Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

A fluffy butt from earlier this week
View attachment 4215554

Marvelous!

 

[RoyalChick]

A fluffy butt from earlier this week
View attachment 4215554

Needs more fluff - in the name of modesty!

 

[kattabelly]

Needs more fluff - in the name of modesty!

That entire chick is just a digestive system and a pair of legs Eats like a broiler but doesn't stay still for long enough to grow like one.

 

[Pastel the Rooster]

Hello FBA! It’s been a while, and I miss all of you greatly.
Don’t worry, my mother knows I am on here right now. I have a few questions and statements to make. Also, I am aware that this message is EXTREMELY long, so my apologies. If there are any typos or grammatical errors, I’m sorry.

First, I hope you are all well and that all of your precious chooks are doing amazing. I miss seeing daily pictures of chickens.

Second, I’m debating asking my dad if I can get back on here… I am much more mature than I was two(?) years ago—although I argue that I was mature even then—and I know that I will not give out personal information, although I hardly did, and the info I did give out was very vague.
I want to get back on here for many reasons, but the biggest one is something I recently realized, and it shocked me.
I am actually losing interest in chickens. It’s something that just gradually happened, and I didn’t realize it until a month ago or so. I realized that I have spent less time with them, I don’t look forward to feeding them, I don’t hold them or socialize with them often anymore, and I don’t even talk to them. I hardly take pictures of them anymore, whereas when I was still on BYC, my phone was filled with chook pictures.
I think it’s happened because I have no one to talk about chickens to. None of my friends care that Splotch found a huge roach and ate it yesterday… they think it’s gross. I’ll occasionally mention something about chickens, especially if something major happened to one of mine (like one of my free rangers getting run over by Mom’s car on Monday…), but no one actually cares. And I don’t really care either. I’ve found other things to talk about with people, but I miss talking about chickens almost every day. Even once a week would be nice. I want to have an interest in other people’s chickens and my own. I just noticed today that Bolt’s neck feathers have grown back but now her tail feathers are all missing (I don’t know when or how it happened… which will be a conversation in a moment.)
I don’t notice things anymore. I didn’t notice that Athens had a scratch on his leg until Mom pointed it out while I was holding him (to show her that he has no long tail feathers anymore.).

I am but am not attached to my chooks anymore. I have a few special ones (Bolt, Athens, Willow, and a few others.) but most are just chickens. Some have personalities and some don’t. I care if some die and I don’t care for others. The one that got hit by a car, I liked. I didn’t truly care though. I thought she was sweet and I named her Maddison, but I didn’t cry when she died. I felt slightly disappointed, but after about an hour I felt nothing towards it.
When BBQ was sick, I cried when she was suffering and because I knew that I didn’t have the guts to cull her, but I didn’t cry when she died.
As I’ve said, I just don’t feel anything towards my chooks anymore. I have about 42, I believe. 7-ish of them don’t have names. I have told my mom all of this, but not my dad. Dad would make me get rid of every single one of my chickens if he found out that I have lost interest. It’s not like I am going to stop taking care of them, I just see it as a chore now.
I don’t want to get rid of any of them though. I can’t. I still feel attached but at the same time I think I could move on easily if I got rid of even my favorites. Athens is probably the chook closest to my heart, and while I can’t see myself ever getting rid of him, I think that as long as he found a good home, I would be fine. Same with Bolt.

I think I need chicken conversations in order to make me interested in them. I don’t know how emotionally intelligent chickens are (although I have seen first hand that mine are hurt that I have been “ignoring” them), but Athens flies up into a perch that is level with my face and does his wing dance for me and gently pecks my hand. I think that he thinks I’m a hen, but it’s endearing either way. He especially does this on a day where I just want to dump the food and get out. If I ignore him, he will make cute noises to get my attention and force me to pet him.
If I ignore Bolt, she attacks my feet and if I try to pet her, she fluffs her feathers up at my hand. On days where I don’t ignore her, she is a sweet baby.

Anyways, that’s that conversation. I just don’t think Dad would let me in here, and if I told him why I want to get back on here, he would tell me to get rid of all but five chooks. Also, I know that I have sent pictures of my coops before and they are quite small… don’t worry, not all chooks are in one pen. I have 11 in one, 7 in one, 4 in one, 7 in one, and 14-ish in a whole different part of my property but those all free range. And I have no idea if that matches up. All I’m sure about is the 7, 7, and 4… not sure about the others.

