Chick-or-Treaters Free Range Sanctuary Thread

[mumzee1432]

My Intro Post Link - provides context and some of the experiences and details that led us to this point.

If you want to know the backstory of how our family lives ended up involved with the Chick-or-Treaters Gang, here's Dumplin's Story: How I landed in BackYard Chickens - thread link. The thread has a lot of layers of information (and tremendous evidence depicting the knowledge, passion, and supportive nature of this community). So many of you stepped up to offer support and advice during Dumplin's accident. My plan is to provide stories and follow-up as our journey with the neighbor's free-rangers flock continues.

Here are a couple of posts that provide more background context:

• Background context of the Chick-or-Treaters' "home life"
• Transition to "real chicken food" update

I'm definitely not a chicken expert, but I do love our sweet feathered visitors. It's obvious to us that we are their sanctuary, so I'm just going to roll with that role and share our journey here.

 

[MommyGirl]

Welcome I read your other post as well. Thank you for taking care of them! They looks so happy to have someone care about them! Beautiful birds

 

[MommyGirl]

And by the way that’s how I got started with my own chickens was a neighbor’s chicken who was sitting on eggs in my yard! Lol she hatch 3 babies that I kept! Sadly about 3 months after she hatch them she jumped over our backyard fence and one of our dogs killed the mother hen! I had grown really attached to her and named her Betty Sue. She is dearly missed but she got me into chickens and I don’t think I could live without them now!

 

[mumzee1432]

The Chick-or-Treaters Gang arrived just after dawn today and dashed to their new food. I have no idea what the best food is (I started with Purina Layena Omega-3), but I'm open to suggestions for what might be better. After the incident with Dumplin, I decided we would start offering the flock real chicken food regularly in hopes of offsetting the conditions at their "homeplace." In just 2 days, I've noticed the chickens are staying around our house and wandering less for much longer periods of time. They also don't seem quite as inclined to go the buildings where the bugs/worms are, thus keeping them closer to safe areas and away from the road Dumplin crossed.

Instead of roaming so far, they appear to be content in the trees in our backyard. We have a row of evergreens and other trees with very low branches. In the past, they've only climbed into the branches when they were spooked by loud noises. Yesterday and today, they have stayed around in and under those trees and/or in the dust bath holes they dug nonstop for a couple of hours at a time. The 2 Easter Eggers climbed up and nuzzled together on a branch a long time, followed by one of the Australorps. A little later, I noticed 5 hens were curled up together with one of the Roosters standing around at some level of alert. The other rooster is off with the other Australorp (both of them are very independent and routinely drift away solo or with either other). I noticed the 2 roosters have been crowing intermittently. I can hear the one in the backyard crowing loudly then a few minutes later I hear a faint response. I haven't decided what to make of that.

At one point the injured rooster (tail missing due to coyote attack) came to the front porch to look in at me. He was by himself, so I decided to give him tuna and some one on one attention. He isn't the alpha and seems to answer to the main rooster -- who allows him to be with the flock but keeps him in check. Watching the 2 roosters interact with each other and hens is very interesting to me. Both of them are sweet and friendly to us. Our UPS driver and postman both interact with them regularly too. The only ire I've witnessed is an occasional reprimand from the alpha (Ricardo) toward the younger/secondary rooster (Manny). Ricardo, for example, holds a tight control over Manny getting any food before the hens are happily eating, and he has no tolerance for Manny's "Moves Like Jagger" if a hen shows any signs of disinterest.

Since Manny's tail was injured, I've noticed he is less confident and noisy. It's been a week now, and I am happy to see little feathers are starting to grow back at the tip. His skin looks a lot better too. I chased him casually and sprayed him with medicine to help him heal. Until the accident, he would let me pet him pretty regularly. I didn't dare try to touch him this week. Seemed like that might rekindle his nervousness and make it even harder to get medicine on his tail where he had abrasions. The hen who is likely to be traveling around with him, Louizy, had her tail go missing about a month ago. It's mostly back now. Lots of extra protein for her has helped.

