Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Apparently my sense of biosecurity is as thorough as Pony’s : everyone has already met across the fence.
For those who don’t want to watch nearly a minute of chickens growling, the highlights are that New Chicken (Nacho?) wants very much to join the flock! The older girls are pretty chill: Quincy took a good long look (they look so much alike!). Nacho(?) stands her ground and doesn’t back away when apparent bully Albert steps up roaring for a go at her.

The other birds sure are looking closely at Nacho !

 

[CCsGarden]

Calm your chickens down!

No, they don't fight! looks like do right?

 

[CCsGarden]

Happy Fluffy butt Friday!

 

[CCsGarden]

 

[featherhead007]

No, they don't fight! looks like do right?

Oh the horror! The mayhem! The feathers!

 

[knoturavggrl]

Happy Fluffy butt Friday!
View attachment 3706229

Great action photo!

 

[featherhead007]

Happy Fluffy butt Friday!
View attachment 3706229

“Houston, the Eagle has landed!”

 

[Lilion]

You folks post soooo fast! Skip a day and I can't even got all the notifications!

We put Meanie in with the others yesterday and she promptly sequstered herself away from the others. I'm afraid that by getting rid of Manny, i may have made an error.

I'd be keeping my eye on who she is afraid of

I wish i could. But i don't really know who it is. I suspect Tres...but it could be another. The only one free from suspision is Sheba. She's the only one Meanie tolerates.

Having problems quoting today. @ManueB I know you said something about hens not switching roos... that's a thought I hadn't had.

Without a doubt I changed the coop dynamics big time. Before, it was always Manny and Meanie. Side by side. Once we locked him out in the run and she was just traumatized I swear...both of them just made such a ruckus...just calling that "alert" over and over. Sheba was in the picture too...but one down the ladder. Then there was Eenie at the bottom.

After Manny left, we still had Meanie at the top, with Sheba by her side. They had the top roost, ate first, and generally ruled. Tres ran from them, as did Eenie and Goldie. But now it's pretty clear that Tres, Eenie and Goldie are a trio and Sheba is usually with them. And Meanie...well here she is...again.

Poor thing.

I'm not sure what to do to figure it out. I can close the others out, coax her out with some treats, then let the others back in and see what happens... but short of that, I can't be there all the time. I have a job!

I think I'll try to get a couple trail cams that do video set up. Maybe I can see something.

It just never occurred to me I'd do damage to one of my girls by getting rid of the too-aggressive rooster. I haven't seen Tres attempting to mate. He's seems so big, I'm a tad worried about my little hens. Though maybe he's just fluffy.

I really don't want him hurting any of them. They're just getting their feathers back they lost to Manny's attentions. I never wanted a rooster in the first place... maybe I was right.

Now of course I worry about upsetting things more by getting rid of Tres.

 

[knoturavggrl]

You folks post soooo fast! Skip a day and I can't even got all the notifications!

We put Meanie in with the others yesterday and she promptly sequstered herself away from the others. I'm afraid that by getting rid of Manny, i may have made an error.

I wish i could. But i don't really know who it is. I suspect Tres...but it could be another. The only one free from suspision is Sheba. She's the only one Meanie tolerates.

Having problems quoting today. @ManueB I know you said something about hens not switching roos... that's a thought I hadn't had.

Without a doubt I changed the coop dynamics big time. Before, it was always Manny and Meanie. Side by side. Once we locked him out in the run and she was just traumatized I swear...both of them just made such a ruckus...just calling that "alert" over and over. Sheba was in the picture too...but one down the ladder. Then there was Eenie at the bottom.

After Manny left, we still had Meanie at the top, with Sheba by her side. They had the top roost, ate first, and generally ruled. Tres ran from them, as did Eenie and Goldie. But now it's pretty clear that Tres, Eenie and Goldie are a trio and Sheba is usually with them. And Meanie...well here she is...again.View attachment 3706291View attachment 3706292
Poor thing.

I'm not sure what to do to figure it out. I can close the others out, coax her out with some treats, then let the others back in and see what happens... but short of that, I can't be there all the time. I have a job!

I think I'll try to get a couple trail cams that do video set up. Maybe I can see something.

It just never occurred to me I'd do damage to one of my girls by getting rid of the too-aggressive rooster. I haven't seen Tres attempting to mate. He's seems so big, I'm a tad worried about my little hens. Though maybe he's just fluffy. View attachment 3706295View attachment 3706296
I really don't want him hurting any of them. They're just getting their feathers back they lost to Manny's attentions. I never wanted a rooster in the first place... maybe I was right.

Now of course I worry about upsetting things more by getting rid of Tres.

I do not have near the experience many people here have but I have had a loss and I have had to rehome 3 roosters before finally finding roosters that fit our flock and family.

My hopefully relevant story:
My flock was still quite young when I rehomed the first 2 Roos (I had three so I knew I had to choose). This change went well tbh everyone seemed relieved.

Then we had a loss, my run had water erosion I didn’t notice and one of my girls got out. Something took her. My rooster couldn’t get out to save her and he was never okay after that. He was mean and attacked every human he saw. I had no choice but to rehome him with warnings.

Now we have two roosters from the eggs my BCM hatched this spring and they are so mellow and calm. Fingers crossed they seem to working out just fine. They get along and are respectful of the girls and cause them no harm.
My advice:
Change and loss do affect flock dynamics and they take time to adjust. I would give her and the flock time (unless someone is being harmed). It may take longer than you wish to figure out if your roo is a keeper.

The trail cams sound like an excellent idea! I wish I had a camera out there, I know many folks here have them and they show behavior we never get to see. You will likely learn a lot about whats going on.

Lastly, don’t be hard on yourself, we are all just doing the best we can with information we have at the time.

 

[RoyalChick]

Pretty Babs doing what she does - settling in to lay an egg.