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My hens are ten months old and still haven't started laying. Should I be concerned? 
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Feb 16, 2024 16:05
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I thought they had mohawks because of the background chickens.
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Feb 16, 2024 17:19
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BaronVonVaderham posted:I thought they had mohawks because of the background chickens.
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Feb 16, 2024 20:15
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goatse guy posted:My hens are ten months old and still haven't started laying. Should I be concerned? That’s odd in my experience. They look completely normal though and their combs and wattles just look like they aren’t mature yet. How much daylight are you getting right now? I think the usual rule of thumb is all hens will lay (if they can) with 12 hours or more of daylight so maybe they aren’t getting enough light yet. Since the end of December we’ve gained an hour of daylight, now at 11 hours, and egg production is up 20%. Sunlight can make a huge difference in laying, so hopefully that’s the answer. And of course some breeds are very slow to start. When I had Americaunas they were always last to lay in the spring, if I remember right they often waited until June.
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Feb 16, 2024 20:23
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goatse guy posted:My hens are ten months old and still haven't started laying. Should I be concerned? They are INSULTED that you feel they should be providing eggs.
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Feb 16, 2024 20:23
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  avatar material right there, especially the first one
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Feb 16, 2024 22:39
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Joburg posted:That’s odd in my experience. They look completely normal though and their combs and wattles just look like they aren’t mature yet. That picture is outdated because there's green grass outside. It's winter and it's cold as hell right now. Their combs and wattles have filled out a bit. Hopefully you are right about the sunlight being the cause!
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Feb 16, 2024 22:43
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goatse guy posted:That picture is outdated because there's green grass outside. It's winter and it's cold as hell right now. Their combs and wattles have filled out a bit. I have a lot of green grass already so you must be further north than south Georgia…  When I lived in (bitter cold, windswept) Wyoming, I didn’t keep good egg records so I don’t know when the eggening began. I did keep track that most of my broody hens started in June and that’s often about a month after the laying really ramps up. So maybe yours will lay by May 
Joburg fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Feb 17, 2024 |
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Feb 17, 2024 00:27
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My girls have finally ended the Great Egg Drought of winter 23-24. One had gone three months without laying a single egg. They all molted at the same time, right as it got colder and the days got shorter. A week ago we got our first eggs in a while. The two brahma sisters first, then the French maran. The real laggard, the olive egger, started a few days ago and has been consistent. I had missed checking the egg box (since there usually wasn't much) for a couple of days and this morning found eleven eggs from five chickens. Each one had contributed. I guess the combination of being done with molting and longer days has got them going again. I almost started thinking about that conspiracy of "They're putting something in the feed to keep them from laying". But I'm a rational person. Mostly.
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Feb 18, 2024 00:59
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We've had the same change. We went from a couple eggs a day to over a dozen. The older girls are out of their winter drought and the new girls are finally old enough to lay. I've been in the process of building new hutches for our quail. The boys' hutch (which is going to be a bit smaller, so I just used a plan I bought unmodified) is almost done. The girls need more space, there are a lot more of them, so I'm going to modify the plans to make it longer. I'm glad I did it this way, since I learned a lot I can use on the second build.  They're gonna have solar cameras so we can monitor them, and fans for ventilation (to keep things circulating in the sweltering summers here).  The one modification I did make was to add in barriers at the base of the back window and behind those doors. That will enable us to give them full sand for bedding, which they'll love. The tricky part was making the front barrier removable to facilitate just sweeping everything out the front door into a bin when it comes time to totally change the sand out. All that's left to do is mount the roof panels, then we haul it out back and make the swap (not looking forward to tearing out the old hutch and leveling the ground and stuff). The old hutches are just atrocious. They're not even a year and a half old and they're crumbling, which is infuriating given how expensive they were. It was cheaper to buy all this lumber and other materials than to buy another one of those, and these'll last so much longer. Anyway, here's my girl Peanut Hamper enjoying scritches while we watch tv. https://i.imgur.com/t1i8SP6.mp4
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Feb 28, 2024 02:26
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Can anyone recommend good books on backyard chicken keeping? After I'm done making my way through this whole thread, I'll probably still need a proper education first. Having chickens is something I've thought about for a while, but now that I'm living in the burbs with a small backyard it seems possible. Just have to convince my SO that the noise will be minimal (edit: in theory!  and limited to daytime) and the smell can be controlled... a much harder thing to accomplish as she's very much anti every pet. But it would be 100% my responsibility anyhow. Also, the town allows only 3 hens, so minimal footprint regardless.Thanks in advance! ianskate fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Feb 29, 2024 |
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Feb 29, 2024 15:09
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ianskate posted:the noise will be minimal (and limited to daytime) Where I live, that can start at 4am, Summer is quite a tough time to own chickens in London
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Feb 29, 2024 18:50
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ianskate posted:Can anyone recommend good books on backyard chicken keeping? After I'm done making my way through this whole thread, I'll probably still need a proper education first. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow is a good one. If you do get chickens I recommend getting the Chicken Health Handbook that’s also by Gail Damerow. If you have a library near by you can see what they have that’s chicken related. Mine has some books with ideas for chicken coops, making one yourself always cheaper in the long run.
