2018 Newbie Chat!

[Anna Ranieri]

I've seen mine do both. As they get older they are more confident. I think like any other animal they go through phases. It's funny how pecking order doesn't matter when they are scared or unsure.

You are so right, they paid no mind to Roo being there with them when ordinarily she's not permitted to mix with them or stand with them, if she gets too close they 'see her off'

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Loving everyone's pictures! @Anna Ranieri , do you have a picture of Roo? I still think of her as a little chick, lol, hard to picture her as a big chicken!
I've been so busy with Christmas and my son is getting married on the 29th. Yes, we're having 2 weddings in 1 year, lol. BBZZZZTT in June and her brother in December.
I do read everyone's posts, but sometimes hard to reply to all of them.

@No More Empty Nest , sorry for the delay, but as promised here are some pictures of Roo taken today and this evening.
She is 19 weeks old

 

[llombardo]

Awwww this looks grand, great idea of yours, great set of pics too - incidentally is Prince in mid crow on the first pick? - just curious as is mouth is open and his stance is such that he looks like he could be

Yes he was. He finally just stopped crowing. Earlier when they were outside, Prince would crow, the rooster across the street would answer and then of course Sir Duke chimed in.

Him and Duke have been going back and forth since he came in.

The ducks have been in the tub since yesterday, getting out to eat and to lay an egg. Lucy decided to lay an egg, then bury it under the bedding and then moved the tarp over it. They sure love having that water.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Yes he was. He finally just stopped crowing. Earlier when they were outside, Prince would crow, the rooster across the street would answer and then of course Sir Duke chimed in.

Him and Duke have been going back and forth since he came in.

The ducks have been in the tub since yesterday, getting out to eat and to lay an egg. Lucy decided to lay an egg, then bury it under the bedding and then moved the tarp over it. They sure love having that water.

Awwwww makes me smile

 

[CannedMonster]

@No More Empty Nest , sorry for the delay, but as promised here are some pictures of Roo taken today and this evening.
She is 19 weeks old
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Aww Roo is big now.
She reminds me of a big Pippin, without the feathered feet of course.

 

[CannedMonster]

Ahhh that makes a lot of sense and yes I have noticed the others look up too plus my drakes do their call and my head duck hen quacks. I like that you told me they make a noise b'cos its harder for a predator to attack when they know they've been seen.
Had a strange experience the other day though, my mum came by to help by giving me a lift to dump some rubbish down at our local tip, I got her to park up around the back of the bungalow so I could load up her car via the back gate, I nipped indoors to get something and I became aware that both flocks were completely silent, so I took a look out of the window and saw all 8 huddled together in a corner, I went out to find my mum standing by the back door, she had decided to come in and see them and stood still when she realised her presence was frightening them. Even though I was there they still didn't come out and just kept giving her the side eye, I told her to wait in the car b'cos her being there was scaring them so much. They have never before behaved like this, usually they are extremely vocal and often will rush at an intruder and if the intruder doesn't go they'll attack, especially Pedro, she's like a guard dog! I used to worry about the neighbourhood cats attacking my birds but after encountering my birds, none dare come in my garden at all anymore. If we have a visitor who wants to come meet them we always make sure one of us go out first, I just don't recognise nor understand their behaviour on seeing my mum, they just are never quiet, especially when scared they make even more noise. Thing is, she met them back August and they didn't react that way then, in fact they barely took any notice of her. Strange one that.

Was your mum wearing a hat or coat?
Could she perhaps have had an umbrella in her hand?
My birds were very unsure of me when they first saw me in winter clothes.
They even think it’s strange when I have me reading glasses on as I usually don’t wear them outside.
These are all things they get used to but are wary of at first.

 

[No More Empty Nest]

@No More Empty Nest , sorry for the delay, but as promised here are some pictures of Roo taken today and this evening.
She is 19 weeks old
View attachment 1623262
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Wow!! What a big beautiful girl!! She looks so soft.
I think chickens grieve. After I found Amber had died and I took her out of the run, they were very quiet. No "talking" at all. And I think they weren't eating as much as they usually do for a few days. This will sound funny but every morning when I went to scoop off the poop board, there was markedly less poop on it. I originally thought that Amber must have been a poop factory, lol. But then after a few nights, everything got back to normal. They also were quite restless at night. I have a camera in the coop and it took them longer than usual to settle down on the roost and they were moving around on the roost during the evening and night more than usual. They do tend to stand on the roost in the same order every night so I guess it was different without Amber in the middle. They actually have 2 different roosting orders, one is less common than the other, maybe once a week or so. And the only difference is that Diamond who is usually on one end, moves to the middle.
I sure miss that sweet little girl. My EEs are still quite stand-offish. Diamond as usual comes up to me all the time. I'm hoping that as the weather warms up in spring so I can spend more time outside with them or when they start laying that the EEs will come round. They do all talk when I go out, with their soft little high voices.
I put one of those treat balls in the run yesterday. Pearl immediately figured out that there was scratch in it. They enjoyed it. Unfortunately I forgot to take my phone out to get a picture of them with it.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Was your mum wearing a hat or coat?
Could she perhaps have had an umbrella in her hand?
My birds were very unsure of me when they first saw me in winter clothes.
They even think it’s strange when I have me reading glasses on as I usually don’t wear them outside.
These are all things they get used to but are wary of at first.

Actually she had on a pale grey coat which is padded and looks quite puffy, she and I joked about her looking like the Michelin man in It, so I'm guessing it was her coat scared them lol

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Wow!! What a big beautiful girl!! She looks so soft.
I think chickens grieve. After I found Amber had died and I took her out of the run, they were very quiet. No "talking" at all. And I think they weren't eating as much as they usually do for a few days. This will sound funny but every morning when I went to scoop off the poop board, there was markedly less poop on it. I originally thought that Amber must have been a poop factory, lol. But then after a few nights, everything got back to normal. They also were quite restless at night. I have a camera in the coop and it took them longer than usual to settle down on the roost and they were moving around on the roost during the evening and night more than usual. They do tend to stand on the roost in the same order every night so I guess it was different without Amber in the middle. They actually have 2 different roosting orders, one is less common than the other, maybe once a week or so. And the only difference is that Diamond who is usually on one end, moves to the middle.
I sure miss that sweet little girl. My EEs are still quite stand-offish. Diamond as usual comes up to me all the time. I'm hoping that as the weather warms up in spring so I can spend more time outside with them or when they start laying that the EEs will come round. They do all talk when I go out, with their soft little high voices.
I put one of those treat balls in the run yesterday. Pearl immediately figured out that there was scratch in it. They enjoyed it. Unfortunately I forgot to take my phone out to get a picture of them with it.

Awwwww poor little loves, it must be so hard for them, I guess it will take them time to adjust. I have heard of many cases where chickens have mourned the loss of a flock member

 

[Cbarr00]

Bear is starting to get his confidence up. He's even working his way up through the older girls. I hope he works out.
This pic was taken a couple of weeks ago when we had a pretty good cold front come through. They huddled in the corner together poor things. Him and all his girls.