The Floof Lady

@TheFloofLady • 10,815 subscribers

Living the good life breeding utility Buff Orpington chickens, grow food, shoot, cook, sew and knit. As Amazon and Nestera affiliates we earn from links.

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The Floof Lady

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Egret the Orpington, earlier this year with her mixed group of chicks. Somewhere in this group there is Patience the French Blue Marans, Beanie the Cream Legbar and Bobble the Exchequer Leghorn, who have stayed with us. Can you spot them?

Winter the Orpington was always impatient to get out of the coop with her chicks running ahead. This film was taken back in August, when her chicks were still very young.

Puffin the Orpington's chicks had their first full day out in the orchard with the flock. The chicks are already incredibly confident at just a few days old, benefitting from Puffin's senior position in the flock. It's been a joy to watch.

Puffin the Orpington super-broody with her first clutch of chicks at the start of May this year. Although the chicks were around 5 days old when this was taken and we would normally allow them out with the flock by this time, we were still under flockdown at that time.

Spring the Orpington and her tinies roaming with the flock. At 1 week old, they're bold and confident as well as utterly adorable.

Summer the Orpington is a fabulous broody hen, but her tolerance for the naughty chicks appears to be waning from the tone of her voice. It's the chicken equivalent of "Just settle down!" 🥰

Videos

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Winter the Buff Orpington's chicks have just begun to grow flight feathers and this is the first of her chicks to use poor Winter as a climbing frame. Winter has done this before, so she's nonplussed 🥰

Winter the Buff Orpington took her chicks exploring today. They roamed all over the orchard. I think they'll sleep well tonight 🥰

Tiny the Buff Orpington's chicks are getting ready for bed. It's turning cold and they're cuddling under Tiny until she takes them into the coop.

This is what I love about our broody hens. This is Puffin and Cherry, both Orpingtons which hatched their chicks on the same day. They have roamed together for most of the day with the chicks mingling and playing together.

First look at Fig the Orpington and her chicks. It's likely that today, they will remain in the coop as she settles them after their hatch. To help support her, there is food and water in the coop so that she can just concentrate on her chicks.

Cherry the Buff Orpington has progressed to being a climbing frame. Cherry's chicks are 10 days old and they have their first wing feathers which allow them to jump a little higher. A safe way for them to explore this new capability is to jump onto their brood hen's back.

Cherry has hatched her chicks

Is it communal, social dustbathing or organised, destruction of our orchard? It looks like a large area that the flock have excavated, but in reality, it's a small proportion of the available space.

Apple the Orpington appears to have grown extra legs 🤣🤣🤣 #hensandchicks #broodyhen #happyhens #freerangechickens #bufforpingtons

This never gets old for us. Spending time with the chicks builds trust. They get so excited to see me and get some grain treats with their high pitched chirps.

The weather has been vile again today so here's another previously unpublished piece of video from Summer. This is Egret the Orpington with her brood of chicks.

Broody hen communication with their chicks is endlessly fascinating. When chickens mature there's so much communication that is non-vocal, with a lot based on body movements and gestures. As chicks, their broody hen uses mainly vocal communication

Taffy the Orpington was one of our super-broodies from previous years. Taffy was a wonderful broody hen as you can see here. She was so content with her chicks that she would grab 40 winks while they used her as a climbing frame.

2025 has brought us great joy and a great deal of challenges too. We're so glad you've shared the joy that our flock have brought us in 2025. This joy has been our antidote, our medicine to balance out the curveballs but if you have survived 2025, that's a highlight in itself.

Flying chicks! Winter the Orpington brings her chicks outside in the morning, and they bounce and jump, using their wings to gain height. As adults, Orpingtons are too large and heavy to use their wings for anything other than "wing assisted" running.