Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Scrambles83]

The Roosting Tribulations of Phyllis

I recorded Roosting time the other night with the new camera. I took week over 30 minutes of video and Phyllis was already roosted when I started. I have condensed it down into just over 15 minutes in 2 video clips.

I have said before that roosting time with my tribe is not for the faint of heart. The tribe is vicious to each other.

SPECIAL WARNING: All of you Hattie fans may not want to watch because of how she treats Phyllis.

Also, every night this week Phyllis has been forced to roost in the big run. This bullying has really amped up since I let her set her nest. In every way it seems that was a mistake on my part. All of this is a contributing factor to the new coop and little ones. I do think her Roosting in the run will lead her to be more accepting of Roosting in the new coop when the time comes.

Video 1

We start with Phyllis on the high roost. Lilly will jump up to it and Phyllis will be forced to jump down. Shemoves to the main bar and at around the 1 minute mark, Hattie forces her off and she leaves the coop.

Around 2:48 Phyllis re-enters the coop, gets up on the main bar and Hattie goes after her again. Phyllis manages to stay on the main Roland get away from Hattie for a moment.

At 3:40 Phyllis seems to inexplicably move towards Hattie again an another round of punishment occurs. She quickly moves away.

Around the 5 min mark Phyllis seems to be looking at the small roost which I added for her but she never tries to use it.

Video 2

This video is longer as the action is almost non stop for 10 minutes.

We start off with Aurora on the roost forcing Phyllis to head towards Hattie and then off of the roost. Aurora then jumps down and forces her out of the coop. Sansa is them forced off the high roost and Aurora runs her out as well.

At the 2:40 mark Phyllis scoots past Aurora an re-enters coop and gets up on the the roost as far as possible from Hattie.

Around 3:37 Aurora surprise attacks Phyllis on the roost but Phyllis is able to run away and remain on the roost.

Around the 5 min mark, Sansa enters the coop, jumps on the roost, and forces Phyllis off. At 5:35 Phyllis jumps up by Hattie and pays for it. After the beating, everything actually looks settled. But at 8:34 Phyllis jumps down! Why? Did Hattie say something to her?

At 9:27 Phyllis comes in again and jumps on the roost. At 9:45 Aurora goes after her again and she flees. Phyllis would run and jump up by Hattie again. Hattie would send her to the other end of the roost where Sansa awaited.

The video ends here, bad edit on my part, but Sansa would chase her off the roost and Phyllis wouldn't return. She would roost in the run.

Oh dear, poor baby. When Hattie was standing on her I felt so bad for her.
Is she trying to get under/past Hattie for the prime end position, Bob? Didn’t she have that end as her own for a while a fair time ago?

 

[MaryJanet]

The Roosting Tribulations of Phyllis

I recorded Roosting time the other night with the new camera. I took week over 30 minutes of video and Phyllis was already roosted when I started. I have condensed it down into just over 15 minutes in 2 video clips.

I have said before that roosting time with my tribe is not for the faint of heart. The tribe is vicious to each other.

SPECIAL WARNING: All of you Hattie fans may not want to watch because of how she treats Phyllis.

Also, every night this week Phyllis has been forced to roost in the big run. This bullying has really amped up since I let her set her nest. In every way it seems that was a mistake on my part. All of this is a contributing factor to the new coop and little ones. I do think her Roosting in the run will lead her to be more accepting of Roosting in the new coop when the time comes.

Video 1

We start with Phyllis on the high roost. Lilly will jump up to it and Phyllis will be forced to jump down. Shemoves to the main bar and at around the 1 minute mark, Hattie forces her off and she leaves the coop.

Around 2:48 Phyllis re-enters the coop, gets up on the main bar and Hattie goes after her again. Phyllis manages to stay on the main Roland get away from Hattie for a moment.

At 3:40 Phyllis seems to inexplicably move towards Hattie again an another round of punishment occurs. She quickly moves away.

Around the 5 min mark Phyllis seems to be looking at the small roost which I added for her but she never tries to use it.

Video 2

This video is longer as the action is almost non stop for 10 minutes.

We start off with Aurora on the roost forcing Phyllis to head towards Hattie and then off of the roost. Aurora then jumps down and forces her out of the coop. Sansa is them forced off the high roost and Aurora runs her out as well.

At the 2:40 mark Phyllis scoots past Aurora an re-enters coop and gets up on the the roost as far as possible from Hattie.

Around 3:37 Aurora surprise attacks Phyllis on the roost but Phyllis is able to run away and remain on the roost.

Around the 5 min mark, Sansa enters the coop, jumps on the roost, and forces Phyllis off. At 5:35 Phyllis jumps up by Hattie and pays for it. After the beating, everything actually looks settled. But at 8:34 Phyllis jumps down! Why? Did Hattie say something to her?

