Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[mixedUPturk]

She doesn't roost though, and the crate doesn't fit in the henhouse. To leave her in there overnight means leaving her out in the elements. I could bring her into the house if I was desperate...

I understand. I use a kiddie pool over one of my temp cages, could you do anything like that?

 

[LozzyR]

I understand. I use a kiddie pool over one of my temp cages, could you do anything like that?

I did think about tent-pegging a tarp over her. Can I let her out to stretch her legs?

 

[LozzyR]

I just found another thread on broody-breaking if anyone is interested.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-broody-breaking-routine.1334397/

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Lucy and Chickie are ex-battery hens who have had their beaks trimmed

Good on you for giving them a loving home Lozzy. How long have you had them for and how has their behaviour changed from the time they first arrived?

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

That was Close!

There was a massive wind storm last week while I was gone and this fell off the birch tree which sits in the "courtyard" of Fluffy Butt Acres. It just missed the run and coop. I don't know if it would have fallen hard enough to cause any damage but I'm glad it wound up here.
View attachment 1939647

A close call indeed.

How does the coop join to the run Bob? I couldn't see any connection between them in that photo...

Put her back in the crate. You are comitted now. She should break soon. I know it's hard. Mal made me sad but we have to be tough for their sake.

Didn't you have her in the crate overnight too Bob?


Perhaps you could block up the nesting box entrances with a big piece of cardboard overnight @LozzyR . That way she can't be tempted to go in there first thing in the morning before you re-crate her.

 

[Ribh]

A close call indeed.

How does the coop join to the run Bob? I couldn't see any connection between them in that photo...



Didn't you have her in the crate overnight too Bob?


Perhaps you could block up the nesting box entrances with a big piece of cardboard overnight @LozzyR . That way she can't be tempted to go in there first thing in the morning before you re-crate her.

You really need to keep her crated if you want to break her. Otherwise her body clock just continues to reset & you will be doing this for weeks. Been there. Done that. Got the T~shirt.

 

[LozzyR]

Good on you for giving them a loving home Lozzy. How long have you had them for and how has their behaviour changed from the time they first arrived?

Thanks Chookmum! I am planning to create a thread about my girls once this year has finished, but I can give you the Readers Digest version. I’ve had chooks for two years now, my first four were Isa Browns from a local battery farm (which has since been shut down for animal cruelty). We got Emily and Lucy in October 2017, they had a dirt bath within 10 minutes of being let out of the box! They were skittish but we kept picking them up and they got more used to it. I didn’t let them free-range as the run is quite big.

In June 2018, I found Emily dead on the ground. I don’t know what killed her but Lucy lost her voice at the same time so it might have been a virus that causes paralysis of the vocal chords and neck muscles (not sure if that’s Mareks or something else). It was a long weekend so had to wait until Tuesday to go back to the battery place. Lucy seemed sad so we let her out to free-range whilst we were out there, and she seemed to perk right up. I didn’t know anything about quarantine or pecking order, so I just got two more Isas; Chickie and Henny Penny. When I let them out of the box, Lucy hung back for about five minutes, then started to scratch around with them. I have a really funny picture of them trying to have a dirt-bath in the same space-time continuum, with Lucy photo-bombing! Luckily they weren’t sick, and there was absolutely no pecking order at all, they just mucked about together.

So all is well until January this year and I noticed Penny hadn’t laid an egg for over a week (but apparently they can stop laying if it’s too hot). Then one day after work I notice she’s actually really off, so took her to the vet. Our lovely avian vet wasn’t working that day, but the one on call said we could keep her overnight and try for an x-ray in the morning. Dr Nicki was back on then so she did the x-ray and said she thought it was egg peritonitis. So I was gutted that I had to have her put down and decided I wouldn’t get any more Isas, even though you were saving them from the chopping block. I decided to go for purebreds in an attempt to have longer-lived chooks with less susceptibility to egg peritonitis. In March we got Bessie the Barred Rock and Charlie the Australorp.

Fast-forward five months and we lost Bessie as well!She was limping and we had her on antibiotics and pain meds, but she may have got a secondary infection; the vet knocked her out to give her fluids and trim her vent feathers, but she wasn’t breathing properly on her side, didn’t regain consciousness and died in my arms. So we are back to three; one from each pair with Lucy being about three and a half. I’d be happy if she retired from egg-laying and lived for another five years!

Sorry to hijack your thread Bob! To answer Chookmum’s other question about behaviour, their little personalities came through once they relaxed and knew they were safe. Chickie is my friendliest; when I was putting the tractor together, one day she repeatedly kept flying up to the edge of the trampoline to see what I was doing! She will squat at the drop of a hat, the other two not so much. I love my girls, I just wish they were a bit less fragile.

 

[LozzyR]

Perhaps you could block up the nesting box entrances with a big piece of cardboard overnight @LozzyR . That way she can't be tempted to go in there first thing in the morning before you re-crate her.

They sleep in the nesting boxes, which probably exacerbates the problem. I will try making them bigger perches.

I must confess, I did let Charlie out this afternoon (so I could hose the crate and wire down as well!) I ended up putting it in the laundry with a lump of wood for her to roost on, plus food and water. My husband crated her this evening whilst I was out and I will move the crate back to the run tomorrow. I will also try to give her tummy a cool bath, as mentioned in the other thread.

 

[LozzyR]

You really need to keep her crated if you want to break her. Otherwise her body clock just continues to reset & you will be doing this for weeks. Been there. Done that. Got the T~shirt.

Hopefully I won’t need a matching T-shirt! Do you know if free-ranging delays the breaking? Does there have to be an element of boredom as well as cooling? Or is it just the nesting that keeps the broodiness going?

 

[LozzyR]

Whilst I think of it...

I heard back from the RSPCA about egg-sexing. They had this to say:

Commercialisation of egg sexing technology has not yet occurred in Australia (the CSIRO work you refer to).

Even though it appears that a technology is close to commercialisation in Europe (Germany), the German government has delayed their proposed ban on killing of male chicks because there is not yet a viable alternative on the market.

You may be interested in https://www.kipster.farm/ which is a concept that raises/houses layer hens for egg production while also growing out male chicks (at a separate facility) for the purpose of burgers and smoked sausage.

I checked out the Kipster farm website, it looks great! Hopefully the egg-sexing technology is nearly ready.

Ahem. I will now return this thread back to its rightful owner.