Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[drstratton]

I cannot tell a lie, I want one of those!

It's in my Christmas wish list....

 

[drstratton]

When the kids were teenagers we took them to Skirmish in the Poconos for a day of family fun participating in Paintball war.
We wore canvas coveralls (supplied by them) and other protective gear. It still hurt when those nasty little things hit you.
The next day, I was covered in small round bruises.
They were sore too.
Last time we did that!

That's awesome! My boys and their buddies set up a paintball course on our property...all they ever wore were t-shirts & jeans...the bruises were not small...there was no way they would get me out there after seeing them!

 

[micstrachan]

Routine

I mentioned to someone, I have forgotten who already (I'm sorry whoever it was) that hawks love routine. Well guess who was back tonight, same time. Hattie gave the alarm, I stood up, same chair, same spot. I located the hawk. It was sitting on top the light pole on the corner of my property.

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It drove after something in the neighbor's yard.

Here they were hiding under the trumpet vine for protection.
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I've been very concerned about the flock lately as they have spent a lot of time stationary, under cover. There was also another incident where the flock was behind me in the Rose of Sharon bush. I was facing away and something scattered them they ran screaming and flapping in all directions. I never saw what it was but it took me a bit to gather them back together.

I am now surmizing that the hawk is hunting my property. If I could kill Le Rat I would feel OK locking them in the complex for a few days. Or the hawk could land somewhere within range of the gun and I could hit it once.

This is yet another challenge for all of us.

Bob, it was me! Yesterday my flock was feeling more adventurous and ventured out across both yards. I did not see or hear our resident Red Shouldered Hawk. However, at one point, Cashew was crossing the road and stopped to have a good look at the sky. Sure enough, there was a large, thick-winged hawk. It did not have obvious banding on its tail and was light under its wings. I’m thinking it was a juvenile Red Tail Hawk. They don’t fly over my yard often, but would be a huge threat to my birds (like injury upon impact by their shear size/weight). It was definitely checking out the flock.

I did my version of an alarm call and all the girls hid. I called my dog out into plain sight to be sure the hawk spotted her. It did, and went on its way. What’s interesting is that the guard ravens were back/home yesterday and did not chase it off, though I have seen them chase off other hawks.

I hope you find a solution for your flock. I added four large garbage bags of leaves to the run to keep mine busy, since I don’t let them out without me snd the dog both being out to protect/supervise. It was great to see them all exercising, scratching away instead of sitting around this morning.

 

[micstrachan]

She's beautiful! (That bird)!

Thanks, Alex. Someone else on here has a Barred Rock that looks like her. Is it Rocks-Anne?

 

[micstrachan]

A Better Day

Let me start by pointing out that the conditions were much improved today. It was a little warmer with a lot of warm sunshine and no wind. The ladies took advantage of it today.

We started by hanging out on the patio this morning. I chose the patio because it has full sun. And then I pulled out the big guns to try and cheer this lot up, PURPLE CORN. There has been no purple corn at TSC for months. I saw some the last time I was there and grabbed the last bag. I have been sitting on it for weeks so they would finish the yellow corn which I had gotten for them. Today I said, "why not!" and grabbed the bag when I headed out. I could almost swear Hattie screamed for joy when she saw others eating it. She did make some sound of recognition and bullied her way through Sansa, Phyllis and Lilly to get dibs on my hand.

Everyone was more active and hanging around with me in the sun. Here are few candid shots.
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And how about these two hanging out near to each other.
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Later in the afternoon I went out to take them a treat. All 6 of them were laying in the sun dustbathing together. I felt so bad interrupting them.

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Only 3 were willing to give up their bath for snacks!
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These three stayed in their warm dusty holes.
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Afterwards, these two hung out for a while.
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Some observations from the day.

• Hattie is quicker to peck than she usually is. Hattie growls less, pecks more when food is involved. Sansa and Sydney both got nabbed by her today
• Aurora is much less aggressive when going after food and quickly gives way to Lilly. Aurora used to respect the pecking order only to a point and was not shy about taking food from Lilly. That did not happen at all today. In fact she was even flinching when Lilly looked at her and would back away even when Lilly was not interested in her.
• Aurora is still favoring her leg. She did run around early in the day but by roosting time you could tell it was sore.
• Aurora is not chasing anyone at roosting time and just waits until everything is settled inside before she goes in now and simply roosts.

Tonight's roost photo.
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This looks and sounds like a great day, Bob. However, the first video won’t play for me.

 

[micstrachan]

I want to recommend a chicken book to you all. I'm posting it here because most from the three threads read this one.
It's a hard back so that in itself makes it a nice object to own. It's the best all round chicken book I've come accross. It's not about how to keep chickens; it's about chickens.
The book is very well presented and contains bits of knowledge about chickens I've not found in many other publications.
I suspect if one wanted a greater depth of knowledge one would need to read studies and papers which is fine, but often difficult to access.
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ORDERED! Thanks for the recommendation, Shad.

 

[featherhead007]

Thanks, Alex. Someone else on here has a Barred Rock that looks like her. Is it Rocks-Anne?

By Bob has one (Sydney) She's beautiful too. My Rocks-Anne is way too fat these days.

 

[micstrachan]

Mel is improving daily. She's got her appetite back and her attitude, much to the displeasure of the juniors.
Unfortunately Fudge is not well. She has a crop issue. It's not compacted but it is slow. She doesn't look at all happy and isn't eating properly. This is recent so I'm on the problem relatively quickly. The thing is I'm not sure what the problem is.
She's going to get wormed and hit with coccivex as a starting point.
I had her in the house early this morning for an inspection. Her crop was large and squidgy but no odour. This hopefully means it's not full on sour crop yet.
I did get a decent amount of water into her by syringe and some frozen coconut lumps. She had four crop massage sessions over two hours after which I put her back with her tribe.
I'm hoping this is nothing too serious. She was incredibly well behaved and just sat on my lap as I fed her the water and did the massages.

Sorry to hear this, Shad. I know you prefer not to medicate unless you are pretty sure what you are treating for, but I have had great success with clotrimazole (antifungal) with slow/doughy crop. I have also administered lemon juice with a mix of spices (cinnamon, cayenne pepper and I forget what else), which seemed to help, along with offering some non-starchy foods (chopped kale and meat). Does she eat feathers when others are molting? A couple of mine have done this and it slows the crop way down). I have also mixed baby bird formula with hot water and coconut oil to make sure the bird is getting nutrients while also lubricating the GI tract. I know you are an excellent chickeneer, but just throwing out some ideas that have helped in my flock. By the time I catch up, I may learn that you have already resolved this!

 

[micstrachan]

By Bob has one (Sydney) She's beautiful too. My Rocks-Anne is way too fat these days.

I’m thinking it’s Sydney now that she is a mature hen. I think I already made that comment specifically. My Bridge has always been my second largest bird after my Brahma... by a lot... like a full pound! I still think your Rocks-Anne is beautiful like Bridge and Sydney!

 

[featherhead007]

Rocks-Anne is my only lap chicken left to me, but Jaffar does a good job of lap sitting too,(Just as long as I rub his waddles)