Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

My rooster Rudy slept in my bed with me last night, and the only problem I had was that he wanted to snuggle up really close and hogged my pillows! What does that tell you?

Sounds like a cuddlebug to me...

 

[Ponypoor]

KFC butt is missing...

I boarded my horses with this lady who had chickens, she had a sign on the chicken coop ‘KFC’ I laughed at it but she told me it stood for Kelsy Forester’s Chickens (kfc) hahaha good one !

 

[Sylvester017]

I did hatch and raise 1, a lovely black girl named Perdita. I really liked her and she looked like a black version of her momma. Curse that husky that took her while she was broody and sitting on eggs.

Thankfully the cochins cannot get to Poppets nest or else they would already have broken her up themselves by eating her eggs while she was off to eat and dust bathe.

Black feathered chickens ~ never wanted black but once we had a Black Silkie it was love forever more for black hens & then black stripe hens!

Poppet was smart to hide eggs from the Cochin egg-eaters. We gotta stop selling short the brain of this little girl...she's a midget Einstein.

 

[bgmathteach]

This is nutz! Now that the sun has risen over the mountains, all the roosters in the neighborhood are silent! It’s actually spooky

They have already done their duty of wakingeveryone up and announcing the new day....now time for them to be vigilantly looking out for their 'girls'.

 

[bgmathteach]

Beautiful chickens and feathers - but definitely too advanced for me - I need to get a solid handle on penciling first!

Yay! I use a sledgehammer. For the first few taps I hold it near its head and just gently tap the wedge until it is embedded enough in the wood to stand upright on its own without me holding it.
Then I step back and strike the top of the wedge with the sledge hammer. It usually takes a few blows - but as the wedge gets driven into the wood it splits it.
The reason I like the star shaped wedge that I had posted earlier is that those first few taps are much easier.
I was looking for a picture of a sledge hammer to make sure we were calling it the same thing.
But I found this video instead which is quite good. He mentions a rescue wedge which is good to have - I have only had to use one a few times - but sometimes your main wedge gets stuck deep in the log and you need another wedge to split it elsewhere to release it.

I have a star wedge and use a regular wedge for rescue if I have to.

I use a 'splitting maul' when I split wood. It has a sledge hammer edge on one end of the head, and an axe like edge on the other side of the head. I don't use the axe edge very often, as it is a broader wedge shape - not as slender as an axe blade...so acts more like a cross between a wedge and a axe, so I only use it on easy to split wood - usually just use the sledge head end. I have a set of 3 wedges ( 'cause I picked them up at a tag sale!), and when I was splitting ELM was VERY, VERY glad to have a 'rescue' as it didn't want to split all the way down.


Maul versus axe. Axe is on the left, splitting maul on the right

(Honestly, trying to split with many mauls on the wedge end is like trying to cut meat with a dull knife, but it is good to use the wedge end to 'finish' a log that is mostly split through by using it on the edge of a log opposite where the stuck wedge is.)



Off topic tax:


One day I will have these (Buff Brahmas)

 

[featherhead007]

More? 12 isn't enough? But hey, that's great w/ the space you have. What breeds do you fancy?If you're going for big eggs, the bigger birds will give 2 maybe 3 eggs a week & sometimes they'll only be medium size. The Marans lay a good size deep brown egg at 2 to 3/wk. We found the Buff Leghorn didn't lay XL/L like the White Leghorn does. As for Exchequer or other Leghorn varieties not sure they can top a White for prolific eggs. Never had Rhode Islands, Barred Rocks, Australorps or Buff Orps so can't speak for them as layers.

In the end we chose gentle natured birds that had small or pea combs and beards.

The Marans we had was mean but she layed nice dark brown eggs ~ wish instead we got a Welsummer (has Leghorn in its history) for dark eggs rather than our aggressive cuckoo Marans but we didn't know much about mixing flock breeds at 1st.

Cuckoo Marans, White Leghorn
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Blue Wheaten Ameraucana
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Black Silkie
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Blue Breda
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Cuckoo Breda
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Rose comb Dominiques
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I’m thinking brown Leghorns, and some feathered feet varieties. Literally, the sky is the limit for me to get chooks. I’m going to hire someone to get my yard cleaned up before I go getting more birds. I don’t get eggs from the Rockettes anymore. Maybe they will start laying again in spring. Unless Santa brings me a jet I’m kinda limited to a 4000 mile radius and that’s pushing my limits.

 

[featherhead007]

Sounds like a cuddlebug to me...

He certainly is. Lays his head over my shoulder and falls asleep. He really is a sweet rooster. Sir Jaffar would do the exact same thing.

 

[Sylvester017]

Only 42

That's a lot!

Do you have a fenced off veggie bed anywhere?

Do you have a tractor mower or goats to keep the weeds/brush down?

A dog as guardian?

A barn?

A corral?

So many questions!

 

[featherhead007]

One or more of my hens is a golfer I found all three balls out of the three laying boxes and on the coop floor!

 

[featherhead007]

That's a lot!

Do you have a fenced off veggie bed anywhere?

Do you have a tractor mower or goats to keep the weeds/brush down?

A dog as guardian?

A barn?

A corral?

So many questions!

Thanks for asking. I have five properties. Four in California and one in DC I rent.
Two large barns with a house and pool north of me, on one property.
Grass lands and a barn where Chaco used to live (rest her soul)
One high mountain property, I used to use as a camping getaway
And my home property, with two houses on 2 acres where my chickens let me live.