Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

While I have busy trying to pull together roost videos to show some of the shenanigans that have been going on we have made a difficult decision. The chicken math has forced us to face our problem. With warm weather coming we are just not going to be able to keep Jabber. The neighbors have been great but it is unfair to ask them to tolerate his crowing early in the morning. We tried a crow collar to no avail. I am going to begin the process of finding him a new home today. It was very difficult for my wife to reach this decision but it did help that I did not close the run up last night and he stood at our back door crowing as soon as the automated door let them out of the coop this morning.

Eat, crow, eat crow, eat, crow, eat, crow, eat, crow, eat, crow, eat, crow, eat crow, eat, crow.

It has been fun watching him grow up and interact with Hattie and the old crew. Now I worry about how Hattie is going to react to his departure as well as how the old crew are going to treat Hattie. Chicken math and flock dynamics, never boring.

 

[silkiemother]

poor jabber, I would take him happily if I was closer

 

[BY Bob]

poor jabber, I would take him happily if I was closer

I would drive a long way to find him a good home, but you are in WA right?

 

[BY Bob]

Jabber has learned physics. He has figured out that if Hattie is on the seat of our chair, he can get on the arm. Of course then he can crow to the world!

 

[biophiliac]

Jabber has learned physics. He has figured out that if Hattie is on the seat of our chair, he can get on the arm. Of course then he can crow to the world!

Hattie basking in the glory of his attention!

 

[BY Bob]

Hattie basking in the glory of his attention!

She certainly is. It took teamwork for this to work.

 

[BY Bob]

Roost Shenanigans

So I promised a review of what has been going on at roosting time. One of the best things I have done is to install some wifi cameras in the coop and run. It enbles me to watch their behavior without human interferance and the results are sometimes astounding. Roosting time for about a week seemed quite chaotic. So I powered up the coop cam a few nights at roosting time to see what was going down.

As we all know, the Alpha hen, in my case Patsy, wants her choice of roosting spot. The Omega hen, in my case Hattie, just wants a spot on the roost with a minimum of abuse. So how do we know what Patsy's favorite spot is? Patsy has not always been Alpha hen. A year ago she was beta to my leghorn Daisy. Here is Daisy.

When we built the new coop 2 years ago now, Daisy was Alpha and she chose the best spot on the roost, all the way on the left hand side. Everyone would line up from there, Daisy on the left, Patsy next to her and Lilly on the end. When Daisy passed last spring, Patsy took over and she slid into Daisy's spot on the roost, all the way on the left. For the longest time this was not a problem. Patsy and Lilly on the left, in order, and Hattie and Jabber all the way on the right, to avoid the big mean hens pecking at them.

My best guess is that a few weeks ago Jabber decided he was no longer afraid of the old crew and now that he was cool, he wanted to sleep with the popular girls. This means Hattie keeps to herself on the right but about 1/2 way down the roost now and Jabber entered the sleeping arrangement on the left side of the roost.

The arrangements with the least fuss would be anything with Patsy on the left. This issues started occuring when Jabber or, God forbid, Lilly, got all the way to the left first.

This first video shows Jabber on the left, Lilly next to him and Patsy in 3rd position. It shows Patsy trying to knock Lilly off the roost so she can at least assume position #2.

By the way, Patsy was NOT successful.

This next video shows Lilly in position #1, with lots of room to spare, Jabber #2 and Patsy #3. Patsy spends a lot of time and effort trying to reach Lilly without messing with Jabber. She does not try to knock him off but exerts tremendous effort to get Lilly off and squeezes the roost space so far to the left that Jabber is squooshed between them. Just prior to the video starting, everyone was settled but Patsy decided to make Hattie move further away. As the video starts, Patsy is coming back from pushing Hattie all the way to the right.

All of this fighting went on for days. At least one night Patsy was able to bounce Lilly from the roost and likely after it became pretty dark because I found her sleeping in the nesting box when I went to collect eggs after dark.

Recently things have settled down. I figured out why last night. The flock ususally comes to the backdoor right before roostng for a late evening treat. I let them free range a lot now that Jabber is there to watch over them. Last night everybody was at the door except Patsy. It always worries me when one is missing so I checked coop cam. There she was getting her spot before everyone else went to bed.

Of course she gave up last minute treats for her roosting spot. Her decision.

 

[BY Bob]

The Pullets are Coming! The Pullets are Coming! The Pullets are Coming!

One of my friends who got chickens because of our girls had suffered some losses this winter and was interested in adding to her flock this spring. We were talking the other day and I agreed to start the process by hosting two pullets. Jabber was supposed to be a hen and this will be a chance for me to finally get my Easter Egger.

So two pullets were ordered for me to raise and they are due to arrive this week.

So yesterday I broke out the old pre-manufactured coop, closed off the big run from the main coop, assembled the old coop in the big run (complete with enhancements and new floor) and prepared to receive our new guests. I will add photos of the process from my phone in a little bit.

 

[BY Bob]

Installing and improving the old coop.

You can see the big run and two of the sides of the old coop going up. I took the nesting boxes off of it and blocked that opening as they will not need them.

I am going to place it against the run wall in the corner to the right.

All the walls assembled, I laid it down to install the floor. Of course no single piece of wood I had was wide enough for the floor.

Once I had the floor installed I stood it back up and put it in the corner where I had leveled the ground.

I added a roost in the coop portion and the ramp up to the coop. I will put the roost up out in the run for them once they are a little older. We have some cold nights still to come.

I also added a sliding door to close the coop off from the run if needed. Mostly for warmth. I had a piece of plastic frame from an old storm door window and a piece of plexiglass that I had used on this old coop in the past. I mounted the frame, put a handle on the plexiglass, and inserted it into the guides made by the plastic frame. Here is that assembly.

I then closed off the big run from the rest of the coop complex. Putting this door in was one of the smartest things I have done in my coop and run construction. The ability to segment the facility is extremely useful, even if jabber did not like it.

I have not decided if I am putting a new roof on or if I am going to just put the old rotted one back on for a month or so. Stand by to find out!

 

[silkiemother]

yes I am in Washington, and Babies!!! are the best reward