Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

This is so cool!

I'll tell my dad, he used to be a carpenter for a time so he used his knowledge to build the physical frame of the image in my head. I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself

Well tell your Dad good job!

 

[bgmathteach]

All you knowledgeable chicken folk. What is it called when your black/green/purple chicken (Tassels) has little flecks of gold on her shoulders?
She has them on both sides - but really small. Maybe just one feather on each side.
Very snazzy.
I think she is starting to molt. The lengths that girl will go to in order to restrict supply of her beautiful army-green eggs!
Tried to get pics of her epaulets here.

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I believe it is called:
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A 'pretty chicken'









On a more serious note, I believe it is called 'leakage' or 'bleed through' when a bit of a mostly hidden color shows through just a bit, as per @rural mouse 's post.

 

[Ponypoor]

We were thinking the same thing today since Autumn Cooper's visits are rare here! W/ no roo for our flock we have to rely on our hens' diligence to be alert/hide.

It’s the time of year here, birds are migrating south - normally I rarely see raptors around here - and I also have the Turkey Vultures next door which tend to keep the hawks and such away

But they have left weeks ago so the hawks have moved in.

 

[Ponypoor]

This is so cool!

I'll tell my dad, he used to be a carpenter for a time so he used his knowledge to build the physical frame of the image in my head. I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself

I hope your dad showed you how to use the tools, measure things, cut them and put them together.

Then you can start making things yourself

 

[Ponypoor]

Chickens, at least my chickens here, also don’t “think on their feet” like a cat might. Both Queenie and Butters ran straight for where they could see directly away from the threat, regardless of the fence in between them, and didn’t turn to the side. A cat, finding an obstruction, will dodge 90 degrees and dart to another escape way.

Horses are like that. They will run as fast as they can in a straight line to get away from whatever spooked them.

Fences, trucks, people, cliffs…. Yep they run into or over. Most prey animals are like this.

Today on the way to town I spotted a goshawk hunting. I pulled over and watched as it swooped fast and low across a hay field zigging and zagging looking for prey. A couple times it dove down landed but didn’t catch anything so took to the air again.

I have not seen this behaviour before nor have I ever seen so many raptors here. Or heard so many owls. Seems that they are thriving here these days.

 

[Ponypoor]

Poor Clyde.
This is exactly what happened with Pooh. I think that was a juvenile Cooper’s hawk too. Not much bigger than Pooh. I am sure if the hawk had been more experienced it would have been all over for her. She fought like crazy and of course Bernie came to the rescue as did I.
Very scary.
So sorry. I am sure your blood pressure went sky high.

Just glad I was in the barn and not at the house grabbing a snack.

Right now I am taking a break, I let them out in the yard, these two came to visit, Cash is no lightweight let me tell you! I had to make her get down.

 

[featherhead007]

Just glad I was in the barn and not at the house grabbing a snack.

Right now I am taking a break, I let them out in the yard, these two came to visit, Cash is no lightweight let me tell you! I had to make her get down.

A big butterball!

 

[Ponypoor]

The cover sounds like a massive project ~ especially slanting the roof to allow snow or rain to slide off.

But protection builds never stopped for us either. Each year we slowly added more & more security items to the yard ~ we added both resin & wood lawn furniture, large resin dog houses which we recycled from trash or donations, chopped down a very old useless tree, planted new thorny fruit trees which gladly our hawks never sit in, added two roofed patios to the house, replaced chainlink fencing w/ a property-surrounded block wall, replaced flimsy warped wooden gates w/ new strong ironbar gates, & erected 3 popup canopies (we live in a no-snow zone but if we did we would've put up sturdier resin gazebos instead of popups), plus we replaced a small wood coop/run w/a larger shed/barn coop w/dog kennel wire run for lockup after dark. It's been 14 years of very slow yard transformation, $$$, & hard work & everything we did was always w/ gentle hens in mind since we aren't zoned for roos. When/if we no longer have chickens the yard will still be nice for a yard dog if we choose.

Your setup is nice because half your battle is complete having a barn to house & protect livestock/poultry from weather/night predators. Take one project at a time rather than getting over-whelmed at the whole picture of what needs to be done outdoors. You are doing so well!

We had an old horse barn on my folks' farm, a canning storage wood shed almost as big as a barn, and a large wooden tool shed built by Pop ~ he was a great tinkerer, car mechanic, & handyman. There was no electricity to these outbuildings & had to rely on windows or open doors for light. As the folks aged well into their later age 50's they knew their senior years could not keep up maintaining livestock or the orchards so they moved away. It was a culture shock for me to move from spacious quiet farmlife to live in a city suburb!

c. 1951 ~ Pop & me in the orchard
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I have a list of things to do I call them inside winter work. And outside summer work

I wanted to have the run completed but with me now working here I seeem to have less time then when I worked away from home!

Winter will be here soon though, and the chooks won’t be out much if at all. So the run can wait.

Right now I am sitting watch everyone, I bought a few pumpkins and the older ladies have showed the youngsters how to peck at it to get to the guts

 

[Ponypoor]

Oooooh, looks like she is apprenticing with the TSG of the UFCLU!

(Tree sitters Guild of the United Federated Chicken Labor Union). You know, apprentices get a meal worm apiece daily for their work. Journeymen are allotted 2...just an FYI. Full fledged/licensed card carrying members get 4...so just be prepared to open your wallet a bit more for meally-worm costs. AND, be careful that she doesn't encourage others to join the union! I have half a flock that decided the bennies were worth the initiation cost of the union!

Ya I have mine trying to unionize. As Management I have to be very careful not to influence anyone.

Georgie would love more of that pumpkin but the others chase her off.

 

[Ponypoor]

A big butterball!

Ow!!!!!

How about 2

Those nails are brutal!