Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

This is awesome! My girls aren’t allowed in the house so I can live vicariously through your photos.

Shame you can't vicariously help me clean up!

 

[BY Bob]

One of the things I look forward to in the winter is not having to nest hunt. Most hens to take a winter break from laying. Most years there are one or two pullets who lay eggs over the winter and a couple is a lot easier to keep an eye on than 15 to 20 hens!

I've had the nest box in my house stripped out for the past couple of months. It saves a lot of cleaning up after the chickens have scratched about in the box.
Hurry the gray hen sitting in the nest box in the second picture has been wandering around with both Cillin and Treacle looking for nest sites. For Tribe 1 to which she belongs, there are plenty of options, tow boxes in their coop, two maternity units just outside my house and an unlimited acreage if she chose to lay outside.
Despite all the choices both Cillin and Treacle will bring her into the house and crouch under the empty nest box making nesting calls.
I gave in in the end and put some straw in the house nest box. All the senior hens came to check it out. Cillin practically bullied Hurry into the house nest box. Fat bird has driven Hurry out of both the maternity unit boxes on at least two occasions that I've seen.
Cillin has stood on the nest box edge making nesting calls for a good hour now and one by one the hens have got in and checked the box over, including Hurry.
There is absolutely nothing about this nest box that fits in with the uasual advice about what hens prefer to lay eggs in. It has virtually no privacy, it isn't that comfortable (I'm making adjustments) it's noisy, yet every hen in Tribe 1 and a couple from Tribe 3 are reluctant to lay eggs anywhere else.
Here's Cilling keeping an eye on Mel as she checks the nest.
View attachment 1999438 Even Fat Bird climbed in at one point to endorse the site and made no attempt to drive Hurry off the nest.
The noise as this goes on is incredible. All the hens call and the roosters make an incredible range of sounds from what is almost a purr to a banshee scream.
View attachment 1999437

I have to make certain that my wife doesn't ever see these photos. There are times that I think this her goal. Not to mention if Maleficent ever found out. Yikes!

One question, how did this nesting box ever wind up in your house? Was it for a sick or injured hen?

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

They long ones are mostly written in word. Word has no photos though. The photos are all done on BYC directly.

Really? I have added photos to my word documents. Maybe i have a slightly different program...

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Really Cold for the First Time this Year

I have a thermometer/hydrometer in the coop to keep an eye on humidity in the winter time. We got our first really cold night of the year last night.

Coop Temp and Humidity (-5.4°C)
View attachment 1997974

Outside Temp and Humidity (-10.4°C)
View attachment 1997975

Eeek! So cold. It's good that is warmer though. Very interesting info Bob

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Sure!

 

[Shadrach]

I have to make certain that my wife doesn't ever see these photos. There are times that I think this her goal. Not to mention if Maleficent ever found out. Yikes!

One question, how did this nesting box ever wind up in your house? Was it for a sick or injured hen?

At one point I had nest boxes of various types scattered around the property in the hope they would get used and this would reduce the nest searches. I had one such nest on top of a large drum in the car port hidden behind one of the supporting brick piers. Fat Bird found it and decided this is where she would lay her eggs.
The car port is large (4 cars) and has a full back wall. The people who own the property use the car port as a party venue. That summer they threw a big party, over 100 people I believe. When they cleared out the rest of the stuff that accumulates in such places I asked for the nest box to be left where it was. Fat Bird has laid a few eggs in there by now and looked as if she was going to sit. (I've tried to facilitate Fat Bird every time she looks like she would sit in the hope of getting Marans chicks)
The morning of the party Fat Bird took up residence in the car port nest box and seemed completely unconcerned as preparations for the party went on around her.
I had by that time got to know a few of the local chicken keepers, many of who had chicken coming and going in and out of their houses and who had nest boxes in kitchens, sheds, outhouses, the open balconies that are common here, just to mention a few places.
The coop and run type of chicken keeping wasn't how people kept chickens here even in urban areas.
The guests arrived, the music started up and Fat Bird just sat there. Most of the guests looked and left her to it. Unfortunately not everyone is so considerate and there were a number of people who brought their children who it seemed had no control over their children or any respect for Fat Bird sitting there minding her own business as the party went on around her. After finding a few people trying to look at the eggs under Fat Bird I decided that by the end of the party I would probably have hit a few adults and kids and Fat Birds eggs would get broken.
The nest box was one of those thin ply fruit boxes you can see at the veg and fruit markets. I carried the nest box to my house which seemed the only safe place and placed it on a stout wooden tower I keep plastic boxes for grains etc in.
Fat Bird just sat there throughout the transfer.
My view is if you want to study chickens then the best way to do it is to live with them. Fat Bird made it easy by deciding she was happy living with me. At first I kind of crept around the house hoping not to disturb her; not much did.
There was one problem though. When she left the nest box to poop eat and bath, her route back involved climbing onto my kitchen table, making a scramble over the tray I keep my cutlery in and a bit of a jump to the nest box on the tower.
If you've ever had a chicken come into your house after a dust bath and do the shake you will know that the distance the dust flies and the amount of it is considerable.
Before long it became apparent that this wasn't the most practical arrangement and I needed something away from the food and the bits and pieces that accumulate on kitchen tables. I made a nest box.
It seems word got around, Shadrach's coop was a good place to lay eggs, especially if you planned to sit and hatch.
The venue became so popular I had two nest boxes going for a while.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I think we would all be interested in that.

Yes indeedy. I'm very interested in Shad's dream chook habitat!

 

[BY Bob]

Really? I have added photos to my word documents. Maybe i have a slightly different program...

