Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

Look at that picture, and then look at him:
Royalty obviously! View attachment 4109936

It's amazing to me how huge wattles & combs are on roo's. This guy is eye candy for sure

 

[Sylvester017]

No, it's not . It's Tuesday today

Time/date problems living in different parts of earth...yet so thrilling to talk w/ everyone around the world

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Head girl with her classmates
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I am so happy to see Princess has so many friends.

 

[Sylvester017]

Completely 100% disagree on straw being eggcellent at moisture absorbtion.

40 yrs of having horses has told me one thing - straw sucks at absorbing and holding moister and at reducing odour. This is why I under-bed my straw bedding with softwood shavings in the horse stalls.

For bedding - something that an animal will lay on and poop on:

Best material is mixed size softwood shavings. Absolutely not toxic - hardwood shavings yes have high levels of toxic chemicals. Do not ever use hardwood shavings with animals.

Clay and sand are very good at holding moisture. To understand which is best one needs to understand the nature or soil. Clay has very fine particles which hold moisture well (this is what kitty litter is made from), sand is more course and will contain moisture but not absorb like clay. Sand drains well, but in the winter freezes like cement when it gets wet.

One other thing, once the chooks start pooping in the sand if you don’t pick poops daily the chooks will scratch around and break up the poops causing them the mix with the sand creating an organic composition that hold water and odour. Yep the same will happen with shavings, but the odour is held better in shavings, and it won’t freeze in the winter.

As far as bedding goes, soils are more used as flooring materials, though I have seen sand used in horse stalls in Egypt.

If one is wanting to have a flooring that is easily picked through for poops and such, then use course sand.

But personally I like softwood shavings - they are non toxic, highly absorbing and eggcellent at odour control.

One thing I should also point out is that I personally pick the hen house daily of all poops, that includes the roosting ledges and the floors. Takes all of 5 minutes when done daily, this goes a long way towards controlling odour and moisture.

EDIT:
- sand and other soils are very heavy especially when wet. So if you are old and decrepit like me use something that weighs less

What experience do the rest of you have?

That's a good point to bring up about your climate conditions re:sand. In our mild SoCalif temps we rarely, if ever, get to freezing like your zone, & rain is rare here so coarser play sand works well for our area.

You're right about the weight of carrying a PlaySand 50-lb bag but refilling sand is usually only a one or maybe 2x/yr event for us & the hens love it.

As for poop... sifting sand with a mesh scoop is easy & cleaning as often as necessary depends on flock size. We have 6 birds only so not so frequent. I'm more frustrated from leaves & debris blowing into the sandbox rather than the poop in it.

For us, nestboxes get the most daily attention here cuz of broody Silkies & we like straw for those.

Sandbox under a canopy

After a rain, the sand stays dry under the canopy.

 

[Ponypoor]

One little piggy went to market, and one little piggy stayed home.
One little piggy had roast beef, and one little piggy had none!
Author unknown

————————
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!

(Shakespeare; Richard III)

 

[Sylvester017]

Kids and Chicks

I really can't remember if I posted this or not yet. Eve was here over the weekend and at first she was a little scared of the chicks as they were so much bigger.

View attachment 4110095

But soon she was comfortable holding them on her own.

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Soon they were roosting on her. Here she is with her mom, my oldest daughter.
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Later when they were outside she was able feed them mealworms from her hand.

So darn cute So were the chicks

 

[Ponypoor]

Two for Tuesday

Two silkies

Two roosters

Two having a sun/sand vacation

 

[Ponypoor]

It’s a crazy weather day here, it’s 28C (82f) and feels like 32C and extremely windy. Storm watch is out for the area, I will likely head home early, I need to close the barn loft, and get horses in before the storms arrive, calling for tornado risk also.

Hopefully the chooks won’t be blown over with the wind! The silkies won’t like it hahahaha.

More two for….

Two ladies.

 

[RoyalChick]

————————
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!

(Shakespeare; Richard III)


View attachment 4110283

My favorite play (and the fluffy butts aren’t too shabby either!).

 

[RoyalChick]

Happy 2fer Tuesday. It is a glorious evening and there is grass seed to chow down on. Non nom nom.