Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I should be going to bed. Instead I just headed over to carlos the Rooster's tiktok. I think I will brew half a pot of coffee, I will be here awhile.

Whoa Carlos seems to have some issues!

That head pressing is something horses do when they have head pain. Wonder if being a Polish he has some issues with pressure on his brain?

 

[ManueB]

Whoa Carlos seems to have some issues!

That head pressing is something horses do when they have head pain. Wonder if being a Polish he has some issues with pressure on his brain?

I'm terribly weary of cute and funny animal videos on social medias because sometimes the background can be quite horrid. I read a few posts from a french insta account who actually analyses animal reels that went viral, explaining if there's something wrong with the behaviour or if it's just really cute and funny...and that sort of ruined it for me.

I found them to be extremely intelligent and trainable as well. Most people don't appreciate them. I found them to be amazing.

The relationship with Alba and Nieva, our leghorns, is complicated . It's not so much that we don't like them, that they don't like us. And it has overall being getting worse now that they have spent more than a year here. When they got here in May 2023 at five months they were very weary, but curious. Now they are still curious but terrified! I'm not really sure what we did wrong. It's even more surprising since both had stubborn bumblefeet and spent for months half an hour daily or every other day inside our house. They didn't seem to hate the bath, the wrapping, and they loved the treats that came with it ; but whenever we approach them then and now in the chicken yard or outside, they shy away from us and especially from being touched. When we hand out some treats they really love, they will come near enough to grab a piece... and run. When it's just some more usual treats, they dont even come near.

On the other hand, they have not being explorers like some of our other chickens. When we fenced all the chickens in the yard, it took several weeks for some to accept that and stop trying to get out. Alba and Nieva tried once or twice and gave up. They could easily fly over our chicken fence which is only five feet high , but they don't seem to want to. They also adapted very well with the other chickens, they are confident, and have dominant tempers.

I could say they fear humans because they arrived here at five months already coming from a bad breeder, but the other two hens that came with them from the same place, Lily and Kara, the Marans x Harko, are not like this at all. And if it was only Nieva I could imagine she was traumatised by her surgery at the vet, but Alba is also like her although not as bad

It makes dealing with health issues a real pain. Right now, Nieva has a lice infestation that seems to resist every treatment supposed to be efficient (and which seem to have been efficient for the other chickens) and every time I have to catch her, it's like I'm sending her to the slaughterhouse rather than just applying some powder or spray. If I take her off the roost at night and she wakes up before I catch her, she will even risk getting hurt flying in the dark rather than being caught.

I'm interested to hear if anyone has tips to try make things better- more specific than handing out treats and spending time with them, which we already do a lot of . I also don't feel catching her to bring her inside with us would help much, since she already spent a lot of time in when we were treating her foot, and anyway at this time of year we only go in after dinner and crash to bed shortly after.

I have seen some of my other chickens who were either very scared or didn't like humans completely change and become more familiar for various reasons, like Piou-piou, or Chipie, or Théo in his good days, so I know it's possible even when they are adults !

Alba

Nieva.

Alba and Kara (yes, we just called them white in Italian and black in Turkish).

 

[SimpleJenn]

@SimpleJenn
I can't find the post where you finally were going to plant your chicken forage mix in pots
...
but
...
have you thought of createing a grazing frame in the run?
View attachment 3895113

use some scrap 2X4s on edge, and put hardware cloth over the top, place it in the run, fill part way up with dirt, toss on seeds, sprinkle a little more dirt to cover, water, and ...wait a couple of weeks and the chickens will be able to constantly nibble the greens, but not be able to scratch them up, so they keep growing for most of a full season!

If you are able to gets some free pallets locally, the 2x4s on them (if heat treated - which most are now-a-days - but double check to be sure not chemically treated), you can use those to create a roughly 4'X4' grazing frame, then the only cost is the hardware cloth!


If your run is such that a larger grow frame won't work (will be in the way for walking, and such), maybe you could make one about 2' deep along one side of the run?

Oh yes I'm building some this weekend! I finally am getting around to taking apart the brooder from last year. We used most of the mesh for our big growout pen in the run and I'm taking the two half-pallets from each end and making the feed things.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Last night shenanigans from the "tophats"


They slept perched on the box at least until I went to bed.

 

[rural mouse]

Last night a coop close (half dark), one of the wyandottes was missing. Whilst I can tell them apart, I have to look closely and the one there wouldn't cooperate. I left the bird hatch open on the off chance that she had been off working on an egg late in the day. (Looking for her was how I found the stash). Fast forward to this morning.

