Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

Awwww I think it gives her character!

And here is the SHRA tax

Reenie sharing her supper again
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Reenie is a sweetheart

 

[Marie2020]

Oh, how lovely the farm takes in rescue hybrid layers too Chicken paradise for Princess. She really does stand out like royalty in that sea of red hens

I'm so pleased she survived. That cat died shortly after she left. So i definitely made the right decision. That would have broken princess completely. She seemed to love my cat and had already lost all of her friends

 

[Marie2020]

And it is actually Monday!

No, it's not . It's Tuesday today

 

[Marie2020]

Head girl with her classmates

 

[Ponypoor]

Look at that picture, and then look at him:
Royalty obviously! View attachment 4109936

Definitely a Prince

 

[Ponypoor]

We completed the foundation for the new shed coop today! I have been researching bedding options. I came across a very well researched article going over the different options and figured I would pass it along in case it interested anyone else. I have decided to go with mid grade contractor sand.

https://www.thefeatherbrain.com/blog/best-chicken-coop-bedding

Completely 100% disagree on straw being eggcellent at moisture absorbtion.

40 yrs of having horses has told me one thing - straw sucks at absorbing and holding moister and at reducing odour. This is why I under-bed my straw bedding with softwood shavings in the horse stalls.

For bedding - something that an animal will lay on and poop on:

Best material is mixed size softwood shavings. Absolutely not toxic - hardwood shavings yes have high levels of toxic chemicals. Do not ever use hardwood shavings with animals.

Clay and sand are very good at holding moisture. To understand which is best one needs to understand the nature or soil. Clay has very fine particles which hold moisture well (this is what kitty litter is made from), sand is more course and will contain moisture but not absorb like clay. Sand drains well, but in the winter freezes like cement when it gets wet.

One other thing, once the chooks start pooping in the sand if you don’t pick poops daily the chooks will scratch around and break up the poops causing them the mix with the sand creating an organic composition that hold water and odour. Yep the same will happen with shavings, but the odour is held better in shavings, and it won’t freeze in the winter.

As far as bedding goes, soils are more used as flooring materials, though I have seen sand used in horse stalls in Egypt.

If one is wanting to have a flooring that is easily picked through for poops and such, then use course sand.

But personally I like softwood shavings - they are non toxic, highly absorbing and eggcellent at odour control.

One thing I should also point out is that I personally pick the hen house daily of all poops, that includes the roosting ledges and the floors. Takes all of 5 minutes when done daily, this goes a long way towards controlling odour and moisture.

EDIT:
- sand and other soils are very heavy especially when wet. So if you are old and decrepit like me use something that weighs less

What experience do the rest of you have?

 

[Ponypoor]

Particularly awesome photos, especially Butterscotch what a pretty lady

She’s a brat, she and Tippy are my escape artists. I don’t even bother running after them anymore. They can fly in and out of the run anyways.

She lays pink eggs

 

[Ponypoor]

Mugs and Roos
We have too many Roos 4 to be exact. (Silkies don’t count yet, to hard to tell) I will do my best to rehome the 3 we can’t keep.
On a happier note, tonight we selected one boy to keep and have begun naming them.

Our boy that is staying- Thyme he is the friendliest and sweetest of the bunch.
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This sweet girl is named Rue
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This is Rue upside down
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Oh my gosh they are so cute! Love the names too. I see your daughter is getting them all gentled and tamed

 

[Ponypoor]

Hey everyone.

Thought I would pop on for a second. Came home to a notice that my area is going to experience a internet service outage for a major update. Not estimated time for when service will be restored and it is for a big area.

Lovely, I have my tooth cut out tomorrow and planned on when I was awake the next few days to catch up on some tv.

I also have a silkie egg update from my co-worker. Her first chick hatched this morning early. The first silkie out....is BLUE!!! It is confirmed, I can get blue from my group. If I do not hatch out a blue for myself I will cry.

Good luck today! Hope your tooth get removed and all will be well.

 

[BY Bob]

Kids and Chicks

I really can't remember if I posted this or not yet. Eve was here over the weekend and at first she was a little scared of the chicks as they were so much bigger.

But soon she was comfortable holding them on her own.

Soon they were roosting on her. Here she is with her mom, my oldest daughter.

Later when they were outside she was able feed them mealworms from her hand.