Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RebeccaBoyd]

Mine just run away from me screaming blue murder. Except for Birdie who pecks.
I appear not to be liked very much in the chicken world.

You have only had them a few days give them time. Ezzie's sisters really did not warm up to me until they were old enough for worm and bread treats. Now they like me, but expect lots of treats.

 

[bgmathteach]

Amazon. Another 10lbs arrived here this week. I am set through October.

Set through October?

I've got to get me fewer chickens. No way 10 # would last me 7 months!!!

 

[RoyalChick]

You have only had them a few days give them time. Ezzie's sisters really did not warm up to me until they were old enough for worm and bread treats. Now they like me, but expect lots of treats.

Thank you for the reminder. The Roadrunners didn't really like me until they were something like 6 weeks old - I need to look back to remind myself when it was that Minnie started perching on my shoulder.

 

[BY Bob]

Well, here we go every slot in the 42 egg turner filled and did not have room for 10 of them I had gotten in the last 5 days. In 3 weeks time I may be questioning my sanity at this moment in time.
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That's a lot of eggs. Is your grandmother excited?

Because I am!

 

[BY Bob]

Set through October?

I've got to get me fewer chickens. No way 10 # would last me 7 months!!!

6 months. I get 10 lbs every 6 months.

They don't get a lot despite what it seems like in the thread.

 

[bgmathteach]

I confess to some nervousness about what Dotty will teach Birdie. The whole pecking thing gets less cute as they get bigger!

You can act like a mother hen and give her a gentle corrective 'peck' (or gently push her beak away, or something similar) to alert her that that isn't okay.....but if you are to do that, do it now before it is too late!

I bet @Shadrach would have a technique on how to do this. I have seen mother hens peck their chicks when they were being a bit 'aggressive', but not sure at what age that started. And, mother hens can talk to their chicks to alert them to okay or not okay behaviors. An unhappy squawk, a content purr, a tidbitting sound, etc. Whatever it is, it shouldn't actually hurt them...and the 'message' should be consistent EVERY time they peck, so they learn it/associate it appropriately.

Maybe a gentle push of beak away and an unhappy squawk sound paired???

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

That's a lot of eggs. Is your grandmother excited?

Because I am!

I told her last year around this time I set 36 eggs and had 29 hatch. She's taking it as a personal challenge to have a better hatch rate then I did. She is very competitive.

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you for the reminder. The Roadrunners didn't really like me until they were something like 6 weeks old - I need to look back to remind myself when it was that Minnie started perching on my shoulder.

They need to learn to love you. Sylvie and Legertha were the same with me. And we were very close at the end.

 

[BY Bob]

I told her last year around this time I set 36 eggs and had 29 hatch. She's taking it as a personal challenge to have a better hatch rate then I did. She is very competitive.

Excellent! This will really help her I think.

 

[bgmathteach]

Thank you for the reminder. The Roadrunners didn't really like me until they were something like 6 weeks old - I need to look back to remind myself when it was that Minnie started perching on my shoulder.

do you 'tuk tuk tuk' to them? I think of it like a chicken momma softly singing chicken lullabies. I bet they would like and get used to that!