Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

It's great that they come when called. You're training them well Bob!

Don't you love the way they mutter to themselves while eating? So contented!

How do you film so low to the ground Bob? Do you use a selfie stick or are you really flexible?

In this case I actually sat the phone on the deck and bent over to see what I was filming. I love these chicken level shots. Maleficent stomping in front of the camera cracked me up. She is a heavy walker and I find her deep voice hysterical.

 

[BY Bob]

Daisy, the greatest hen ever, Meets Elphie

After getting reminded that I had not continued this series, I am going to try again. Thank you for the reminder @Aussie-Chookmum . My goal is to try and heal my heart by celebrating her all too short life. I am also afraid that I may start to forget the stories of her life before I record them. By doing this I am hoping that someday Eve will learn of Daisy.

Please feel free to remind me if I do not get back to her story. I really do want to do this.

So many mistakes were made in the early days of our flock. Yes, I had raised chickens on the homestead but on the homestead we followed no rules of chicken keeping outside of survival of the fittest. There were so many things I did not understand and it would be some time until I even found this website.

On Thanksgiving my Dad and I were reminiscing about the old flock. Amazingly, all we ever fed the chickens, as feed goes, was whole kernel field corn. That was seriously all we ever provided along with water. They had to find their own protein. How they were able to do that is a testament what great foragers chickens are. What a terrible diet we provided for them.

So when I got Daisy as a young pullet I followed none of the best practices that I now know. Daisy was an emergency replacement for Trisha who had succumbed to complications from egg binding and prolapse.

So thinking nothing of it, I took a young pullet and put her in a coop with full grown hen. I thought that Elphie needed a friend and would simply adopt Daisy as her new bestie.

Here they are in the nesting box meeting for the first time.

Of course, Elphie did NOT accept Daisy with open wings. Elphie was quite mean to Daisy. Constantly pecking her and chasing her away, especially when Daisy tried to roost with her at night. In fact, I had to intervene a few times on the roost when it seemed Elphie was a bit too vicious. I would remove Daisy until it got dark and then place her back on the roost.

The pecking as so bad that Daisy started roosting outside the coop on the roof of the run or coop itself. Of course, trying to force a flock, I would move her back to the roost at dark. Here is poor Daisy roosting outside to get away from Elphie’s pecking as well as them on the roost together.

Despite all of this, Daisy followed Elphie around like a little sister following her older teenage sister. She idolized Elphie. Nearly all my pictures of Elphie from this time have Daisy somewhere in the background. In fact, the one I use here is Elphie with Daisy watching her from the background. Here are some pictures of the two of them out and about.

Daisy's Story
I have been telling Daisy's story here but it has taken several months. Here are links to the story. I am listing them in the chronology of Daisy's life, not the timeline in which I have written them.

Jan 7, 2020. The Story of Elphie. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fluffy-butt-acres-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/page-365

Nov 3, 2019. The Story of Daisy, the greatest Hen Ever (Entry 1). https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fluffy-butt-acres-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/page-210

Dec 14, 2019. Daisy meets Elphie. https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-of-our-flock.1286630/page-281#post-22020233

 

[Shadrach]

Daisy, the greatest hen ever, Meets Elphie

After getting reminded that I had not continued this series, I am going to try again. Thank you for the reminder @Aussie-Chookmum . My goal is to try and heal my heart by celebrating her all too short life. I am also afraid that I may start to forget the stories of her life before I record them. By doing this I am hoping that someday Eve will learn of Daisy.

Please feel free to remind me if I do not get back to her story. I really do want to do this.

So many mistakes were made in the early days of our flock. Yes, I had raised chickens on the homestead but on the homestead we followed no rules of chicken keeping outside of survival of the fittest. There were so many things I did not understand and it would be some time until I even found this website.

On Thanksgiving my Dad and I were reminiscing about the old flock. Amazingly, all we ever fed the chickens, as feed goes, was whole kernel field corn. That was seriously all we ever provided along with water. They had to find their own protein. How they were able to do that is a testament what great foragers chickens are. What a terrible diet we provided for them.

So when I got Daisy as a young pullet I followed none of the best practices that I now know. Daisy was an emergency replacement for Trisha who had succumbed to complications from egg binding and prolapse.

So thinking nothing of it, I took a young pullet and put her in a coop with full grown hen. I thought that Elphie needed a friend and would simply adopt Daisy as her new bestie.

Here they are in the nesting box meeting for the first time.
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View attachment 1981314

Of course, Elphie did NOT accept Daisy with open wings. Elphie was quite mean to Daisy. Constantly pecking her and chasing her away, especially when Daisy tried to roost with her at night. In fact, I had to intervene a few times on the roost when it seemed Elphie was a bit too vicious. I would remove Daisy until it got dark and then place her back on the roost.

The pecking as so bad that Daisy started roosting outside the coop on the roof of the run or coop itself. Of course, trying to force a flock, I would move her back to the roost at dark. Here is poor Daisy roosting outside to get away from Elphie’s pecking as well as them on the roost together.
View attachment 1981320

View attachment 1981316
View attachment 1981317

Despite all of this, Daisy followed Elphie around like a little sister following her older teenage sister. She idolized Elphie. Nearly all my pictures of Elphie from this time have Daisy somewhere in the background. In fact, the one I use here is Elphie with Daisy watching her from the background. Here are some pictures of the two of them out and about.
View attachment 1981319

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I keep a regular diary to remind me of the events that took place Bob.
I didn't have a camera for the first few years. Now I take pictures as well and that helps a lot.

