidated by other larger breeds while shrinking Violet would hide from them all. Meanwhile Mini acquired a trick on her own to tap on the floor fan controls to let us know she wanted us to turn it on for her. She stood in the breeze on hot days! She heard me call out to DH so often she learned to call him w/ my tonal inflections - I kid you not!. And she knew her name, never hesitated to immediately come running - even on her last day of life when she came running to me when I called her to rush her to the vet's ofc for a bleeding ovarian tumor (which ended her amazing life)! Like featherhead misses Sir Jaffar is how tearfully we miss this little "Mini"
View attachment 3855516

Our next Silkie "Amber" was sold to us as a dark partridge but she was basically all black. The breeder was embarrassed that we were sold a deformed chick and made good to replace her. We agreed to a replacement chick but also kept Amber so the breeder wouldn't cull her! Amber had missing toes and a couple more malformed. She didn't walk fast like new chicks do and obvious she had other internal health issues. She lived only a month with us before passing but in the meantime we cuddled and walked around the house w/ her. She sat on my computer desk and pushed her way to snooze under my hand. After eating her chick feed & water she would tug at my or DH's pant leg to pick her up & hold her. She would cry if left alone so we took her w/ us on car errands and she was fascinated by all birds she saw out the window. All these quirks were never taught to her - she just did these on her own. We committed to keeping her as a special needs house Silkie but she only survived a month w/ us before passing. She was another smart dark Silkie that would have been phenomenal had she not had health issues.
View attachment 3855561
View attachment 3855564
View attachment 3855594
View attachment 3855589
View attachment 3855593

"Suzu" - (the replacement chick for Amber) is a silver partridge that has gone progressively darker w/ each molt and we bought a gold/buff partridge at the same time. The gold partridge has been a snotty bully yet scaredy cat at the same time, a whinny clucker, and yells when she wanders off alone -- so much for Silkies' reputation being quiet! Ginny spooks easily & picks on Suzu all the time. Suzu has learned to dart away from Ginny's pecks or sometimes just ignores her. Of these two girls Suzu the dark is obviously matured but not Ginny the lighter gold.
View attachment 3855611
At 3 yrs old Suzu has molted progressively darker and Ginny remained gold.
View attachment 3855646

Our 3 newest chicks are dark partridge, moorhead partridge and sweet little blue partridge. So glad we didn't get any more light gold or buff birds. So far these newest Buckaboo Farm chicks have incorporated sharing territory w/ the 3 older birds although the two groups stay out of each others' way most of the time. I love that the 5 Silkies are recognizable at a distance by their different colors. The big cuckoo pattern hen is our old Dominique breed.
View attachment 3855661

Awwww so wonderful

I have 4 silkies, 2 white a splash and Marty who is black. They are all fairly smart, but Marty is a devil if I bother her man Mr P

 

[Ponypoor]

I stopped by Wilco (farm store) last night after work and learned something silly, that explains at least some of the mistaken identities. They have to put the lable on the chick bins for what ever chick was ordered even if what was sent was wrong! They had some gold laced wynadotts that were clearly blue

I also gave a little lesson about production breeds to the nice young woman working there. The only day olds they had were RIRs and cornish, so no chicks came home with me. Everyone else was at least a week old.

Apparently my cat have been taking lessons from the chickens, hard to tell here, but she was rolling and kicking. View attachment 3855581
What is that cat doing?View attachment 3855584

Is there a reason you want day olds? I got my wee bantams at a week and they are great! Such funny cute wee birds .

 

[Ponypoor]

Pastel asked me to let you all know she isn't gonna be on BYC for a long time.

Well that’s too bad sure hope all is ok.