Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ikslo]

It's lovely!

I thought so too! I’m very happy

 

[Sylvester017]

I've done a lot of research. We will be planting white & yellow sweet clover in our old horse pasture and Butterfly Weed alongside Mountain Bee Plant in our old paddock. We will also be planting white Dutch clover in front of the Apiary. We have catmint, hyssop, lavender, sage, Joe Pye weed and many others.
The honey we've taken off has been smooth and not too sweet. So, if it does, it's in a good way.
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Tax
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Do the bees work in winter... or do they slow down & live off their honey in cold weather?

I planted a lot of Lavender Rosea succulent in the yard plus Star Jade succulent for the bees, butterflies, etc... the only non-food plants in
the front or back yards. Everything else is edible fruit, veggie, or herb plants.

Lavender Rosea

Star Jade has white blossoms that turn orange after drying up & falling off.

Bee Tx & Two-fer Tuesday
BFTP 2021 ~ Ginny & Suzu

 

[Sylvester017]

Not a bad thought.....maybe with a black cochin to keep the foot feathers crossed in too, but the australorp would push the black feathers and the egg production.

Hybrid specialty innovators are very secretive about their breeding projects.

 

[Sylvester017]

FIL came by tonight with his kennel. We decided next week on moving chicks due to hunting schedules. Kennel is staying here until then. While he was here watching chicks, this happened.View attachment 4210232

That is the pullet I've found running around the yard when I've gone to OPEN the coop the last 3 mornings.

Last night, Cheetah kept hanging out and twittering at me. I told him to show me where she was. He led me all over the yard. I kept shining a flashlight around, including up into trees.....no dice.

Watching her jump/fly neatly up into the tree was a thing of beauty....and then she vanished. Guess I'm going to be back out there tomorrow night trying to figure out where she's disappearing.

View attachment 4210241She's the dainty black in the middle, next to the "headless" blue.

Maybe she's laying eggs in a tree like someone else's hen is?! Nope... branches aren't sturdy enough . She has Jungle Fowl or Tarzan genes?!

 

[drstratton]

Do the bees work in winter... or do they slow down & live off their honey in cold weather?

I planted a lot of Lavender Rosea succulent in the yard plus Star Jade succulent for the bees, butterflies, etc... the only non-food plants in
the front or back yards. Everything else is edible fruit, veggie, or herb plants.

Lavender Rosea
View attachment 4210237View attachment 4210242

Star Jade has white blossoms that turn orange after drying up & falling off.

View attachment 4210244View attachment 4210245

Bee Tx & Two-fer Tuesday
BFTP 2021 ~ Ginny & Suzu
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The bees will basically hibernate. They will only go outside to relieve themselves. They will surround the queen in the middle of the hive, vibrating their muscles to generate warmth. They will eat their stores, plus we will feed them through the winter.

I love that you have planted all of those flowers for the bees and other pollinators!

Tax!

 

[knoturavggrl]

The Littles all went down for the count in the sun.
View attachment 4210005
No amount of encouragement from Tassels could get them back on their feet.
So she joined them.
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I went and took a good look at speckled Sussex pullets vs young Roos. The boys tend to develop fairly early, very often they feather in with a white breast, the girls do not. Combs come in early both boys and pullets. Wattles seem to generally pop early on the boys. So far my guess is she is the pullet you wanted.

 

[Sylvester017]

I've admired D'uccles for awhile now. Millie Fleur D'uccles have always been on my wish list. Serama's they are just too cute for their own good. Their squeaky little crows, yes I can imagine a coop full of serama roos.

That said, I LOVE my big girls. Marans, Orps, Barred Rocks, Sussex, Brahma and their mixes, I've loved each and every one of them. I even love the cochin ladies when they are not egg eating. They have behaved this summer, I have not had to threaten them once with being turned into chicken and dumplings and it's about time. As a whole though, they have not taken to confinement as well as the silkies. It has gotten better now that I am able to sit out with them for a hour to let them stretch their legs. I'm on guard though, constantly on edge and doing head counts. I cannot relax and enjoy watching them like I used to. 3 of my big girls are perfectly happy though no longer free ranging. Oddly enough it is the Cochins and Mrs. E the biggest of the ladies.

