Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I wish... I am working on a friend’s rental house; and dang it, he got a tentative agreement on it today for February... (also to some very nice people it will be perfect for, so I can’t complain too much). The way things have been looking I had inquired, even knowing who it was most likely going to (the people are pretty picky so they may still back out...) to stay positive though we are now in a fairly substantial credit situation with our propane bill! I should make up a little sign “will work for propane/gasoline”

I thought it seemed too good to be true (and extremely fast).

Well, I hope the build goes quickly and smoothly for you this year!

 

[MaryJanet]

Now that's an idea! I'd love to know how she terrorized it.

• Show it pictures of its family and tell it she knew where they lived
• Put bamboo under its talons
• Slowly drip water on its forehead
• Tickle it until it wets itself
• Make it eat dirt
• Give it noogies

I wonder?

Tickling I think

 

[BY Bob]

Hungry Hungry Hattie

I was checking on the ladies early this morning and I saw this at 1:00 am.

So I finally started doing the math. I'm a little slow in realizing what might be going on.

The sun sets here now around 5 pm. At 1:00 am, Hattie had been roosted for apx 7.5 hours. Her craw must be empty. The poor girl is hungry.

I don't normally keep food in the coop except in the winter. She is taking advantage of it and snacking. She can't get back on the roost but at least she's not hungry. I may need to keep food in the coop a little longer into the spring now until the nights are shorter so she can snack.

Who knew?

 

[Ribh]

Hungry Hungry Hattie

I was checking on the ladies early this morning and I saw this at 1:00 am.

So I finally started doing the math. I'm a little slow in realizing what might be going on.

The sun sets here now around 5 pm. At 1:00 am, Hattie had been roosted for apx 7.5 hours. Her craw must be empty. The poor girl is hungry.

I don't normally keep food in the coop except in the winter. She is taking advantage of it and snacking. She can't get back on the roost but at least she's not hungry. I may need to keep food in the coop a little longer into the spring now until the nights are shorter so she can snack.

Who knew?

Wow. Most of what I've read says no food in coop & they don't see well enough in the dark to move around. That camera sure does reveal some interesting insights!

 

[WhoDatChick]

Here’s a frightening perspective. This is a professional crew, not volunteers. This is south of Nowra, which is an hour south of us.

Whoa!! That is very frightening!

 

[WhoDatChick]

Hope everyone has an amazing 2020.. we celebrated with our usual fireworks and I couldn’t resist this one... ...

chicken shooting fire out her bum! Sorry no video but I still haven’t figured that out ... we also got the pooping dog ... I know.. I’m 10

 

[Shadrach]

Hungry Hungry Hattie

I was checking on the ladies early this morning and I saw this at 1:00 am.

So I finally started doing the math. I'm a little slow in realizing what might be going on.

The sun sets here now around 5 pm. At 1:00 am, Hattie had been roosted for apx 7.5 hours. Her craw must be empty. The poor girl is hungry.

I don't normally keep food in the coop except in the winter. She is taking advantage of it and snacking. She can't get back on the roost but at least she's not hungry. I may need to keep food in the coop a little longer into the spring now until the nights are shorter so she can snack.

Who knew?

I've had this discussion elsewhere.
There are a lot of factors involved. The metabolic rate of each chicken is slightly different.
I've been concerned in the past where on ER people have been advised to check their chickens crop in the morning. The implication being, if there is still food in the crop the chicken has crop problems.
You then read where the OP is and realize that it is summer there. In mid summer here the chickens may not go to roost until past 2200 and be out of the coop in the morning by 0600. Quite a few here have still had food in their crops during the summer months.
The chickens here get fed right before they go to roost.
The eyesight business is also prone to miss information. Chickens can see in the dark; they just don't see that well in the dark. They will, or at least they have here got back on the roost bar in the middle of the night if you taken one off.
I do a lot of my health checks at night and I take the bird off the perch and stand them on the coop roof. I've had a couple that not only flew to the ground but stood on the ramp demanding to be let back in the coop. And, they got back on to the roost bar.

 

[BY Bob]

I've had this discussion elsewhere.
There are a lot of factors involved. The metabolic rate of each chicken is slightly different.
I've been concerned in the past where on ER people have been advised to check their chickens crop in the morning. The implication being, if there is still food in the crop the chicken has crop problems.
You then read where the OP is and realize that it is summer there. In mid summer here the chickens may not go to roost until past 2200 and be out of the coop in the morning by 0600. Quite a few here have still had food in their crops during the summer months.
The chickens here get fed right before they go to roost.
The eyesight business is also prone to miss information. Chickens can see in the dark; they just don't see that well in the dark. They will, or at least they have here got back on the roost bar in the middle of the night if you taken one off.
I do a lot of my health checks at night and I take the bird off the perch and stand them on the coop roof. I've had a couple that not only flew to the ground but stood on the ramp demanding to be let back in the coop. And, they got back on to the roost bar.

I have accepted that at least Hattie sees pretty well at night, certainly better than I thought.

I know that her crop is as hard as a rock at bedtime. She jams it full. So she is trying to get through the night. The night is just too long.

I'm going to keep an eye on this as the days lengthen.

 

[Shadrach]

I have accepted that at least Hattie sees pretty well at night, certainly better than I thought.

I know that her crop is as hard as a rock at bedtime. She jams it full. So she is trying to get through the night. The night is just too long.

I'm going to keep an eye on this as the days lengthen.

Good catch on video though By Bob. That's worth putting away as a reference vid.

 

[MaryJanet]

It's very interesting. She's a clever girl, taking a snack when she needed it.