Still no word from the neighbors. Wonder if they assumed Dumplin passed or if she's mixed into the group? Wonder if they think we still have her in our makeshift chicken hospital. Not hearing from them might be for the best. I have nothing to say to them that they would likely be open to hearing. I think they bought some sort of starter pack of chickens for eggs and think their role is to collect eggs. They open the "coop" in the morning and do whatever they call securing them at night.

During my teacher training, I remember being told that it is a serious flag when a child harms or is willing to harm an animal. I believe it -- but I don't limit that to children. Adults who abuse, mistreat, or disregard the basic needs of animals in their care are despicable in my book. I may not be able to change or control the situation directly, but I do feel good about providing a sanctuary for our free range chick-or-treaters to thrive in during the day.

 

[mumzee1432]

And by the way that’s how I got started with my own chickens was a neighbor’s chicken who was sitting on eggs in my yard! Lol she hatch 3 babies that I kept! Sadly about 3 months after she hatch them she jumped over our backyard fence and one of our dogs killed the mother hen! I had grown really attached to her and named her Betty Sue. She is dearly missed but she got me into chickens and I don’t think I could live without them now!

I know that broke your heart. Bless you for trying with those babies! I am totally attached to these lil free rangers. They are both fun and funny. I look foward to them dropping by every few hours.

 

[MommyGirl]

I know that broke your heart. Bless you for trying with those babies! I am totally attached to these lil free rangers. They are both fun and funny. I look foward to them dropping by every few hours.

Well I had a part of her for awhile cause I kept her babies. Another one later got killed by my dogs again then I built a coop and run and kept the other 2 safe for awhile but one passed at about a year old for unknown reasons and I still have one left and she’s 3 1/2 years old. But she’s with 25 more girls so she’s not alone

 

[mumzee1432]

We have a 16 year old Persian cat named Poof. He can't see or hear well, but he loves to watch the chickens. The chickens have gotten used to looking in the window at him. When we had Dumplin in the house, Poof acted like this was completely normal. My daughter looked over at me at one point while she was holding Dumplin and said -- we have a chicken in our house. A chicken, mother. lol Sometimes life just kinda finds you.

 

[mumzee1432]

I have no idea what's "normal" when it comes to chickens. I was around chickens as a small child at my grandmother's house from time to time, but the lens of a child is different. Now that we've had these chick-or-treaters free ranging into our yard since August, I've found myself pretty intrigued by them. Chickens are a lot more clever and entertaining than I think most non-chicken people realize. My current pondering is this --- do they identify with each other's issues?

Backtrack about 5-6 weeks ago when I discovered Louizy (Australorp hen) strolled into our yard with a hole where her tail should be. I could not tell if she was injured, but I won't lie -- it was unsettling to me. She looked pitiful, and I felt like she was somewhat disconnected from the flock. She had been one of the most vocal and prone to dashing into the thick of things type hen before her tail vanished. During her recovery (which I tried to expedite with extra protein), she was often alone in our yard or the last to arrive. Since her tail has grown back in, she's a bit more extroverted but not as vocal or bold as she was.

A week ago last Saturday, we realized that the non-Alpha rooster of the flock, Emmanuel (Manny), was missing his tail. His injuries were worse than Louizy's had been and it broke our hearts. I could not believe his owner had not quarantined him. It was raining hard and difficult to assess the situation, but we were at least happy to see that he was walking normally and could use his wings. I've chased him around and tried to treat/spritz his abrasions with meds. I also increased his access to protein. I noticed that he has backed off from the flock and doesn't get in the middle of the action. I chalked that up to being cautious after the injury. The flock isn't mean to him. I've seen no pecking or meanness. The alpha roooster, Ricardo, continues to keep him in check -- but that's normal too. This morning, for some reason Ricardo chased Manny around and Manny left. They have been crowing at each other from a distance. Definitely not sure what to make of that.

