constructing a single chicken family unit for porch

[centrarchid]

TRUEMAN STRIKES AGAIN

After Brownie went to roost with her chicks (still 6), Trueman got out the biggest wrench he could find and tried to wack them with it.

 

[centrarchid]

I GOT FLOGGED BY BROWNIE AND IT HURT

Today upon getting home I released Brownie from her pen so she forage for a couple of hours. Her flight tail feathers are falling out big time and another looked ready to drop so I gave it a pull. Brownie whipped around and gave my right hand a proper flogging. Point taken is feather was not ready but by time she came back to roost a couple hours later it had fallen out. I wonder how they go from tight to falling out so fast? Sallie, Brownies mom, dropped her entire tail in one day so she is now buttless. I am trying to collect feathers to lay them out in pattern on body as well as replacement sequence. The business of dropping all tail feathers in one day is aggravating. Roosters have a different pattern where sickle feathers come out first then a week or to later the lateral feathers start falling our work their way to median feathers over usually less than a week.


Brownie is still clucking but her chicks are starting to range well away from her. The little buggers are getting aggravating at dawn when they run about at my feet after coming down from roost. Dogs seem to take that in stride and seem to have no problem not stepping in them. They also did their group assault call on grasshoppers again today. They all stayed cohesive for that. Tonight will have a nice cool down so behaviors should change with that.

 

[centrarchid]

STORM PASSES TO NORTH

Trueman and I are out on north facing front porch watching a dark mass of clouds parade slowly from west to east. It is one of those events with lots of thunder and the smell of rain but only a few drops for us. On the power lines above the sweet sumac and red-osier dogwoods along fence row the migrant warblers and flycatchers can be seen watching for sharp-shinned hawks that very seldom come in behind them from north. In virtually every large tree around I can see songbirds sitting quietly high up. Such elevated locations are the best for dealing with attacks from the bird eating hawks. Many of the songbirds are in molt and food is easy to come by so they do as little as they can. I can also see a northern mocking bird with a white tail, it is unlikely to see spring because of that tail. Near it a grey catbird keeps making itself visible. Brownie just came out of heavy cover of the female sweet sumac with her as her brood started powering up for a good round of foraging. More likely than not will shortly take her brood across the road to forage field that is loaded with grasshoppers. She and her brood have been providing even more insight into foraging behavior that I can now actually recognize from a distance with birds in and around cockyard.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/824148/vocalizations-facilitate-feeding-on-patches-of-insect-prey

As they crossed road some of the chicks tried to catch an English house sparrow that did not cooperate.

The thunder is getting louder / closer causing Trueman to cower behind me. I can also here heavy rain now to north. Darn yellow jacket is landing and walking on my right hand making it difficult to type and a humming birds is within a 3 feet of Scoob's head and Trueman is talking to it now.

 

[centrarchid]

RAIN DOES HIT AND IT FEELS NICE

Scoob moved up on front porch and Trueman has been sitting on him for last 10 minutes. Brownie is fully exposed in field since she did not come back in. Timing of the rain is perfect for planted wild life plot this morning.




BROWNIE AND CHICKS CAME RUNNING IN

After a good 15 minutes of hard rain Brownie came trotting back with her chicks in the lead. All were running with bodies at 45 degree angle to prevent water from getting to base of feathers. The chicks are not quite mature enough to stay dry in such heavy rains. They are now hiding under car with Ralph. Trueman's mom brought him some white table grapes so he is again happy. We are waiting for the rainbow.

 

[centrarchid]

ARRIS PIZZA IS POPULAR WITH THE FRONT PORCH FLOCK

Today I got home to see Scoob and Brownie with her brood laying together under the partially opened garage door. Temperature and humidity were very unpleasant causing all animals except insects to hide out. A little later my wife pulled in with some fancy pizza which Trueman immediately tore into because he is partial to "peezza' which gets him saying "urum yum yum". After he has his share he went out to Brownie that had just gotten up to roost and began feeding it to her. She seemed partial to greens and crust. Later Trueman began force feeding me those salty green olives. He thinks it is funny to watch me eat something he thinks is nasty.

 

[centrarchid]

PLAYING IN SANDBOX




Brownie lost her butt.

But it is growing back.




Her plumage is about as bad as it will look. She is still clucking to 8 week old juveniles and is not in lay. She may tend them for another month.

Juvenile male with autosomal barring.

Juvenile female with autosomal barring.


The hairy potbelly is not mine.

 

[tatertot]

Now that was really something

 

[centrarchid]

I THINK OUTRIGHT THREAT OF VIOLENCE BY HAREM MASTER SUPPRESSES BATTLE ROYAL IN GAMECHICKEN JUVENILES


My game chickens as juveniles go through two, sometime three developmental stages where battle royals develop that can cause physical harm as well as death loss. Brooder rearing can complicate issue but it still happens even with free-range hen reared broods. All battles have been intrabrood, regardless of setting. See link to videos showing examples.

Fights are much more intense than typical chest buttings associated with rank determinations and play fighting. First and most likely to occur round is usually when chicks are about 5 weeks old and changing into juveniles. Hen often stops clucking at that time and will soon come back into lay if early enough in season.

One fairly consistent pattern is the lack of a harem master (adult rooster) the hen and brood associate with. No rooster and battle royal is much more likely to occur. Prior to this morning I would say whatever rooster does has no apparent direct aggression. The observation making me rethink occurred at about dawn as juveniles came off roost with Brownie. They immediately went to fighting and got dogs stirred up because the flogging and chirps of aggression / pain where unusual. Immediately after I got to door, Ralph got involved and systematically ran down and attacked the combating cockerels. They stopped fighting immediately. I have not been able to suppress aggression in a similar manner. An hour later all fighting has stopped but juveniles are making more chirps than usual as if they are lost from their mother. She is present among them but her voice is changing and maybe the cause of problem. Soon her clucking should stop. Her brood is now > 8weeks so the duration of clucking has been longer than average.

 

[NewToFarming]

Thanks for posting this! I seen a few of my youngsters doing this lately. Poor Scoob! He looked at you like he is saying "Look she did it again!" LOL

 

[centrarchid]

This observation is not entirely restricted to the front porch flock. The two American Dominique harems in pasture have effectively busted up. Roosters are no longer with hens at all times. Everyone is in heavy molt. Two hens of those flocks are with very young chicks and two are brooding eggs in pasture. Scoob checks brooding hens multiple times daily so they are pretty safe. Game rooster led harems would still have roosters tending at least juvenile offspring while the American Dominiques clearly do not do it. Ralph, 3/4 American Dominique and 1/4 American Game, does tend to be more like the American Games so that attribute may be dominant to the American Dominique deadbeat dad habit.