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Feb 29, 2024 23:28
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Had to send a couple of roosters to freezer camp today. Yesterday I found one of my hens with a big tear in her side from some roo being clumsy and overzealous. I had one too many roos anyways but I had hoped to wait until I had a broody sitting. I kept roosters 1 and 4 so there shouldn’t be any fighting since they both know their place in the flock. For those keeping track at home I now have 26 hens, 2 Roos, and Snow White’s 3 chicks. Snow White has mostly weaned her 9 week old chicks. She still spends half her day with them which is pretty unusual in my experience. She just really loves those babies, I guess! 
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Mar 1, 2024 00:37
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Scientastic posted:Where I live, that can start at 4am, Summer is quite a tough time to own chickens in London Oh no... that's something that I was concerned about. What if they have an automatic coop door to get into their run and access food at sunrise so they're not annoyed by the urge to get going, or blackout curtains that open when we're actually awake (~6-7am), or is that animal abuse? Joburg posted:Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow is a good one. If you do get chickens I recommend getting the Chicken Health Handbook that’s also by Gail Damerow. Thank you! I'll see if they've got them, or find them elsewhere if need be. Definitely considered building my own if it comes to that, but both the run and coop have to be extremely secure as foxes and racoons are always prowling back there. One thought about prefab vs home made is the cost of raw materials these days being so high. Beyond customization they seem relatively same in total cost, but is it ultimately better to diy due to low quality materials in prefab coop builds?
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Mar 1, 2024 15:24
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I have the laziest rooster. He doesn't start going till 6 am.
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Mar 1, 2024 17:09
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ianskate posted:Oh no... that's something that I was concerned about. What if they have an automatic coop door to get into their run and access food at sunrise so they're not annoyed by the urge to get going, or blackout curtains that open when we're actually awake (~6-7am), or is that animal abuse? Prefab coops/hutches/runs die in a year in Florida, and we don't have the harsh winters a lot of folks have. The cost of materials to build a replacement hutch were comparable to what we spend on a prefab. The ultimate cost is time, really.
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Mar 1, 2024 17:54
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Yeah the premade coops are always built with the absolute shittiest materials possible. And they're priced like they're built from oak. You'd spend so much time attempting to make it secure, you may as well start from scratch. That said, I bought an expensive plastic coop in the UK, made from recycled silage bags, and I expect it to outlive me, so you know.
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Mar 1, 2024 18:02
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Avoid the wood pre-made coops like the plague. We got one for our first coop and had to make multiple repairs on it over only a couple of years. The "weatherproofing" was a thin wash of an orange stain. The wood was the softest I've seen outside balsa. The screws were tiny and prone to stripping the wood and falling out. This was after painting the entire coop with an external grade paint. Spend some extra, get a nice Snap Lock by Formex. Easy to assemble, the trays make it a piece of cake to clean, and the double layer plastic acts as insulation. Ours hasn't had a single problem in a year and a half and looks as good as ever. Except for the poop. We also got a solar powered auto door closer. That's been great. One or two glitches (door closes too early in storms, a couple of times it didn't close) but has saved so much hassle.
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Mar 1, 2024 21:17
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ianskate posted:Oh no... that's something that I was concerned about. What if they have an automatic coop door to get into their run and access food at sunrise so they're not annoyed by the urge to get going, or blackout curtains that open when we're actually awake (~6-7am), or is that animal abuse? We have an auto door on the coop, but not on the run, so they can get out and get their food, but not out into the garden, to stop foxes eating them. They still make loads of noise every morning until they see me, because they love me so much. Once they see me, they usually calm down a bit, I think they feel secure knowing I’m around.
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Mar 2, 2024 11:30
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ianskate posted:Oh no... that's something that I was concerned about. What if they have an automatic coop door to get into their run and access food at sunrise so they're not annoyed by the urge to get going, or blackout curtains that open when we're actually awake (~6-7am), or is that animal abuse? Since you will only have hens, the early morning noise won’t be too bad. Unless something alarms them, hens are mostly loud about laying their egg. “Someone’s in my favorite nest!” “I have an egg coming!” “I just laid my egg!” Joburg fucked around with this message at 13:13 on Mar 2, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 12:29
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If you just don't have an automatic door and just let them out manually a bit later, they won't be so loud either, if it really is an issue.
