Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I see your Marty and Bernie combo and raise you all 1 bat crap crazy Momma Hen protecting newly hatched chicks any day of the week.

Hahaaha ya I can see those three thugs cruising the barn alleyway - enforcing peace and order, and preventing us Hoomans from any handling!

 

[notabitail]

Notabitail and my off-topic conversation has caused a chain reaction of Tax....

Oh really? All my fault? Better be careful or else the Tax Karens will come.

Tax in above photo.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Hahaaha ya I can see those three thugs cruising the barn alleyway - enforcing peace and order, and preventing us Hoomans from any handling!

I can also see whoever was unfortunate enough to own all 3 being taken to jail. Assault with a deadly weapon as the charge.

 

[knoturavggrl]

New rooster in town! Oops I meant grandsonView attachment 3723314

Awlll what a beautiful sweet pea

 

[knoturavggrl]

Hawk Attack - not how I planned to spend Fluffy Butt Friday!

At about 12:45pm the sun came out and I thought I would let the chickens out to play in the sunshine before having some soup for lunch.
I was sitting with them and getting ready to post a FBF picture when I heard a thump followed by a lot of chicken squawking. I saw what I thought was Bernie aggressively attacking Pooh and I jumped up and ran towards them shouting at Bernie to leave Pooh alone.
Then I saw Bernie running towards the fight and I realized that the bird that was beating up Pooh was a hawk.
The hawk took off moments before I got my hands on it. Pooh and I stood there looking at each other in a mutual state of shock. Bernie was also clearly quite shaken.
While this was going on I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Babs herded some others into the run, but Sylvie was left outside. She hid herself under old dead twigs and was frozen completely still and would not budge.
I started checking. Both Pooh and Bernie looked superficially OK. They could both walk and both ate some grains.
I found Piglet and Tassels hiding in the nest boxes, but there was no sign of Calypso. She was literally nowhere to be found.
I was absolutely sure the hawk did not fly off with her. The heaps of feathers looked like they belonged to Pooh, Bernie, and maybe also the hawk. No black feathers.
So I spent the next 4 hours crawling through undergrowth and calling for Calypso.

It was just about dark and I had pretty much given up hope, when Calypso showed up shouting to be let in. I burst into tears with relief. I had moved my cameras to look outside the Chicken Palace for signs of Calypso - but none of them picked her up - she just materialized in the run shouting. So I still have absolutely no idea where she went.

Tonight Pooh is roosting in Bernie's prize spot with Bernie's permission - and indeed Bernie is roosting next to Pooh.
My blood pressure and pulse have nearly come down to normal and my temperature has moved up such that I can feel my fingers and toes again.

I do so hope Pooh is not badly injured. I was too cold and shaken to do an examination immediately - though I did observe her walk about, eat and drink so I could see she was roughly OK.
I am now wondering if I should pluck her off the roost in the middle of the night or should just watch her closely over the next 24 hours. Plucking her off the roost feels like it might be terrorizing her all over again.

That hawk came out of nowhere and it must have seen that I was there and just didn't care. Terrifying. Meanwhile, this was the fluffy butt photo I was in the middle of posting when this all happened.
View attachment 3724790

I am so sorry this happened RC! I am glad to hear everyone was found safe and sound.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Crows, magpies, ravens, starlings, sparrows: all wonderful birds. They will sound alarms and gang up on larger birds of prey. They can be a nuisance stealing eggs, but well worth it for their vigilance and territorialism. I used to try to chase the magpies off of Castor's food dish. Now, it simply gets brought inside....and the chickens raid it before the magpies can.

I leave my crow’s unsalted peanuts all winter and they clean up any cat food my cats leave uneaten every morning. I consider it tithe for all the work they do helping keep the sky safe and sending out alerts!

 

[knoturavggrl]

Poor chooks! Glad they are okay. I'd love to free-range mine, but we have no good cover, lots of hawks, black vultures, even eagles!

Yeah...no. Just no.

It's about 9 here. Wind chill -4. I'm going to go check on them soon, but I'm not letting them out.

Sheba was in the floor again last night. The other 3 were huddled on the top roost, Randy on top of the nest boxes, Sheba down under them on the floor. Poor baby. I hate this. I want the rooster gone asap. If my husband was physically able. He'd be in the freezer. I know it's not his fault, but Sheba was just starting to grow her feathers back from Manny.

I feel the same way about free ranging. Initially it was my plan to do so. However, having lost one pullet to an animal attack I can’t justify it. I do as much supervised free range time as I can. The winter has made it less than I would like but everyone is doing well so . We all do the best we can.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Its been pretty cold, so I sadly have not spent alit of time doing more than going out toping off water, inspecting the coop, and collecting any eggs.
However, I can resist adding spots to the collection!

 

[BeastBaby]

Now for some fun. Keeper is a source of entertainment for them. He must be chased and treed.
View attachment 3725322View attachment 3725323View attachment 3725324View attachment 3725325
And some more Owly, trying to get a good beard shot.
View attachment 3725326View attachment 3725327View attachment 3725328View attachment 3725329View attachment 3725330View attachment 3725331View attachment 3725332
This one I do believe needs entered in the caption contest.
View attachment 3725333

Oh she is so good looking! Another impeccably maintained beard! What happened to her toe?

 

[LozzyR]

Hawk Attack - not how I planned to spend Fluffy Butt Friday!

At about 12:45pm the sun came out and I thought I would let the chickens out to play in the sunshine before having some soup for lunch.
I was sitting with them and getting ready to post a FBF picture when I heard a thump followed by a lot of chicken squawking. I saw what I thought was Bernie aggressively attacking Pooh and I jumped up and ran towards them shouting at Bernie to leave Pooh alone.
Then I saw Bernie running towards the fight and I realized that the bird that was beating up Pooh was a hawk.
The hawk took off moments before I got my hands on it. Pooh and I stood there looking at each other in a mutual state of shock. Bernie was also clearly quite shaken.
While this was going on I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Babs herded some others into the run, but Sylvie was left outside. She hid herself under old dead twigs and was frozen completely still and would not budge.
I started checking. Both Pooh and Bernie looked superficially OK. They could both walk and both ate some grains.
I found Piglet and Tassels hiding in the nest boxes, but there was no sign of Calypso. She was literally nowhere to be found.
I was absolutely sure the hawk did not fly off with her. The heaps of feathers looked like they belonged to Pooh, Bernie, and maybe also the hawk. No black feathers.
So I spent the next 4 hours crawling through undergrowth and calling for Calypso.

It was just about dark and I had pretty much given up hope, when Calypso showed up shouting to be let in. I burst into tears with relief. I had moved my cameras to look outside the Chicken Palace for signs of Calypso - but none of them picked her up - she just materialized in the run shouting. So I still have absolutely no idea where she went.

Tonight Pooh is roosting in Bernie's prize spot with Bernie's permission - and indeed Bernie is roosting next to Pooh.
My blood pressure and pulse have nearly come down to normal and my temperature has moved up such that I can feel my fingers and toes again.

I do so hope Pooh is not badly injured. I was too cold and shaken to do an examination immediately - though I did observe her walk about, eat and drink so I could see she was roughly OK.
I am now wondering if I should pluck her off the roost in the middle of the night or should just watch her closely over the next 24 hours. Plucking her off the roost feels like it might be terrorizing her all over again.

That hawk came out of nowhere and it must have seen that I was there and just didn't care. Terrifying. Meanwhile, this was the fluffy butt photo I was in the middle of posting when this all happened.
View attachment 3724790