Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

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Birthday cuddles with Fenix and my new blanket.
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Also birthday chili! Do you think my pot is big enough?

I always heard “is my pot too big? My dress too small? Always complaints from the X . Jenn, I think your pot is the perfect size for birthday chili! (Just saying)

 

[featherhead007]

I always heard “is my pot too big? My dress too small? Always complaints from the X . Jenn, I think your pot is the perfect size for birthday chili! (Just saying)

Jenn, you made me hungry for chili, now I’m going to make some for dinner.

 

[featherhead007]

My chili was good! But a little too spicy hot for my comfort. My neighbor lady just invited me over for dinner, but I had to decline. She made bbq chicken legs. She’s older now, and forgot that I don’t eat chicken.

 

[Ponypoor]

Big vacuum cleaner, with a brush to clean the vents.

 

[featherhead007]

Big vacuum cleaner, with a brush to clean the vents.

Yes, that too when I turn on the central heating furnace.

 

[featherhead007]

Yes, that too when I turn on the central heating furnace.

The ambient temperature in my house works great until the mountains are filled with snow, then it gets cold here. It’s the heat of summer that hurts. When I bought this place, nothing worked. I rebuilt everything myself. A house is a living, breathing entity. The house chooses which people stay in it. My pleasure to rebuild the issues this house had. Electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, heating, windows and more. But this house is happy now, and so am I except for my neighbor next door. He needed training on what I expected from a next door neighbor. Sometimes humans are difficult to train. He eventually became easier, when I told him his next internment would be prison instead of a few days in jail. No more poison against my chickens, no more trespassing on my property, and no more loose dogs around the neighborhood. He complies. He won’t even look me in the eye anymore. sorry this post was so long.

 

[featherhead007]

Please people, friends, …. I’m not a cruel landlord. I rent out my land and property to people who need it. People that I feel will take care of it. I don’t come over until I’m invited to do so. My renters are more like trusted friends!
Point is, if they make improvements, that’s a plus for me, as long as the discount on rent doesn’t interfere with the property tax payments. Breaking even works! And sometimes I get a Christmas dinner in the process! Here’s tax for spilling my heart out!

 

[micstrachan]

You nailed it on the head! I always ask why genetic abnormalities are perpetuated in breeding too. I bred Persian cats in the 1970's w/ not-so-flat faces but the Persian fanciers began breeding for flatter & flatter jaws/faces which sometimes caused Bulldog teeth so I no longer wanted to compete in that way. I couldn't in good conscience continue what I clearly saw as a health problem.

Yes, Polish & Silkies are two of many gentle temperaments ~ both skittish cuz they have a skull to protect. We never had Polish w/ our Silkies but if you do decide on Silkies I recommend at least 2 but 3 even better (we always allow for an unexpected death of one but if all 3 survive the better!). We have both bearded & non-bearded Silkies. Our non-bearded has less vision problems. Bearded feathers tend to grow up into the eyes & are very annoying to the bird.

Our Silkies sometimes trim each other's face crests. The Silkie will put it's head into another bird's beak & the other bird usually obliges to pull out eyebrow or beard feathers. But some Silkies won't allow close face touching so those Silkies we trim so they can see.

Suzu when she was a pullet allowed her crest to get trimmed by other birds TOO much
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We never once trimmed Violet's crest/beard... she got other birds to do it for her.
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Silkies are surprisingly hardy birds. They do tend to stick together as their own little tribe probably much the same way Polish stick together as their own group. & like any other breed they do establish pecking orders.
P.S. has been easy to catch for health inspections ~ some walk right up to us to get picked up (of course we handle them a lot too)
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My goodness these girls are cute!

 

[micstrachan]

Hi, folks. Have a dilemma because daylight savings is ending this weekend and I’m going to be getting home after dark starting on Monday. I’m down to only three hens and Bridge is on a separate side of the run most of the time by herself because Flo is a jerk (bully) and Roxy prefers hanging out with Flo over Bridge. Sometimes I make Roxy hang out with Bridge anyway.

So I put in a little wooden doghouse for Bridge so she has a little shelter until I get home from work. I also installed string lights that turn on at dusk. And in case of a power outage, I already installed a bunch of rechargeable undercabinet lights that are motion activated.

The lights are to deter rats. We have a huge problem on the mountain where I live. We have a problem, my neighbors have problems, and apparently they even are having problems in town down the hill. And the little town is a really swanky, wealthy little town. It’s like the rat population has exploded everywhere.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure the rats are living under the main coop on the other side of the run. So I’m doing my best to fully rat proof in between the two sides of the run so they aren’t running around with Bridge since her little house is at ground level. (She is a disabled, elderly hen and I love her SO much!)

Anyway, I’m so pleased with these little lights. I thought I’d show a couple photos here. I highly recommend them. I used gel gorilla superglue to adhere the metal strips to wood. The lights themselves are magnetic. They’re meant for indoors, but I don’t have them anywhere that’s really exposed to rain or sun. And it doesn’t typically freeze here. We really only have frost a few times a year.

Here is one light inside a gate frame:

Here is one just over the main coop door:

Here is Bridge’s side of the run lit up with the string lights:

And here is the original/main run lit up:

Nobody sleeps in the little red coop. They like to hang out under it and I’ll probably use it next time I integrate chicks, but it mostly just sits there.

I also ordered a little motion sensor light that has adustable lighting for inside the little dog house/chicken house. I’ll mount it the same way with gorilla glue and a magnetic strip.

 

[micstrachan]

Please people, friends, …. I’m not a cruel landlord. I rent out my land and property to people who need it. People that I feel will take care of it. I don’t come over until I’m invited to do so. My renters are more like trusted friends!
Point is, if they make improvements, that’s a plus for me, as long as the discount on rent doesn’t interfere with the property tax payments. Breaking even works! And sometimes I get a Christmas dinner in the process! Here’s tax for spilling my heart out!View attachment 4243637View attachment 4243638View attachment 4243639View attachment 4243666

You have so many chickens now, Alex! How many? And how many are roosters?