Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Poor silkie dumplings had a hurricane to deal with here this evening. The wind is ferocious! And in the space of about an hour the wind swapped from the south west to north west and temps dropped from 25C to just 16C now.

Poor Jolly couldn’t walk in the wind and was all freaked out I had to rescue her. Poor thing! I wanted to grab my camera to video it but I figured it was more important I rescue to little dumpling

Anywhoooo I locked everyone in the barn and made sure they were all ok. None of us likes the wind here it seems!

Edit: 14C now! Brrrr! Preferred the 29C

 

[Marie2020]

I am so happy to see Princess has so many friends.

It sure makes me happy . She's a survivor and makes the best out of her life.

 

[Marie2020]

Poor silkie dumplings had a hurricane to deal with here this evening. The wind is ferocious! And in the space of about an hour the wind swapped from the south west to north west and temps dropped from 25C to just 16C now.

Poor Jolly couldn’t walk in the wind and was all freaked out I had to rescue her. Poor thing! I wanted to grab my camera to video it but I figured it was more important I rescue to little dumpling

Anywhoooo I locked everyone in the barn and made sure they were all ok. None of us likes the wind here it seems!

Edit: 14C now! Brrrr! Preferred the 29C

Last I read you were having a lovely day.

If weather could be hospitalised, it should be in intensive care.

 

[Sally PB]

Pine shavings or straw or sand in the coop?

With one exception, I have used only pine shavings in my coop. I used hemp once, loved it, but it was too expensive with the shipping.

I have heard that sand works well in dry climates. I have also heard that in damp conditions, it will stink to high heaven when it has a load of chicken poop in it.

I have a poop board under the roost, and I wouldn't plan a coop without one. It was a total game changer. It catches about 90-95% of the poop in the coop, the PDZ eliminates the odor and dries out the poop. I scoop every morning, and my coop does not smell.

I'm going to clean all the shavings out of the coop soon (they go into the run for a year) and put in a new bale. I do this once a year in the spring, and it's worked wonderfully for me.

 

[Marie2020]

I am so happy to see Princess has so many friends.

I'm honestly thrilled to bits she not a young girl and actually thriving where she is .

How are you? Rebecca. I hope you're not in to much pain

 

[Ponypoor]

Last I read you were having a lovely day.

If weather could be hospitalised, it should be in intensive care.

I was! It was lovely - now I pay for that lovely heat and humidity.

It is now 8C (47f) and that wind is still fierce.

Everyone is on edge, the chooks didn’t want to go to bed, the horses are cranky, I am cranky this wind gives me a migraine and I can’t take anymore naproxen it bothers my gut.

I put the chooks in bed and told them to figure it out themselves. It didn’t help that it’s still light now until almost 9pm.

My four Swann cameras are down - getting fed up with them. But the main gang in HH-A seem to be settled in.

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok good night lovely people. See if I can get some sleep….

Today’s haul

 

[knoturavggrl]

Oh my gosh they are so cute! Love the names too. I see your daughter is getting them all gentled and tamed

Yes, she has been very involved with the chickens. Pebble and Nyx are her chickens, she wanted Silkies so much but she helps with all of them.
@ BYBob kids and chickens really are wonderful, I couldn’t agree more.

I am with you on all of that. Straw is fun for playing in.
I find pine shavings excellent at moisture control. I don’t pick poop at all.
The most absorptive of all however is pine stall pellets. I use those in high poop areas like under the favorite roosting spot. They turn to sawdust on contact with damp.
I also use them for the cat litter boxes.

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. Switching from a dirt floor coop where I used the deep bedding method with good success has me really pondering what will work best in our area now that my coop will have a floor.

I think I am going to give the sand a trial run but only do 3-4” for now till I see how I like it. Then I can use it as base if it doesn’t work for me. It’s only 15 bucks for a half ton in the back of my truck so it’s fairly inexpensive for me to try it out. I will give my honest feedback here on how it goes.

I do plan on keeping my flock fairly small this time, I swear!

 

[notabitail]

Two-fer Tuesday.
I need to take more photos of these dummies. Agathae has gone mostly broody, save the sitting on the nest all day part.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Ok good night lovely people. See if I can get some sleep….

Today’s haul
View attachment 4110653

What a gorgeous haul! So many beautiful colors. I am so looking forward to getting fresh eggs again.