Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Good morning everyone.

I am tired. I tried a new method last night of sitting out on the front porch and listening for the chickens to go off. All was silent.

I honestly thought I was dealing with a coyote, and after talking to my next door neighbor now I'm not sure. She came up yesterday and asked me to leave CeeCee out at night. She has camera's and caught someone trying to break in her car Wednesday night on camera's. I had forgotten she has camera's everywhere outside and asked her if they had picked up anything at night near my yard. She will check for sure when she gets the sd card back from the police but she did inform me she has a big raccoon that has been coming onto her back porch. She also picked up a big coyote near her garbage cans 2 weeks ago. I love this neighbor, but good grief you could have warned me about both of them ahead of time. I almost want to leave CeeCee inside just for spite now. Get your own guard dog. I'm not though, I'm keeping her inside while we are waiting for whatever it is to come back, but, when I give up to go to bed she is outside.

I think I need to look into getting a few camera's myself. One on the building facing the hillside and would have view of both coops. Another one placed somewhere in the horse stalls to see if anything comes near them.

This lock down and prolonged cooping them up is upsetting the big girls. My girls who are used to roosting overtop the horse stalls are very very angry with me. Egg production from them has came to a screeching halt. My silkies are the only one's laying for the last 3 days. They are nervous when they are let out, they no longer have George looking out for them. Poor Mrs. E is still looking for him. She has almost turned back feral on me again. Last night I was a hour getting everyone back inside the coop. Lots of chasing some unruly girls. Thankfully Goose and Gryffyn are easy to round up with their chicks. Goose has taken the opportunity to begin teaching her boy to roost in the coop with her. He follows her up and then does not settle until he is under her on the roost. Gryffyn is sleeping on top of the tote in the coop with her two. That is Gryffyn's version of roosting off the ground.

Small update on the chicks as well. Things are still looking good pullet wise for the silkie chicks. The little white one and the other dark partridge are starting to give off pullet vibes now. That is 3 I'm confident in out of the 4. If I question one it is the blue one I held back. Still no wattles, small non-existent comb and really no outward signs to say cockerel. It's just big, bigger then the other 3.

The other 3, well, the rooster fairy still loves me. 2 out of 3 are for sure boys. Gryffyn's yellow chick, yup, George has another son. I think he will end up looking similar to his great-uncle Bert. Georgette is now Orange Juice or OJ for short curtesy of Rosie. We shall refer to him as Juice. I would not call George by the name Adolf which my brother gave him and I shall not call Juice by the name "OJ". She swears she did not name him after OJ Simpson, I do not believe her. They had to watch the OJ Simpson murder trial 4 times in her forensics' class. That name is not a coincidence. Georgina is I think a pullet, but, that could change at the drop of a hat.

They are all going to be out of sorts for some time. The change in their living status does not help of course.
This is all about safety. Them being out of sorts does not matter as long as they are safe.

Good luck taking care of whatever is your predator. I hope to hear you have gotten it soon.

 

[BY Bob]

She says she eats hamsters.

It looks like she does for sure.

 

[drstratton]

Happy Caturday

She's even more beautiful than the last time I saw her!

 

[Ponypoor]

What time of day did you look for fireflies? Around here, they come out at dusk, sometimes earlier. Once it’s completely dark, they hang around for another 10-15 minutes, and then they pack it in. It’s really rare for me to see one after 10 pm.

Apparently it depends on the species. I have seen them at dusk, and also at 2am, different species perform at different times of the night. I have a habit of wandering the paddocks in the summer at night, when my RLS is particularly bad.

I try not to wake the chooks, these days though with the horses inside at night it’s no fun wandering all alone in the paddocks.

Silver and Clyde

 

[BY Bob]

Juice, Georgina and no name.
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Juice has color already in the comb. It is still small, but the color is starting.
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Maybe wattles getting ready to pop as well. I'm also starting to think he is splash like his sister. That grey is new, as in the last week new.
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Georgina is my only hope for a pullet.
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She is definitely splash though. More spots incoming.
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Goose's boy. I have not named him yet because if I name him he will stay.
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He is a chunk though, albeit a little homely at the moment. Juvenile molts are doing him no favors.
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I recommend taking your time and let the universe unfold. You never know what is to come. Let the plan unveil itself.

 

[BY Bob]

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

Riddick would be an awesome name for him.

 

[Sylvester017]

@BY Bob ~ is there something different/special re: these Maine Coons? I thought all Maine Coons were large?

https://www.sizemattersmccattery.co...MIjJDG-cu4jgMVadJEBx2vmglJEAAYASAAEgKngvD_BwE

 

[SimpleJenn]

The legs have barged into the cochin enclosure and stolen their favorite roost back. They almost let Cinnabun stay with them...

And then I helped her onto the other roost. 9 birds on that branch!!!

 

[SimpleJenn]

Riddick would be an awesome name for him.

I'll start trying it out and see what he thinks.
The Riddick movies are the only gory thing I watch! I just love them though, reminds me of playing space d&d games.

 

[BY Bob]

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!)
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They look very nice. Thanks for sharing.