Chaos in the kitchen, Fussy's puzzling behavior

[thndrdancr]

Ok, this weekend was cleanup time, we changed the babies to a bigger box and put a big girls water cup in there, so hopefully Lily wont have the darned thing wet constantly anymore. Put them in a dif place in the kitchen.

Ok, last night, I brought the big girls in, Fussy and Red. Fussy proceeds to walk over to the little girls box, and jump up on the edge. Then...she leisurely PEERS in at them, for several minutes. I am trying to distract her, with grapes, her very fave food, Nope not interested, these lil chicks are WAY more interesting.

Then...THEN, she jumps down WITH THEM! It was dead quiet for about 15 seconds while they looked at each other. Now they had quite a bit a room, but NOT with a big 6 lb or so full size hen in with them. Lily freaked, and flew out. Red flew out of HER box, and chased Lily. Lily squealed. Upon hearing Red chasing Lily, Fussy decided maybe? she should pick on Dash instead of mothering her, she wasnt sure WHAT to do.
Poor Fussy, she is gonna go broody before all this is over, I just KNOW it. Those chicks must have kicked her mother instincts in big time. No wonder she has been so moody lately.
Jill

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, yeah, she's probably gearing up. When I put my Buff Orp Sunny in the broody cage, which adjoins the nursery coop area, I had to put 25 babies in the nursery right about the time her babies hatched. When Sunny's babies hatched, the others were three weeks old. There was a barrier between over the fencing because I thought all that activity would disturb Sunny. What disturbed her is that she couldn't get to all those babies...and they wanted to get to her as well. Eventually, I let her and her babies in with them and she adopted them all! Wish all my hens were like Sunny-she is a mother extraordinaire!

 

[thndrdancr]

I wasnt sure if she was just checking to see if their box was nicer than hers, or wanting to "check them out". lol I think a bit of both.
Yea, I tried to kind of let her with them to begin with, when they were smaller, but she was too attached to Red, and Red really wants to harm them. No doubt bout Red, she is out to get them, chase those intruders AWAY! And Fussy, without Red with her, acted like she was terrified of the babies.

If Dash had ever tried to crawl under Fussy's wing feathers, I think all would have been good, but Dash is so scared of the big girls. Once Fussy has somethin under her wings, she takes care of it. I think she is just real confused about her feelings, part jealousy and part wanting to mother. Too bad she didnt have a clutch at the same time, like your Sunny did.

 

[barg]

Sounds like the box itself might have been part of it too -maybe?
Everytime I rearange the coop the chickens get confused and almost forget who they hate and who they don't... I do emphasise ALMOST, but it does throw them, and their behavior, off a little when New things appear.

Quote:
I'll post that new thing in my thread when the pic's come back.
It's one of those things that works better with the pics.

 

[thndrdancr]

Dont be fooled, she knew exactly what she was doing and where the chicks were. It was just such puzzling behavior. I know she is jealous. And she WAS checking out the box too. But she also knew the chicks were in there. I sometimes wished I could understand what's going thru those little brains. Fussy is the only one I try to "talk" to with visual impressions, but I should try it with my others, and see if it works any.
Those chicken personalities are amazing to me. Also one would think after being persecuted herself, Red would not wanna attack the others, but it seems to make her MORE aggravated, and she wants to take it out on the babies. Hence, the behavior of the other nite when I posted. Its been chaotic the last 3 nights. chicken drama ....