Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Little brats are giving me a hard time. They ate up their bribe for bedtime, and now they are still playing out in the yard!

Tonight I gave up trying to chase them into the summer house - I fed the horses; then the silkies and mama Curly went into the summer house, but the tweens would go in.

So I left them, then they all decided as i was about to go up and get supper, oh no we want in! I opened the door and they all filed in - brats!

The youngest chicks already know ‘go home and go to bed’.

 

[featherhead007]

They’re all in. I brought my Wyandottey inside, so we can practice his crowing

 

[featherhead007]

This Wyandottey is going to take a lot of time to train. All he seems to be able to do is lap sitting.

 

[Sylvester017]

Why do you keep a porch light on for them?

We keep dim night lights on around the house always -- low dim front and back yards PLUS motion sensor flood lights. It works to keep night predators out for some reason. Solar double red glow night eyes supposedly works too. Wherever we have even the dimmest light keeps all away except neighborhood or feral cats who aren't put off by the lights. The cats are only afraid of our daytime foraging hens who chase off the cats.

 

[Sally PB]

Your phone corrected you because supposedly it knows better.

Is that why my phone selects which pictures to dump when my cloud storage is full (I refuse to buy more space)? How the heck does it know which pictures are important?

I brought my Wyandottey inside, so we can practice his crowing

Alex as a rooster vocal coach! I love it!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Hi everyone. I will try and follow along but I won’t be on much.
Babs died unexpectedly yesterday and I am a bit of a mess.
I will post a tribute to beautiful Babs when I can look at pictures without crying.

What a sad day. I think I saw this but didn’t reply, and I’m sorry about that. I’ve been wondering how you’re doing, and the rest of the tribe too. I’m so sorry, RC

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Hello everyone.
Trying to cope with this deadly heat right now, 120 degree highs killed two more of my hens, Sunfeather and Onyx. My fan malfunctioned yesterday sometime in the middle of the day yesterday and is still not working. I have to go outside every few minutes to mist down my chicken coop and water down the dustbathing holes.
Here is a video and some tax.

Tax:
View attachment 3883936
I want to post more tax but it won't upload. Maybe it will work better later

So very sorry for your loss. That heat is brutal. When we had our 110+ days last year we turned on our big ice maker. I would take a 5 gallon bucket of ice out every day, put some in their water containers, and some in tubs of water for them to wade in. They loved eating the ice chips. I would also make a batch of electrolytes and freeze it in to ice cubes for them, sometimes with blueberries inside.

Bobbing for ice cubes

Stealing ice before I get it in the water

Thursday evening I agreed to help Rosie clean out Russ's stall. I get out there and my Branch let me know he wanted to sit in my lap and held. So I did. I held my little buddy for 30 minutes while Rosie did the stall herself complaining the entire time. She was playing music, and me and Branch both criticized her song choices and her stall cleaning. Once it got almost dark as she was finishing up Branch hopped down and put himself in the coop for the night. I have held fast to that memory this afternoon and evening while I was working at the concession during the horse show. I could not fall to pieces. I am home now, and I am shattered. I had my first hawk attack this morning. My buddy, my best friend, my tv watching Monkey Man was the one taken. It killed me when I lost Drumstick, but this, this hurts worse. Through my tears I am staring at 6 little Branchlets. Please, please let one of these be a boy. I do not think I have prayed so hard for a rooster chick ever.

Rest in peace Branch. The last 2 months you have been stand offish since you have taken over the brunt of rooster duties now that Bubba has slowed down. Thank you, thank you for chest bumping my leg Thursday evening in your way of telling me you wanted picked up.

My Monkey man Branch
5-15-2021-7-6-2024
View attachment 3884243View attachment 3884247

Oh Rebecca, I am so very sorry for your loss. He was a very special little rooster. Praying for a Branch cockerel to hatch and take after his daddy.

There Are Only 2 Chicks

Glynda's Polish has passed. I buried it next to Gucci.

Each hen has 1 Chick now. Glynda has given up her nest. Lady Featherington is still sitting on hers.

Sorry you lost one of the little ones. It seems it can be such a crap shoot hatching chicks, both in incubators and under hens. Fingers crossed you get another one or two tonight.

We find dying or dead honey bees all the time cuz people use pesticides on their foliage plus bees have short lifespans too.

I recently started a container garden. One of the main things I watch for on any type of pest control I buy is that it doesn’t say it can be harmful to bees. I am trying to primarily use neem oil or soap water.

On a happier note.
Trying to start thinking of names for the new puffballs. Here are some of my ideas.

Based on color:
Stormy
Misty
Gray (or maybe Pearl)

Or a slight variation with a Marvel twist:
Storm
Mystique
Jean Grey

Based on the time of year I got them:
Glory
Liberty
Star (spangled banner), or maybe Sparkler

Thoughts?

 

[BY Bob]

So very sorry for your loss. That heat is brutal. When we had our 110+ days last year we turned on our big ice maker. I would take a 5 gallon bucket of ice out every day, put some in their water containers, and some in tubs of water for them to wade in. They loved eating the ice chips. I would also make a batch of electrolytes and freeze it in to ice cubes for them, sometimes with blueberries inside.

Bobbing for ice cubes
View attachment 3885268

Stealing ice before I get it in the water
View attachment 3885269



Oh Rebecca, I am so very sorry for your loss. He was a very special little rooster. Praying for a Branch cockerel to hatch and take after his daddy.


Sorry you lost one of the little ones. It seems it can be such a crap shoot hatching chicks, both in incubators and under hens. Fingers crossed you get another one or two tonight.



I recently started a container garden. One of the main things I watch for on any type of pest control I buy is that it doesn’t say it can be harmful to bees. I am trying to primarily use neem oil or soap water.

On a happier note.
Trying to start thinking of names for the new puffballs. Here are some of my ideas.

Based on color:
Stormy
Misty
Gray (or maybe Pearl)

Or a slight variation with a Marvel twist:
Storm
Mystique
Jean Grey

Based on the time of year I got them:
Glory
Liberty
Star (spangled banner), or maybe Sparkler

Thoughts?

View attachment 3885271

I love the patriotic names. I've not seen them used before.

 

[Ponypoor]

This Wyandottey is going to take a lot of time to train. All he seems to be able to do is lap sitting. View attachment 3885125

I see you have the fans going

Stay cool and stay hydrated.

 

[Ponypoor]

This Wyandottey is going to take a lot of time to train. All he seems to be able to do is lap sitting. View attachment 3885125

Oh and love the sign