Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

I give the best hugs. Mainly because I give them sparingly so they mean something. So, without further ado, here's your hug, Alex...

Wow, you are so right! I felt that big hug all the way from here in California. Thanks friend

 

[featherhead007]

I give the best hugs. Mainly because I give them sparingly so they mean something. So, without further ado, here's your hug, Alex...

You know what they say, “everything is bigger in Texas!”
I have a life long friend who lives in Bryan Texas, near College Station.

 

[featherhead007]

People always ask me how I gained so much wealth in such a short time…. The USMarshal service is giving me retirement, but my money came from a dare. The United Kingdom decided to pull out of the AU common market (wise choice I might add) and I knew that United States stocks would be worth millions. I invested 200k all my savings and after the smoke cleared I was rich and immediately bought property in where I live now. This post will be the last time I mention that, so people, please don’t ask me again.
It’s really kinda funny, that when I had little to give I had more friends. By today’s standards, I’m not a rich man. To chicken standards, I’m their daddy and their god! I go to my God Jesus for help and wisdom every day.

 

[notabitail]

You know what they say, “everything is bigger in Texas!”

Including the property taxes!

 

[Ponypoor]

Awww thanks for posting that - you got so much better pics of them than I have managed.
Though I did get some cool video of Tassels opening up the rat proof feeder for the chicks so they could eat from it. I need to trim it down to a reasonable length and upload to YouTube so I can share it.

Yep the brats can get o to all sorts of trouble!

Seems my chooks have been on BeakBook and read about the Phillistines adventure and taste for exotic plants.

I came home last night and when I let the chooks out (daily stampede) I went in the barn and the first words out of my mouth (after greeting the mob of course) were not fit for polite company!

They ate the leaves and flower and tender branches off my geraniums leaving just the naked stalks!

Now to be fair I can’t be too mad at them seeing as how it was my fault for leaving them on the floor in the barn - such a tempting treat! But sheesh! I babied those plants all summer and planned on over wintering them in the feed room.



I am about the log in and see how my palm trees are faring - I brought them inside the barn last night (frost warnings were out). They haven’t bothered with them outside but we will see if they go for them in the barn where they are just very tempting.

Hmmm well they are still upright and have leaves

 

[featherhead007]

Flash is chowing down on some feed this morning. I did love it when she talked with me all night long last night. She obviously had things that needed to be said. I listened. Who needs late night tv when we have chooks in the house?

 

[featherhead007]

Flash is chowing down on some feed this morning. I did love it when she talked with me all night long last night. She obviously had things that needed to be said. I listened. Who needs late night tv when we have chooks in the house?

Flash wasn’t happy when I removed her from the house just now. I promised I would bring her back as soon as my business in town was done. I really hate leaving my kids alone when I’m away!

 

[featherhead007]

words of wisdom that I live by:
Give a man a fish, he won’t go hungry for a day. But teach a man to fish, he won’t be hungry the rest of his life! I was taught that in my first Academy graduation 1983

 

[ChicoryBlue]

That's a great idea to use the tri-pod poles to hold up the netting - no digging holes and you can move it around if needed. Great idea!

(I have built fencing like that in areas were it's rocky, use three poles as a post, and then one can attach rails to it
https://thinking-stoneman.blogspot.com/2015/10/crotch-rocks.html)

BFTP Tax

Blanche and Buttercup - now what are they looking for?
View attachment 4213359

Interesting link!
Tripods - the idea of something to be able to quickly lower the netting in case of an early storm before I put it away for the season came from a post on BYC. The poster had netting permanently attached to their deep-posted permanent wooden fences, but had a central, very tall freestanding pole holding it up in the middle. The netting is just loose enough that when the pole is lowered most of the netting lies flat in the field. Only the edges where it goes up to the fencing is going to catch snow and pull. I looked for it and can't find it, but this poster also does similar on a bigger scale, and it looks great. They're in Ohio https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...t-from-aerial-predators.1473213/post-24546386

TY for the pics I was the one who asked. That is a LOT of work you did! Lots of things for chickens to do & lots of hiding & entertainment areas too. I think even a grizzly would think twice before getting tangled in that safety netting!

Hawks are a predator everywhere even here in our suburbs & we've even had coyote, raccoons, & possums. Has any ground predators snooped in your area?

This is our little coop & run & the hens only use it to lay eggs or roost at night. For nighttime we really feel confident about the dog kennel wire for the walk-in door & run walls to keep city night predators out & hens secure during roost. I thought it over-kill to get such a solid built coop for a little backyard but now glad we did. Who knew we'd have wild predators in the suburbs... but then we're only a couple miles from the mtns & nat'l forest behind us!
View attachment 4213452
View attachment 4213454

Yes, I remembered it was you that night, sorry!

And yes the welded wire here functions like your links, only your links are probably stronger. I can't picture how to do the doorway gaps with HC that would work against weasels. The coop is great weasel protection for nighttime, however.

I've had a bear inspect and scratch the small coop but leave, and have found raccoon prints on it, all before I got electric poultry netting. Fox and coyote go by but don't linger. But I've had roaming domestic dogs come through, a big reason why I rarely do even supervised free-ranging sessions anymore.

The electric fence kills some toads trying to go through it every year, which is really unfortunate and sad, and I don't know how to fix that. Used to kill just one each Spring and Fall, but this year there have been four killed so far, and we're not into real Fall yet.

I did rescue a medium-sized toad out of a big garter snake's mouth this year. Both were inside the run. The chickens found them and were bokking about it each time the toad thrashed. It was up to it's hip with one leg down the snake's throat. I thought about it and decided to help the toad, since it seemed very much alive and uninjured. I understand about Nature's Way but I don't like it. I decided I didn't have to be a bystander with this right there in our run. I think the slowness of the attempted kill was hard for me to handle. I always want to rescue a hapless small frog the chickens come across when I witness it, but they usually kill it and eat it so quickly I get over it quickly too.

So I gently and very slowly applied pressure to pry the snake's jaws apart being careful of it's teeth, with my fingers between it's "canines", and it suddenly unlocked and let go. The snake left; the toad had just one small spot of blood on its upper leg and I placed it in wet woods 300 feet away beyond the fence.

 

[drstratton]

Twofer Tuesday!

Love the color in their feathers, even on a mostly cloudy day!