Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Desertvalleychickens]

Watch my chickens free range in the desert!

 

[GregnLety]

I think there is a more technical name for them..

Sideburns? Lol

 

[RoyalChick]

Sideburns? Lol

Mutton chops.

 

[Ponypoor]

How much rain do you usually get?
And Muffy is just beautiful! She is an EE, right?

Hmm well the odd thunderstorm now and again, but usually from mid July to end of Aug is very dry.

Muffy is a barnyard mutt, her Dada is Mr P a Polish Roo. The egg mama is up for debate, likely Whiskers though.

 

[Ponypoor]

Mutton chops.

Umm ok!

 

[bgmathteach]

Well at the rate we are going I will only be keeping Mr P, I forgot how much drama is involved with these jerks.

Add the fact I have new hens fighting with mine, and everyone squawking about wanting to either lay an egg, or have laid an egg. Well it’s not very quiet. Then add in the roosters crowing…. I might not keep any of the new ones (except Petunia), and just keep my original gals and my nieces old ladies.

Ya… just those original ones - keep it simple and quiet. Mr P hardly crows at all on his own.

Beasts! Brats! Noisy kiddos

Remember that it will settle down a bit in the future! You need to give them time for 2 things to happen:

1) The newbies to integrate into your current flock. There is a lot of drama when they need to fight to see where they fit into the pecking order - and I suspect Raven was top hen in your niece's flock? She want to be now - but others are not recognizing her having any standing, and she will need to fight her way up the 'chicken ladder'. Others will, too...give it time. (P.S. if you could have done this, giving them their own space for about 2 weeks - where the 2 flocks could see each other but not touch - would have been a bit easier integration for he hens.)

2) Tweens to grow out of their hormones and settle in. This will not be as quick - particularly with the boys - but give them time. I don't feel like they are mature/settled until over a year old. So, this time next year the boys will have settled down.

See how the boys are behaving at about 6-8 months, and you can decide who to keep of them then, if you haven't already gotten rid of them. Pick 2 or 3 you are thinking about keeping, and watch carefully - both for how they grow up (personality/temperament) and how they interreact with Mr.P and the girls. With the number of hens you have, 3 roosters would be good as long as they all get along. Given your keeping arrangements, definitely 2. (i.e. 1 main coop for the winter.)

I believe someone mentioned a ratio of 10:1. That is for successful breeding - a roo can 'cover' that many hens and the eggs should be fertile (unless roo is older, which Mr. P is still in his prime!). For watching over/guarding/defending hens - that is FAR TOO MANY hens for 1 rooster.

There is a lot of good information on roosters in the article @Shadrach wrote on roosters - I know others have linked it here before, but it is good enough to deserve another linking!

 

[GregnLety]

Remember that it will settle down a bit in the future! You need to give them time for 2 things to happen:

1) The newbies to integrate into your current flock. There is a lot of drama when they need to fight to see where they fit into the pecking order - and I suspect Raven was top hen in your niece's flock? She want to be now - but others are not recognizing her having any standing, and she will need to fight her way up the 'chicken ladder'. Others will, too...give it time. (P.S. if you could have done this, giving them their own space for about 2 weeks - where the 2 flocks could see each other but not touch - would have been a bit easier integration for he hens.)

2) Tweens to grow out of their hormones and settle in. This will not be as quick - particularly with the boys - but give them time. I don't feel like they are mature/settled until over a year old. So, this time next year the boys will have settled down.

See how the boys are behaving at about 6-8 months, and you can decide who to keep of them then, if you haven't already gotten rid of them. Pick 2 or 3 you are thinking about keeping, and watch carefully - both for how they grow up (personality/temperament) and how they interreact with Mr.P and the girls. With the number of hens you have, 3 roosters would be good as long as they all get along. Given your keeping arrangements, definitely 2. (i.e. 1 main coop for the winter.)

I believe someone mentioned a ratio of 10:1. That is for successful breeding - a roo can 'cover' that many hens and the eggs should be fertile (unless roo is older, which Mr. P is still in his prime!). For watching over/guarding/defending hens - that is FAR TOO MANY hens for 1 rooster.

There is a lot of good information on roosters in the article @Shadrach wrote on roosters - I know others have linked it here before, but it is good enough to deserve another linking!

We have about a 3 to 1 ratio of hens to roosters. Red's tribe is 5 to 1 and the Silkie crosses are 1 to 1 for now.

 

[GregnLety]

We have about a 3 to 1 ratio of hens to roosters. Red's tribe is 5 to 1 and the Silkie crosses are 1 to 1 for now.

All but Red's tribe has multiple roosters.

 

[knoturavggrl]

I think there is a more technical name for them..

I actually think that is what they call them, I to assumed there was something else they called it so I went looking.

Here is the SOP for a self blue Ameraucana last line in the screenshot I took does say muffs and beard. So Ill be darned they do call those cute fuzzy cheeks muffs.