If I'm being brutally honest, right now I can only relax and breath and just enjoy being with the chickens when I'm in the silkie coop. Happy little chickens, making happy chicken noises and not trying to make a great escape and make me feel guilty for not letting them out.

I do understand safety is always a top issue w/ chickens along w/ health issues too. So no judgment here to keep your chickens safe.

Here, when DH decided on 2 Silkies as backyard pets, we found they really had a lust for foraging & letting them out for only a few minutes while watching them just wasn't enough. That was when we went into a decade long project renovating & fortifying & planting w/ everything in mind for chickens... especially the Silkies cuz we always had them along w/ standard size breeds.

We, at first, never realized how tough Silkies were & that they aren't just "froo-froo" eye candy toys. There are so many covers, roofs, & hiding places for our little flock so when the Sparrows holler their hawk alert the Silkies hide so fast that I never thought they could move THAT fast.

It's easy for us to fortify & provide cover in our small suburban yard but if I had a rural location I would probably arrange a big fortified covered field similar to SimpleJenn's or ChickoryBlue's, or drstratton's (I think has the big enclosure?), or Tx Chick Noob, etc, & use electric fortification. We just didn't feel it natural to confine the Silkies in a pen while other breeds foraged. Our guilt trip about the Silkies has cost us $1000's over the yrs... bit by bit... but it's like a mini-paradise not only for them now but for us too even if we didn't have chickens. The only difference about not having chickens... the yard would be a whole lot neater

 

[knoturavggrl]

Dragged Whiskers off the nest as I felt she was getting a bit depressed. She had a big poop and dug up a storm.

I politely disagree, you can and should chicken sit for while, especially with the chicks. They grow up to darn fast They are absolutely adorable mama is doing a wonderful job too!

 

[knoturavggrl]

I was doing some research on the Noirans and found a place in Quebec that sells then and has posted that their life expectancy is '10 to 12 years'. I'll let you all know in a decade if this is acurate!

https://meuneriemaska.com/en/produits/noirans-laying-hen/

Swedish flowers are supposedly long lived as well. I will keep my fingers crossed for that being true for all of them.

 

[knoturavggrl]

I do understand safety is always a top issue w/ chickens along w/ health issues too. So no judgment here to keep your chickens safe.

Here, when DH decided on 2 Silkies as backyard pets, we found they really had a lust for foraging & letting them out for only a few minutes while watching them just wasn't enough. That was when we went into a decade long project renovating & fortifying & planting w/ everything in mind for chickens... especially the Silkies cuz we always had them along w/ standard size breeds.

We, at first, never realized how tough Silkies were & that they aren't just "froo-froo" eye candy toys. There are so many covers, roofs, & hiding places for our little flock so when the Sparrows holler their hawk alert the Silkies hide so fast that I never thought they could move THAT fast.

It's easy for us to fortify & provide cover in our small suburban yard but if I had a rural location I would probably arrange a big fortified covered field similar to SimpleJenn's or ChickoryBlue's, or drstratton's (I think has the big enclosure?), or Tx Chick Noob, etc, & use electric fortification. We just didn't feel it natural to confine the Silkies in a pen while other breeds foraged. Our guilt trip about the Silkies has cost us $1000's over the yrs... bit by bit... but it's like a mini-paradise not only for them now but for us too even if we didn't have chickens. The only difference about not having chickens... the yard would be a whole lot neater
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They really are beautiful lil bits of floof. Mine go out with the SFH’s we do have rural property but we also have lots of hiding spots and a huge murder of crows that legit help out. All my chickens listen to the warnings and dash for cover when they hear it. I have seen them drive hawks away as well. In turn, I ignore that they eat more of our barn cats food then the cats do and I also pay in peanuts