At 9:27 Phyllis comes in again and jumps on the roost. At 9:45 Aurora goes after her again and she flees. Phyllis would run and jump up by Hattie again. Hattie would send her to the other end of the roost where Sansa awaited.

The video ends here, bad edit on my part, but Sansa would chase her off the roost and Phyllis wouldn't return. She would roost in the run.

Heartbreaking. I really hope the new crew and the cluckle hut will resolve the violence.

 

[goldenfingers]

A year for Maggie (and RC)
Warning: long post.

The last couple of weeks has been an important milestone for Maggie and @BY Bob said it was OK for me to mark the occasion here.

On September 18, 2020 I found this in the nest box.

Spoiler: Warning - not for the squeamish

View attachment 2846580View attachment 2846581

I had no idea what it was and no idea who laid it. Everyone was acting normal and all cameras were deployed monitoring rodents and other, scarier, visitors.

I did research and learned that it was a lash egg – a sign of serious and long standing infection in the reproductive tract. I also learned that it is invariably fatal with the maximum life expectancy of less than 6 months.

I confirmed it was Maggie who laid it. She had stopped laying real eggs and laid one more lash egg a few days later.

Off she went to the vet.

View attachment 2846585

Because of Covid I wasn’t allowed in with her but she apparently wandered around the vet’s office investigating everything while she waited for him. The vet-tech was rather taken with her and fed her the blueberries I had brought.

The vet was very kind but confirmed what everyone else had told me which was that she would not live long. He offered to euthanize her but agreed with my view that it was a bit premature as she still had quality of life. I felt reassured that he would be able to put her out of her misery when the time came.

He also educated me about production breeds who are not really expected to live past 2 years. I spent quite a while really upset and furious about that and I still am.

Everyone on this thread was very kind and supportive. @BY Bob encouraged me not to give up on Maggie and at the same time helped me be prepared for the worst.

And I resolved to spend as much time as possible with Maggie and make sure her remaining time was as wonderful as possible.

Maggie visibly declined. She started molting and wouldn’t eat anything that wasn’t alive. I dug for worms, I trapped beetles, and I bought live mealy worms to tempt her to eat. I provided heaps of leaves so she could pick through them for bugs.

Slowly she started to develop new feathers
View attachment 2846587

And to share in some treats
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And then much to my surprise, on January 23rd – 4 months after the lash egg - she laid a normal egg. I think nobody was more surprised than @BY Bob who posted:
“She successfully laid an egg today!?!”
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-of-our-flock.1286630/page-3059#post-23891234

So, I am marking this week as one year since Maggie got her death sentence.

I feel she has had a good chicken year.

She dug some deep holes.
View attachment 2846595

She explored snow.
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She shouted at me.
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She spent time with chicken friends.
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She sunbathed (a lot).
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She helped with construction projects.
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She shouted at me some more.
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She got in my face.
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She posed with her left side
View attachment 2846618

She posed with her right side
View attachment 2846621

She ate ice cream

She sunbathed some more
View attachment 2846623

And she cooled off by dunking her wattles.

Today, a full year later, she is still shouting at me, she is still in my face, and she is the undisputed queen of the long grass.

View attachment 2846625

* * *
Thank you all for indulging me in this post and joining me to celebrate Maggie's gift and mine - a whole year of chicken fun together.

This is just great!

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh dear, poor baby. When Hattie was standing on her I felt so bad for her.
Is she trying to get under/past Hattie for the prime end position, Bob? Didn’t she have that end as her own for a while a fair time ago?

That is what it looked like to me. But why? There was plenty of room a little but away. Poor Phyllis. But she also isn’t helping herself by taking on Hattie.

 

[rural mouse]

And some folks have read every single page (I'm not one of them!)

I'm not quitet here yet, 1100+ a little bit to go, but I will be...

 

[rural mouse]

I'm not quitet here yet, 1100+ a little bit to go, but I will be...

I can't do simple math. 6171-5103= 1000 and change. It's a good thing I didn't have to work today...my math skills suck at the moment.

Tax: today's surprise visitors

 

[featherhead007]

Simple math E=MC2 just don’t blow yourself up over it!

 

[rural mouse]

I actually served in the US Navy. So I really am a sailor.

So is my DH. Our oldest is scheduled to ship for basic in December.

 

[rural mouse]

Come on, Alex. Rough requires real seamanship. There's something elemental about battling the worst the weather can throw @ you.

When you've sailed through a hurricane, twice (yes, the SAME one) .....DH has...

 

[micstrachan]

Well that certainly did nothing to boost my confidence I would ever be able to do that!
Why did she need tube feeding? She looks rather bright eyed and healthy to me and she is certainly feisty!

She’s starving herself in molt. She may get through it OK without tubing if I can find time for private feedings away from the flock. She is VERY nervous and will not eat unless I am far away. And since she is lowest ranked and obviously nervous, the big girls aren’t letting her eat, despite multiple feeders.