Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

Maybe Maximus. One of George's nicknames was Georgimas. Max could be a good strong name fitting for a future big boy.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I like "Homer"! Both down-home and Homeric, as in tales of Greek heroes.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Homericus Maximus!

 

[SimpleJenn]

Anish Kapoor isn't allowed near my rooster
Ultra black ❤

Also he is very skittish and polite to me. ❤ Cemani. If kiddo hadn't named him first I would call him Riddick.

 

[Ponypoor]

I can see that working for the silkies and the cochins. The rest of my flock are fliers though. I will need something covered to keep them in. I will look into it. Maybe Lowes will carry something similar.

I fell they they won’t try to fly over vet it. My escape artists don’t even try to go over the electric netting, or plastic safety fencing, they can’t see any place solid to land so they don’t try, even Mr LC who is a demon for flying everywhere. He will fly over the board fence but not the netting or the safety fence. FYI my netting isn’t powered so I climb over it and they don’t even try to follow me.

I think chickens really need something solid they can see to fly over or up onto and over - like my 6’ fence that Tippy and Buttwrscotch go over.

 

[Ponypoor]

Anish Kapoor isn't allowed near my rooster
Ultra black ❤
View attachment 4172816
Also he is very skittish and polite to me. ❤ Cemani. If kiddo hadn't named him first I would call him Riddick.

I would still call him that!

 

[TOMTE]

Anish Kapoor isn't allowed near my rooster
Ultra black ❤
View attachment 4172816
Also he is very skittish and polite to me. ❤ Cemani. If kiddo hadn't named him first I would call him Riddick.

I'll take 100000 babies from him please

 

[SimpleJenn]

I'll take 100000 babies from him please

Haha you let me know if you get permission for more, I'll even hatch em for ya.

 

[Sylvester017]

The older Omlet style coop ladder was a total step situation, but their new ladder that fits both the older Cube and the new Pro is a combination, which is interesting-looking and a big improvement. I bought a new one for the Cube. https://www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_k...s/ultimate-ladder-for-eglu-cube-chicken-coop/
View attachment 4172547
View attachment 4172548View attachment 4172549

The 7 week old chicks got up it no problem (to explore, they haven’t even looked in their coop yet). Previously the old style steps were a slight problem for chicks/pullets, maybe visually the space between each ledge was an issue? They kept trying to go up the side rail, so I put rug gripper stuff on that tube. They learned how to navigate it eventually but most of the time took one step and flap-jumped up. This design is much better.

I think I’ll have the new Buckeyes roost in the old Cube coop for now, in their own space, as I’ve waited until they're older to be doing the see-no-touch thing. Nine hens in the Pro is possible now with their size, but when they’re full-grown that will really be pushing it. So I’m inclined to let them separate or join in roosting as they wish, with two coops available to either group, though that’s more maintenance for me.

This might reduce integration stress and help keep everyone healthier, given there’s respiratory disease here. Not by keeping it from the new guys but maybe reducing the severity of infection due to less stress? And helping the older hens out too with their flare-ups?

I’ve heard stories where 13-14 chickens want to cram into one of the old (smaller) Cubes, even though two were provided next to each other, so we’ll see.

Sounds like good organizational planning! Love that you are helping to preserve Buckeyes! With a big run or free ranging chickens only use coops for laying or roosting so they don't need to be huge. We got a tall coop only cuz we have hot hot hot SoCalif weather & heat rises in tall coops.

We looked into Omelet cubes decade ago cuz of easy maintenance but their styles, sizes, wire runs, & accessories were flimsy IMO for the cost. Now they've listened to customer complaints & made some great improvements yet still not the kind we needed. But as w/ any pre-fab coop, they will never be 100% perfect.

We wanted our run to be sturdy kennel wire, have a coop much higher off the ground w/ a tall roof w/wall vents for heat escape, windows, & actual perches rather than the plastic perch floor the Omelet has. I loved so much about the Omelet except for the features we particularly needed. & as w/ any pre-fab coop, the mfrs always claim it holds more chickens than it should!!! That gripes my goat about ANY pre-fab mfr... but I digress...

Anyway, our old Chicken Condos Barn Coop met just about every need we had 11 yrs ago & still does today for the same equivalent cost of the premium Omelet at that time. Our coop's mfr came out w/ a plastic barn design in the same size yrs later & that is the only part I wish was available 11 yrs ago but not enough of an improvement to switch out our current Barn Coop which still has better features for us than their newest barn model.

Old Chicken Condos

New plastic Chicken Condos ~ has a fun video on the site main page to watch for all the newer stuff
https://chickencondos.com/

Our old customized 4'x4' Chicken Condo Barn Coop came w/ solid floor tray for winter, kennel wire floor for summer, 2 windows, 5 variable height perch slots, cleated ramp, large air vents both ends, dog kennel wire run, tractor wheels ~ we keep it on a slab patio w/ patio roof overhead. Perfect for our half dozen birds but certainly not for the mfr's recommended 15-20 birds!!! (Never believe a mfr's recommended capacity when buying pre-fab!)

 

[Sylvester017]

Pre-fab tx
Pancake broody Mika