Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Welcome to the Hen House

 

[Ponypoor]

We had decided to fence her off and leave her there. The others will just have to lay elsewhere. It's not like there aren't 2 perfectly good, untouched, boxes! Then we considered moving her to the small coop, but it's too hot for that now. The heat has complicated everything.

Really, I work in an office completely unattached to my boss and coworkers. It's a LONG story that started with covid. But I've been there since God was a child and I'm retiring nest year, no later than July, and they need my brain.

So coop mostly scooped out. Left litter under the roosts and in Eenies nest. OMG the MICE! So far the trap has caught 2 adults and 4 littles and the area around the nest box had bunches of half grown mice under the litter! We'll have to deal with that later.

Meeting in 3. Then back to it.

Eenie is NOT inclined to get off the nest. Except for water and food right in front of her face, she's just there. Should I physically evict her for a few minutes to get her moving a bit?

Feed the wee mice to your kiddos

Well I would just leave her if that’s the case.

I hear you n the nest box thing I have no less than 6 free nest boxes and were does Henny Penny lay here egg???

They dragged (likely scratched) the sheets off the straw pile and Henny tore up a bale made a nest and laid her egg there!

Buttercup is over at the pile also but I removed the egg and told her to behave

I need to go cover that straw again.

 

[Lilion]

Welcome to the Hen House

Those chicks are SO cute!

So, for now Eenie will remain the pampered expectant mama and I'll give her breakfast in bed. I know she gets up occasionally because I find those amazingly large broody hen poops. I just have to get her up for a second so I can get those extra eggs I know are in there.

 

[RoyalChick]

So folks, this is the forecast. If we get thru tomorrow and Friday we're back in temps they're used to. View attachment 3559623

Because of how the house is built we simply can't bring all of them indoors. We have no way to confine all of them. It's very open concept and our little dog would lose her mind.

That said, Manny and Meanie seemed to take the heat much better. We could possibly use one of our dogs crates for Sheba if we put the dog in the bedroom. I'm still awfully worried about Eenie on the nest, but she never even was panting today. So...I guess she's okay?

I think maybe people are talking about different things.
Some of the bring indoors is for the night or for a couple of hours relief during the day. And in both cases the chickens can be confined in pet carriers or dog crates.
I have only brought mine in a couple of times and I kept them in a crate in the garage.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'll take a look at that. With respect to bedding...how do you mist the roosts without getting bedding wet? Inquiring minds want to know!

Indeed! I am not sure. I have never used a mister - I hung up wet towels and sheets in front of the fan. But I believe @micstrachan uses a misting fan so hopefully she will pop by and explain how that works.

 

[Lilion]

For now, I have a shade fly up in front of the run and wet down the run, I shoveled out the litter indoors, and have both ice and water and electrolytes in the waterers and a bowl of water outside. It's 10:30 and 90 degrees. Sheba was already panting so she's in the house for the day pretty much. She's got food and electrolytes and I'll switch it for water later.

She's stopped making noises and my dog has been thoroughly gated away. She was WAY to interested in the hen.

I didn't say it before, but I was seriously worried Seba wouldn't make it last night. Her comb was pale and she was pretty lethargic. But she recovered pretty well during the night. I'm just afraid to let her have another day like yesterday. She can go back to the coop tonight, then back in the house tomorrow. By then she should be pretty recovered and we'll hopefully be back to normal temps.

On a bright note, Meanie has stopped laying in Eenie's nest! Granted, she made one right next to her, but it's a start. Poor Sheba hasn't laid today...will she in the crate in the house?

 

[fuentemoon]

Yes, they do. For a long time I used to think I was hearing hooting from an owl, and I wondered why I was hearing owls during the day, but it was the doves.

I thought the same thing when some doves moved into our old neighborhood. Wasn't until i saw them the first time i realized what they were.
We have some around this area too, mostly they stay hidden, but are very vocal.

 

[BY Bob]

We had decided to fence her off and leave her there. The others will just have to lay elsewhere. It's not like there aren't 2 perfectly good, untouched, boxes! Then we considered moving her to the small coop, but it's too hot for that now. The heat has complicated everything.

Really, I work in an office completely unattached to my boss and coworkers. It's a LONG story that started with covid. But I've been there since God was a child and I'm retiring nest year, no later than July, and they need my brain.

So coop mostly scooped out. Left litter under the roosts and in Eenies nest. OMG the MICE! So far the trap has caught 2 adults and 4 littles and the area around the nest box had bunches of half grown mice under the litter! We'll have to deal with that later.

Meeting in 3. Then back to it.

Eenie is NOT inclined to get off the nest. Except for water and food right in front of her face, she's just there. Should I physically evict her for a few minutes to get her moving a bit?

I used to remove Phyllis from the nest once a day so she would eat, drink, poop, and bathe. She would not get up on her own the first time she was broody. Her nest was in the coop so I would take her off the eggs and outside the coop. She would wake up and then take care of herself.

Since that first time Phyllis then starting getting up on her own like they should.

I never had to do that with Sydney. She got off the nest most every day around 9 am. Somewhere I have a chart of how long she was of the nest each day. I feel like it was at least 15 min. I can look if you would like.

 

[BY Bob]

Welcome to the Hen House

My gosh they are adorable. Lucky chicks they are.

 

[BY Bob]

I think maybe people are talking about different things.
Some of the bring indoors is for the night or for a couple of hours relief during the day. And in both cases the chickens can be confined in pet carriers or dog crates.
I have only brought mine in a couple of times and I kept them in a crate in the garage.

This is correct. I don't bring them all in only the ones most stressed by the heat who are showing signs of not being able to cope. A friend of mine lost a hen yesterday to extreme heat. Before I let that happen I would bring the stressed chicken in the house/garage.