HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARILYN AND FLOCK 2

 TWO YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP AND FUN

When we bought Flock 1 the previous month, 2-years ago, we never knew how much fun and how much our lives would be impacted by these little birds.

Wings of Love, keeping three little chicks warm

DUSTYLAND, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO DUSTY AND ALL OF FLOCK 2

 After weeks of waiting for parts to arrive we finally moved ahead and built our best chicken world yet, DUSTYLAND.

It's two 6.6' x 10' aviaries grafted together with a 40" rain space in between. The entire structure is skinned with chicken wire. The bottom 24" has an extra layer of 1/4" x 1/4" in square hardware cloth. The hardware cloth prevents wandering raccoons and other roosters from getting to one of our prized roosters :-)

VIDEO OF BRAND NEW DUSTYLAND AND OUR STAR

IT'S DUSTY OUR WHITE SILKIE ROOSTER

LITTLE TOM

Since it's April, here is another Birthday Star, it's Little Tom, she's one year old and going strong.

That big fluffy guy photobombing Little Toms birthday video shoot is Fritz (aka Frizzle) another of our prize winning roosters. That fluffy little white bearded Silkie hen is Marilyn. It's her birthday too, she came to us a year ago as part of our second Tractor Supply chick days event. 

DUSTYLAND DAY ONE PHOTOS

Main entrance door and view of entry ramp into Formex house

Since Dustyland is constructed with two complete aviary kits we have a man door in both ends for convenient human access. 

At night we close the door to the coop and secure it with a carabiner. 

Closer view of entry ramp, note popsicle sticks glued to board

That big fluffy white rooster is DUSTY! He is a bantam Silkie rooster, complete with blue skin and five toe feet. His soft appearance is even softer when you pet him. He is luxurious. 

His size appearance is very misleading. Under all those fluffy white feathers is a little over 1.5 pounds of bird, there's not much there but don't tell him that. His personality is immense, so is his vocabulary. Dusty is constantly talking when he's awake. He greets me I'm the morning "bur-ka burp?". I answer him "buc buc buc", it's chicken speak.

In spite of spending his days digging and scratching in black Florida top soil Dusty is glowing white and spotless. Chickens are dust bathers and we've got plenty of that for him to roll around in.

The standard size hen is Shannon, a Golden Comet. She has a wonderful inquisitive personality and usually lays an egg per day. 

We engineered in an extra 40" area for rain to fall inside the aviary. The chickens can get out of the rain  under the roof covers or they can go into the coop if things get real scary. Chickens don't like to swim (they sink and drown) but surprisingly they do seem to like and benefit from a little exposure to rain so we added that extra space to Dustyland. 

One of our innovations, put the coop outside for easy cleaning

At night we bring the food box feeder OUT of the aviary and put it under that big green plastic flower pot to keep night time visitors from eating our expensive organic chicken feed. 

All of our Formex coops are on these custom built leg-base stands

This is the egg access door, it has two hasps secured with carabiners to keep hungry raccoons out. The legs lift the coop up away from ants and crawling bugs. The legs also make it a lot easier to collect eggs and clean out the poop tray (the dark side of chickens lol).

It is difficult to see in the above photo but in the upper right corner is the piece of painted pine board which is there to help water run off the roof canvas and go over the house not right in the front door. 

Close view of .25" hardware cloth, comes up 24" from ground for extra protection

Dustyland has a beautiful lake view and a fat perch

Say goodbye to the grass in Dustyland, soon Shannon (Dusty's gal pal) will completely remove every blade of grass and turn it into raw, Florida beach sand.

YOYO, GORGEOUS FLUFFY LITTLE BABY ROOSTER

Over the shoulder, glamour shot

YOYO is almost a year old, his birthday is the beginning of next month. He came to P2 courtesy of our friends at Tractor Supply Company. 

YoYo was a pretty little yellow chick when he was just three days old, now look at him, he's majestic. His bright red comb and wattles contrast beautifully with his white fluffy feathers and amazing yellow beak (he's our only chicken with a yellow beak). His yellow feathers and yellow beak prompted his name when he was just a baby. 

He presides over Flock2 where the Minkies and the Buzzies live. 

YoYo is a Frizzled Bantam Rooster, in spite of all his fluffiness he weighs less than 2-pounds, there is not a lot of bird under all that fluff. 

Thanks for partying with us YoYo.

He's extra super fluffy, yeowwwwww!

YOYO, THE INCREDIBLE "SWIFFER" CHICKEN

 THIS GUY IS AS SOFT AS HE LOOKS, IT'S THE AMAZING YOYO

Have you ever taken a brand new Swiffer cleaner out of the box and felt how soft it is, well this little rooster is even softer and more fluffy than that. 

YoYo is a Frizzle Bantam Cochin Rooster with an attitude as big as the sky. 

Check out that beautiful yellow beak and gorgeous red embellishments. YoYo came to us thanks to Peggy at Tractor Supply Company. 

YoYo is very defensive of his five little ladies (3 Minkies and 2 Buzziest). 

Here he is for your enjoyment.

IF LOOKS COULD KILL, IT'S YOYO

HE IS EVEN SOFTER THAN HE LOOKS

THIS ROOSTER IS LUXURIOUS

YOYO AND MINKIE

YOYO AND BUZZY1, BEST FRIENDS (AND LOVERS, UT OH ;-)

YoYo was just a cute little yellow chick when he came to P2 March-1st of 2020. There was no indication he would turn into this amazing fluffy white rooster.

YoYo is a Frizzled Cochin Bantam Rooster, whew, he's complex, and adorable. His love for his five ladies is impressive. He has a funny waddle as he struts around looking after the ladies of Flock2.

Thank you YoYo.