Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[MaryJanet]

I don't think that professor knows much about roosters though - he says rooster attacks are rare. I would say rooster attacks are common. But attacks causing death are rare.

 

[BY Bob]

I don't think that professor knows much about roosters though - he says rooster attacks are rare. I would say rooster attacks are common. But attacks causing death are rare.

I read that and thought the same thing. Jabberwocky used to attack me over and over every time I went out. He even broke through my fortress. Remember this oldie?

 

[MaryJanet]

He was quite full on really.

 

[BY Bob]

He was quite full on really.

He was a total jerk as a rooster. Chicken math includes subtraction.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

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.

Thanks for the background on your girls Loz. It's always very informative and interesting hearing others experiences. It's rough losing 3 in under 2 years .

I never would have guessed that chooks were so fragile either until I lived it.
At the moment I'm on tenterhooks wondering if Deana is well or not. Tsuki, who is the same age (4), is still happily running around bossing the younger hens and getting more than her fair share of meal worms though.

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.

Sounds like a good animal husbandry practice. Wish we did it here

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Free ranging won't break her because she will reset her body clock when she goes to roost @ night. My BR was chronic last summer. I couldn't get a crate so we went round & round. Keeping her cool by getting her body temp down & her mind off nesting is what is needed. It was nights I blew it. She'd warm up & head straight for a nesting box each morning. It was pathetic. She'd cry & press up against the wire nearest a nesting box & brood there until I could get her interested in foraging with the girls. Not doing that again.

Sounds miserable for both of you Ribh,

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I have an outdoor laundry too!! I thought I was alone, but you've got one too @LozzyR !! Mine is a leftover from the 1920s, what about your's?

Very handy for chickening. I do lots of chicken stuff in the laundry and I once kept a sick hen (Dora) in it.

The house I grew up in had an outdoor laundry too. It was fibro and built after WW2 I think, late 40s early 50s. It still had the raised brick platform that the copper used to stand on that the fire was built in, as well as the big cement laundry tubs!

 

[MaryJanet]

Mine still has the copper and the cement tubs! Next time I bath a chicken I'm going to use one side for bathing, the other for rinsing. Then I'll set the chicken on top of the tumbler for a blow dry.

 

[mixedUPturk]

My laundry room is also kind of outdoors. It is still part of the house but without central AC or Heat and no door from inside goes to it. You have to walk across the back porch. No sink or niceties just a washer and dryer and 2 shelves.

I really like the fact theyre not adding heat to the house as well as the other things everyone pointed out.

No idea how old this place is but it is old. It was a very simple one bedroom shotgun house and it recieved an addition. The bathroom is original so its not outhouse old. This is a old ex-slave plantation area where they still grow and refine Tons of sugar cane.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Conjunction Junction, How does that run join with the coop?



I'm out sitting with them this morning so I thought I would grab a shot of how the run and coop attach for @Aussie-Chookmum

The coop attaches to the run via the porch leaving access to the courtyard with the birch tree for humans and making a "U". I made a concerted effort when designing things to have access to all areas for humans.
View attachment 1940983

Ah, I see! Thanks Bob. I thought I remembered it being joined. The photo showing the open end of the "U" fooled me.

Mine still has the copper and the cement tubs! Next time I bath a chicken I'm going to use one side for bathing, the other for rinsing. Then I'll set the chicken on top of the tumbler for a blow dry.

You win MJ!
I love seeing the remnants of previous occupation in older houses. It's our own personal archeology!