Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

The silkies are finally coming out of the ugly phase and are starting to look like mini adults. This cross between Branch and Poppet is going to produce some beautiful little birds. Branch, he had a mighty fine beard but to be honest his topknot left a lot to be desired. Poppet, no beard but you cannot deny she is rocking the topknot. I can now tell all 6 have inherited their momma's fuller topknot. 3 of the 6 have their daddy's beard to go with it. I actually have 3 pairs color wise. There are 2 blacks, 2 Black with brown leaking through all over and 2 partridges. Each of the pairs have a bearded and non-bearded version.
I believe that the bearded Partridge will be miss Patsy.
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Black and brown
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non bearded
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Now for the black chicks
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You have a matching set! You know what that means? You have to keep them all.
They are very cute I must say!

 

[lightm]

I've never heard of Ivermevtin topical. That sounds a lot easier than any oral medicine.

@Sally PB
To be honest, I wondered the same. I thought topical is only for mites?

 

[RoyalChick]

Happy Thirsty Thursday. Tassels is attacking the wild water from all sides.

 

[fuentemoon]

Happy thirsty thursday, I actually caught chickens drinking!

 

[fuentemoon]

Pairs of siblings
Really enjoying watching Lumi and Cassia growing up.

Alinta and Brenna, getting along for a minute

As you can see above and below we have less than stellar air today. Wind changed direction yesterday.

 

[featherhead007]

Here’s a roo. How do you do!?

 

[Sylvester017]

Hawk!! The chooks are all hiding on the porch and deep inside the bushes.

Smart chickens!

Our hens are free to roam the yard all day & use the coop only to lay eggs or roost. So, we erected 3 popup canopies (leg frames buried in the ground to anchor) and planted several chicken friendly trees/plants, erected makeshift benches, had lawn furniture around the yard, & put out several used/2nd-hand dog houses for hiding areas from aerial predators. We even found Silkies hiding under the walking bridge! All these efforts have been a real help for chicken hiding places since every Spring the Cooper's hawk juvenile fledglings scope out our birds from the neighborhood rooftops, trees, telephone poles, & fencetops.

The hawks usually like to swoop down after foraging or running ground prey using talons & carrying off their prey. If flying air space is blocked it mostly deters the hawk's flying area. We once had a dumb fledgling Cooper's hawk fly at a hen but knocked itself out when it hit the dog kennel wire of the run! We really believe in heavy duty wire runs & solid cement flooring & although our barn coop shed is bigger than we need for only 6 birds nothing short of a Grizzly can tear it apart to get at roosting hens!

 

[BDutch]

We have been blessed with the 5 total gorgeous Breda we've had the great pleasure of owning but I'm afraid my Breda days are over since we're too old to responsibly add more birds to our flock. I am disappointed at growing old but it happens to everything ~ plants, trees, animals, & us

I found a real good article about the Kraaikop and its origin. In Dutch and its not possible to copy paste it in translate.
https://edepot.wur.nl/142823
Ot seems it was a french illustrator/painter (Ch Jaque 1851) who pictures stoot at the origin of the looks. It changed a lot after that because people wanted a heavier (meat) chicken. The French La Fleche chickens and many others were used to obtain a heavyweight chicken like (maybe) Croad, Langshals as nd Shanghais. (Aviculture magazine 1961).

The breeders brought the looks of the head back to the way a crow looks.

In 2015 Aviculture published another article about the Kraaikoppen :
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/15N02A05.pdf
Maybe it is possible to translate this one with AI/google if you can use Adobe pro to select and copy the text.
I cant on my phone.

 

[Sylvester017]

I found a real good article about the Kraaikop and its origin. In Dutch and its not possible to copy paste it in translate.
https://edepot.wur.nl/142823
Ot seems it was a french illustrator/painter (Ch Jaque 1851) who pictures stoot at the origin of the looks. It changed a lot after that because people wanted a heavier (meat) chicken. The French La Fleche chickens and many others were used to obtain a heavyweight chicken like (maybe) Croad, Langshals as nd Shanghais. (Aviculture magazine 1961).

The breeders brought the looks of the head back to the way a crow looks.

In 2015 Aviculture published another article about the Kraaikoppen :
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/15N02A05.pdf
Maybe it is possible to translate this one with AI/google if you can use Adobe pro to select and copy the text.
I cant on my phone.

Yes, TY. I have seen these before & even if the language is a barrier the gorgeous photos tell it all! Before we got Breda fowl we saw them selling on Greenfire Farms website. We were intrigued w/ their beauty & supposed gentle temperament so we absorbed all info we could on Breda before getting them.

Right after Greenfire acquired Breda to distribute to US breeders Greenfire next acquired the Pavlovskaya chicken in two varieties. Wish we weren't maxed out in hens or we would have ordered them too!

 

[featherhead007]

Smart chickens!

Our hens are free to roam the yard all day & use the coop only to lay eggs or roost. So, we erected 3 popup canopies (leg frames buried in the ground to anchor) and planted several chicken friendly trees/plants, erected makeshift benches, had lawn furniture around the yard, & put out several used/2nd-hand dog houses for hiding areas from aerial predators. We even found Silkies hiding under the walking bridge! All these efforts have been a real help for chicken hiding places since every Spring the Cooper's hawk juvenile fledglings scope out our birds from the neighborhood rooftops, trees, telephone poles, & fencetops.

The hawks usually like to swoop down after foraging or running ground prey using talons & carrying off their prey. If flying air space is blocked it mostly deters the hawk's flying area. We once had a dumb fledgling Cooper's hawk fly at a hen but knocked itself out when it hit the dog kennel wire of the run! We really believe in heavy duty wire runs & solid cement flooring & although our barn coop shed is bigger than we need for only 6 birds nothing short of a Grizzly can tear it apart to get at roosting hens!

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Only fear I have is losing my pets to a racoon , or a bird of prey.
I like your setup.