Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Grammy60]

The cameras were very helpful with seeing this kind of stuff without intruding.

I can see that, its a great idea I love watching everyone's video and it helps me better understand our birds.

 

[Shadrach]

You have roosters & a very different relationship with the tribes. I think those of us who say the hens stop alarming when we arrive have all hen flocks & I expect that makes a difference? But as I said I have little experience with this. The *watch & monitor* is a far more common call than the full on alert which I think I've only really heard once ~ for a large monitor lizard. Even when I had a hawk land in one of the trees in the run there was no alarm given. I'm the one who alarmed & got everyone to safety!

I don't know Ribh. I do occasionally hear a hen give and alarm call and Myth's is a bit like a loud purr.
I tend to think that chicken calls are likely to be pretty similar no matter what the keeping circumstances.
I get to hear a lot of warning calls here due to the hawks mainly.
This year has been very quiet thankfully. Last year it was a couple of attempted strikes a month and lots of sightings.
There is no chicken dictionary and looking at the beliefs of the human, there isn't likely to be one for the foreseeable future. If for example it is decided that chickens have a language then that does rather leave the notion of humans being 'special' in some way in a bit of a dilemma, not to mention the rather awkward matter of how we've treated them.
For most people still, they are either livestock, or pets and we couldn't be doing with our food, or cuddle toys being as intelligent as we are now could we.
Currently what studies there are have chicken calls (not language note) at between 30 and 35. If you were to judge human speech by individually identifiable calls apparently we aren't that far ahead.
So, take your pick, one species or the other talks a lot of meaningless crap 90% of the time.

 

[Shadrach]

I usually say “Hello ladies!” When I see the girls.

If I had any ladies I might do that.

 

[Ribh]

Sad day for my little "Rocket" She jumped down from her high perch, landed wrong and snapped her left leg in half at the knee. (I don't know what to do, her whole leg doesn't work anymore) She's also in a bad molt to make matters worse!

Oh Alex! So sorry.

 

[Shadrach]

Roosting Shenanigans

It's been a while since I watched and recorded roosting time at Fluffy Butt Acres. Losing Phyllis the other night inspired me to arm the cameras and record roosting. So here we go.

It was a little different from the start as Lilly roosted before Phyllis. Here is Lilly coming in.

Hattie comes next along with Phyllis. Notice that since I put the food back into the coop, most hens snack and top off before roosting.

Phyllis is being harassed and tries the high roost.

Sansa comes in and Phyllis keeps dodging.

Sydney is next.

This is interesting because Sydney gets up on the high roost to only jump back to low roost and then back to high again. I can't figure out why?

Aurora finishes the process.

She has a hard time does Phyllis.

 

[RoyalChick]

Avian vets are not an option near me. Her knee joint snapped from her lower leg, I set it back in place and splinted the whole area. (This hen, would hop on one leg, if she had to). Beautiful stubborn hen. she's resting now, and she will eat. This always happens to me, just when my birds are all happy, and well, stuff like this steals the joy! (I'm very discouraged at the moment)

Can you give her any pain medication? Don't for goodness sake take my advice but I think I read that aspirin is OK for chickens.

 

[ValerieJ]

Can you give her any pain medication? Don't for goodness sake take my advice but I think I read that aspirin is OK for chickens.

Baby aspirin a couple times a day is all.

 

[Shadrach]

Sad day for my little "Rocket" She jumped down from her high perch, landed wrong and snapped her left leg in half at the knee. (I don't know what to do, her whole leg doesn't work anymore) She's also in a bad molt to make matters worse!

I'm really sorry to write this but if her leg is broken and you can't get her to a vet to be X rayed then you'll have to put her out of her misery. My vet won't even bother trying to splint a full broken leg. She says that for the amount of pain the chicken has to go through and the high possibility of permanent nerve and tendon damage usually makes trying to fix it the least humane option.
I'm sure you'll get more seemingly positive advice on the ER forums.
A broken leg is the end of the line for a chicken. People have had some success in splinting them if you can do it properly and very quickly after the break. Often it's not the initial break that is the problem. They do further damage by not being contained and splinted.

 

[LozzyR]

Avian vets are not an option near me. Her knee joint snapped from her lower leg, I set it back in place and splinted the whole area. (This hen, would hop on one leg, if she had to). Beautiful stubborn hen. she's resting now, and she will eat. This always happens to me, just when my birds are all happy, and well, stuff like this steals the joy! (I'm very discouraged at the moment)

I’m so very sorry Alex, I feel your pain.

 

[Shadrach]

@featherhead007
You seem like a person who has a gun.
Put a material bag over her head, hold her by the neck and put the gun to the back of her head and pull the trigger.
I think that for you this may be the easiest way and something you may feel confident about even if reluctant to do it.