Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Hi yall.. today I was out in the chicken yard and saw Daffy.. one of my EEs... she was walking very strangely and her sisters.. the other two EEs were with her.. and I figured out that she was trying to lay an egg.. so I proceeded to try to keep the other chickens away from her because when they saw her walking like that they wanted at her... and I believe she is very well bottom of the flock so I didn’t want them to harass her while she was laying... well, a few of them made it around me and what really happened was it was like they were just getting around her as to protect her from me ... interesting! And then she dropped this paper thin egg...... it also had no color to it... it is usually blue.. View attachment 2053704View attachment 2053705View attachment 2053706

That is much like once if Aurora's first eggs. How long has she been laying?

 

[biophiliac]

My gosh! I did not expect that. I'm so sorry.

Don't be sorry. I had seconds thoughts after posting bc I don't like to bring sad stuff. But I'm getting thru the grief now to the point where I want to remember the good times, like here when he just a baby...

 

[BY Bob]

Don't be sorry. I had seconds thoughts after posting bc I don't like to bring sad stuff. But I'm getting thru the grief now to the point where I want to remember the good times, like here when he just a baby...

Thanks. That made me smile.

 

[LozzyR]

OMG, Tegan just squatted for me!! That’s the quickest any of my girls has submitted to me! She got stuck in the run (she wasn’t really, she just thought she was) so I went and retrieved her and she squatted! She got a bit flappy when I put her down, but that’s ok.

Charlie is no longer bottom of the pecking order, she keeps dominating the new girls. Although Chickie may have lost her 2IC spot; I think she and a salmon squared off under the trampoline (I didn’t see it) and Chickie fled up the garden.

 

[LozzyR]

Contented girls

Happy Fluffy Butt Fri... er, Tuesday!

 

[Shadrach]

I have heard that separating an aggressive hen in a look don't touch situation for a day or two can change this. Some folks say 2 weeks. It could be done during the day and then let everyone roost together at night. They have suggested putting up a divider in the coop run, or even using a dog crate. I have not done this, but some have had some success with it. It might be worth a try. The idea is to physically remove her from whatever position she is in and allow the others to shuffle and bond, then when she comes back in she has to work her way into the group.

I have separated Mad Hatter and have decided he will go into the fenced garden with his coop. It will not be 100% safe, but I'll do what I can to make it very difficult to get to him. It is his best chance at life right now. I hope the new circumstances, in a coop and run out of site of any of the hens, will mellow him out towards us. He is just a cockerel now, so if I can't work this out of him now, he will be a very aggressive rooster and that's not good for anyone.

Once he is on his own, I will spend a lot of time with him. He might be the first chicken I make a personal relationship with. I hope so. I really am fond of the little jerk.

I have my doubts about the separation method.
When I've had sick or injured chickens here and they have lived with me while they recovered once they returned to their tribes they took up exactly the same position in the hierarchy they were in before.
The other thing is when a hen goes broody away from a tribes coop, she may have very little contact with her tribe for a couple of months. None of these broody hens lost their position in the tribe either.
It is possible that in hen only flocks a change may take place but my view is the reports of having to start from scratch once separated is down to poor observation.
One needs to bear in mind that many of those who post solutions to problems on the Internet often have no direct experience of the problem they advise on.
Next there is the matter of how well a problem is observed and understood. Some examples of where observation and lack of understanding have been very evident is the egg song, dust bathing, the non link between moulting and egg laying, the dangers of egg candling.
Next a lot of people who contribute are relatively inexperienced keepers and often minors who may observ their chickens for a couple of hours a week.

 

[Shadrach]

His name was Doo. As you have noted, it is always our favorites who get taken. He was taken by a hawk not so long ago. The recent conv re safety vs freedom hits close to home. I come down to not wanting to keep my birds prisoner....

This is where I ended up and despite losing many chickens over the years I could not bring myself to restrict their freedom.

 

[MaryJanet]

I have my doubts about the separation method.
When I've had sick or injured chickens here and they have lived with me while they recovered once they returned to their tribes they took up exactly the same position in the hierarchy they were in before.
The other thing is when a hen goes broody away from a tribes coop, she may have very little contact with her tribe for a couple of months. None of these broody hens lost their position in the tribe either.
It is possible that in hen only flocks a change may take place but my view is the reports of having to start from scratch once separated is down to poor observation.
One needs to bear in mind that many of those who post solutions to problems on the Internet often have no direct experience of the problem they advise on.
Next there is the matter of how well a problem is observed and understood. Some examples of where observation and lack of understanding have been very evident is the egg song, dust bathing, the non link between moulting and egg laying, the dangers of egg candling.
Next a lot of people who contribute are relatively inexperienced keepers and often minors who may observ their chickens for a couple of hours a week.

My neighbour also says it doesn't work. She tried it a few times with no lasting results. In the end, she rehomed the bully.

 

[Shadrach]

My neighbour also says it doesn't work. She tried it a few times with no lasting results. In the end, she rehomed the bully.

I tend to follow the advice I've had here and from my multi coop chicken keeping contacts.
If you have to remove a chicken from the flock for reasons of behavior then it doesn't go back.
I think that in order for incarceration to work the chicken would need to uderstand why it has been imprisoned and the rest of the flock as well to some extent.
Unpopular though this view may be in certain chicken keeping circles much of the reasoning and logic that can be applied to humans is just as relevant to the chicken.
Here, most bullies have been addressed by another chicken at some point. It may take a while but there is always someone waiting to take a bully down. I see this with the roosters here in particular. The senior roosters that keep their position do it through balance, not outright aggression. Notch is a classic example. In the space of a few weeks he went from the bully everyone gave way to to the lowest ranking rooster.

 

[BY Bob]

OMG, Tegan just squatted for me!! That’s the quickest any of my girls has submitted to me! She got stuck in the run (she wasn’t really, she just thought she was) so I went and retrieved her and she squatted! She got a bit flappy when I put her down, but that’s ok.

Charlie is no longer bottom of the pecking order, she keeps dominating the new girls. Although Chickie may have lost her 2IC spot; I think she and a salmon squared off under the trampoline (I didn’t see it) and Chickie fled up the garden.

That is awesome! Good news all around. Very nice.