Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[TOMTE]

I am happy with my chicks from Peavey (Hoovers), just wish I could have bought a couple Brahma of any type now… maybe in a few years when AI subsides I can get some brought up here.

I hope so!! Brahmas are so cute. I wouldn't mind having a few, myself.

I get mixed up with brahmas, cochins, and orps. Brahmas and cochins have feathered legs while orps don't, right? But they're all fairly large birds?

 

[Ponypoor]

As I am mentally preparing myself to go outside in 16 weather and shovel a path in the snow for my fair-weather chickens. No I am not talking about the silkies who are out and about. I came across this on facebook. It made me smile.

EASTERN KENTUCKY WEATHER
Saturday: Flash flood
Sunday: River flood
Monday: Icy mud
Tuesday: Sunny, just to soften you up
Wednesday: Six inches of snow
Thursday: Bitter cold
Friday: I don’t know, tornadoes?
Saturday: Definitely sharknadoes
Sunday: Asteroids
Monday: Test-firing of Death Star superlaser array
Tuesday: Sunny and calm

Flood warnings are starting to be put out there for this area. The amount of snow is crazy.

Horses are in again today, Lulu is still hobbling around, she went down in the snow again this morning so I bought her back in.

Laverne’s toe is doing good I would think. She isn’t lame and her bandage is intact. I’ll need to redo her bandage tonight.

 

[Ponypoor]

I hope so!! Brahmas are so cute. I wouldn't mind having a few, myself.

I get mixed up with brahmas, cochins, and orps. Brahmas and cochins have feathered legs while orps don't, right? But they're all fairly large birds?

I would say Brahmas are way larger than Orps and Cochins. My Orps look big but really they just all feathers!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I hope so!! Brahmas are so cute. I wouldn't mind having a few, myself.

I get mixed up with brahmas, cochins, and orps. Brahmas and cochins have feathered legs while orps don't, right? But they're all fairly large birds?

Yes Brahma's and cochins have heavily feathered legs. The good thing about both breeds though is if you are limited on space, both come in bantam size. Standard Brahma's are huge, I think either they or the Jersey Giants are the largest breed of chicken. I have standard Cochins. Big bowling balls of girls who look like they are heavy. Then you go pick them up, lightweights. My Marans, orps, and speckled sussex girls are heavier. I also have a believed to be bantam dark brahma curtesy of my neighbor. She is chunky and not all feathers. I say believed to be because she is still growing. Truthfully she probably is a bantam even though she is as big if not a little bigger then my sussex girls. It makes sense though the bantam variety of one of the biggest chicken breeds is still going to be decently sized.

 

[ValerieJ]

I had to work yesterday. First time I have been out of my holler since the flood. Oh it was heartbreaking to see the aftermath. I am not one of the many that like to go "sightseeing" of the damage. I stay home out of the way. It hurts to see people having to throw everything away from their homes if they still have them though. It really hits just how close we came this time around.

I would have thought the diner would have been slow yesterday, I was wrong. It was a active hub of people checking in on us and each other. One of the regulars who I have already developed a fondness for is a sweet old man. He comes in daily for his salad and pot of coffee. He reminds me of how grandma used to be. He just likes to sit around and talk to everyone and anyone. I got a bear hug from him when I rounded the corner. He knows where I live and was afraid for me and my family.

Really the diner was business as usual yesterday until about 3 when a family came in. You could immediately see they were exhausted and in the midst of clean up. Talking to the mom I found out water got up 2 feet inside their house and they lost just about everything. They just wanted a hot meal and a good strong cup of coffee before they went back to cleaning. I cannot do much but their meal was on me. I also had brought in a couple dozen eggs as Betty told me to bring them to work and sell them there as there was interest in fresh eggs among the customers. I sent 2 dozen home with them. It was the smallest of gestures, all I could do but, it meant the world to the mom.

The diner is going to be closed today, there is already 3 inches of snow on the ground. I needed to clean mine and Rosie's closets out anyway. I'm going to gather some things up and when I go back to work stop off at one of the relief places and donate it. They are good clothes, they either just do not fit anymore or we never wear them. It is also time to get rid of some blankets and quilts that are overrunning my closet. Not my homemade ones from grandma, but I have countless fuzzy blankets that were Christmas presents over the years. It is time for me to stop hoarding them and pass them on.

How terrible for that family to lose so much to the flood waters. And how nice of you to help them out. I have been reading about the terrible storms that will sweep the midwest and east coast. I'm sure we will hear many more disastrous news on it. I'm glad you and your family fared it well, and prayers for all involved!!

 

[TOMTE]

No measurements yet but I did get lots of pics of the playhouse yesterday.

I'll put pics and ideas under a spoiler since there's a bunch.

Spoiler: the playhouse

The goal is to make this into a two story coop. We'll put walls around the deck to make it the ground floor of the coop. Underneath, we'll fence it up with hardware cloth, and that will be part of the run.

It is bigger than it looks. Just eyeballing (and I'm really bad at eyeballing measurements so...) maybe 8' by 8'? And the ceiling is tall enough that I can stand up straight in there. Maybe 8' at the roof's highest point. And that's just the main "house" part. Walling off the deck will make it about twice as big.

The hatch could make a great access door for the chooks to get to the run below during the day. Lots of reinforcements to make though. This playhouse is a favorite of squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and groundhogs. As you can probably tell by all the nut shells laying around and lots of prey means lots of predators sniffing around, too.

Below on this side, we could make it one big door for cleaning.

The tree growing through the deck needs to come down if we're going to go through with this. And there's a lot of brush removal and cleaning up to do around the area. So many fallen branches and trees (which is something else to think about— definitely don't want huge branches or trees coming down on the coop and run).

