Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[notabitail]

So cute. And I still can't get over how exotic it sounds to me to have a pomegranate tree!

We have a pomegraniate. Unfortunately the fruit seems to be taking forever to ripen, and it's blossoming again for some reason or another.

They grow really well out here in the desert though. And chooks love them.

 

[featherhead007]

I think I will wear stripes today:

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

So we just gave every neighbor I have a heart attack accidently. For those who do not know, there is a manhunt going on in Eastern Kentucky for someone who shot and injured several people along I-75 over the weekend. They are heavily searching the Daniel Boone National Forest as that is where they believe he is hiding. Truth is, now he could be anywhere.

While taking out a bag of garbage mom noticed there was a possum in the can tearing up garbage. She hollered for CeeCee who has killed several of them. This one was the biggest one I have ever seen. CeeCee was terrified of it. We had no choice but to shoot it while it was trying to get away. Now after it was shot CeeCee got ahold of it and tried to shake it like a ragdoll. He was too big for that. Within 2 minutes of the shot we had several text messages from our neighbors panicking. "Did we hear that shot?" "that was close should we call 911". Me and mom had to go to every house and let them know it was us killing a possum. Normally if someone has to shoot something in the neighborhood no one even comes to the door. Me and mom were planning on going squirrel hunting in the morning. We went ahead and let everyone know if they heard a shotgun in the swamp area not to worry it would be us.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Samara was in the nest box today, she also squatted this morning when I was walking through the run. I think she's ready to go back to laying eggs. Morinth has no problem with the chicks, so Samara is trying to get her lead hen position back and I think succeeding.
I missed her beautiful tan eggs so I'm happy. She gave her chicks 5 weeks, and it looks like Morinth has no plans of weaning them right now.
I will be taking some young cockerels to butcher when I pick up the hens I've reserved. My plan is 4, maybe 5 if she wants to give me a discount.
We're going to get the stuff and set up our station on the backside of our shed, out of sight of the birds but the hose will still reach there.

Hubby asked if I was taking the bantam boys to market Saturday, but I still don't think anyone will take them no matter how handsome. I'm bummed that they were both boys, I would have loved either a sebright or porcelain hen.

 

[Sylvester017]

So cute. And I still can't get over how exotic it sounds to me to have a pomegranate tree!

And Concord grapes sound exotic to me! I can't plant them here.

 

[Ponypoor]

So we just gave every neighbor I have a heart attack accidently. For those who do not know, there is a manhunt going on in Eastern Kentucky for someone who shot and injured several people along I-75 over the weekend. They are heavily searching the Daniel Boone National Forest as that is where they believe he is hiding. Truth is, now he could be anywhere.

While taking out a bag of garbage mom noticed there was a possum in the can tearing up garbage. She hollered for CeeCee who has killed several of them. This one was the biggest one I have ever seen. CeeCee was terrified of it. We had no choice but to shoot it while it was trying to get away. Now after it was shot CeeCee got ahold of it and tried to shake it like a ragdoll. He was too big for that. Within 2 minutes of the shot we had several text messages from our neighbors panicking. "Did we hear that shot?" "that was close should we call 911". Me and mom had to go to every house and let them know it was us killing a possum. Normally if someone has to shoot something in the neighborhood no one even comes to the door. Me and mom were planning on going squirrel hunting in the morning. We went ahead and let everyone know if they heard a shotgun in the swamp area not to worry it would be us.

Yep that would set them worrying!

We have possums up here now, big worry for me with the horses and chickens.

They carry a parasite that is deadly to horses if they ingest it from their feces.

And the chickens for obvious reasons of getting into the coop. I think mine are pretty secure though.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Yep that would set them worrying!

We have possums up here now, big worry for me with the horses and chickens.

They carry a parasite that is deadly to horses if they ingest it from their feces.

And the chickens for obvious reasons of getting into the coop. I think mine are pretty secure though.

Oh yes. A possum is a chicken keeper and horse owners worst nightmare. For several reasons he had to go.

Tax.
Oh Squirrel, this looks painful.

 

[Sylvester017]

I know it isn't for everyone, but my solution is freezer camp. It provides us with fresh, humanely raised meat - organically fed, and they had a really good life until the humane processing. I only recently sold some boys at auction due to me having health issues and not really able to manage them (the boys) in a way that was safe for the pullets until they were big enough to make it worth processing them.

