Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I had to run out and get my tax.

"Lester," the lemon cuckoo now with the buffs. Sorry, I didn't realize it was blurry.
View attachment 4079635

"Buddy" is an older cuckoo rooster, and it's a long story why he's never had a regular silkie cuckoo hen, but he does now. She's not named yet.

View attachment 4079639


And someone mentioned broody? I have three of them this morning. Day 2 in the dog kennel. Usually, it's 3-4 days, except for Marsha, the one on the left. She's one of my first fancy silkies who is broody more than she's not.

View attachment 4079645

@RebeccaBoyd

Oh we are doomed! Zebra silkies! Doomed! I’ll have to move the horses to the garage - gonna need their stalls

 

[Ponypoor]

I had to run out and get my tax.

"Lester," the lemon cuckoo now with the buffs. Sorry, I didn't realize it was blurry.
View attachment 4079635

"Buddy" is an older cuckoo rooster, and it's a long story why he's never had a regular silkie cuckoo hen, but he does now. She's not named yet.

View attachment 4079639


And someone mentioned broody? I have three of them this morning. Day 2 in the dog kennel. Usually, it's 3-4 days, except for Marsha, the one on the left. She's one of my first fancy silkies who is broody more than she's not.

View attachment 4079645

My Georgie Girl laid about 3 weeks of eggs and went broody! 6 weeks and she just wouldn’t stop! So I relented and gave her a couple dumplings at Christmas.

Rebecca named them for me - Holly and Jolly they may be pullets. But who knows. Coming up to 14 weeks I would say, they are honking like geese these days!

Oh and speaking of geese, I went out the back door of the barn and 2 Canada Geese lounging by the manure pile, I chased them down the paddock, darn things wouldn’t fly away! I flapped my arms more than they flapped their wings! Finally they took off. I felt guilty chasing them away but I cannot risk them hanging around.

 

[Ponypoor]

Palindrome!

21912

Wow almost 22,000, next palindrome will be 22022

 

[Sylvester017]

Oh good lord they have Lemon Cuckoo's . I did not know about Lemon Cuckoo's. Ugh, my yard is not big enough for all the coops I am going to need. Okie dokie, I need to hit the lottery now. I need a bigger yard. I need 2 barns, one for Rosie and dad to fill with horses and my own private barn. Each stall with a attached covered run to fill with every single color of silkies on one side. The other side, every color of Marans, including those that Australia is working on. Hmm...I take that back, I need 3 barns, one for horses, one for silkies and one for marans.

Don't get me wrong cuz I love animals. But horses live too long & kids sometimes lose interest in horses & don't have the $$$ to take their horses w/them when they tend to move on w/their lives leaving the equines for parents to continue raising for 15-20 more horse yrs.

However, chickens are easier to handle, have egg benefits, & shorter lifespans to enable an owner to keep bringing in new breeds to sample/hobby/raise on an average every 3-5-8 yrs! Just sayin...my perspective. I saw my farm mom having to care for our pets ~ indoor caged birds, dogs, cats, as sis & I moved out to continue our grown apartment lives. She was really too old & worn to care for our pets in addition to her many acres of citrus, avocado, & fruit groves. It's no wonder she processed or sold the bigger livestock ~ cows, sheep, goats, horse & most of the poultry except for a small group of Toulouse geese (better property guardians than even dogs in her opinion & didn't need fencing cuz they didn't wander off).

c. 1950's

In our twilight years I'm so glad DH chose pet chickens over a dog or cat for us. He & I aren't young & Silkie chickens are just our speed now & no more annual dog/cat vet visits or licenses to deal with. Yes, we've made vet visits w/ chickens but if we go once in 2 or 3 yrs for a sick bird it's rare compared to dealing w/ kitties or pups w/licenses & vaccinations or penalty deadlines or county locals coming around to count how many dogs we have (?). Loved our past dogs & cats a lot but it would now be a crunch in our senior pocketbook. Even my DD/SIL in their mid-50's say their next pet will be a smaller dog breed as their arthritis & knee problems are hard for them to carry their two large dogs to the vet in an emergency. They have a large Golden Retriever & heavy Pit mix now.

Our friends adopted a smaller pup recently ~ easier for them to handle & carry. 30 yrs ago they had a large Husky, next an Aussie Cattle Dog, then a Toy Poodle, & now this tiny little lap terrier. We laughed how as we all got older our pets got progressively smaller & easier to handle

 

[Sylvester017]

My Georgie Girl laid about 3 weeks of eggs and went broody! 6 weeks and she just wouldn’t stop! So I relented and gave her a couple dumplings at Christmas.