 

[bgmathteach]

Ok good to know- they may not live that long. Seeing as how they are only 11 weeks old, so not glad way to 5 months of age.

It’s not just me listening to this cacophony, I don’t want Mr Chainsaw whining all about my noisy clucks. We have noise bylaws here and I dont want the twsp aggregating me!

As it is everyone is squawking and carrying on here, he had the chainsaw going which set everyone off, now he has a huge burn pile going near my fence line, my mum came up all pissed because his burn pit is so near the fence line where all the trees are. She is worried the trees will catch fire and then burn down everything. I told her grab the cat and her safe and drive out if it happens I would get the chooks out. Horses too…

If anything ever happened here it’s not me he would need to worry about, it’s my 4’8”, 77yr old mum!

Anyways I bought everyone inside and told them to zip it, they have all settled down now, I guess it’s not normal for him to be out there doing stuff so the chickens were all freaking out, they couldn’t see him through the trees, but could hear him. It wasn’t normal noise, they are creatures of habit.

Even the horses were milling about with his activities.

But now peace reigns and it’s all good

Back to what I was doing - fixing the Hen House door.

Considering the hours of the day you have said he is using his chainsaw - and the noise that makes, I really don't think he would have a leg to stand on regarding a noise complaint. When yours are locked up in the bard at night - even with the windows open - the barn and the fan running, blowing IN in the windows will do a lot to muffle the sounds and take the 'sharp edges' off of it.

Just as an CYA, though, I would start documenting the noise, burning, cutting, time, locations etc. in a permanent spiral bound notebook (not loose-leaf where pages can be added/subtracted). Keep detailed records! The loudest complainer and/or the one with the most evidence wins. Make sure you are the one to have the most evidence. I would also take pictures of the burn pile - proximity to tree-line and fence-line, and also note if he has a water source at burn pile. I don't know about with Canadian rules, but i my state you have to have a permit (restricted to spring UNLESS you have a farm ) either way, you MUST call and let FD know you are burning - and they can tell you 'no' if it is severe wildfire alert conditions - AND you have to have a water source near the fire (garden hose, small pump (plug in or generator operated) with line to nearby stream or pond, etc. AND it must be a certain distance from any buildings, and a lesser distance from any trees not being burned.

Keep track of his burning, noises you have complained about, times, location, duration, etc. Unfortunately, my SOB Boss has taught me that I need to document, document, document. She has learned to NOT put anything in writing - so I follow up ALL meetings with her with an email stating 'this is what I understood you to say during out meeting 'in your office/in the hallway/phone , etc.)

for me, this does 2 things - put it in writing - which she usually ignores/won't respond to - that is tacit approval - OR she will deny, because she is aware it is completely wrong - then I have documentation that I CAN do X, Y, or Z, and she can't later try to turn it against me for doing it. (trust me, this is a constant battle of harassment. 'Why did you call in sick - you weren't sick - what was wrong - oh, just take 'X meds. she is aware that X meds does not work for me - commonly doesn't for people who are taking 'y' meds.) It doesn't matter that it is illegal to ask why someone is out sick as it is an invasion of personal privacy/medical conditions. AND our contract states that no notes are needed unless we will be out 3 or more days in a row. (and she is aware of that. If I call in 2 days in a row - rare, but does happen - she will say - 'You know you will need a dr. note if you are out again - so, you better get one or be here'. While it would be nice for a boss to remind you so you don't get into trouble if you don't have one (i.e. make sure you have an appointment scheduled or go to walk - in clinic), it is the tone - and the fact that she will deny she said it - that goes to the harassment piece. She got her hand slapped (though not fired, which she should have been) when someone went to HR with over a half dozen emails that were harrassing and illegal - but she is protected and told the person filing claim 'oh, you just mis-understood her'...but Boss has NEVER put thing in writing since - and it has made the harrassment worse. A colleague of mine just tested pos. for Covid last Monday, and was VERY SICk (hence the testing in the first place) texted boss. Boss CALLS back (not text - god forbid there be a record) and told her 'Covid protocols went away - you need to get your butt into work'

This person popped into my work zoom, in tears - she was so weak she needed help to get up and go to bathroom. She didn't know what to do. Well, the 'covid protocols' boss was talking about was that there was no longer a mandate to be vaccinated to be on campus/take in person courses. Our policy & Statewide policy is that if you test positive, you MUST stay out of work for 5 days. At that point, you can choose to either return to work and/or be retested - depending on symptoms. AND, it is illegal for Boss to request proof of Covid (invasion of HIPPA rights) Our state allows employees to just report that need to be out 5 days, and/or get a Dr. note stating needs to stay home/be out of work for 5 days. No reason should EVER be put on that. The ONLY time work needs information with DR. notes is if there is any accommodation needed, and then they only need limitations and/or accommodations medically/physically needed. They are NOT allowed to ask for specific condition(s).

Okay, I owe lots of tax for this off topic rambling:

A couple of chick pics, and one for Pony Sunday