Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[MaryJanet]

I'm glad the hawk announced itself.

 

[Ribh]

I am very concerned. We have not had one here since Hattie was a chick and that was a juvenile hawk.

I did thwart 2 attacks on Daisy, the greatest hen ever, back in the day. I will tell those stories another time.

I have been a little lax on guarding them constantly while they free range. Those days are over. Much less freedom for them now.

Raptors are our only real predators but so close to the water they tend to go for the fish. Having said that, one of the lads got showered in blood & feathers while standing on the verandah one day, when a hawk went for a pigeon. They are hunters & I keep a weather eye out but my girls aren't all that cluey because they've never really had to be.

 

[BY Bob]

I'm glad the hawk announced itself.

I have no idea why he did that but I am grateful.

 

[Kris5902]

Is that inches? So it shouldn't be any wider than 4 inches? So that's a little over 10cm, I can cut it down to that. I might be able to make some notches over the door and make it higher. As the pre-fab houses are so small, it's hard to make a perch higher than the nesting box.

Just remember that a 2x4 is actually 1.5”x3.5” or 9?cm. My girls seem to prefer 2”-2.25” wide (round) at most. My first 2 tractor builds, this was my largest mistake. I needed thicker roosts, still need to fix them... (my girls actually snapped one that was too thin!)

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Me too - very excited and happy to hear about her life

Me three! I have wanted to know how Daisy earned her title for a while now

 

[BY Bob]

Aurora gets Roosted

I got video last night at roosting time of little miss friendly, Hattie, reminding Aurora that she is below her in the pecking order. This helps to show why the littles are out on the roost extension. Additionally it is giving me pause on lowering the roost as they try and peck poor Aurora from the roost as she walks around looking for a spot to get back up. If the roost is lower they could reach her from above.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Tuna!!

I gave the ladies the remains of a tuna sandwich the other day. No bread. I was greatly pleased by how friendly all the snacking was. Not a lot of fuss here. Lots of friendly sharing.

Awe i feel like poor Hattie's face should be blurred over. The poor girl must be appalled that you would show her in this condition!!!

 

[Kris5902]

I haven’t had any recent hawk sightings, since that one last month, but I did find a little poof of tiny feathers halfway between our trailer and the burn pile so clearly something took out one of the little junkos recently. I also had an eagle incident yesterday, which I was going to share over on my thread, but seeing as we’re on the subject here...

This is why I love my roosters. Yes they make a racket, but sometimes they actually have cause. They may ignore raccoons at the side of the tractor, but alarm at goats and such. I’m wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but the boys had been alarming for a couple minutes mid day and there were no goats or strangers in sight. I opened up the window and leaned out, and a very ratty looking immature eagle flew over (I think he was in the field past Mr.Marans tractor) I knew Sammy was hiding under my trailer, screaming his little head off, and everyone else is safely contained in their tractors. But rushed out to make sure everyone was safe. All 5 of my free range ladies were holed up under the trailer with Sammy, even little Zeta who still tends to range further from the rest of his Flock.

My boys are very good at herding their ladies under safety for the most part. A few days ago two of my girls teamed up against a raven that was trying to scavenge some of their leftover feed. Drove the poor thing off with a few solid pecks, fluffing and charging it. I’m also perplexed at why (despite having their own full feeder of exactly the same feed) my free range girls would rather eat the leftovers from Bob’s Ladies tractor? I suppose it’s like how the beer I liberated from BIL’s car somehow tasted better than the stuff we have to pay for!

 

[Shadrach]

I had one hard chicken rule from when I was a young lad and we had first gotten Speck, you had to have two chickens. They needed a friend.

I think this is so important.

 

[Shadrach]

Aurora gets Roosted

I got video last night at roosting time of little miss friendly, Hattie, reminding Aurora that she is below her in the pecking order. This helps to show why the littles are out on the roost extension. Additionally it is giving me pause on lowering the roost as they try and peck poor Aurora from the roost as she walks around looking for a spot to get back up. If the roost is lower they could reach her from above.

That's a great clip. You've got a bunch of savages.
I see very little of that with Tribe 2 (Bantams) and with Tribe 4 none at all.
The Marans based tribe, Tribe 2 will make a new pullet or cockerels life difficult at roost time but they settle down quite quickly. There is something about movement underneath a roosting chicken that is a factor in this behavior I think.
Tribe 3 (various stages of Bantam and Marans crosses) are much more like your hens.