constructing a single chicken family unit for porch

[centrarchid]

Wife has been getting on me about birds messing in her flower pots. I assumed Wilson, the pain in the butt cat was to blame, but no. Sallies kids caught in act. When I approached to sit down in chair next pot, one chick was in pot. After sitting down for at most a minute, the other five got in as well to dust bath and snooze.

As I tried to photograph the bitties Sallie jumped up on my leg and began preening. I had to poke her to make stop for photograph.

Zooming in on her face and making camera talk got Sallie to look head into camera in binocular image mode.

This image shows Sallies eyes covered by inner eyelids. Notice the bluish grey tint to eyes. She can still see although not quite as well. Some mammals and bony fishes I think only critters without functional inner eyelids.

EDITS UNDERLINED

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Dogs and cats and Sharks have them but there are more than you might think that have them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating_membrane

Humans have a vestigial one in the form of the bump in the corner of your eye. Kind of pinkish.

Interesting stuff. My son and I had a conversation about this just a day or so ago.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
You should get them their own flower pot with dusting dirt in it..... LOL.

 

[centrarchid]

perchie.girl :

Quote:
You should get them their own flower pot with dusting dirt in it..... LOL.

I will give that a try. Rocks will be placed in those with plants to stop activities there.

I edited statement above concerning nictitating membrane.​

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
You should get them their own flower pot with dusting dirt in it..... LOL.

I will give that a try. Rocks will be placed in those with plants to stop activities there.

I edited statement above concerning nictitating membrane.

I just found it interesting you mentioning the inner eyelid and that I had had a lengthy conversation very recently about it..... My intention was not correction.... just one of synergy.

 

[centrarchid]

I still had to fix, otherwise would not be able to sleep. Can not sleep anyway; birds on front porch and dog making more racket than usual. And barred owls.........I wonder what they taste like, since they sing outside my window so well all night long.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
LOL.... I suffer from a broken biorhythm. Being a morning person AND a night person too. Got worse after I had my son. That whole hyper-vigilant thing that wakes you if a single noise is out of place in the house. I had to resort to the White noise, of a fan, or the TV on an old movie....

 

[centrarchid]

Reason for disturbances. Group of 9 white-tailed deer, all bucks, coming into yard for red clover and possibly chicken poo. Scoob drove them off three times during night and they kept coming back. We havee something they like. Two are 8-pointers and another at least may be a 10-pointer.

 

[centrarchid]

Interesting notes.

Hens of free ranging flock are fairly consistent in timing when clucking stops. Head feathers of chicks are beginning to emerge when hen stops clucking. Is the signal to stop endogenous (internal) to hens natural clock or does something about chicks change that causing them to no longer stimulate hen to cluck?

Even though hen no longer clucks, chicks still associate with her for much of day. Exception seems to be in middle of day when hen preparing to lay egg. Hen now almost always in close proximity to rooster. Chicks, when not with hen, stay near heavy cover.

Chicks of red jungle hen interact with Sallie's brood a lot and Sallie nearing point where she will stop clucking as well. My guess is broods of red jungle hen and Sallie will merge and settle together in heavy cover during heat of day. Both groups will likely be excluded from areas dominated by older cohorts of dominques and dominique crosses.

Red jungle hen no longer roosting with her chicks. She is now roosting next to Eduardo but away from Sallie.

 

[djennings]

Please keep up your posting, very interesting, Thanks.