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Mar 2, 2024 13:11
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It's move-in day for the boys and their new hutch.
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Mar 2, 2024 18:10
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New bachelor pad is all set!   All set with their food and water dispensers, and a vent fan to keep things cool.    They acted like we never fed them in their lives.  That's the view from their solar camera. Now we can monitor them from anywhere! But, most importantly, the boys are so happy. They fuckin love sand. https://i.imgur.com/U685oyE.mp4
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Mar 2, 2024 22:17
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BaronVonVaderham posted:New bachelor pad is all set! That looks great and they look happy! I’m a fan! 
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Mar 3, 2024 04:28
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No, the fans are in the window.
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Mar 3, 2024 04:44
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I'm thinking about building a new coop. The current one is a pain to clean and I always have to deal with insulting it the few nights it gets cold. I am thinking about getting a mini storage shed to start with for it. I only have 6 hens and 1 rooster.
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Mar 9, 2024 16:39
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Alterian posted:I'm thinking about building a new coop. The current one is a pain to clean and I always have to deal with insulting it the few nights it gets cold. I am thinking about getting a mini storage shed to start with for it. I only have 6 hens and 1 rooster. Those sheds can work really well. You’ll have to cut in windows and decide about the roost situation. If you make a high roost you can do a poop board but a high roost causes dismount problems with the limited space. You can put up a ramp of some kind but my chickens never liked using those. Low roosts can get in the way but you can make ones like mine, hinge attachment at the wall and legs on the front so it can be propped up to clean underneath.  My flock is driving me crazy, no one is broody and the weather is perfect for it. I hope they don’t all wait until it’s a 90 degrees with a 90% percent humidity to decide to set. I put up some darker nest box curtains to make them more inviting. Come on, Ladies! Have some chicks! 
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Mar 10, 2024 11:12
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I'm looking at getting a 6 x 4 metal one. It would give me the opportunity to buy some new power tools to allow me to cut the metal so I see it as a win/win. I might look to go slighly bigger and portion off part of it as storage for chicken related things. Edit: the other thing I was thinking of doing is getting something like this: https://www.suncast.com/bms4700.html since they just need it for sleeping and we have nest boxes and all that fun stuff built separately. Alterian fucked around with this message at 16:14 on Mar 10, 2024 |
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Mar 10, 2024 15:38
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Alterian posted:I'm looking at getting a 6 x 4 metal one. It would give me the opportunity to buy some new power tools to allow me to cut the metal so I see it as a win/win. I might look to go slighly bigger and portion off part of it as storage for chicken related things. The nice thing about that suncast one is that it looks like the top and whole front open, that’s handy for cleaning and you could figure out a way to prop them open and put a hardware cloth door/lid on for the summer. This is my metal shed coop, it was probably meant as a house for the guineas that the previous owners left here. Most of the year it’s just an extra nest box and feed station, sometimes it’s a broody house. It’s 6’x8’. The metal siding is so thin I only needed a drill and some big tin snips to add more ventilation. Since I don’t have a proper shutter, I staple cardboard across it if we are getting nasty weather. I’d like to add a shutter and a screen door sometime this year if I have time.   
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Mar 10, 2024 19:01
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Being able to open it and hose it out is one of the major reasons I am considering it. The clean out would be super easy.
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Mar 10, 2024 23:23
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Hutch #2 is bigger yet took less time since I wasn't stopping to run to Lowes for something I didn't realize I would need, e.g. a 140T circular saw blade to cut the siding. It also helps that I spent a lot of Thursday and all of Friday on it, work is just a nightmare and it was a big boon to my mental health to just say gently caress it and do something way more rewarding.  It just needs a second coat of paint to be safe, then we can plop the girls in their hurricane pen (we got collapsible pens we can set up in the garage in case of hurricanes), tear out their old busted hutch, clean up the space and lay down some pavers for the legs to rest on, and settle the ladies into their new home. Peanut Hamper & Co. love sand even more than the roosters, they're gonna lose their minds  . This was a lot of hard work, but I just kept thinking about how happy this will make those dumb birds.EDIT: Some numbers, since it's actually deceptive when you try to compare this to what they have now. They currently have a coop with a run, 2 feet deep running 112 inches end to end, with 3 feet of that length being the coop part and the rest the open (hardware cloth contained) run. That comes out to just under 19 square feet. This new hutch is 8 feet by 3 feet, so they actually have a full 25% more space! I don't know about chickens, but quail need have a goldilocks zone for space. Too little and they fight because of crowding. Too much and they start marking off territory for sub-groups that then fight one another. I think this should be the sweet spot for how many birds we have. I also jacked it off the ground another 6 inches for easier egg retrieval and feeding and such, since there are so many more hens so they need tending more often. That'll also increase visibility from the catio, which the feline members of our household will enjoy. BaronVonVaderham fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Mar 12, 2024 |
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Mar 12, 2024 00:57
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BaronVonVaderham posted:I also jacked it off... enjoy. I'm here all night folks.