That said - I just got my nails done and the guy asked me if I had a farm (skin was stained) I stated I had a lot of chickens and he asked if I sold roosters. (He is Vietnamese and used to have a farm there - rooster meat is common -they like it because it is leaner than hens). There used to be a large farm operation the next town over that supplied live roosters, lots of eggs (chicken, duck, some goose) to customers directly - but he died suddenly of a heart attack in his late 50s and his son ran the business into the ground in less than a year. Many South American and Asian cultures eat poultry and goat.

Sadly since I took the 'extra' roosters to the auction, I have none even close to processing. However, Georgie had 8 chicks and 4 (?maybe 5 - I'm wondering about the chicpmunk chick) cockerels. I will keep one - the rest would be processed by me when they are 5-6 months old. This gentleman asked me to call him when they are 'of age' - he would like one to process himself (I inquired about how he did it to be sure it was as humane as possible).

For tax - I finally have a Thirsty Thursday pic:
View attachment 3942072View attachment 3942073

Are your chicks BR's or Dominiques?

Our Dom's at 6 weeks

No killing is "humane" IMO but in some cultures or even processing plants it can be downright barbaric & I'm already shuddering at the image ~ (trauma from childhood)

 

[Sylvester017]

So we just gave every neighbor I have a heart attack accidently. For those who do not know, there is a manhunt going on in Eastern Kentucky for someone who shot and injured several people along I-75 over the weekend. They are heavily searching the Daniel Boone National Forest as that is where they believe he is hiding. Truth is, now he could be anywhere.

While taking out a bag of garbage mom noticed there was a possum in the can tearing up garbage. She hollered for CeeCee who has killed several of them. This one was the biggest one I have ever seen. CeeCee was terrified of it. We had no choice but to shoot it while it was trying to get away. Now after it was shot CeeCee got ahold of it and tried to shake it like a ragdoll. He was too big for that. Within 2 minutes of the shot we had several text messages from our neighbors panicking. "Did we hear that shot?" "that was close should we call 911". Me and mom had to go to every house and let them know it was us killing a possum. Normally if someone has to shoot something in the neighborhood no one even comes to the door. Me and mom were planning on going squirrel hunting in the morning. We went ahead and let everyone know if they heard a shotgun in the swamp area not to worry it would be us.

It's so cool to hear there are still places where people (women especially) can go hunting for possums or squirrels in a forested swamp or that a renegade shootest is hiding in Daniel Boone Forest!

Here in our city-fide suburban neighborhood yesterday we had a sheriff's 'copter circling low & noisy overhead cuz a disgruntled boyfriend was wielding a sledge hammer looking to smash his girlfriend's car! Went on for over an hour. In the old days he would've been subdued, slammed to the ground & cuffed in minutes but nowadays it's not politically correct to treat criminals for the bad guys that they are !

Tx
Breda fowl "Char" at 7-1/2+ lbs was too big to fit in the nestboxes. She was not a prolific layer so she didn't have to endure using the small boxes very much. She was a very tall statuesque bird. The Blue/Black/Splash variety Breda hens were smaller size. It's believed in the Netherlands that the Cuckoo Malines breed were crossed w/Breda fowl to get the larger body size of the Cuckoo Breda. Our Char was 2 lbs heavier than any of our B/B/S Breda hens.

 

[featherhead007]

Samara was in the nest box today, she also squatted this morning when I was walking through the run. I think she's ready to go back to laying eggs. Morinth has no problem with the chicks, so Samara is trying to get her lead hen position back and I think succeeding.
I missed her beautiful tan eggs so I'm happy. She gave her chicks 5 weeks, and it looks like Morinth has no plans of weaning them right now.
I will be taking some young cockerels to butcher when I pick up the hens I've reserved. My plan is 4, maybe 5 if she wants to give me a discount.
We're going to get the stuff and set up our station on the backside of our shed, out of sight of the birds but the hose will still reach there.

Hubby asked if I was taking the bantam boys to market Saturday, but I still don't think anyone will take them no matter how handsome. I'm bummed that they were both boys, I would have loved either a sebright or porcelain hen.

Don’t get a porcelain hen, they’re just not fun. They never move and collect dust on the shelf.