Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[GhislaineDel]

No pics of chicks yet but the coop/run build is in progress!

Now I am agonizing over my roofing choices. Lots of hardware cloth and a tarp or metal roof panels. I should just do the math to figure out which is cheaper. We plan on moving in about a year so this is meant to be a structure we can take apart and move to our next property.

 

[Ali James]

No pics of chicks yet but the coop/run build is in progress! View attachment 2171553
Now I am agonizing over my roofing choices. Lots of hardware cloth and a tarp or metal roof panels. I should just do the math to figure out which is cheaper. We plan on moving in about a year so this is meant to be a structure we can take apart and move to our next property.

I have a tarp on my girls' run, covering 50% of it so they have choice of sun or shade. At first they were a bit startled when it rustled in the wind but they soon got used to it. With a tarp you can always take it off, but with metal, it would be more of a permanent fixture. What is the weather like where you are? Are they likely to overheat under a metal roof?

 

[BY Bob]

Day 16: Not a Great Break for Sydney

Sydney came off the nest today at 12:23. It was not a great break for Sydney. She did immediately go after Phyllis and stood on her again. It happened everytime Phyllis came in range.

This time though Lilly decided that she was going to really take it out on Syndey and several feathers were lost in melee. Sydney wound up treed on the brush pile.

At this point I felt I needed to help. I poured out some mealworms in an effort to distract the flock for a while. That has worked before. Lilly came for a bit, Sydney started to dust bathe and LIlly headed back. Another dust up started so I went and scooped Lilly up. I wanted to make certain that Sydney could eat. While I held Lilly, Sydney ate. Once she had eaten, i put Lilly back down and things were calme for a bit. Sydney was still really jumpy. Anytime anyone came close to her, she moved. eventually she went back in with only a partial dustbath and half as much food as she normally eats.

I wish she would have accepted the move to the old coop. I am worried about this continuing as we keep going.

Here she is back on the nest. Poor thing.

 

[Shadrach]

Well, if it helps at all Shadrach, I have certainly learned a thing or two from you. You've also made me think instead of just assuming things about my chooks behaviour.

Though I still have trouble tolerating Tsuki's "bullying" behaviour.

I'm just having a rant Aussie-Chookmum. I do from time to time. Ignore me. I'll be in a better humour later.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm a sucker for both more land & more chickens.

You can have some of the land here!
Land is great until you find out how much it costs in all respects to manage it. If it's not managed then it may as well be left to the wildlife.

 

[Shadrach]

Do people give them higher protein commercial feed when they molt? I mean like the stuff used for growing chicks.
I am now sure both Maggie and Diana are molting. So far it looks rather gentle and they continue to pig out on anything they can lay their beaks on so I am not too worried. At least not yet. But it is my first molting experience so I am keeping an eagle eye on them (if that doesn’t sound too threatening!).

People do. I have no idea how they get them to eat it. Getting the heavy moulters here to eat any commercial food worth talking about is a mission.

 

[Shadrach]

I feed my gals an All Flock.. it has 20% protein.. it’s pellets... this is what I feed to them always.... I just found it easier to feed this when I was adding the new pullets.. it’s safe for everyone.. whereas the layer feed isn’t... plus, they are getting extra protein whenever they do happen to molt..
Oh, and.. because it’s safe for everyone.. it doesn’t have the calcium that the layer feed does.. so I also have oyster shell available at all times...

Good choice. I can't get 20% protein here any more. 18% is the highest. It's okay. It has 1.2% calcium which is bearable for the roosters, pensioners and chicks but it's a bit high in fat at 1.8%.

 

[Shadrach]

My Silkie hens groom the Roo all the time. I could tell right from the start it was grooming and not aggression, but I was very surprised to see it in chickens!

I think it's such a lovely thing to watch.

 

[Ribh]

You can have some of the land here!
Land is great until you find out how much it costs in all respects to manage it. If it's not managed then it may as well be left to the wildlife.

I come from a long line of farmers. It's not how much land so much as the amount a person can reasonably manage. Dad had 50 acres. It was hilly & the soil was poor. He ran Bramaha X cattle on it but by his late 80s it was too much work for one man. My cousin, who has a water deprived property west of Brisbane has just sold of all his stock. It's not viable ~ but he has a lot of land to now manage. I have very particular requirements if we ever do this: not too large; it must be flat & there must be a good water supply. Water is the biggest one in this country. Last year we saw even well supplied farms have their water supply dry up so water is huge. Your land is not flat ~ but thank you for offering.

 

[Shadrach]

but thank you for offering.

That's okay Ribh. I like to spread the rocks around.