Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ILoveDaffy]

Keeping in contact w/ the post office is a good idea. Some post offices hire temporary help that don't know the rule to call customer for pickup so I made a pest of myself calling the post office every day & twice on expected dates of arrival ~ especially after my 1st shipped experience the mailman thought it ok to have my two pullets bounce around in his hot truck for hours. I yelled (firmly calm) to get those birds out of his truck immediately or the USPS would be reimbursing me over $100 for dead insured birds! The driver returned to the post office immediately. It was a good thing the 2 pullets were older juveniles & not baby chicks in that bouncing mail truck! What was really annoying is that our post office always receives or ships chickens so there was no excuse not following postal policy to call customer for pickup. That's why I insisted all future breeders write in bold letters on the shipping box CALL CUSTOMER FOR PICKUP w/giant TELEPHONE #!!! Most breeders did their best & it worked to catch the attention of any nincompoop!
Rant tx
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I'm tracking the package, and calling at 8 am tomorrow. I'll call ever hour until I know where they are, whatever it takes to get them here safely!

 

[Sylvester017]

Oh this is a genius idea. Alex needs to get a Silkie roo. Brilliant!

Actually, he'll need more than 1 Silkie in a mixed flock. 2-3 or more Silkies form their own tribe away from older bigger birds to not get picked on! So, yeah, even more than 1 Silkie

 

[Sylvester017]

Oh the dreaded balloons! The downfall of my quiet ride on Truly. She doesn’t mind my neighbour’s vehicles backfiring and revving but a balloon or floating leaf - yep those are dangerous items and one must run away from them!

Pony Sunday

Brought the horses in a bit early last night, they have learnt they can tear the hay out of the hay net if they go and grab it from the top opening of the hay net.

Truly
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Reenie
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Smart, eh?!

 

[Sylvester017]

Happy Pony Sunday everyone.

This is the closest I have to a pony. She is right outside my back door and seems not to be bothered by seeing me.
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Such a pretty peaceful picture

 

[Sylvester017]

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I want silkies...

Frankly...I want about 241 other breeds myself

 

[Sylvester017]

Similar here but with the cold temps they generally don’t have chicks on order until mid April.

I would say Freys is stepping in to take up the slack Peavey left - I would say that Freys will start offering more varieties now. They have started offering silkies!

The only issue with Freys is that they want you to order 10 at least. Or you pay a penalty if you only want two or three.

15 yrs ago USA hatcheries never shipped less than 25 chicks. But when My Pet Chicken started shipping as few as 3 chicks or 2 started pullets I noticed Cackle Hatchery got on the band wagon offering a 3 chick minimum ~ & then many of the other USA hatcheries started a 3 chick minimum.

For Canada to have a 10-chick minimum in cold climate is an advancement from the old days of 25-chick minimums. Picking up individual baby chicks at the feed store might still be the only way you get 1 or 2 birds. Hatcheries suggest splitting large shipped orders w/ neighbors but that's not even a sensible or viable customer option!

 

[Ponypoor]

15 yrs ago USA hatcheries never shipped less than 25 chicks. But when My Pet Chicken started shipping as few as 3 chicks or 2 started pullets I noticed Cackle Hatchery got on the band wagon offering a 3 chick minimum ~ & then many of the other USA hatcheries started a 3 chick minimum.

For Canada to have a 10-chick minimum in cold climate is an advancement from the old days of 25-chick minimums. Picking up individual baby chicks at the feed store might still be the only way you get 1 or 2 birds. Hatcheries suggest splitting large shipped orders w/ neighbors but that's not even a sensible or viable customer option!

Actually Freys ships their chicks with their own drivers around Ontario. The drivers go to all the feed stores with the orders and drops them off. And POL pullets also. They do ship by air, but not sure how much of that they do.

They likely do the 10 chick minimum to ensure their costs are met.

I paid $13 for each of the Azur when I got them - not sure what the cost is for POL pullets…. Or chicks for that matter now.

I checked earlier and all the Orps, Brahmas and Sussex are all sold out. So it seems the specialty breeds are gaining popularity. People want pretty, and they want blue eggs.

 

[rural mouse]

Sounds like she needs someone to let her not be at the bottom of the pecking order and you are her chosen flockmate to dominate.
Maybe you need to add some chickens to the flock so she can be in the middle.

I was wondering the same thing @ChicoryBlue

 

[rural mouse]

I'm tracking the package, and calling at 8 am tomorrow. I'll call ever hour until I know where they are, whatever it takes to get them here safely!

My post office has called at 630am to let me know chicks are there. Last time, I heard at least 4 other shipments also peeping when I got there.

The time I laugh about was when I was in high school. My dad ordered bees for his hives (finally found a place for them so started that up for several years). The post mistress, a soft spoken, sweet lady, called, cussing him out at high volume to come down and get his bees! Seems a few had gotten out of the crate and were buzzing around the office. He got down there quick. No one was stung and bees settled into hives just fine.

 

[rural mouse]

Saw robins back almost a week ago.

bluebirds came back Thursday, saw the meadowlark on Friday

and more than normal this morning...

midmorning nap

and noontime Sherlock walk. Deer stayed put.