 

[BY Bob]

I keep a regular diary to remind me of the events that took place Bob.
I didn't have a camera for the first few years. Now I take pictures as well and that helps a lot.

One of the reasons I started the thread was to record events. A diary is possibly a good idea as well, thanks Shadrach

 

[Shadrach]

One of the reasons I started the thread was to record events. A diary is possibly a good idea as well

I think your diary/event type posts are a great thing Bob. It's a pity that they don't reach a wider audience. Lots of people keep chickens but not that many observe what these chickens do. The more information we have, the better we can understand them.
It's been very interesting for me with the articles I've posted when people have responded with comments like 'my chicken does exactly this', or my chicken does something different and they are kept like (description). This helps me narrow down what is common to all chickens and what is determined by keeping conditions.
One thing I read constantly on these forums is all chicken are different. This actually isn't true. They do have differences in personality but most chickens if the conditions are similar enough will demonstrate very similar behavior. From there we can predict with some degree of certainty.

 

[Shadrach]

As an example.
I have an article in the featured articles atm about pecking.
My chicken is pecking me/other chickens/pet whatever comes up a lot on the general boards.
Along come the usual suspects who bang on about dominance (some people seem obsessed with this subject) and then aggression and before you know it, cockerels in particular get killed. Many of these pecks have nothing to do with aggression. I know from some of the better accounts that in fact some of these pecks are signs of affection.
Unless one can educate those who reel out the kill the rooster at every they think is a sign of aggression, roosters will still get killed.
Once one has a better idea of what the behavior means and how most likely it came about, nobody is learning anything and the same old nonsense gets repeated over and over.

 

[BY Bob]

I think your diary/event type posts are a great thing Bob. It's a pity that they don't reach a wider audience. Lots of people keep chickens but not that many observe what these chickens do. The more information we have, the better we can understand them.
It's been very interesting for me with the articles I've posted when people have responded with comments like 'my chicken does exactly this', or my chicken does something different and they are kept like (description). This helps me narrow down what is common to all chickens and what is determined by keeping conditions.
One thing I read constantly on these forums is all chicken are different. This actually isn't true. They do have differences in personality but most chickens if the conditions are similar enough will demonstrate very similar behavior. From there we can predict with some degree of certainty.

They are individuals and each have their personality but they are in the end chickens. There is a consistency to their behaviors as a group. Especially as a flock.

I will say I have observed that my flock does not go crazy over the same foods as others do. For example @MaryJanet uses lettuce to get hers to do things. Mine will eat lettuce but they are not going to be excited over it. Many people talk about making oatmeal for theirs, mine won't touch the stuff, (neither will I for that matter, yuck!)

Thinking back over this time when Daisy was very young, Elphie was "mean" but never so nasty as to completely drive Daisy off. I believe that it was calculated on Elphie's part. She needed to maintain authority, first choice on feed, roosting location, etc. They eventually reached an equilibrium and worked well as a flock.

 

[Ribh]

They are individuals and each have their personality but they are in the end chickens. There is a consistency to their behaviors as a group. Especially as a flock.

I will say I have observed that my flock does not go crazy over the same foods as others do. For example @MaryJanet uses lettuce to get hers to do things. Mine will eat lettuce but they are not going to be excited over it. Many people talk about making oatmeal for theirs, mine won't touch the stuff, (neither will I for that matter, yuck!)

Thinking back over this time when Daisy was very young, Elphie was "mean" but never so nasty as to completely drive Daisy off. I believe that it was calculated on Elphie's part. She needed to maintain authority, first choice on feed, roosting location, etc. They eventually reached an equilibrium and worked well as a flock.

Our little supermarket puts out boxes for the poultry people~ just passed used by date stuff but usually it's still pretty good quality. I'm in trouble if a box I grab has too much cabbage. None of my girls are real fans but lettuce, especially a whole one, is something to get excited about. Tuppence loves watermelon, Lottie adores tomato & the whole flock will go ballistic for grainy bread! Yes, we limit bread treats.

 

[Shadrach]

Walnuts are a favorite here along with, mature Cheddar Cheese, Grapes that grow on the vines here which are wine grapes rather than eating grapes, cooked sardines or any cooked fish. They prefer cooked meat to raw although the pullets seem pretty keen on the raw stuff.
Fat Bird loves a bit of pizza.
There is one thing that makes a couple of evenings a year very tiresome. There is a species of ant here that takes wing to leave the nest. You can get thousands funnel out of a hole in the ground and settle on whatever surface it lands on. The chickens go mad. It's a complete feeding frenzy. You can't get them to go to roost!

 

[BY Bob]

Our little supermarket puts out boxes for the poultry people~ just passed used by date stuff but usually it's still pretty good quality. I'm in trouble if a box I grab has too much cabbage. None of my girls are real fans but lettuce, especially a whole one, is something to get excited about. Tuppence loves watermelon, Lottie adores tomato & the whole flock will go ballistic for grainy bread! Yes, we limit bread treats.

Cabbage is a HUGE hit here, especially with my big girl Hattie. She will stand there and peck it continuously. It's fascinating how they like different things.