Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

We had a bird of prey "visiting" today. As you can see it was a bit far away for an id. We get a lot like this. View attachment 2895837
The girls still kept an eye out for it though.
View attachment 2895841

Thank you for that. That is how I see most raptors. So all the talk of red underbelly or wing shape us lost on my. They are all just big birds against blue sky. And now I can’t reliably look up to take a picture or study them without feeling dizzy!

 

[Blazinga]

All of mine are the same age. (And laying has shake things up) but pre laying it was:

Katydid, most inquisitive
Rime, chatty and docile
Shirina, Trouble maker
Platina, slower development due to pneumonia.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

We had a bird of prey "visiting" today. As you can see it was a bit far away for an id. We get a lot like this. View attachment 2895837
The girls still kept an eye out for it though.
View attachment 2895841

I’ve had a bird of prey visit at night..

 

[Marie2020]

I though I had. Sometimes my humour doesn't translate well.

I have the same problem at times. Hey ho

 

[Shadrach]

Benzalkonium chloride is pretty ubiquitous - the only thing I know about it is that you need to be careful around eyes with it (that is not a chicken specific fact).

Yup, that's what I thought. It's in washing powders and stuff I think.

 

[Shadrach]

Shad - look at the pharmacy for something called Lyclear Dermal Cream I believe it is available over the counter in the UK for the treatment of scabies in kids and crabs (which are lice) in adults. The active ingredient is permethrin.
What would worry me about the purple turtle stuff is the spray being difficult to control (worried about eyes). Of course a cream will be difficult to apply.

Edited: Sorry, I do realize you weren't asking for my advice, but I couldn't help myself. Just trying to be helpful.

I can get that at 5% permethrin. Can't really use a cream on feathers though.

 

[Shadrach]

Aww, so lovely! And they are on the HIGH roost!! (or is that common during the day when Phyllis isn't there?)

I always enjoy their soft, but near constant chattering.

They seem to never stop!

 

[Shadrach]

So I’ve been wanting to tell you guys about this all day, but I type with a single thumb on my phone and it’s very slow. Besides, I did not want to take my attention off the girls with hawks lurking nearby.

I did have an opportunity to just sit and watch the girls during free range time. They were nervous and didn’t venture very far out, but I was watching them in the one semi-dry patch of earth to dust bathe in.

Pecking order and flock dynamics are so very interesting. I have found that the hens only tend to discipline and peck at those directly beneath them in the pecking order. A step or two down, and they tend to let it go. For example, Bridge, who is generally pretty gentle, can be a bit rough on Buttercup, who is pretty high in the order, but not top hen. Bridge is top hen. However, Bridge will tolerate the “babies” eating right out of her same dish, especially Flo. I have already mentioned that Flo is an alpha in the making. She is in full molt, very nervous, and a bit standoffish. However, today I saw her challenge Bridge, raising her hackle feathers. Bridge did not submit, but did tolerate her. It was super interesting. Almost like Flo was her little prodigy.

Bridge decides who roost with her. Sometimes it surprises me when she allows the babies to roost beside her, but not Buttercup or anyone in that age group.

In my flock, pecking order is primarily dictated by age. Then within each age group, there is a pecking order, as well. Bridge is my only five and a half year old hen, and she is the alpha. After Bridge, there are the four-year-olds, who consist of Millie, Roxy, Cashew, Buttercup, and Lucky. Out of that group, Buttercup is by far the most bossy. However, Cashew clearly outranks her. After that, there are the two year olds. I only have Minnie and Ester left, since Dorothy passed away. Minnie outranks Ester, quite obviously. Finally, there are the one year-olds, who I call the babies. Flo is by far the top of that group. I think one day she will be the alpha. I have never seen a hen take their first hard molt as well as she is. She is quite robust! Poor Flash is definitely at the bottom. A couple of the higher, but not super highly ranked girls torment her a bit.

Sorry about the rambling, but I’m curious to hear from those who only keep hens and have a range of ages. How does the pecking order go in your flock?

Edited to add; Wait. Prodigy is not the word I’m looking for, but hopefully you get the idea.

While I don't have any experience in hen only chicken keeping the oldest at the top of the hierachy is what I've seen in the tribes and with my uncles free rangers and with my sisters hen only flock.
I think it's probably the same for most.

 

[Shadrach]

Am I missing something here? This post seems to have come out of nowhere. However, I miss a LOT of posts, even though I try to read them all.

I'll try to explain then.
For some reason; we could examine the reasons at a later date, if one writes a post that contains much more than a sentence, let alone a few paragraphs, it has become the done thing it seems to apologise for writing something that may require more than half a seconds worth of concentration on the part of the reader.
Part of the problem, as you mention, is people are using mobile phones which are not suitable for writing more than a bit of predictive text style posts and responses. This imo greatly diminshes the power and joy of communictaion.
There are a number of posters who are notorious for this. What's more, these posters are in general on threads that have nothing to do with chickens; essentially their posts are just noise, but it's noise that gets clicked and liked.
I won't point you to the threads or posters.
I'm rather fond of language and I like to read posts with relevant and informmative content, especiially if it's a well reasoned response that contests a post I've made.
Some of this is due to people, as you point out, rushing about trying to do too many things in a limited time. I'm a bit old school with the view that if one is going to bother at all, concentrate on the task at hand and try to make a good job of it.
The answer for me is probably not to go and read these threads and put the worst offenders on ignore.
So, your posts for example with your lovely videos and your descriptions of what you observe in your flock I enjoy reading.
I would rather just click the like button than respond in print to every post.
For someone like By Bob, or any other thread host things are not that simple. To keep the thread alive thread hosts are more or less obliged to respond. It's part of whhat makes a thread popular and it's one of the reasons I don't host my own thread.
So, my original post to Bob was a bit of a dig at, a) modern technoology in particular the mobile phone which I detest, b) a bit of a dig at some of the "leading lights" on BYC who I doubt could write a full paragraph if their life depended on it, c) a further dig at the number of posters who arrive on BYC demanding instant attention and solution to their problems who don't seem to realise that those here with the knowledge and willingness to help are not called Siri or Google annd have other things to do in their lives other than answer their questions whch can usually be answered by using the search function on the site and reading (oh my how awful is this!) a few paragraphs.

 

[BY Bob]

It’s mounted directly beneath the power steering pump, and covered by heater and power steering lines. Only two bolts on the alternator, but six more, to move everything out of the way. Could be worse though. If it was the starter (mounted underneath the intake manifold) that would be a two-three day job! Crazy car to have to work on.

This may help the next time you need to change your oil.