What brought me to my question -- do they identify with each other's issues -- was looking out on the porch and seeing Manny and Louizy side by side eating the new chicken feed together. They wandered around the yard and he acted like a thoughtful gentleman rather than his usual wild child self. I saw him offer Louizy food. I gave him some salmon and he made sure she knew about that and shared with her too. I wonder if they have gotten interested in each other because of their tail issues. Do they realize that sort of thing?

After they left the porch/front yard, I noticed they went under the trees in the backyard to hang out together. I also noticed his tail feathers have grown noticeably since this morning. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. When we saw him tail-less and injured last Saturday, it was rough. I'm happy to see these two 'loners' paired up a bit.

 

[mumzee1432]

Who knew how much fun chickens would be at Christmas time? The Chick-or-Treaters showed up bright and early Christmas morning. As they bounced onto the porch, their childlike joy reminded me of when my daughter was little (she just turned 18). She's now applying to college and life has slowly become less about the child-centered magic of Christmas and more about inner joy and enjoying laughter, memories, and unwinding together as a family. She actually said -- watching these chickens bounce around and get so excited over every little thing makes her understand how much joy and satisfaction children bring into the world.

The irony -- the chickens hated their Christmas gift. I bought a bag of dried worms and eagerly tossed them to the flock expecting them to delighted beyond their dreams. Instead, they all took a look and a sniff and backed up to start looking for any remnants of sunflower seeds they might have missed on a previous day -- or, worse yet, looked up at us with the head tilt treatment that seems to communicate "what else you got"? God Bless America. I thought all chickens loved dried meal worms, and here I am with a flock that turns up their cute little beaks at them. We ended up giving them lots of other goodies that met their approval -- and now, reflecting on it, I realize that they are more like my daughter in regards to food than I had noticed. She never liked foods that most children like -- chicken nuggets, fries, burgers, macaroni. She wanted to eat what I ate -- shrimp, salmon, broccoli, salad, anything Asian ... She was well-versed in sushi by the time she was 8-9 years old. So maybe this little flock was sent my way to help remind me of my daughter when she's away at school.

The day after Christmas, it rained at least 3" -- steady rain all day. And yet, the Chick-or-Treaters made their daily pilgrimage to our front porch -- that's about 1/2 mile. They were soaked but excited that they had shelter, food, and water. This morning, I noticed all of the worms I sprinkled out on the yard on Christmas were gone. I can't imagine the worms went anywhere other than the feathered friends' tummies. Suppose they became squishy and seemed like a worm buffet for the flock when they came to the yard early this morning? I am battling a cold and slept in. I always make sure their food and water are in place before bed in case they arrive before I'm up. The worms were gone, and all their food dishes were empty. In any event, I was secretly happy thinking they probably ended up enjoying the worms in spite of their initial reaction.

This morning's other realization .... the alpha rooster, Ricardo, and Dumplin's twin, Knuffle Bunny were snuggling/cuddled up behind a plow beside the tractor under our side carport. I have never seen Ricardo "off his feet" -- must less cuddled up. Just the two of them. The best part was when their little heads popped up as we walked onto the gravel in the carport. The vibe was absolutely "caught red-handed" --- "nothing to see here" .... It was giving 1950's make-up session in the back of a Lincoln Continental. We stood there and just watched a few minutes -- the 2 chickens kept looking at each other, opening their mouths repeated -- without any sound coming out. I told my daughter we should ease away and give them a minute. We finally heard some little happy sounds -- almost like half cackle/half purr. They strolled to the porch where we were sitting and at chicken feed side by side, then pranced around in front of us in hopes of sunflower seeds.

Lots of ups and downs this past week. I'll count the blessings and be grateful for the lessons learned.

 

[Red Mangrove]

The neighbor's flock looks like mostly a mix of Rhode Island Red and Brown Leghorn. Not sure what the black one is, but I would wager another common production breed

If you're happy with the current arrangement I would recommend making an egg-drop box (anything dark and safe with comfortable nesting material inside) outside for the hens to deposit eggs when they feel like it. Any wooden cabinet would function perfectly

If you want to truly adopt the chickens then getting your own backyard flock would draw them to you much stronger than they are currently

Good luck with whatever you decide to do or not do. The chickens look like fun