Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Because of the muddle with posts I am confused. Is this the their second morning you are reporting on? If not, can we have a 'day 2' update! Sorry, just it takes me back to before the first morning so my head is spinning!

This is day 2. I will edit.

 

[BY Bob]

This is happening to me too.

Has anyone reported it?

 

[RoyalChick]

Day 2: Encounter with Phyllis

This morning Phyllis did not wish to leave the coop. I am partly to blame. If you remember that mug of mealworms from last night, o spread some in the coop so that when Phyllis woke up there would be a treat for her and the chicks to enjoy together.

So they had all been up some time before I opened the door to let Phyllis out. Even so, Phyllis did not want to go. She did come out on the porch several times and then went back into the coop. She ate their food, drank some their water and just did not fish to leave.

Eventually the chicks wanted out into the coop so we had a meeting this morning. I filmed with the coop camera and my phone. Here is the phone first. It is Sylvie that you see. First, she was not harmed. Second, Phyllis does "go after her".

I turned the coop cam to record before I went out. Because it is up higher, it captured much more than I did. First Legertha is actually the first to come out but she goes back when Phyllis looks at her. Then you can see detail of what happened with Sylvie.

I did some stop frame photos of two of Phyllis's pecks to see where she was aiming. As you can see in both instances it was Sylvie's back. To me these indicate dominance pecks and not an intent to injure. Something which has to be expected as hopefully they come together to form their own tribe or subgroup.

View attachment 2859166View attachment 2859168

Not a pleasant thing for Sylvie but overall not an awful first encounter.

What does everyone else think? Am I reading this correct?

Big breath Bob - you will get through this!
I have a few reactions.
- Sylvie is nice and fast and good at evasion. That is great! I can't tell if she can see the hole in the wire for her to bolt to safety but if not I would try and make it more visible for her - maybe a bright red paper or cardboard ring around it?
- Phyllis is relatively half-hearted and gets distracted easily by the thought of another bite to eat. As you know I don't have much experience but I have video of Maggie going after a Roadrunner that is a really determined and sustained attack. The sort of pecking that Phyllis does here is sort of part of every day at the Chicken Palace. Maggie on any Roadrunner that she feels annoyed by, Diana on Maggie, the Roadrunners on each other. Over and done with in a second or two.
I am optimistic!
I also wonder whether now is the time to really increase the exposure time between Phyllis and the littles (in a safe way) so she just gets used to them being around and with her. I feel like a few minutes each morning may not be enough. WDYT?

 

[RoyalChick]

This is day 2. I will edit.

I just found and responded to the Day 2 video but now I can't see either your post or my reply and I am in the middle of a discussion I know for sure happened yesterday morning about the broken egg. Hope they fix it soon. Don't think it is just this thread.

 

[BY Bob]

Big breath Bob - you will get through this!
I have a few reactions.
- Sylvie is nice and fast and good at evasion. That is great! I can't tell if she can see the hole in the wire for her to bolt to safety but if not I would try and make it more visible for her - maybe a bright red paper or cardboard ring around it?
- Phyllis is relatively half-hearted and gets distracted easily by the thought of another bite to eat. As you know I don't have much experience but I have video of Maggie going after a Roadrunner that is a really determined and sustained attack. The sort of pecking that Phyllis does here is sort of part of every day at the Chicken Palace. Maggie on any Roadrunner that she feels annoyed by, Diana on Maggie, the Roadrunners on each other. Over and done with in a second or two.
I am optimistic!
I also wonder whether now is the time to really increase the exposure time between Phyllis and the littles (in a safe way) so she just gets used to them being around and with her. I feel like a few minutes each morning may not be enough. WDYT?

I think that this morning was good. It was a little more time together. I think two things led to it happening, meal worms and the fact that with the fog this morning the automated door on the main coop opened after I opened the Cluckle Hut. Because of that, the rest of the tribe was not out and about so Phyllis wasn't "missing" anything.

My original plan was that once I felt the littles knew their home, I would open the door and provide access to the big run. That is when I plan to provide extended access to Phyllis as there will be tons of space for them to avoid her if needs be. The plan is to use meal worms to start their time together, positive reinforcement and then monitor. My plan is to start that on Monday. I don't believe that anything which occurred this morning indicates that I should change that process.

I do think that I will continue placing meal worms in the coop at night so they all wake up to a treat together. I am also going to add another lower roost this morning for them. The current roost is too high for my little ones.

 

[BY Bob]

I just found and responded to the Day 2 video but now I can't see either your post or my reply and I am in the middle of a discussion I know for sure happened yesterday morning about the broken egg. Hope they fix it soon. Don't think it is just this thread.

Nope. It is everywhere. I have reported it. For now I am using alerts to respond and view other's posts. I can see no other way.

 

[RoyalChick]

I think that this morning was good. It was a little more time together. I think two things led to it happening, meal worms and the fact that with the fog this morning the automated door on the main coop opened after I opened the Cluckle Hut. Because of that, the rest of the tribe was not out and about so Phyllis wasn't "missing" anything.

My original plan was that once I felt the littles knew their home, I would open the door and provide access to the big run. That is when I plan to provide extended access to Phyllis as there will be tons of space for them to avoid her if needs be. The plan is to use meal worms to start their time together, positive reinforcement and then monitor. My plan is to start that on Monday. I don't believe that anything which occurred this morning indicates that I should change that process.

I do think that I will continue placing meal worms in the coop at night so they all wake up to a treat together. I am also going to add another lower roost this morning for them. The current roost is too high for my little ones.

That sounds like a great plan - I was going to ask about a temporary lower roost for the littles.
Very interesting about the delayed opening and Phyllis not missing anything - that actually feels like a really good thing so she starts her morning exclusively with her new friends.

 

[BY Bob]

That sounds like a great plan - I was going to ask about a temporary lower roost for the littles.
Very interesting about the delayed opening and Phyllis not missing anything - that actually feels like a really good thing so she starts her morning exclusively with her new friends.

I agree. I actually think this morning was very good. Phyllis would go out on the porch to see if the others were out yet and then go back in to eat and drink. She checked about 5 times before she finally went out on her own before them. It was fascinating to observe.

 

[rural mouse]

I would really like to be in a better mood, and say a few jokes or puns, but this air isn’t funny at all. A nice sunshiny day isn’t good, (when blocked off by a brown choking haze.) kinda feels like the aftermath of a bad movie. (Preparing and hiding from fallout from a nuclear issue)

I get it. close fires here too. I'll help you out with the pun. nuclear tissues are everywhere.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Hey everyone, some bad news. We’re getting rid of truffles on Monday. We found a great home for him with 16 hens and 0 other roosters, in a nice feild, think about 3-4 acres like ours. I still have lots of photos i’ll be sharing of him, but he wont be in the flock anymore.