Walking Sherlock: extra cautious as 1 (or more) birds could be loose.1st walk, full of energy, no interest in birds. 2nd walk (before leaving for work). Lots of birds scattered all over demanding breakfast. Training collar and leash, but not touching anything. Sat until released off the deck, birds on both sides, straight out between the rigs to the driveway. Run around checking scents, zero chasing any bird. Headed to carport for the day, still no touch from me. Nimbus is on the outside of the hedges near the rose patch. She freaks and bolts for the roses. He comes to me when called. Showed interest but not chase. Got him settled went to get bird breakfast.

Most up by garage door (they know it's kept there), pullets (Hetty, Daisy) mixed in with adults. Scatter on way down to coop. More birds pore out of olive trees. There's a wyandotte: Violet. Turn around to take pellets into coop. There's another wyandotte: Hyacinth. I think it's safe to say I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. All present and healthy. If she (whichever was out last night) didn't lay an egg, she will within a week. At this rate, winter will be a blessing as all the egg laying moves into the coop....and I have a nest site to find and another to check regularly now.

 

[SimpleJenn]

All of the remaining incubator eggs are getting cloudy inside, I can't see any of the veins or spots I could see yesterday? That's uh...a sign they aren't gonna work right? The ones under the silkies are all veiny inside with little babies.

My silkies are still dutifully sitting on their eggs. I still have to make sure they go to the right nest whenever they get off for daily ablutions. But the other girls are letting them brood with occasional check-ins. Ash was even putting pine straw on Samaras back this morning, it was so cute.

The bitty birds in the house are all so cute! The ones I got yesterday are way friendlier about being handled. Kiddo got to see each one but no pets today. She got in trouble for squeezing Peepy so no touching until she practices gentle touch some more. She and daddy renamed one of the buffs "butterbird"

 

[RoyalChick]

Last night a coop close (half dark), one of the wyandottes was missing. Whilst I can tell them apart, I have to look closely and the one there wouldn't cooperate. I left the bird hatch open on the off chance that she had been off working on an egg late in the day. (Looking for her was how I found the stash). Fast forward to this morning.

Walking Sherlock: extra cautious as 1 (or more) birds could be loose.1st walk, full of energy, no interest in birds. 2nd walk (before leaving for work). Lots of birds scattered all over demanding breakfast. Training collar and leash, but not touching anything. Sat until released off the deck, birds on both sides, straight out between the rigs to the driveway. Run around checking scents, zero chasing any bird. Headed to carport for the day, still no touch from me. Nimbus is on the outside of the hedges near the rose patch. She freaks and bolts for the roses. He comes to me when called. Showed interest but not chase. Got him settled went to get bird breakfast.

Most up by garage door (they know it's kept there), pullets (Hetty, Daisy) mixed in with adults. Scatter on way down to coop. More birds pore out of olive trees. There's a wyandotte: Violet. Turn around to take pellets into coop. There's another wyandotte: Hyacinth. I think it's safe to say I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. All present and healthy. If she (whichever was out last night) didn't lay an egg, she will within a week. At this rate, winter will be a blessing as all the egg laying moves into the coop....and I have a nest site to find and another to check regularly now.

Phew! And good job Sherlock.

 

[Ponypoor]

Last night a coop close (half dark), one of the wyandottes was missing. Whilst I can tell them apart, I have to look closely and the one there wouldn't cooperate. I left the bird hatch open on the off chance that she had been off working on an egg late in the day. (Looking for her was how I found the stash). Fast forward to this morning.

Walking Sherlock: extra cautious as 1 (or more) birds could be loose.1st walk, full of energy, no interest in birds. 2nd walk (before leaving for work). Lots of birds scattered all over demanding breakfast. Training collar and leash, but not touching anything. Sat until released off the deck, birds on both sides, straight out between the rigs to the driveway. Run around checking scents, zero chasing any bird. Headed to carport for the day, still no touch from me. Nimbus is on the outside of the hedges near the rose patch. She freaks and bolts for the roses. He comes to me when called. Showed interest but not chase. Got him settled went to get bird breakfast.

Most up by garage door (they know it's kept there), pullets (Hetty, Daisy) mixed in with adults. Scatter on way down to coop. More birds pore out of olive trees. There's a wyandotte: Violet. Turn around to take pellets into coop. There's another wyandotte: Hyacinth. I think it's safe to say I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. All present and healthy. If she (whichever was out last night) didn't lay an egg, she will within a week. At this rate, winter will be a blessing as all the egg laying moves into the coop....and I have a nest site to find and another to check regularly now.

First - good boy Sherlock

Second - yay! I was afraid to really read on. Glad she is ok.

Tippy has learnt to escape as per usual, then goes out back to Mount Poopmore hangs with the horses, then when I let the horses in, she follows - what a brat!

I have to get that run finished so she cannot fly out. Or Eli-too and Butterscotch also.

Oh and Buttercup showed me that she can easily fly up 6’ onto the panels, and hop down on the other side to get into the barn.

