Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[SimpleJenn]

I would love to get another older hen or two to keep these scoundrels in line. But I am caring for 43 chickens right now, I don't want to add any more. I even turned down super cheap sebrights yesterday (before hubby got a chance to say no!)
Tax

My mother in law has named her leghorns. So we have Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, Sofia. And then Diva and Dream are kiddo's in this group.

Last night, Red and Navy made sure to go to bed in the big coop. One of the olive egger boys sleeps in here too, and I ended up putting Yeti in here because Goldie bird wouldn't let her in their coop.
Buffy complains but they do settle in and sleep peacefully.

 

[TOMTE]

Hmm, when introducing a young cockerel to a new flock, it's best that he has older hens to put him in his place. I've read that older = years, not months. So, say I manage to convince my dad to agree to a roo, sometime within the next few months. My girls will be a year old at the beginning of July. How young of a cockerel would be best to introduce to them if I went that route? Young chick? A couple months old?

I know the real answer is there is no one size fits all option, but approximately?

 

[Sylvester017]

This is funny: I have a gardener who has been weeding my yard. He complained to me that he would rake the cut grass into piles to pick it up, but soon as he was done with one pile, my chooks were on the previous pile, at full speed destroying the pile looking for bugs. He told me about it.
I said “what’s your problem? They are just trying to help you. You still get hourly pay anyway.” I had to go in the house and laugh my head off!

Poor guy... I know how discouraging it is to see garden work messed up. You meany!!!

BTW...what's the OC avian vet you took Coco to? I like to line up backup bird vets in case mine is on vacation. My vet has a stand-in vet but the stand-in only does cats/dogs. We had need of our vet a couple yrs ago & he was out-of-town & we scrambled for a bird vet in a hurry in Baldwin Park who was not so good There's an avian vet in Pasadena not too far & a dog/bird/cat hospital in Norco but we'd like to have another reference just in case if you don't mind sharing the info?

 

[featherhead007]

I would love to get another older hen or two to keep these scoundrels in line. But I am caring for 43 chickens right now, I don't want to add any more. I even turned down super cheap sebrights yesterday (before hubby got a chance to say no!)
Tax
View attachment 4124081
My mother in law has named her leghorns. So we have Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, Sofia. And then Diva and Dream are kiddo's in this group.
View attachment 4124083
Last night, Red and Navy made sure to go to bed in the big coop. One of the olive egger boys sleeps in here too, and I ended up putting Yeti in here because Goldie bird wouldn't let her in their coop.
Buffy complains but they do settle in and sleep peacefully.

But you turned down Sebrights?
Do you have a fever? are you feeling sick? I have NEVER heard of anyone turning down Sebrights.
They are magnificent birds and I can’t find any here.

This is funny: I have a gardener who has been weeding my yard. He complained to me that he would rake the cut grass into piles to pick it up, but soon as he was done with one pile, my chooks were on the previous pile, at full speed destroying the pile looking for bugs. He told me about it.
I said “what’s your problem? They are just trying to help you. You still get hourly pay anyway.” I had to go in the house and laugh my head off!

he didn’t show up today to finish the other yard. That’s okay though. My chooks can be very nerve wracking at times.

 

[Sylvester017]

They seem to do just fine. They push and shove and peck the SFH’s on the regular. Pebble is the all black silkie and although smaller isn’t that much smaller than the SFH’s but Nyx is quite small. Maybe this means Pebble is a boy and Nyx is a girl? I just don’t know but there is a marked difference in size between the two and they came from the same breeder. I have no idea how people sex silkies, I will have to wait till they crow or lay an egg to be sure.

W/Silkies it takes a while to tell boys from girls. Size is not an indicator as we have 5 Silkies & all are hens & all different sizes & weights. W/the one Partridge boy we had many yrs ago from the time he was a chick he seemed to stand & walk more erect while the Partridge girl stood less erect.

One thing for certain is if you do have one boy/one girl & you keep the Silkie boy he will mate the Silkie pullet to death so you'll need a couple more Silkie hens at least!

 

[rural mouse]

We have some coop drama lately. Goldie bird has taken up grabbing the girls by the head and dragging them. I told him if he doesn't knock it off he's going in the slow cooker. He has a week to learn some manners. I understand neck grabbing is part of mating but he is doing it whenever the girls try to go in the coop, eat or drink, or even walk by him. Just dragging them away from whatever they were trying to do.

He's got the hormones going already

 

[featherhead007]

Poor guy... I know how discouraging it is to see garden work messed up. You meany!!!

BTW...what's the OC avian vet you took Coco to? I like to line up backup bird vets in case mine is on vacation. My vet has a stand-in vet but the stand-in only does cats/dogs. We had need of our vet a couple yrs ago & he was out-of-town & we scrambled for a bird vet in a hurry in Baldwin Park who was not so good There's an avian vet in Pasadena not too far & a dog/bird/cat hospital in Norco but we'd like to have another reference just in case if you don't mind sharing the info?

I will ask her if she is taking anymore clients/patients. She’s been retired since 2020. She lives in Irvine, gratuitously close to the Orange County airport.
Ps. Peeps, never burn your bridges, you’ll never know when you’re going to need them. She’s a good lady. Loves animals and she’s also an artist and sculptor.

 

[Ponypoor]

I would love to get another older hen or two to keep these scoundrels in line. But I am caring for 43 chickens right now, I don't want to add any more. I even turned down super cheap sebrights yesterday (before hubby got a chance to say no!)
Tax
View attachment 4124081
My mother in law has named her leghorns. So we have Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, Sofia. And then Diva and Dream are kiddo's in this group.
View attachment 4124083
Last night, Red and Navy made sure to go to bed in the big coop. One of the olive egger boys sleeps in here too, and I ended up putting Yeti in here because Goldie bird wouldn't let her in their coop.
Buffy complains but they do settle in and sleep peacefully.

Ah! The Golden Girls - I have them also

 

[featherhead007]

Poor guy... I know how discouraging it is to see garden work messed up. You meany!!!

BTW...what's the OC avian vet you took Coco to? I like to line up backup bird vets in case mine is on vacation. My vet has a stand-in vet but the stand-in only does cats/dogs. We had need of our vet a couple yrs ago & he was out-of-town & we scrambled for a bird vet in a hurry in Baldwin Park who was not so good There's an avian vet in Pasadena not too far & a dog/bird/cat hospital in Norco but we'd like to have another reference just in case if you don't mind sharing the info?

Years ago I bought my daughter a horse and boarded it at a ranch in Norco CA. I still haven’t heard from her for a long time.

 

[Ponypoor]

W/Silkies it takes a while to tell boys from girls. Size is not an indicator as we have 5 Silkies & all are hens & all different sizes & weights. W/the one Partridge boy we had many yrs ago from the time he was a chick he seemed to stand & walk more erect while the Partridge girl stood less erect.
View attachment 4124157
View attachment 4124158
One thing for certain is if you do have one boy/one girl & you keep the Silkie boy he will mate the Silkie pullet to death so you'll need a couple more Silkie hens at least!

My Clyde loooves his 2 sweeties - Silver and Patches (and they only have eyes for him). He tries breeding them but I am thinking he misses the mark just as well don’t need any more chooks! It’s hilarious to see him trying to breed them. And even more hilarious to see Mr LC breeding Jaffarra