Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

All good. I locked everyone in the second half of the pen and left the gate open. Hubby pretty much rolled his eyes at me and asked, “What does she look like? I’ll find her.” Sure enough, as I was up above the property looking everywhere, he found her and ushered her into the open gate. Geez, it’s embarrassing how airheaded I acted over that one.

However, lately I keep seeing small holes burrowed under the run. Mole? Gopher? The holes have been pretty small, so I wondered , “Do we have voles here?” Today I moved a low branch roost along with a stump. One of the familiar small holes was under the stump. I dug back a bit, collapsed the tunnel, and filled it in. A few minutes later, I watched Dorothy kill and devour (within under a minute) a TARANTULA! Who knew??? I hadn’t seen one of those since we moved here ten years ago.

Small holes mean rats, or maybe mice here. Weasels tend not to home near coops.

 

[micstrachan]

Small holes mean rats, or maybe mice here. Weasels tend not to home near coops.

Oh no! We definitely have a ret problem, but I have a hardware cloth skirt around the coop and run. That’s a bummer, as clearly they are burrowing under it. I’ll have to be diligent about putting the feed away at night and set a trap. We have gophers and moles, too, but they leave an obvious mess. Will rats use the tunnels dug by other animals or do they dig their own?

I absolutely hate the thought of redoing the skirt, but I might have to.

 

[micstrachan]

No sign of Brackets youngster this morning.

Oh no! I’m so sorry.

 

[Shadrach]

Oh no! We definitely have a ret problem, but I have a hardware cloth skirt around the coop and run. That’s a bummer, as clearly they are burrowing under it. I’ll have to be diligent about putting the feed away at night and set a trap. We have gophers and moles, too, but they leave an obvious mess. Will rats use the tunnels dug by other animals or do they dig their own?

I absolutely hate the thought of redoing the skirt, but I might have to.

This is one of the reasons I don't build walk in coops and make sure the coops are well off the ground. A hardware cloth skirt helps, but a lot of people are going to be in for an awful shock believing that they have good security.
There is no such thing as a secure coop that I've ever seen. Most are way too complicated to inspect properly and it's only a matter of time before something finds a way in.
You can lead a horse to water etc.....

 

[micstrachan]

I can't say one gets used to it because I certainly haven't.
I have come to accept that this is going to happen. This year has been good for the chicks so far. Normally about 50% get predated.
It's very difficult to explain to many people. It doesn't matter what one does within reason, chickens like all other creatures die. Here on BYC there is a tendency to believe that the lives of all chickens can be saved by enclosed runs, secure coops, medical intervention etc.
Just reading a few of the ER threads show this just doesn't reflect reality.
The problem is what we have done to the chicken through breeding and management. The popular high production and dual purpose breeds are no longer able to survive without our intervention. Slowly here, the chickens are getting more and more able to fend for themselves. Before I came here the loss rate was over one a month with chicks dying in handfuls.

Good work!

 

[micstrachan]

Look at how beautiful my eggs are when dyed... way better than white eggs dyed! Notice how some of the same colored eggs are slightly different shades.. because the eggs were different colors...View attachment 2073952View attachment 2073953View attachment 2073954View attachment 2073955View attachment 2073956View attachment 2073957View attachment 2073958View attachment 2073959View attachment 2073960View attachment 2073961

WOW! What kind of dye do you use?

 

[BY Bob]

So we have a rain storm coming. I was delighted to learn this morning that the storm is delayed, and I let the chickens out. After a couple hours, I called them back in with sunflower seeds. Since I have a fat problem in my flock, this is a rare occurance these days.

So 9 of my 10 are safe back in the run. All except Ester, who is one of the pullets. She is the wildest chicken I’ve ever had by far, and the most flighty. At the slightest unfamiliarity, she FREAKS out. For example, I was worried she injured herself the other day when the plastic baggy I used to bring egg shells out blew off a shelf and she acted like it was an impending hawk strike. So Ester’s out in the unfenced, unprotected yard by herself. If I try to catch her, she retreats. It’s impossible; I cannot catch her. And I’m not letting the flock back out, as their treat quota for rounding them up has already been met. Thoughts? Advice? We’re over eight hours from dark, when she’ll naturally want to cone home and still a couple hours from rain. Maybe when it gets closer to rain time, I’ll let them all back out and hope they go in on their own when the storm arrives?

They will seek shelter when it rains but it may not be the run and coop. What is her all time favourite food? Maybe you can lure her into someplace confined where you can catch her.

 

[micstrachan]

Hattie is growling today

A while back I noticed that Hattie was growling and I was concerned. I think it was @Ribh that said it was probably just a new sound she had learned. I think she was right. Hattie has been using her gravelly growly voice all day instead of her high squeaky voice. It is cracking me up. It sounds like she is a pack a day smoker.

Cashew is a growler. But I think she kicked it into another. gear when she went broody. Any sign of broodiness?

 

[BY Bob]

This is one of the reasons I don't build walk in coops and make sure the coops are well off the ground. A hardware cloth skirt helps, but a lot of people are going to be in for an awful shock believing that they have good security.
There is no such thing as a secure coop that I've ever seen. Most are way too complicated to inspect properly and it's only a matter of time before something finds a way in.
You can lead a horse to water etc.....

I can speak to that. If the chicken is not in a secure raised coop, it's never really safe. Maleficent was proof of that.

I still think it was a weasel but I will never know.

 

[micstrachan]

I love tarantulas.
So when your husband asked what she looked like did you say "she looks like a chicken! She'll be the only one who looks different from the other birds."

Right??? LOL! I did think it might help him spot her if he knew whst color she was, so I told him she looks like a mini Bridge. He knows who Bridge is.