There are several good spots for nest boxes, roosts, and ventilation. I'm thinking we'll keep the front window, close off the door where a slide used to be attached, and nest boxes will go on one of the sides. Keep one or both of the side windows for summer and make it so we can shut them in winter. More ventilation higher up.

More pics from inside. The back (last pic) we could leave open. It'll look, feel, and be more roomy. I figure the chooks could use that railing as a roost, maybe (not the only roost, obviously).

You can't see the deck because it's under a layer of snow and ice (which I tried to clear off with my boots to no avail ) but if you follow the rope you can kind of see the other post which rotted through and broke years ago, and that's the other edge of the deck.

The swingset portion I think would be perfect to build a run off of, which they'd access from under the playhouse. Plus with another hooman access door, maybe at the A-frame part?

So that's all I've got so far!! Ideas from you all are more than welcome! I'll be sure to bookmark them so I can go back and look when we're really starting the planning process!

Bonus pictures of the teeter totter which has seen better days

 

[featherhead007]

As I am mentally preparing myself to go outside in 16 weather and shovel a path in the snow for my fair-weather chickens. No I am not talking about the silkies who are out and about. I came across this on facebook. It made me smile.

EASTERN KENTUCKY WEATHER
Saturday: Flash flood
Sunday: River flood
Monday: Icy mud
Tuesday: Sunny, just to soften you up
Wednesday: Six inches of snow
Thursday: Bitter cold
Friday: I don’t know, tornadoes?
Saturday: Definitely sharknadoes
Sunday: Asteroids
Monday: Test-firing of Death Star superlaser array
Tuesday: Sunny and calm

My stepdad had asteroids, but he was a heavy equipment operator. That had to be painful

 

[knoturavggrl]

Picture time.

I took these just as it was breaking daylight. We moved the horses a hour later as the water rose to the edge of their stalls. Thankfully that is where it stopped in my yard. The barn flooded, the gazebo in the horse ring as you can see if flipped over and the concession water rose to the window. Tomorrow I will go see just how bad it got inside the concession, I am afraid to look honestly. The ring is still flooded so when it recedes the ring fencing may be totally shot. Around midnight we had a drunk try to drive through the water to get home. He is so lucky. One of my neighbor's waded the water to get him to safety. Another poor soul was not so fortunate. A gentleman in a blue pick-up tried to drive through and his truck got stuck. He stepped out and went under. They have yet to find him. Do not know who he is as they finally moved the truck this afternoon to hope to get some identification on him to know who they are looking for. 8 hours after the rain stopped it dropped 30 degrees and we woke up to snow this morning. It has since melted off but still very cold. We have a snowstorm coming tomorrow night into Wednesday with several inches expected. Thank god we have power and heat back but so many do not have homes anymore. They are saying this is as bad as the 1984 flooding. School is closed indefinitely. One of the high schools completely flooded. It was being used as a emergency shelter. They had to evacuate it to Rosie's high school. Right now there are over 100 people there. I thank each and every one of you for your thoughts and prayers. Please, please keep them coming many places are still flooded and it will be weeks not days before the exact extent of the damage is known.

After I took these photo's I packed my camera up and loaded my last bag into the car.
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Oh goodness, my heart goes out to you. Hopefully when the water recedes the damage will be manageable. I am so so glad you and your family (human and animal) are safe and sound.

Lulu isn’t doing well, she has laminitis which is a serious condition in horses

I had my farrier out to trim everyone’s hooves and I dosed poor Lulu with extra pain meds.

Meanwhile check out good Reenie, her stall guard is broke, but she just hangs out in her stall - good girl!

View attachment 4053187

And guess what it’s doing again here
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Yep snow.

The fabric shed across the way at work collapsed.
View attachment 4053190

And here are two buff Orps to enjoy.
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Oh no, I am sorry to hear about your horse and the toe injury for your chicken (thank goodness chickens are so resilient). Lulu’s condition however that must be worrying you quite a bit. I will keep my fingers and toes crossed they both recover quickly.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Lulu isn’t doing well, she has laminitis which is a serious condition in horses

I had my farrier out to trim everyone’s hooves and I dosed poor Lulu with extra pain meds.

Meanwhile check out good Reenie, her stall guard is broke, but she just hangs out in her stall - good girl!

View attachment 4053187

And guess what it’s doing again here
View attachment 4053188

Yep snow.

The fabric shed across the way at work collapsed.
View attachment 4053190

And here are two buff Orps to enjoy.
View attachment 4053191

I am soo sorry to hear about Lulu. It sounds like you caught it early so hopefully it can be managed.

At some point in his younger years Russ had a touch of laminitis in his right front foot. He recovered but we monitor that foot and his diet carefully, especially now that he is getting older. Russ will be 21 or 22 this year. If it were not for that foot, he could go barefoot. Sigh, my big guy is getting older and is mostly retired now. Old age and arthritis comes for even the best of them.

I will say a certain retired golden boy sure kicked up his heels and acted a fool when he got turned loose in the flat grassy spot up on the hill. He acted like a 2 year old running around. Bring out a bridle and walk his way, sorry mom, I'm limping every other step. Take me back to my bed and hay.

 

[rural mouse]

I hope so!! Brahmas are so cute. I wouldn't mind having a few, myself.

I get mixed up with brahmas, cochins, and orps. Brahmas and cochins have feathered legs while orps don't, right? But they're all fairly large birds?

Brahmas and cochins have feathered feet. Cochins and orpingtons have straight combs. Brahmas have pea combs. Size wise, brahmas are the largest. Only jersey giants are larger.