Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

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How much longer before I can make an entire new chicken, do you think?

Almost have enough for a pillow!

 

[Labsandchickens8]

How do you say "throw them over the fence" in Espanol?

I thought that's what Featherhead007 told the neighbor to do. But in what language?

 

[Ponypoor]

Two for Tuesday

June this year….. soon be December !

Holly and Whiskers

 

[Sylvester017]

Question: I've seen pictures of chicken yards with some ropes crisscrossing open areas, I guess so hawks can't swoop down. Not actual arial netting. Do those work? Currently trying to create an open area for my poor confined birdies.

You will get many opinions & need to do what will work best for you.

Interrupting aerial space helps limiting hawk flight space (hawks are excellent flying after ground prey to grasp w/their talons while flying but seldom engage in ground battles)... so a lot of bushes, ground plants, lawn furniture, dog houses, lean-to's, benches, etc, for chickens to run under is helpful. We set up 3 popup canopies in our small chicken yard to impede air space since Cooper's hawks breed in our area (we're close to mtn range).

For ground predators many owners swear that electric netting is great for discouraging even bears. We have city raccoons & possums but they are mostly night critters so a well fortifide coop/run at night is a boon for us. We had a coyote jump into our yard from a neighbor's roof but luckily the hens were not released yet & animal control was called to capture it. In previous years neighbor dog packs broke down our wood gate to go after our hens but a good neighbor chased them off! We have about 8 foot tall backyard block wall plus added privacy fencing on top but still no guarantee all is safe.

Rats are another problem/issue to deal with for some owners.

So far in 14+ yrs we have not lost birds to predation but there are no guarantees. So far it seems dogs & hawks are chickens' worst enemies here.

Do all you can to provide lots of ground cover, bushes, large potted plants, low-growing dwarf trees, pallet teepees to hide under, benches, lawn furniture, etc etc.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

You will get many opinions & need to do what will work best for you.

Interrupting aerial space helps limiting hawk flight space (hawks are excellent flying after ground prey to grasp w/their talons while flying but seldom engage in ground battles)... so a lot of bushes, ground plants, lawn furniture, dog houses, lean-to's, benches, etc, for chickens to run under is helpful. We set up 3 popup canopies in our small chicken yard to impede air space since Cooper's hawks breed in our area (we're close to mtn range).

For ground predators many owners swear that electric netting is great for discouraging even bears. We have city raccoons & possums but they are mostly night critters so a well fortifide coop/run at night is a boon for us. We had a coyote jump into our yard from a neighbor's roof but luckily the hens were not released yet & animal control was called to capture it. In previous years neighbor dog packs broke down our wood gate to go after our hens but a good neighbor chased them off! We have about 8 foot tall backyard block wall plus added privacy fencing on top but still no guarantee all is safe.

Rats are another problem/issue to deal with for some owners.

So far in 14+ yrs we have not lost birds to predation but there are no guarantees. So far it seems dogs & hawks are chickens' worst enemies here.

Do all you can to provide lots of ground cover, bushes, large potted plants, low-growing dwarf trees, pallet teepees to hide under, benches, lawn furniture, etc etc.
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Thank you! Very helpful

 

[Sylvester017]

Won’t be long now!

Can you tell them apart yet? W / our 3 identical Dom's ~ we could tell mostly by different comb or face lengths, shapes, sizes, who was who. But you have TEN identicals to sort out!

 

[Sylvester017]

Dakota!!. She’s one chick that can get on my nerves. Spills her water, just to see how mad I can get! Pecks and scratches her feed everywhere. Prefers my turkey sandwich to her chicken feed. I can’t leave the room without her complaining about it!

Dakota sounds like our current recuperating in-house Suzu! Feed, water, poops, treats, scattered & stepped on all the time! She goes outside in a couple days finally!

 

[Sylvester017]

My Welsummer is top of the pecking order but not a bully really. She lays a fairly dark egg, rarely speckled, which is what I was most excited about.
Maybe black sex links have Welsummer breading in their background? She was a fairly good layer until she started molting. No egg in over 2 months. This is Cornelia (female version of the Corn flakes rooster, Cornelius, a Welsummer.)

Wellies are beauties! One hen breed we really wanted but timing was never right. We're zoned 5 hens/no roo's so adding birds is an only-when-needed replacement occurs & choices are sometimes limited. Now we have an all-Silkie flock left & they will be our last flock. Getting too old/handicapped to keep up w/chickeneering lately but it's been fun!

 

[Sylvester017]

Two for Tuesday

June this year….. soon be December !

Holly and Whiskers
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Pretty pic ~ 2 favorites of mine... a Blue hen & a Silkie

 

[Sylvester017]

@Labsandchickens8 ~ this is an old youtube I've posted before but I always enjoyed watching these Wellie beauties: