Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Did you lose her temporarily like a wallet?... or do you mean she's gone gone? Our Ginny used to lay her eggs around the yard but since everyone else has been using the nestboxes she decided to join the competition to use the boxes too.

Oh she's ok - I didn't clobber her or anything. But I did give her a good talking to. She likes to get into places she shouldn't go, she is highly intellegent and very mobile - she's fast and flies well. I find it interesting that she isn't the 'leader' - but she has no interest in leading she is an 'Independent Intelligent Canadian Woman' - IICW (it's what I call my mum hahaha - she's a firecracker too) - no interest in make the other hens fall in line but if she can drag a few along with her all the better! Butterscotch will often go with her (those two are bad!), and recently old Blanche has been following after her! Sheesh! Blanche can fly but she is not so fast anymore and I worry about her - she is an old lady - too old to be flying after the likes of that IICW!

She's the one who started that new sand pit - and the others took over the made it the size it is now.

She sneaks into the feedroom behind my back, gets behind the shelving and will lay an egg in there. And yesterday, the hay wheelbarrow tipped over and pushed the hay stall door open (it slides). When I got home she and a bunch of the more skinny ladies had squeezing in the door and literally tore apart my straw bale, what a mess. Yesterday she was a very naughty girl!

 

[Ponypoor]

Color experts please weigh in with your opinion.

This is little splashy. She has to be splash right? She is not blue, she is not white.

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Whatever color she is I'm hanging onto her. I'm also hanging onto a blue one and I had another blue partridge hatch out that I am keeping.

Yes she is a splash - I almost chose the splash over Jolly at the place I bought Holly and Jolly from. They had one that colour, but I was worried it would be a boy.

Gosh what a cutie pie, and I am guessing it's a pullet - she doesn't have the large crest I would expect on a cockerel.

 

[Ponypoor]

New Coop: We Built a Chicken Palace (and Survived)!


It’s done! Our feathered overlords finally have their dream home. Here’s the chaotic tale of how we pulled it off, for anyone who may consider this option.


We started with two boxes that promised they would become a Lifetime 8x10 shed with skylights—two big ones and a row of little ones along the roof. Lots of natural light in case the chickens want to party under the stars.

The Base: A Curse-Filled Odyssey

The shed demands a fancy concrete pad or wood platform. Did we do that? Ha, nope! Instead, we went rouge and put together an 8x10 cinder block rectangle with a middle row, stuffed with sand, gravel, and rock. The ground was sloped, so we dug, swore, and dug some more to level it.

The Build: Less Pain, More YouTube

Shockingly, the shed went up without a hitch. It’s 500 lbs of plastic and metal frame but the pieces were light enough for us mortals. The doors, though? We wrestled those suckers for hours to make them hang right and shut without attitude. The instructions were written by someone who hates humans, so YouTube became our guru. Pro tip: worship the algorithm. Oh, and the shed’s vents are decent, so our chicks won’t suffocate in their own sass. We drilled concrete screws into the base to keep this beast from sailing away in a storm.

To-Do List: Send Help

Still gotta carve out a hole for the auto door (praying I don’t botch it), hang roost bars, and drag in the nest box. Also, I’m hauling 2 tons of construction sand in my poor Jeep Gladiator—four trips to the gravel pit, because apparently I hate my suspension. Send snacks.

I will have pics this weekend once it’s chick-ready. Our feathered dino’s are clawing at their tent, so it’s good this is almost done or they might make it out and take over the living room!

Glad you survived! And it will be well worth it.

I am so stoked for you!

 

[Ponypoor]

3 cochin chicks are hatched. One egg has a pip, and had dried paper towel over it so I peeled it back, which took some shell too. I wasn't sure what else to do because it’s bleeding??? I dabbed water on the membrane that was left behind and put it back in the incubator for now. I...don't know what to do with it.

Spoiler: Warning:blood

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I will keep checking on it but hopefully the chick can get itself out now.

The last egg, no pip, no peeps, could be a dud or might just be biding it's time. Either way, I need to walk away from the incubator because I was up all night nursing it through error after error. In fact, it just beeped again and I flinched.

Sit on your hands - let it be.

It's a tough lesson, but need to just let nature do its thing.

As for the bleeding, just let it be, it will clot eventually. The blood is being brought over to the chick as it hatches - nothing you can do but 'sit on your hands'.

Very very hard to do...

 

[Ponypoor]

I'm sorry, Pony, but that is just what my chickens do. Get me all worried and in a tizzy at times...then they give you the: 'What - I was just..xyz...why you all upset???'


Hope you feel better soon!

Oh ya she's a brat! Hopefully this morning she will behave while I do some yard work!

Need to throw down hay and straw so she needs to behave and not run off anywhere.

 

[featherhead007]

I really don't like the subway sandwiches. I've tried them a couple of times i found their bread and fillings tasteless

Stop eating Subway sandwiches with your tea!

 

[featherhead007]

All animals - even Hoomans - the morning hours are the most active, and then the evening hrs prior to night time.

The horses will be active eating (grazing) all morning, then around 11am they will head to the barn and stand around in the shade in the summer, just dozing swatting flies with their tails. Around 4pm they become active again.

Dawn and Dusk are called the golden hours for predators and pray. This is why I don't let the chooks out first thing in the morning on weekend when I am here, and make sure they are back inside before the sun starts going down.

That’s darn right! Soon as my paycheck cleared, she’d be off to Macy’s for a new purse or pair of shoes! She’s the X for a reason

 

[SimpleJenn]

He is out. There is quite a bit of blood in the incubator, and it looks like he was still absorbing the yolk? Little red gooey thing on his belly but it's smaller now.
This is after 2 hours of him hatching. No immediate pictures, I didn't want to get any of the bloody mess.
Yes, the incubator is giving me fits on the humidity again. the emptier it gets the harder it is to maintain.
I'll let y'all know how he's doing this evening. Poor baby had a hard time but did manage to hatch.

 

[notabitail]

Is it the same one? Or is it bringing its friends around too?

Same one.

 

[rural mouse]

Color experts please weigh in with your opinion.

This is little splashy. She has to be splash right? She is not blue, she is not white.

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Whatever color she is I'm hanging onto her. I'm also hanging onto a blue one and I had another blue partridge hatch out that I am keeping.

If she weren't a silkie, I'd say she's going to be Colombian marked. All my splash chicks were 100% fluffy yellow, no grey tones. The yellow/grey blend always got more color.

I think we're going to have to wait and see for this one. And it's possible the grey tones I'm seeing are actually the black skin showing a bit.