Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

The dynamic duo have some outside time

Too early for the pointy other than the crest. What about Leah?

 

[Sylvester017]

It’s wonderful that your DH can watch them for her, my uncle does that for his daughter also.

Yep, there are some sweet people in this world & you're one of them

 

[Sylvester017]

The sun is out and so Cookie is down.
That tuft of white feathers towards the top are her feet for goodness sake.

View attachment 4223873

The other sun lover is Bucky/? So she has gone flat out too. I just love her mahogany color with black accents.
View attachment 4223874

My gang is sun worshiping today also

Raven, Topsy and Flopsy
View attachment 4223905

Umm Flopsy and Topsy I meant!
View attachment 4223906

How are you all having sunshiney days while me in sunny Calif is having a cloudy rainy week... something backwards here!

 

[Sylvester017]

I actually thought one or more of my oldest hens would have passed last winter. All three came through with shining feathers. The two I lost this past spring were of the youngest set. We'll see how the elders (3 Black Australorps) fare this coming winter.

The most birds I've had in my coop/run set is 11. Ten hens and 1 rooster. Right now, I have 8 hens.

I know for me/my set up, feathered legs are not going to work. I am also not going to try any "different" looking chickens out of fear of excessive pecking issues, so no Polish or Silkies. I'll probably get 4 Australorps/Orpingtons. TSC has a 4 chick minimum purchase.

We'll see what next March/April brings!

Actually, feather-footed birds are only a hassle if mud builds up on their toes/legs. I've seen owners shovel away snow paths for their Silkies to forage about outside their runs... just depends on what you have the time, space, or interest to do for the breeds you pick. Australorp sounds like a fairly long-lived layer breed... my friend's Lorp lived over 8 yrs which IMO is pretty long for a known laying breed ~ she even layed an egg past her 8th birthday. Fun to see what you get

 

[Sylvester017]

Remember that a bunch of avian respiratory illnesses remain at a low level and are still contagious even though symptoms subside.

If they haven't brought in other chickens recently they could have brought it in on their clothing or shoes from visiting other farms or shows, or it came in from wild birds, like MG in House Sparrows. Or it was just dormant living in a chicken they brought in prior to three months ago.

"Colds" don't happen spontaneously, it came from somewhere. This outbreak could have been triggered by the change in weather or multiple other stressors.

From what I remember from way back... MG/MS? carrier birds sometimes never display symptoms themselves but less hardy birds can be infected w/ symptoms arising. I read that just about all chickens get exposed & become carriers to different viruses but are hardy enough to never get sick until maybe later their immune system weakens & then they display a symptom. Our Silkie Violet was a homeschool mom's project hatch & was never vaccinated yet she never contracted any illnesses from other chickens & she lived to over 11 yrs. Just never know
2019

 

[BY Bob]

The dynamic duo have some outside time

They look very happy!

 

[Sylvester017]

@ManueB ~ TY synops! I still miss your panarama photos

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Good afternoon everyone.

ugh I am tired. The last 2 1/2 weeks I have clocked in at work after my therapy appointments. The first 3 times mom stayed and loafed around incase it proved to much to handle or we got busy. We were kind of slow and I did not do things I should not and was ok. Then mom decided if I was going to clock in she was going home and would come back if I needed her to, again all ok. Well, there is a "bug" going around and it hit mom, Betty, and Leena who was hired after I had to take time off for the surgery. Mom was down for the count and could not get out of bed. I worked Thursday and Friday with Leena. Thursday was slow, normal but we got slammed Friday. Oh I was sore Friday, but not from shoulder overuse, I am out of shape again after only a month. Those concrete floors killed my feet, legs and back. I can do everything at the Diner except the mopping. I tried but 3 passes in with the mop and it felt like my shoulder was being ripped into so I passed that chore off. Friday evening the "bug" hit Leena and hit her fast. Yesterday I worked with the other girl Tracie who can only fill in on Saturdays and after she gets off her full time job during the evenings if we need her. The last 5 Saturdays have been dead, really not worth opening. If they do get a busy spell it has been around 4:30ish to about 7. Mom thought we would have a easy Saturday. LIES....ALL LIES!!

I had 3 cars waiting the moment I opened the doors and they did not stop coming or calling in until 7. Saturdays special is 2 large Pizza's. We sent 36 pizza's out the door in a 4 hour time frame among everything else. Me and Tracie ran out of Donuts by 2, and ran out of pizza dough by 6:30. By closing time my shoulder was hurting. Mom who is starting to feel better came a little early and helped us close it down and clean it up. I cleaned everything with a ice pack strapped to my shoulder and mom yelling at me to sit down I had done enough. I did not, I wanted out of there and to come home and crash into my bed.

Today I have done absolutely nothing at all. Well, I did go out and sit with the chickens with the coffee pot, but that requires no energy to do. I slept with my ice packs last night and took one of my pain pills. When I got up my shoulder is not hurting and I have gently moved it around with zero pain so I think yesterday was just a warning.

Mom is even better today and she informed me that after therapy tomorrow she is sending me home and I was to rest a few days.

 

[Sylvester017]

For Pony Sunday I give you some glorious tomatoes. Had to wait all summer to start getting all my tomatoes it seeems.

Who knew tomatoes didn’t like it hot hot hot!

View attachment 4223880

Hurray! Your tomatoes are beautiful!

Some are determinate & give fruit all season long while indeterminate varieties bloom all at once & don't keep producing more. In your cooler Canadian zone Tatsiana in Canada has a lovely website of heritage varieties for cooler zones. Here in Calif only hot zone varieties work well. I tried some Hungarian & Russian varieties here & they did poorly.
TATSIANA

I love perusing her website:
https://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Tatiana's_TOMATObase_-_Heritage_Tomatoes

Our 100 experimental tomato containers as far back as 2011. The experiment ruled out the varieties that didn't produce well here.

Bela, Violet, & Mini foraging around the yard 2011 ~ wish we could back 14 yrs again!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

It's time for another Shrimpie Sunday update.

The little shrimplets are 2 weeks old and are now all over the tank. They are big enough now I can leave the light on. My poor plant is thankful for that I'm sure as it took a slight hit with me keeping the lights off most of the time while they were super tiny. I have tried counting them now that they are all over and exploring and I keep getting different numbers each time. I think I have about 15, maybe more. I really need to clean the algae off the front of the tank but I'm going to leave it for another week. The shrimplets are almost big enough to eat the fish food if I crumble it up really small, but right now their main source of nutrition is still the algae. I was finally able to get a video of them and have them show up on camera. They are still a little blurry but at least they show up. Last week when I tried I got nothing. Hopefully next week if they keep growing like they are they will be in focus more.