Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[SimpleJenn]

The Polkie baby is Nosy Posy. Always meddling and wanting all the attention.

 

[BY Bob]

When I opened the box last night I was greeted with this.
View attachment 4060385
I sat there stunned and the tears started to flow. Those 4 pictures right there are some of my favorites of my boy. They captured who he was. He was a little chicken wearing a gorilla suit which earned him his nickname "Monkeyman". He was a devoted father to chicks who were not even his own. He always thought that the momma's abandoned them too early even if they were half grown when she left them. If chicks were hatching under a broody he knew and was right there in front of the nest hoping for that first look and being so supportive to the hens. He was so handsome and he knew it. Finally the headshot of him, he was kind. You could see it in his eyes. He was the one I trusted to let anyone hold no matter the age. He always immediately settled even for very young children. He was my shadow, my tv and nap buddy. He brought so much joy to grandma in her final 2 years with us.

I have been blessed over my life to have had many good roosters. They have all been special in their own ways. If I live to be 100 and have chickens until my dying day, there will never be another rooster who holds my heart the way Branch did and does. They can come very close, but Branch was my heart and there will never be another like him.

He was such a special man. You were blessed to have him and we are blessed to have heard his stories.

 

[BY Bob]

I almost cook in them exclusively. I have 3 sizes, so works for many things.

tax. This is Lucy. RIP She was my all time favorite hen. Great personality, friendly and gave me chicks! She was in my original flock 10 years ago.
View attachment 4060397

Truly a lovely lady.

 

[SimpleJenn]

I've had a couple dark partridge Silkie females w/white faces that feathered out completely black head to toe but w/ faint gold neck collars mostly covered over by longer black body feathers & they had gold speckled wing tips as adults. Amber Waves breeder for years sold them as Dark Partridge Silkies. I always thought partridge was just one color combo but in Silkies we found they came as blue/gold, blue/buff, & dark partridge. Live & learn w/ all the new color varieties breeders are creating!

Dark partridge female w/white speckled face
View attachment 4060595

White face feathers disappearing as new black crest feathers grow in
View attachment 4060600

Wings growing as gold speckled partridge tips
View attachment 4060619
View attachment 4060614

Adult Dark Partridge female grows up all shiny black w/ gold collar & gold wing tips covered mostly by black body feathers
View attachment 4060631
View attachment 4060632

There is a new-ish thing, egg yolks from chickens raised with cats, if fed to the cats, neutralizes the allergen in their saliva/dander. You can buy it premade or of course grow your own.

I will have to use it if I ever get a cat again. I am pretty allergic.

 

[BY Bob]

Seems like it might be difficult to put it on an injured chicken foot though.

I don't think it will be harder than wrapping a foot. Hopefully I never have to find out.

 

[BY Bob]

That's one of the good things about mixed breeds: 5 toes, feathered feet, beards/muffs, full crests all are readily apparent at hatch. Makes for easy ID of 1 parent.

Also means those 2 will likely lay brown eggs of some shade, and be black birds. The 12 week + moult is when leakage most likely will start showing. I'm curious about body shape: cochin bowling ball with leghorn sail tail?

Fascinating.

 

[BY Bob]

We have a polkie!
View attachment 4060495
View attachment 4060496
Had to get chicks out of the incubator, waited for most to be dry and pulled them out. My mother in law is so excited to be part of our big hatch day.

This is amazing! Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

[Sylvester017]

When I opened the box last night I was greeted with this.
View attachment 4060385
I sat there stunned and the tears started to flow. Those 4 pictures right there are some of my favorites of my boy. They captured who he was. He was a little chicken wearing a gorilla suit which earned him his nickname "Monkeyman". He was a devoted father to chicks who were not even his own. He always thought that the momma's abandoned them too early even if they were half grown when she left them. If chicks were hatching under a broody he knew and was right there in front of the nest hoping for that first look and being so supportive to the hens. He was so handsome and he knew it. Finally the headshot of him, he was kind. You could see it in his eyes. He was the one I trusted to let anyone hold no matter the age. He always immediately settled even for very young children. He was my shadow, my tv and nap buddy. He brought so much joy to grandma in her final 2 years with us.

I have been blessed over my life to have had many good roosters. They have all been special in their own ways. If I live to be 100 and have chickens until my dying day, there will never be another rooster who holds my heart the way Branch did and does. They can come very close, but Branch was my heart and there will never be another like him.

I love roo stories cuz we can't have one & we hated to re-home the 2 accidental ones we got in the past...Silkies rule!

Our 1st Silkie cockerel 7 months & already on the alert as the pullets foraged

He even showed signs of being a gentleman letting the ladies go 1st

 

[BY Bob]

I haven't found time to reply about those pots for a much needed clarification ...all the ones we found here are definitely not Le Creuset but some cheap copycats. The people who lived in this house throughout the 20th century were very poor. They had just enough to eat and they would never have spent a hundred bucks on a pot.
We found maybe 20 of them of various size, type and state. The ones we use for the chickens are too damaged to cook in !

So do we, we kept five and set three aside that were still usable for future replacement. We cook mostly on the wood stove, so they get damaged much quicker. And I've never used the real thing so I can't compare but possibly they are not the same quality.

It was my partner's turn to cook tonight.
View attachment 4060529

Leek and squash quiche.
View attachment 4060528

Tax :

Little Chipie has been worrying me having seizures for a few days. She seems to be better now. Here she was getting some vitamin D.
View attachment 4060531
I recently read that those sun bathing session are very important for laying hens because they help them getting the d3 necessary to assimilate calcium. Not sure of there's any truth in it or if it's just some conspiracy theory chickens are spreading to be let out to sunbathe.

About the avian flu vaccination, I'll look up if I can find information on how it's going for chickens here. It was massively done for ducks last year and considered a success as the number of outbreaks diminished considerably, but this is the first year they are massively vaccinating chickens. However up to now there has been absolutely no talk of doing it for backyard poultry. As in the US, most vaccines are not accessible for private chicken owners, even though some of the breed clubs are actively lobbying to make that happen.

I'm not able to keep up on your thread so I'm asking if you know why Chippie is having seizures?

 

[Sylvester017]

Seems like it might be difficult to put it on an injured chicken foot though.

TeeHee...it's usually a struggle to work w/ any injured bird...we had Budgerigars & Cockatiels ~ working w/ tiny bodies when they had issues