Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Like most who keep animals be they pets, or livestock, or something in between,one must have some rules or chaos ensues.
Obviously an extremely sensible rule is no chickens in the house; a rule I'm completely in favour of.
View attachment 1947547
Naturally we all want out chickens to be friendly and well behaved. I don't put up with any nonsense!
View attachment 1947548
Of course, chickens are animals and we don't want any molly coddling treatment going on.
View attachment 1947549
Having friendly chickens seems to be a goal for many. Just how friendly is of course a matter for individual judgment.
View attachment 1947551
The chickens free range here from an hour after the sun comes over the ridge to late dusk every day rain or shine. Like most places we have predators and some don't make it home.
View attachment 1947552
I keep a closed flock. All chicks are hatched and reared by hens. Some don't make it.
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Needless to say all the chickens here are perfectly normal.
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I always make sure I collect the eggs each day.
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So, as you can see, I'm just another perfectly normal chicken keeper.

You're a looney Shad, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

You will fit right in here.

 

[LozzyR]

Obviously an extremely sensible rule is no chickens in the house; a rule I'm completely in favour of.

I can see you rule your roost with an iron beak, er, fist. Sad that you lost some of your babies but I guess there’s no getting around that. That’s why I didn’t want Charlie to have babies in case they died (or Lucy murdered them).

 

[MaryJanet]

Like most who keep animals be they pets, or livestock, or something in between,one must have some rules or chaos ensues.
Obviously an extremely sensible rule is no chickens in the house; a rule I'm completely in favour of.
View attachment 1947547
Naturally we all want out chickens to be friendly and well behaved. I don't put up with any nonsense!
View attachment 1947548
Of course, chickens are animals and we don't want any molly coddling treatment going on.
View attachment 1947549
Having friendly chickens seems to be a goal for many. Just how friendly is of course a matter for individual judgment.
View attachment 1947551
The chickens free range here from an hour after the sun comes over the ridge to late dusk every day rain or shine. Like most places we have predators and some don't make it home.
View attachment 1947552
I keep a closed flock. All chicks are hatched and reared by hens. Some don't make it.
View attachment 1947553
Needless to say all the chickens here are perfectly normal.
View attachment 1947554
View attachment 1947555
I always make sure I collect the eggs each day.
View attachment 1947556
So, as you can see, I'm just another perfectly normal chicken keeper.

Taking the chicken lifestyle to new levels!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Hi Chookmum, Lucy is is an Isa Brown and is about 3 1/2 years old. I’ve heard that Isas can live between 5-8 years but it’s more like 2-3 years as they’re bred to be little egg factories.

Keep a really close eye on Deana; Penny hadn’t laid an egg for over a week before she showed signs of being sick, and the vet thinks she had egg peritonitis. If you’ve got an avian vet, maybe have a chat to them and perhaps have a checkup. Lucy’s actually gone a fortnight without laying but that was during winter. If you get to two weeks with no egg and she seems all right, you’re probably ok. I don’t know anything about egg-bound though, but I will cross my fingers that Deana is ok.

Thanks for the heads up Lozzy. She's quite bright and eating well at the moment.

I'll know she's sick if I take the cover off the grazing frame and she's not straight in there digging up worms! It's her favorite thing ever, nobody else has a chance!

 

[BY Bob]

Like most who keep animals be they pets, or livestock, or something in between,one must have some rules or chaos ensues.
Obviously an extremely sensible rule is no chickens in the house; a rule I'm completely in favour of.
View attachment 1947547
Naturally we all want out chickens to be friendly and well behaved. I don't put up with any nonsense!
View attachment 1947548
Of course, chickens are animals and we don't want any molly coddling treatment going on.
View attachment 1947549
Having friendly chickens seems to be a goal for many. Just how friendly is of course a matter for individual judgment.
View attachment 1947551
The chickens free range here from an hour after the sun comes over the ridge to late dusk every day rain or shine. Like most places we have predators and some don't make it home.
View attachment 1947552
I keep a closed flock. All chicks are hatched and reared by hens. Some don't make it.
View attachment 1947553
Needless to say all the chickens here are perfectly normal.
View attachment 1947554
View attachment 1947555
I always make sure I collect the eggs each day.
View attachment 1947556
So, as you can see, I'm just another perfectly normal chicken keeper.

That is an amazing introduction. You will fit in quite nicely around here.