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Mar 12, 2024 02:28
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Some sad news from the VS clan: https://x.com/VelvetSparrow/status/1767737902480699608?s=20 Also Chickam could be cancelled this year if VS is having heart surgery/recuperating. spookygonk fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Mar 13, 2024 |
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Mar 13, 2024 10:37
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Oh no  . Roost in peace, Milton & Sesame.Some uplifting news: Today was move-in day for the girls! Here's a quick before & after of their home:   It was so much loving work hauling all of that (literal) poo poo out of there, but I'm really pleased with the result.  Same as the boys they get a solar fan and camera, but they also get their lights (increases egg production...boys it just makes them louder). They also also get gutters, since I don't want all that water up against the catio. First they got foot baths and portraits taken and got to sit in the pen we got for hurricane emergencies.  Creature comforts:   Peanut Hamper got to go in first, as is her right as the matriarch of the covey.  Then the rest: [tmg]https://i.imgur.com/Yi1fwvl.png[/timg] To say Peanut and co. were happy with now having the world's largest sand bath is a massive understatement. https://i.imgur.com/ZWinbnj.mp4 She's like ,"Omfg I can have sand AND food at the SAME TIME?!" Zapdos was pretty chuffed as well.   The extra bonus for humans: It's raised up so no more getting down on hands and knees to collect eggs! That front bar comes out for easily sweeping out the sand to change it. And (this one for the cats too) we can now see them right from the living room or catio! Now excuse me while I go collapse face first into a plate of Mexican food.
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Mar 14, 2024 01:48
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Scientastic posted:We are taking a long holiday in February, and putting the girls into a local chicken boarding farm. Really late to the party (health issues and my eldest sister passing away taking up my time), but I've got some info on my chicken site that might help. Our routine for worming chickens and dusting/spraying them for mites. There are several things you can use, but after trial and error, what works best for us (least stressful to the birds and low-mess) is the Equimax wormer and the Adams Flea & Tick Mist spray. We've been using this technique for 20+ years with no problems. http://jackshenhouse.com/WormingDusting.htm And a great thing to use to clean and sterilize your coop is a steam cleaner! No pesticides. Mites can't develop a resistance to 'death by heat'. I use a little hand-held steamer. Scroll down to 'Cleaning and Santizing' http://jackshenhouse.com/Coop.htm Also, your avatar is terrifying. In other news, my initial hope that my fund had reached its goal was ...premature. It turns out that because of my craptacular heart, some dental procedures will have to be done in a hospital (upping the cost, whee!)...and STILL not be covered by my insurance. *sigh...*  So a HUGE thanks to fellow Goon Tiny Myers for creating and talking to the mods about the banner ad here for me! Thank you as well to the mods, and everyone helping out!  I'll let everyone know when Chickam will be--but it WON'T be on Easter as usual...Easter is March 31st this year--too early for our hens to reliably be in lay. I'm shooting for sometime in April or May, but Chickam has to be after my heart surgery. 
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Mar 16, 2024 06:42
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Guys I know this is crazy, but I feel like I can share this with you. …I like having pet chickens.
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Mar 16, 2024 18:50
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freeedr posted:Guys I know this is crazy, but I feel like I can share this with you. Is it crazy? Or is it crazy to make your own pog slammers to put on your "chicken shoes" (aka poo poo shoes)? I'm told these are called jibbitz but that name is stupid and I refuse to use it. My wife now has a pog slammer kit: 
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Mar 16, 2024 22:13
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My grandson and I have matching pairs of wellies that are simply referred to as “the chicken boots”
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Mar 16, 2024 23:45
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Once on a muddy winter day I put on my nasty, ratty old yard sneakers to go out back and let the chickens out. Later when I got to the office, I realized I'd forgotten to change my shoes. I was wearing a dress. Had to keep my feet hidden under my desk until I could go out at lunchtime and buy a pair of heels to wear.  EDIT: OMG GOONS ROCK! You know what you did...I'm funded, I'm funded!!! Huge love to you all, including the mods--but especially Tiny Myers for placing the banner ad for me!  Also, here is this week's Brahma 'Dogpile On The Kid' (Bobbie the Head Roo, Chonk the light Brahma hen, and Arson the dark Brahma mix):  Charlotte was late to the party. 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Mar 20, 2024 |
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Mar 17, 2024 02:50
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