Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[GregnLety]

He laid down on the rug near my foot then gave me the look, lol

I'll post some tax pictures. Sunny and climbing to 70 degrees today

 

[Ponypoor]

He laid down on the rug near my foot then gave me the look, lolView attachment 3334225I'll post some tax pictures. Sunny and climbing to 70 degrees today

Well of course! He has missed his human slave!

Snowy and -12

Dreaming of sunny days and dust bathing

 

[ManueB]

I'm late again catching up and I don't even have a Thanksgiving excuse .

This could well be true. The supposed '14 hours of daylight to lay' is not true for me, as we haven't had 14 hours of daylight for quite a while now (we are presently at 9.5 hours of daylight per day) and some of my girls are still laying, despite moulting. (And, yes, I know many say that they don't stop laying when molting..but I have 2 hens that molted hard and stopped laying, that have now 'come back online' and are laying 2 eggs a week....definite slow-down from their 4 eggs a week - but they are back to laying. My experience is they will keep laying like this except for a real deep cold snap, then they will stop (they are EE & and ISA, only my heavy Brahma and orps lay during a cold snap)

Also, young ones that didn't start laying in the fall for me did start laying in mid-to-late January, when the amount of daylight was similar to now...but on the increasing end. I've only had 'later hatch' ones once (plus this year...we will see what they do...a couple of the co-broody raised girls are really starting to pink up - @20 weeks now) so we will see when the first egg is.)

I do find that in the spring, the younger they are, the quicker they get their 'spring flush' lay on, usually early Feb. Older ones start increasing laying mid-to late Feb, and my 4+ year olds in March start increasing (or start again) laying.

This makes me think that I need to start keeping as detailed a record as possible. Since I have so many birds, I can't always tell who is laying what, but I can keep track of exactly how many eggs are laid a day. (I do count them daily from each group to mentally note the changes...but I presently only record how many doz. eggs are sold, and whether from the cooler or to specific people at work. Noting how many are chicken eggs & how many are duck eggs.)

I suspect that there will be some variation based on local clime and total daylight hours. Someone now living nearby used to live in Virginia, and she was absolutely shocked at how dramatically the laying dropped in the fall - she said previously, in VA, it was just a slow taper, and they didn't stop laying in the winter. Here, most of mine that are 2.5 or older stop for at least part of the winter....I do not know what breeds she had, but they were the same breeds as she got here, she said.

Interesting! Climate does seem to play a role but I don't know if it's just due to the cold or linked to the amount of daylight also.
My small experience is quite different as my ex-batts (hybrids of various kind) didn't slow down at all laying their first winter, slowed down just a bit the second, except one that had a real two months pause, and out of the four ones left this third winter two are molting and not laying, and the other two are laying five eggs a week.

Sorry @ManueB I meant to add this, too and posted without it.

How are the new roost set ups working out? They did work the first few nights, then didn't (I think Gaston went to roost too late?) Are they back to a good routine that is working?

It is definitely helping to refrain Théo from attacking- if I'm present. The one time I tried to let them roost on their own he attacked Gaston.
I have a bunch of tricks now to get them to roost with no chasing. I first get Théo and his girls in the run, and I put a fence that stops Théo from seeing Gaston entering the coop and from getting out of the run. Then I get Gaston and his girls in the coop. I wait until they are all roosted, to let the other tribe in : as soon as the last of Theo's ex-batt is on the roost, I close a double door that we don't actually use that puts the coop completely in the dark. Because they can't see each other they stop arguing. Then half an hour later when they are all asleep, I come back to open that door and close the usual one.
It's time extensive but allows the two roosters to continue to sleep in the same coop for the time being.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Well of course! He has missed his human slave!

Snowy and -12

Dreaming of sunny days and dust bathing
View attachment 3334229

This picture is so sweet!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

You know, he kind of looks like those samurai warriors here.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.bada.org/sites/default/files/inline-images/Japanese%20Samurai%20Warrior.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.bada.org/news/legend-samurai&tbnid=ampedbwLcY_4mM&vet=12ahUKEwi8lumD1s77AhXWnGoFHYq0CF8QMygiegUIARDIAg..i&docid=_rxFwe2MgOnXGM&w=961&h=1215&q=samurai warriors&hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwi8lumD1s77AhXWnGoFHYq0CF8QMygiegUIARDIAg
https://www.bada.org/news/legend-samurai

That’s what I thought too!

 

[rural mouse]

Too bad you couldn’t get some pics, he sounds lovely

What do you mean by Hamburg body build?

Cheetah is a Hamburg. 5 of his 6 offspring have the same frame/bone structure, stance, almost dainty size. Horus is larger, stands a bit differently, line of back is different, breadth of chest is different.

 

[GregnLety]

Our lone rooster with no tribe

 

[Ponypoor]

I'm late again catching up and I don't even have a Thanksgiving excuse .

Interesting! Climate does seem to play a role but I don't know if it's just due to the cold or linked to the amount of daylight also.
My small experience is quite different as my ex-batts (hybrids of various kind) didn't slow down at all laying their first winter, slowed down just a bit the second, except one that had a real two months pause, and out of the four ones left this third winter two are molting and not laying, and the other two are laying five eggs a week.

It is definitely helping to refrain Théo from attacking- if I'm present. The one time I tried to let them roost on their own he attacked Gaston.
I have a bunch of tricks now to get them to roost with no chasing. I first get Théo and his girls in the run, and I put a fence that stops Théo from seeing Gaston entering the coop and from getting out of the run. Then I get Gaston and his girls in the coop. I wait until they are all roosted, to let the other tribe in : as soon as the last of Theo's ex-batt is on the roost, I close a double door that we don't actually use that puts the coop completely in the dark. Because they can't see each other they stop arguing. Then half an hour later when they are all asleep, I come back to open that door and close the usual one.
It's time extensive but allows the two roosters to continue to sleep in the same coop for the time being.

I have to do that with my squabbling gals. I shove them all on the roost turn off the lights and shut the door and wait about 10 min (I feed the horses during that time), then I sneak in the check on them hahaha!

Such bed time drama!

 

[Ponypoor]

Cheetah is a Hamburg. 5 of his 6 offspring have the same frame/bone structure, stance, almost dainty size. Horus is larger, stands a bit differently, line of back is different, breadth of chest is different.

Ah! I see it’s a breed I am not familiar with will go check it out now!

 

[Ponypoor]

Ok so I want Hamburgs also lovely hens! Beautiful Roos ( can’t have any more Roos though).