 

[BY Bob]

Well, I finished my first ever full size witches hat for my youngest today. I thought you might be interested since it involves wool roving @Ribh

View attachment 1947558
The youngest intends to make a pumpkin vine hat band for it

Edit: Sorry Bob, I thought I was on Ribh's thread . I hope you like my hat too!

No worries. My wife collects witches hats (at least that is what she tells me. Could it be something else? )

She loved it. It is very cool, nice job.

 

[BY Bob]

Tidbitting Hen

As I have noted before, in flocks without roosters the hens wil pick up rooster duties. Since we have had Jabber, I have paid better attention to who is picking up those duties. I noticed a few weeks ago that Lilly, my alpha hen, had started tidbitting when she found some tasty morsels. I was very surprised knowing her nature and her authority as alpha enabled her to keep the best food for herself.

How sweet was that!

Then I started watching closer. I realized, yes she was tidbitting, but only for Hattie! If Maleficent or Aurora came over, she would peck at them and keep them away. It has gotten to the point that those two simply ignore her now when she tidbits. Only Hattie comes.

Watching this behavior it reminded me of this classic cartoon. My apologies to those who do not know anything about American football but I think you will still get the point.

 

[Shadrach]

Tidbitting Hen

As I have noted before, in flocks without roosters the hens wil pick up rooster duties. Since we have had Jabber, I have paid better attention to who is picking up those duties. I noticed a few weeks ago that Lilly, my alpha hen, had started tidbitting when she found some tasty morsels. I was very surprised knowing her nature and her authority as alpha enabled her to keep the best food for herself.

How sweet was that!

Then I started watching closer. I realized, yes she was tidbitting, but only for Hattie! If Maleficent or Aurora came over, she would peck at them and keep them away. It has gotten to the point that those two simply ignore her now when she tidbits. Only Hattie comes.

Watching this behavior it reminded me of this classic cartoon. My apologies to those who do not know anything about American football but I think you will still get the point.

The pecking order is to my mind one of the most incredible adaptations hens have made.
Their ancestors and many game fowl still make up pairs, one male, one female. By nature, chickens are not flock creatures. There are studies where a few groups have been observed with two roosters and one hen. The study assumption is the second rooster is the son of the other. You do of course get family flocks until the youngsters get driven out.
So, how have hens worked out that their best survival chances are to establish hierarchies? What's more, is technically if a rooster is in a flock he isn't in the hierarchy so the hens are essentially responsible for flock stability.
Test.
Take any flock of hens. Establish how the pecking order is. Introduce a rooster. The few times I've done this here, the pecking order of the hens doesn't change, not even if the roosters favorite is not the senior hen.
Given all the day to day bickering the hens do it's a constant surprise to me how rarely there are any serious injuries (given escape space) among the hens. I think I've only had two cases of heavy patch ups on hens who have fallen foul of hierarchy disputes
It's not just a system. It's a system that seems to work.

 

[Ribh]

Well, I finished my first ever full size witches hat for my youngest today. I thought you might be interested since it involves wool roving @Ribh

View attachment 1947558
The youngest intends to make a pumpkin vine hat band for it

Edit: Sorry Bob, I thought I was on Ribh's thread . I hope you like my hat too!

lol The chat sorta goes from one thread to another.
And that is one cool hat! Someone is very clever.

 

[Ribh]

The pecking order is to my mind one of the most incredible adaptations hens have made.
Their ancestors and many game fowl still make up pairs, one male, one female. By nature, chickens are not flock creatures. There are studies where a few groups have been observed with two roosters and one hen. The study assumption is the second rooster is the son of the other. You do of course get family flocks until the youngsters get driven out.
So, how have hens worked out that their best survival chances are to establish hierarchies? What's more, is technically if a rooster is in a flock he isn't in the hierarchy so the hens are essentially responsible for flock stability.
Test.
Take any flock of hens. Establish how the pecking order is. Introduce a rooster. The few times I've done this here, the pecking order of the hens doesn't change, not even if the roosters favorite is not the senior hen.
Given all the day to day bickering the hens do it's a constant surprise to me how rarely there are any serious injuries (given escape space) among the hens. I think I've only had two cases of heavy patch ups on hens who have fallen foul of hierarchy disputes
It's not just a system. It's a system that seems to work.

What's more, there seems to be a *peacekeeper* amongst the girls who is the oil on troubled water when disputes start getting heated. In my flock it is Luna, a Favorelle X. She is a calm middle order girl who seems able to avoid being on the outer with anyone but anytime someone is really getting bullied she steps in & puts the bully very firmly in their place & everyone accedes to her authority in these matters. It is fascinating!