Okay, next topic. Molting.
My chickens are ugly. I’ve noticed this much.
I have a handful with perfect feathers. Lemme try to name them… just for fun.
Splotch, Brisket, Crystal, Juno, Iris, Aurora, Minerva, Venus, Tara, Khione, Circe, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ming-Ming, Blue, Red, Syracuse, Pretty Girl, and P2.
Everyone else has some time of missing feathers that I find hideous.
The worst are 5 of my Wyandottes, 3 unnamed Polish, Hera, Bolt, Athens, Ruby, and maybe Boston.
I did get some pictures today, and I will likely take a video of all my chooks tomorrow to show how good some look and how awful others look (cough, Bolt.).

Now, it is molting season, right? Because I looked at Ruby (whose entire back is bare) and I saw no lice. Nothing. So it is either picking or molting. While I have had lice issues in the past, and saw a few on Bolt today, I can’t imagine that they will make a bunch of chickens look amazing (literally I have one coop of perfect chickens) and a bunch of chickens look half dead.
Here are some pictures of the chooks, and my apologies if they are not great pictures.

Here’s the big girls eating. Ruby, Bolt, and Opal look the worst in this picture.

Here is Athens with his bald head and short “hen” tail feathers. I noticed his feathers and head two days ago, and they were not like that a few days before. Also, notice the piles of feathers laying around. Molting or picking?… I’ve never had an issue with picking in my Polish coop and I have never seen them peck one another.

My free ranging coop. The Wyandottes look like crap and the all black rooster is missing most of his tail feathers. The two black hens look great and the red rooster looks good. There were three chickens that didn’t go in, two of which are awful looking, one of which is great looking.

Polish Hera has a bare back, and the hen behind her, Calypso, does too.

That’s all the main pictures I have. I’ll try to grab a video tomorrow and post it here.
I miss all of you greatly, and I am sorry for the long post.

 

[Ponypoor]

Needs more fluff - in the name of modesty!

The Noirans are like that at the moment

 

[RoyalChick]

Hello FBA! It’s been a while, and I miss all of you greatly.
Don’t worry, my mother knows I am on here right now. I have a few questions and statements to make. Also, I am aware that this message is EXTREMELY long, so my apologies. If there are any typos or grammatical errors, I’m sorry.

First, I hope you are all well and that all of your precious chooks are doing amazing. I miss seeing daily pictures of chickens.

Second, I’m debating asking my dad if I can get back on here… I am much more mature than I was two(?) years ago—although I argue that I was mature even then—and I know that I will not give out personal information, although I hardly did, and the info I did give out was very vague.
I want to get back on here for many reasons, but the biggest one is something I recently realized, and it shocked me.
I am actually losing interest in chickens. It’s something that just gradually happened, and I didn’t realize it until a month ago or so. I realized that I have spent less time with them, I don’t look forward to feeding them, I don’t hold them or socialize with them often anymore, and I don’t even talk to them. I hardly take pictures of them anymore, whereas when I was still on BYC, my phone was filled with chook pictures.
I think it’s happened because I have no one to talk about chickens to. None of my friends care that Splotch found a huge roach and ate it yesterday… they think it’s gross. I’ll occasionally mention something about chickens, especially if something major happened to one of mine (like one of my free rangers getting run over by Mom’s car on Monday…), but no one actually cares. And I don’t really care either. I’ve found other things to talk about with people, but I miss talking about chickens almost every day. Even once a week would be nice. I want to have an interest in other people’s chickens and my own. I just noticed today that Bolt’s neck feathers have grown back but now her tail feathers are all missing (I don’t know when or how it happened… which will be a conversation in a moment.)
I don’t notice things anymore. I didn’t notice that Athens had a scratch on his leg until Mom pointed it out while I was holding him (to show her that he has no long tail feathers anymore.).