Rebecca named them for me - Holly and Jolly they may be pullets. But who knows. Coming up to 14 weeks I would say, they are honking like geese these days!

View attachment 4079651

Oh and speaking of geese, I went out the back door of the barn and 2 Canada Geese lounging by the manure pile, I chased them down the paddock, darn things wouldn’t fly away! I flapped my arms more than they flapped their wings! Finally they took off. I felt guilty chasing them away but I cannot risk them hanging around.

The geese will probably remember the crazy flapping lady & never stop there again

 

[Ponypoor]

Don't get me wrong cuz I love animals. But horses live too long & kids sometimes lose interest in horses & don't have the $$$ to take their horses w/them when they tend to move on w/their lives leaving the equines for parents to continue raising for 15-20 more horse yrs.

However, chickens are easier to handle, have egg benefits, & shorter lifespans to enable an owner to keep bringing in new breeds to sample/hobby/raise on an average every 3-5-8 yrs! Just sayin...my perspective. I saw my farm mom having to care for our pets ~ indoor caged birds, dogs, cats, as sis & I moved out to continue our grown apartment lives. She was really too old & worn to care for our pets in addition to her many acres of citrus, avocado, & fruit groves. It's no wonder she processed or sold the bigger livestock ~ cows, sheep, goats, horse & most of the poultry except for a small group of Toulouse geese (better property guardians than even dogs in her opinion & didn't need fencing cuz they didn't wander off).

c. 1950's
View attachment 4079674

In our twilight years I'm so glad DH chose pet chickens over a dog or cat for us. He & I aren't young & Silkie chickens are just our speed now & no more annual dog/cat vet visits or licenses to deal with. Yes, we've made vet visits w/ chickens but if we go once in 2 or 3 yrs for a sick bird it's rare compared to dealing w/ kitties or pups w/licenses & vaccinations or penalty deadlines or county locals coming around to count how many dogs we have (?). Loved our past dogs & cats a lot but it would now be a crunch in our senior pocketbook. Even my DD/SIL in their mid-50's say their next pet will be a smaller dog breed as their arthritis & knee problems are hard for them to carry their two large dogs to the vet in an emergency. They have a large Golden Retriever & heavy Pit mix now.

Our friends adopted a smaller pup recently ~ easier for them to handle & carry. 30 yrs ago they had a large Husky, next an Aussie Cattle Dog, then a Toy Poodle, & now this tiny little lap terrier. We laughed how as we all got older our pets got progressively smaller & easier to handle
View attachment 4079671

Once the horses are gone I won’t have any more. Too eggspensive, and dangerous as I get older.

Missy will be my last house pet, way too eggspensive these days if something happens to her. I am fortunate my horse bet vaccinates her for me at cost of vaccine mostly. Which fyi is very expensive!

The chooks will be my last barn pets. They are small enough to handle, and easy enough to clean up after. Their eggs mostly pay for their feed, and thankfully vet bills have been almost nil.

Of course if I were filthy rich I’d have a huge big chicken coop

 

[Ponypoor]

The geese will probably remember the crazy flapping lady & never stop there again

I bet my neighbours think I am cracked

 

[Ponypoor]

FYI cracked is a Newfoundlander term for someone who is crazy, we would say ‘you must be cracked if you think I am doing that’, for instance if someone said they were going swimming in April and asked I also wanted to go swimming brrrr!

Another one is crooked - it means bad tempered, surly, grumpy…. We would tell someone being temperamental ‘you’re right crooked you know that’.

 

[ValerieJ]

What i think about in my older age is that eventually we will move out of this great country setting and get closer to city and medical facilities. (My new doctor is 70 miles away and my oncologist is farther than that!!)

When that time comes, what do I do with my beloved chickens??? I let them retire here. Who will want old retired hens when they didn't ever get to know what special girls they are?

I don't even like thinking of it. And I have new chicks.

 

[ValerieJ]

Ranting tax. This is Rose, Blanche and Dorothy, when I found out Blanche would not be the right name. Funny thing is, I didn't even notice he was a cockerel until I looked at this picture, after I am the one who took it. So in the middle here is Ralphie, at about 3 months old.