Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Alice and Lacey aren't much different in size. Neither of them seemed particularly worried.



I was wondering if you'd noticed Tsuki.

If I have a choice between 2 photos and Tsuki is in one of them you know which one I post on your thread Bob!

Thanks! I appreciate you thinking of me.

 

[BY Bob]

So, having their nails done is out of the question?

I think Phyllis would like having her nails done. Maybe a full spa day is in order!

I think I worked out why Charlie has stopped laying...

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She also had a feather stuck to her beak, but would she let me get near enough to remove it? Nope!

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I love her black eyes. She is very pretty. I do think you may be on to something there.

 

[BY Bob]

It’s because we rent this place and the owner is elderly. What if she passes and her beneficiaries want to sell it? When he came to replace a retaining wall, her nephew indicated he is the beneficiary and we can live here as long as we want. However, giant multimillion dollar mansions are going up nearby making this a prime property, so you never know. I so wish we could buy it. If we owned it, I’d probably get her a couple chicks. On the other hand, ten seems just right for our set up. Now that they have less yard during free range time, I don’t want to create a competitive environment and stress for the lovelies I already have. You never know if I’ll get irresponsible and change my mind.

My plan if someone wants to sit is to get a couple of fertile ages and let them go. I was so looking forward to Maleficent being a mom this year. I was going to sell or give away the new birds once mom was done raising them. It would be hard but 6 is my max. You don't have to keep them you just need to be strong enough to give them away.

 

[BY Bob]

One of the last times I took Cashew out of the nest box today, she just stood there for like a minute. Then she stood up tall, tucked her butt under her, and left an egg on the grass! She did eventually come out in the early evening and do other normal things like dust bathe and eat. I’m not sure what I’ll do with her tomorrow. Tonight she roosted in her usual spot.

There you go. Looks like you made it.

 

[BY Bob]

Well that didn't take long. It looks to me from the pictures that their run complex has extended into your house.

I've lost the battle completely. Especially with Phyllis. She has the access that Maleficent always dreamed of. Phyllis runs between your legs. I can't keep her out. She gotten to eating the cat's food and drinking their water as well. She's been in the house for more than 30 minutes at a time recently terrorizing Davis.

I've been thoroughly defeated.

 

[BY Bob]

My keeping circumstances may well produce a different outcome. Very approximately one third by weight of a hens food consumption goes to produce an egg.
All the broody hens here start to increase their daily food intake before they sit. I have tried weighing a couple but the increase in feed consumption doesn't produce a definite increase in body weight over the four days I noticed an increase in food consumption. It's a matter of grams and as such not a reliable indicator.
I've noticed a change in feeding both in quantitiy and selection up to four days before a hen has sat on her clutch. It may start earlier, particularly in feed selection.
The hen knows she is going to sit on her clutch some time before actually sitting. How far in advance is an interesting topic.
She also knows that once she has sat the opportunity for feeding is reduced. Those first few days, not only is her feeding opportunity reduced, but she may also lay eggs for up to three more days. It makes sense to have a store of nutrients above her normal daily requirements.
She also knows that once the chicks have started to hatch she may be confined to the nest for 48 hours of more and once hatching is complete, the vast majority of any food she finds will get fed to the chicks. It makes sense therefor for a hen to try to maintain her feed intake when sitting. In theory at least, if she is not having to divert nutrients to egg making then she can consume one third less than usual and still maintain a healthy body weight.
I have not detected any noticeable reduction in a sitting hens body weight here when sitting on eggs. Granted I make sure that food is available but even in the wild, hens choose their reproduction time partly by season. The spring for example is likely to provide better foraging opportunities than winter.
I have a rough idea of the quantity of feed consumed by a hen on a daily basis.
A not particularly pleasant experiment was to weigh the notorious broody poop. It seems that what comes out in one or two goes is very similar to what went in by weight and that is very similar to what she would consume daily when not broody, but reduced by a little under a third.
It would seem therefore that a hen given a adequate forage/feed is able to maintain her bodyweight and the notion that sitting is hard on a hen and they necessarily lose weight and condition is false.
This makes sense for species survival and can be seen in humans and other creatures.
Pregnant women often eat more and put on weight while they are pregnant. This is a natural response to preparing for feeding the child while having reduced food for herself. Many creatures do this when preparing to raise young.

I was so excited to see a long post from you. I figured I would learn something and I have. You never disappoint. Thank you for taking the time to let us know what you have learned.

It is good to hear that they don't seem to lose significant weight. I assumed that they did. I do not have a lot of experience with broodies. I just figured from Maleficent's behavior she had to lose weight.

I do believe that it has to be a stressful time for them. Anything outside of a normal routine changes the stress level. I would never underestimate the effect that stress has on any being.

 

[BY Bob]

This all makes total sense to me. And I should say at the start that I have zero experience of broody hens. What I don't understand is why on BYC there are so many horror stories about hens wasting away sitting on nests for what sounds like weeks even when there aren't any eggs.
In nature if a bird loses its eggs (eg if a predator takes them) I believe the bird eventually abandons the nest and may even move on to create a new one.
So is all the fuss about broodiness on BYC because today's hens (not @Shadrach 's obviously) are bred to have lost that instinct to move on when a nest isn't viable? Or is it over-anxious chicken-keepers?

These are excellent questions. I wonder. Like you my experience is limited.

Let me posit this theory. I suppose that they may not be related but rather just the outliers. If 99% don't exhibit these behaviors we would never hear about them. Rather only the unusual stories get written up. That's all we read and hence we think that's the normal.

 

[Shadrach]

That was quite a rant!

Yeah, sorry about that.

 

[featherhead007]

dont tell me youve done that!!! lololololol

And what is so wrong with that? Boredom kinda sucks! Actually I take off the sharp tips of their claws, and the spurrs the roos have. Because I hold my birds a lot!

 

[WhoDatChick]

We did and you shouldn't imo.

I wasn’t planning on it....