No, I add the photos in backyard chickens directly so the word documents do not have them. My process is the following:

1. I will write the text in word. Sometimes this takes a couple of weeks as I research old photos and ask my wife if I am remembering things correctly. Not to mention the times I have to walk away because I have gotten too emotional. So far these stories are from more than 5 years ago and I need to make sure that I am remembering correctly.
2. I will then go out to dropbox to find photos that support the story. Some I have identified while writing the story, others I don't even remember but I find while I am culling through what is in that massive library. Not to mention that it also takes a little bit to identify which leghorns is which. I have a key I've developed based upon combs, tails and feet but when I first started doing this I had almost no idea which was Dolly, Trisha, or Elphie. With Elphie's story I finally started a timeline which helps a lot in identification. Leghorns are great hens but they really do look very similar to each other.
3. I download the photos I want to use to my tablet where I have written the story in Word. What I do not do is go ahead and place the photos into Word as it has always seemed like duplicative work.
4. I select all of the text from the Word document and paste it into BYC.
5. I then go through, upload and caption the photos in BYC directly.
6. I will save it and review it trying to make sure every reads well (not always successful there) and then post.

 

[WhoDatChick]

One of the things I look forward to in the winter is not having to nest hunt. Most hens to take a winter break from laying. Most years there are one or two pullets who lay eggs over the winter and a couple is a lot easier to keep an eye on than 15 to 20 hens!

I've had the nest box in my house stripped out for the past couple of months. It saves a lot of cleaning up after the chickens have scratched about in the box.
Hurry the gray hen sitting in the nest box in the second picture has been wandering around with both Cillin and Treacle looking for nest sites. For Tribe 1 to which she belongs, there are plenty of options, tow boxes in their coop, two maternity units just outside my house and an unlimited acreage if she chose to lay outside.
Despite all the choices both Cillin and Treacle will bring her into the house and crouch under the empty nest box making nesting calls.
I gave in in the end and put some straw in the house nest box. All the senior hens came to check it out. Cillin practically bullied Hurry into the house nest box. Fat bird has driven Hurry out of both the maternity unit boxes on at least two occasions that I've seen.
Cillin has stood on the nest box edge making nesting calls for a good hour now and one by one the hens have got in and checked the box over, including Hurry.
There is absolutely nothing about this nest box that fits in with the uasual advice about what hens prefer to lay eggs in. It has virtually no privacy, it isn't that comfortable (I'm making adjustments) it's noisy, yet every hen in Tribe 1 and a couple from Tribe 3 are reluctant to lay eggs anywhere else.
Here's Cilling keeping an eye on Mel as she checks the nest.
View attachment 1999438 Even Fat Bird climbed in at one point to endorse the site and made no attempt to drive Hurry off the nest.
The noise as this goes on is incredible. All the hens call and the roosters make an incredible range of sounds from what is almost a purr to a banshee scream.
View attachment 1999437

What a sweet picture... your guys and gals making themselves at home

 

[BY Bob]

At one point I had nest boxes of various types scattered around the property in the hope they would get used and this would reduce the nest searches. I had one such nest on top of a large drum in the car port hidden behind one of the supporting brick piers. Fat Bird found it and decided this is where she would lay her eggs.
The car port is large (4 cars) and has a full back wall. The people who own the property use the car port as a party venue. That summer they threw a big party, over 100 people I believe. When they cleared out the rest of the stuff that accumulates in such places I asked for the nest box to be left where it was. Fat Bird has laid a few eggs in there by now and looked as if she was going to sit. (I've tried to facilitate Fat Bird every time she looks like she would sit in the hope of getting Marans chicks)
The morning of the party Fat Bird took up residence in the car port nest box and seemed completely unconcerned as preparations for the party went on around her.
I had by that time got to know a few of the local chicken keepers, many of who had chicken coming and going in and out of their houses and who had nest boxes in kitchens, sheds, outhouses, the open balconies that are common here, just to mention a few places.
The coop and run type of chicken keeping wasn't how people kept chickens here even in urban areas.
The guests arrived, the music started up and Fat Bird just sat there. Most of the guests looked and left her to it. Unfortunately not everyone is so considerate and there were a number of people who brought their children who it seemed had no control over their children or any respect for Fat Bird sitting there minding her own business as the party went on around her. After finding a few people trying to look at the eggs under Fat Bird I decided that by the end of the party I would probably have hit a few adults and kids and Fat Birds eggs would get broken.
The nest box was one of those thin ply fruit boxes you can see at the veg and fruit markets. I carried the nest box to my house which seemed the only safe place and placed it on a stout wooden tower I keep plastic boxes for grains etc in.
Fat Bird just sat there throughout the transfer.
My view is if you want to study chickens then the best way to do it is to live with them. Fat Bird made it easy by deciding she was happy living with me. At first I kind of crept around the house hoping not to disturb her; not much did.
There was one problem though. When she left the nest box to poop eat and bath, her route back involved climbing onto my kitchen table, making a scramble over the tray I keep my cutlery in and a bit of a jump to the nest box on the tower.
If you've ever had a chicken come into your house after a dust bath and do the shake you will know that the distance the dust flies and the amount of it is considerable.
Before long it became apparent that this wasn't the most practical arrangement and I needed something away from the food and the bits and pieces that accumulate on kitchen tables. I made a nest box.
It seems word got around, Shadrach's coop was a good place to lay eggs, especially if you planned to sit and hatch.
The venue became so popular I had two nest boxes going for a while.

That's a great story. You do something nice for 1 chicken and this happens. It is funny how well they communicate and how quickly word spread of the great nesting box in the big coop.