Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Desertvalleychickens]

Lunar gets ahold of the suet hang...

 

[Sylvester017]

Two for Tuesday

Holly and Jolly
View attachment 4022303

Have a great day everyone!

The little Twinkies are growing so fast

 

[Sylvester017]

Keep an eye on that...possibility of perforated skull with brain growing into the perforations.

I wondered about that vaulted poof myself. There are pros/cons to everything in life. Be informed is the best way to handle any situation. Silkie chicks will peck one another in dominance yet the chicks run away from each other instinctively to avoid pecks from their chickmates. Now, we never put our Silkie chicks to mingle w/adult birds until they were 4 to 5 months old nearly full size & their eye fluff trimmed.

The group of Silkie breeders (below)aren't terribly worried about vaulted chicks as long as they aren't in a situation to get pecked on the head. This applies to Polish & some other crested breeds.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/silkie-hatchling-vaulted-skull-huge-normal-pic.492710/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/vaulted-skulls-are-they-actually-a-curse.377428/

Silkie vaulted skull compared to a normal skull

 

[Ponypoor]

I wonder how much warmer it is inside the run... It's definitely cold still, but it's warmer than outside. I don't know if we have a spare thermometer anywhere.

Keep the wind blocked and should be fine. Your temps are not horribly cold. I always say look at the overnight temps, those will dictate how cold it is, the day time highs will likely not last for an hr at most, and could take the whole day to get to. Meanwhile those overnight lows are what will linger the most.

The main gang is digging around in the stalls mostly, there is Shirley with the ladies,

And some of the older ladies warming up under the heater,

And mama Georgie and her babies are in the warm feedroom.

Would prefer to have them out in the Summer House but still too cold.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sadly, yes they are.

Spoiler: Lion killed by H5N1

View attachment 4022345

Wonder how long before the rat population starts spreading it around?

 

[Sylvester017]

3F yesterday evening, but still air which makes it seem balmy. 8F this morning and it’s blowing. The Buff O’s do not like it either way, and they seem to want to stand by the panel heaters more than Hazel (Buckeye) does. They also seemed to wingspread more than she did in the summer heat, which I had attributed to her being older. Could it be a breed-wide thing?
They all will make forays over to the feeder and the two waterers, and scratch around some, but just in this area, basically between the lower left corner and this upper right corner. They aren’t straying far within the run, this is the most-protected spot besides inside the coop.
View attachment 4022351


Now Hazel needs a warm up too
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Chickens don't like cold drafts. They cuddle together when its cold but we have to make sure there's no drafts/cold wind getting to them. We tarp our entire coop run when the colder Santa Ana Winds are whipping around. In fact, today we have extra strong Santa Ana's blowing hard today & all our hens are hiding in the back patio using the house wall to shield against cold drafts/gusts. Our yard is a mess w/blowing debris!

Lots of junk in the back patio for hens to hide. Feed & water set up for them too. This is a place the hens use in summer for shade too.

DH just came back from the laundromat & says winds are 55mph right now! We've had gusts up to 100mph before!

 

[Sylvester017]

Lunar gets ahold of the suet hang...

Teehee! The chase is on! All the other chickens are telling each other: "Come on, chase! That's what we're all doing now!" Even Stormfeather got in a little chase himself! Just too cute!

 

[BY Bob]

Yep, and also I read somewhere the rounded heads likely are Roos, I tried to pick the least rounded ones.

I need elaboration on this. Rounded heads?

 

[notabitail]

I need elaboration on this. Rounded heads?

It's the latest design trend. We already have rounded corners on our phones, why not rounded heads as well?

 

[Sylvester017]

Keep the wind blocked and should be fine. Your temps are not horribly cold. I always say look at the overnight temps, those will dictate how cold it is, the day time highs will likely not last for an hr at most, and could take the whole day to get to. Meanwhile those overnight lows are what will linger the most.

The main gang is digging around in the stalls mostly, there is Shirley with the ladies,
View attachment 4022499View attachment 4022500

And some of the older ladies warming up under the heater,
View attachment 4022501

And mama Georgie and her babies are in the warm feedroom.
View attachment 4022502

Would prefer to have them out in the Summer House but still too cold.

Its amazing that broom stays standing w/all the horses & chickens that could knock it over! Georgie sure turned out a good mama accepting chicks she didn't hatch herself