I am but am not attached to my chooks anymore. I have a few special ones (Bolt, Athens, Willow, and a few others.) but most are just chickens. Some have personalities and some don’t. I care if some die and I don’t care for others. The one that got hit by a car, I liked. I didn’t truly care though. I thought she was sweet and I named her Maddison, but I didn’t cry when she died. I felt slightly disappointed, but after about an hour I felt nothing towards it.
When BBQ was sick, I cried when she was suffering and because I knew that I didn’t have the guts to cull her, but I didn’t cry when she died.
As I’ve said, I just don’t feel anything towards my chooks anymore. I have about 42, I believe. 7-ish of them don’t have names. I have told my mom all of this, but not my dad. Dad would make me get rid of every single one of my chickens if he found out that I have lost interest. It’s not like I am going to stop taking care of them, I just see it as a chore now.
I don’t want to get rid of any of them though. I can’t. I still feel attached but at the same time I think I could move on easily if I got rid of even my favorites. Athens is probably the chook closest to my heart, and while I can’t see myself ever getting rid of him, I think that as long as he found a good home, I would be fine. Same with Bolt.

I think I need chicken conversations in order to make me interested in them. I don’t know how emotionally intelligent chickens are (although I have seen first hand that mine are hurt that I have been “ignoring” them), but Athens flies up into a perch that is level with my face and does his wing dance for me and gently pecks my hand. I think that he thinks I’m a hen, but it’s endearing either way. He especially does this on a day where I just want to dump the food and get out. If I ignore him, he will make cute noises to get my attention and force me to pet him.
If I ignore Bolt, she attacks my feet and if I try to pet her, she fluffs her feathers up at my hand. On days where I don’t ignore her, she is a sweet baby.

Anyways, that’s that conversation. I just don’t think Dad would let me in here, and if I told him why I want to get back on here, he would tell me to get rid of all but five chooks. Also, I know that I have sent pictures of my coops before and they are quite small… don’t worry, not all chooks are in one pen. I have 11 in one, 7 in one, 4 in one, 7 in one, and 14-ish in a whole different part of my property but those all free range. And I have no idea if that matches up. All I’m sure about is the 7, 7, and 4… not sure about the others.

Okay, next topic. Molting.
My chickens are ugly. I’ve noticed this much.
I have a handful with perfect feathers. Lemme try to name them… just for fun.
Splotch, Brisket, Crystal, Juno, Iris, Aurora, Minerva, Venus, Tara, Khione, Circe, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ming-Ming, Blue, Red, Syracuse, Pretty Girl, and P2.
Everyone else has some time of missing feathers that I find hideous.
The worst are 5 of my Wyandottes, 3 unnamed Polish, Hera, Bolt, Athens, Ruby, and maybe Boston.
I did get some pictures today, and I will likely take a video of all my chooks tomorrow to show how good some look and how awful others look (cough, Bolt.).

Now, it is molting season, right? Because I looked at Ruby (whose entire back is bare) and I saw no lice. Nothing. So it is either picking or molting. While I have had lice issues in the past, and saw a few on Bolt today, I can’t imagine that they will make a bunch of chickens look amazing (literally I have one coop of perfect chickens) and a bunch of chickens look half dead.
Here are some pictures of the chooks, and my apologies if they are not great pictures.

Here’s the big girls eating. Ruby, Bolt, and Opal look the worst in this picture.
View attachment 4215639
Here is Athens with his bald head and short “hen” tail feathers. I noticed his feathers and head two days ago, and they were not like that a few days before. Also, notice the piles of feathers laying around. Molting or picking?… I’ve never had an issue with picking in my Polish coop and I have never seen them peck one another.
View attachment 4215640
My free ranging coop. The Wyandottes look like crap and the all black rooster is missing most of his tail feathers. The two black hens look great and the red rooster looks good. There were three chickens that didn’t go in, two of which are awful looking, one of which is great looking.
View attachment 4215644
Polish Hera has a bare back, and the hen behind her, Calypso, does too.
View attachment 4215645

That’s all the main pictures I have. I’ll try to grab a video tomorrow and post it here.
I miss all of you greatly, and I am sorry for the long post.

That’s a lot to take in and I have some thoughts (I am sure others do too), but I am in the middle of chores so just quickly for now:
1) It is great to see you back here and I am glad you have your Mom’s permission. We miss you!
2) Molting. Two of mine lost their tails in the course of a few hours and everyone but two look like a big mess right now.