I had turned her out in the yard with Bert but she really wanted to stay with Mr P and get back to the barn. Smart bird

 

[Ponypoor]

I'm terribly weary of cute and funny animal videos on social medias because sometimes the background can be quite horrid. I read a few posts from a french insta account who actually analyses animal reels that went viral, explaining if there's something wrong with the behaviour or if it's just really cute and funny...and that sort of ruined it for me.

The relationship with Alba and Nieva, our leghorns, is complicated . It's not so much that we don't like them, that they don't like us. And it has overall being getting worse now that they have spent more than a year here. When they got here in May 2023 at five months they were very weary, but curious. Now they are still curious but terrified! I'm not really sure what we did wrong. It's even more surprising since both had stubborn bumblefeet and spent for months half an hour daily or every other day inside our house. They didn't seem to hate the bath, the wrapping, and they loved the treats that came with it ; but whenever we approach them then and now in the chicken yard or outside, they shy away from us and especially from being touched. When we hand out some treats they really love, they will come near enough to grab a piece... and run. When it's just some more usual treats, they dont even come near.

On the other hand, they have not being explorers like some of our other chickens. When we fenced all the chickens in the yard, it took several weeks for some to accept that and stop trying to get out. Alba and Nieva tried once or twice and gave up. They could easily fly over our chicken fence which is only five feet high , but they don't seem to want to. They also adapted very well with the other chickens, they are confident, and have dominant tempers.

I could say they fear humans because they arrived here at five months already coming from a bad breeder, but the other two hens that came with them from the same place, Lily and Kara, the Marans x Harko, are not like this at all. And if it was only Nieva I could imagine she was traumatised by her surgery at the vet, but Alba is also like her although not as bad

It makes dealing with health issues a real pain. Right now, Nieva has a lice infestation that seems to resist every treatment supposed to be efficient (and which seem to have been efficient for the other chickens) and every time I have to catch her, it's like I'm sending her to the slaughterhouse rather than just applying some powder or spray. If I take her off the roost at night and she wakes up before I catch her, she will even risk getting hurt flying in the dark rather than being caught.

I'm interested to hear if anyone has tips to try make things better- more specific than handing out treats and spending time with them, which we already do a lot of . I also don't feel catching her to bring her inside with us would help much, since she already spent a lot of time in when we were treating her foot, and anyway at this time of year we only go in after dinner and crash to bed shortly after.

I have seen some of my other chickens who were either very scared or didn't like humans completely change and become more familiar for various reasons, like Piou-piou, or Chipie, or Théo in his good days, so I know it's possible even when they are adults !

Alba
View attachment 3895347
Nieva.
View attachment 3895348
Alba and Kara (yes, we just called them white in Italian and black in Turkish).
View attachment 3895349
View attachment 3895350

Yes agreed - many things people find cute or funny I shake my head at.

A video was posted on our weather network of a young girl around 6yrs old who was riding in the bucket on her dads front end loader. He would tip the bucket and dump her on hill of gravel, then she would run back ho in the bucket and he would let the bucket tip it and dump her out again.

To say I just about freaked out seeing this would be an understatement.

I immediately sent an email to the weather network and told them how utterly stupid this was, endangerment to a child was how I worded it.

Never ever be near equipment - they are not toys.

And those dogs who run in circles only to collapse and fall over… not funny.

Yep the online media is awash with such crazy stuff.

For me funny is one’s 4 week old chick hopping on your head with poopy feet after you washed your hair….

 

[Ponypoor]

All of the remaining incubator eggs are getting cloudy inside, I can't see any of the veins or spots I could see yesterday? That's uh...a sign they aren't gonna work right? The ones under the silkies are all veiny inside with little babies.

My silkies are still dutifully sitting on their eggs. I still have to make sure they go to the right nest whenever they get off for daily ablutions. But the other girls are letting them brood with occasional check-ins. Ash was even putting pine straw on Samaras back this morning, it was so cute.

The bitty birds in the house are all so cute! The ones I got yesterday are way friendlier about being handled. Kiddo got to see each one but no pets today. She got in trouble for squeezing Peepy so no touching until she practices gentle touch some more. She and daddy renamed one of the buffs "butterbird"

Which will end up as Butterball when all those fluffy feathers come in I named my one BOrp chicks Butters after Rebecca’s hen who passed away. I also have Sweetie and Goldie.

A bit put out with my Lavern and Shorley- I will need to get another chick now to be Shirley! Darn! Can’t have just a Lavern - need a Shirley to go with that! Hahaha. Maybe another lavender Orp next year…. Lavern is certainly very docile and quiet yep maybe another. Too late this year though.

Orpingtons are really nice birds, not sure what colour eggs they lay, brown likely…?