Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Happy Mugshot Monday
Tassels and her Littles (who are 8 weeks old today).

 

[BY Bob]

Happy Mugshot Monday
Tassels and her Littles (who are 8 weeks old today).
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Such a lovely family.

 

[rural mouse]

Koonj

Hawthorne

Miss Mischief has decided that playing with Sherlock's Chuck-It stick is a good idea. Hasn't quite warmed up to playing with Sherlock, but it's coming.

 

[RoyalChick]

View attachment 4224203Koonj

View attachment 4224204Hawthorne

View attachment 4224202Miss Mischief has decided that playing with Sherlock's Chuck-It stick is a good idea. Hasn't quite warmed up to playing with Sherlock, but it's coming.

Poor Sherlock - Miss Mischief may be a bit of a handful!
Koonj looking very leggy.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Don’t anticipate what you will feel when you retire. My appetite for doing stuff went way up when I wasn’t dragged down by working elsewhere.
By the way, I strongly recommend easing down by doing some part time or project based work if you can get it. I still do some projects for my old employer.
I know at some point my ability will diminish, but for now I enjoy doing chicken things and garden things the way I want them done not in a big rush because of work.
I am off out now to do a bit of tinkering with the second rat proof feeder. Mr. Chips is now heavy enough to open the treadle. Possibly the others except Cookie too. I will observe today and find out. Oh - just looked at the cameras and Geronimo/Geranium/name tbd? Is heavy enough but not Bucky/Becky/Betty/name tbd?, and certainly not Cookie.
Tax: Geronimo/Geranium/?
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Is G. big enough to reach it though, or is the camera distorting the distance?

 

[rural mouse]

Poor Sherlock - Miss Mischief may be a bit of a handful!
Koonj looking very leggy.

The crane name is rather fitting for her. She moves like one too.

 

[RoyalChick]

Is G. big enough to reach it though, or is the camera distorting the distance?

Both G and Mr. Chips are big enough to reach, but only just. So they prefer to stand between the treadle and the front of the feeder. Which is totally fine if Tassels is standing on the treadle holding it open.
I have two feeders. One is on a slab which makes the stand in front of the treadle a totally viable strategy. The other is on two blocks so there isn’t anywhere to stand between the treadle and the front at that level. It was that one I removed the clip from because I thought the chicks couldn’t use it. I miscalculated both that G would stretch and use it like a big chicken. And that Mr. Chips was tall enough to reach up into the feed bin while standing on the ground below the feeder and stretching up.
I am sorry Mr. Chips. Totally my bad.
He got the tomato treat all to himself and seemed fine with that.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Brainiac looking very lovely today. Hubby and I are discussing giving them more...regal names.

Megamind changed his mind about being out in the chilly air and put himself in a corner.

We're workshopping Louis and Vuitton, or Lamborghini and Ferrari/Bugatti

 

[ChicoryBlue]

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

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The other sun lover is Bucky/? So she has gone flat out too. I just love her mahogany color with black accents.
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Here’s a Buckeye classic trait if you ever get a chance to handle Bucky: a slate bar in the underdown. Possibly you can see this if you find a discarded molt feather. Most Buckeyes have this but it is not guaranteed in the lighter colored / hatchery lines, but technically it should be there.

And then these below are feathers from Shumaker, a serious breeder with beautiful birds…

(BTW if you get into researching Buckeyes you’ll find there seems to have been a Great Schism among breeders which resulted in two main Buckeye clubs today. Tempers ran / run high and the club web sites make great effort to distinguish themselves from each other. Goodness, get a grip already, lol!)

Here’s Shumaker’s own (not either clubs’) web site where these pictures are from. He does come off as quite persnickity but very informative, and his birds are gorgeous. Not sure if he’s still alive.
http://www.shumakerfarmbuckeyechickens.com/breeding---color.html

Anyhoo!
Below are feathers from Shumaker’s line. The black accents you can readily see in your pic of Bucky sunbathing and I see here must be the wing coverts I think?

 

[Ponypoor]

Oh yes - I spent a good 20 minutes discussing names with Geronimo who has taken an interest in me. Don't get me wrong - no cuddles - but she has taken to jumping up on to my coffee table to observe me more closely. I hope she will eventually tell me her name.

Geronimo managed to shut her brother's head in the rat-proof chicken feeder. I foolishly thought that I could remove the clip that holds it open so it doesn't crush a chick. They are now too big to get crushed, but I didn't think about what would happen if a heavy chick like Geronimo stood on the treadle to open it and then jumped off so it clanged closed on a chick's head that wasn't standing on the treadle.
Poor Mr. Chips, he had to use feet and wings to get his head out, but I don't think any real damage was done.
I realize that they not only have to be heavy enough to work the treadle, they also have to be big enough not to eat from the ground. Tassels holds it open for them, but the Littles haven't understood how important that is!

Here is Tassels supervising feeding before bed. Note the clip I am using to prevent it closing fully.
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I am so sorry to laugh - but your description was too realistic!

And I don’t nce had a colt stick his head in a 5 gallon pail and got it stuck on his head his eyes were too wide and the bucket was wedged onto his head!

Mugs Monday. This guy was feeling sorry for himself yesterday after somehow getting stuck upside-down in between a fish box and some chicken wire with his head the other side of the wire. He was fine after I pulled him out and he'd had some food and water.
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(@Mother of Chaos another guilty chicken!)

Gosh it’s Mishap Monday!

Glad he is ok - enough to give one grey hair!