Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

Was this a Hawk Attack?

I found this imprint in the snow before it all melted away on Christmas Eve. It appears to me to be the impact mark from a hawk hitting the snow. Check out the tail feathers in the snowinter. Am I reading this right?

View attachment 2469175

This imprint was located here in the yard.

View attachment 2469178

The "haunches" behind the toes don't look right for a hawk or raven, they wouldn't put the foot/leg fully down like that, I don't think. Also, you would likely see wing marks on at least one side in the snow too if they had landed that low for some reason.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I would agree but, none, and I mean none, of my chickens had left the complex at that point. Can't be a chicken.

Well my other first impression was a rabbit making a fast and short stop. The "tail marks" might be the feet coming forward. No other prints within 10 feet?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

In my experience, the fast molts come in almost as quickly as the drop. Poor Ester is so miserable. Dorothy is quite bossy and piggy about the beef liver treat. I just don’t know what’s best. I don’t want to stress Ester anymore than she already is. Dorothy seemed like the best friend choice, since they were raised together and hop the little poultry fence together. It’s just barely freezing at night, but the coop is well ventilated and not insulated. I’m not sure how many degrees warmer it is in there.

Here is this morning’s frost:
View attachment 2469342

Here is tonight’s set-up:

Maybe Ester likes the soft towel on her chest and belly instead of the wood?

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you, Bob! I have been making a pdf of the layout and will send photos too and what I can. Their coop really holds only 4-5 large breeds and there's no room to get away. The roosting area is not very big at all.

I have hours every day to observe them; we go skiing or for a walk which takes 2 hours or so, and there's household chores to do, but I am basically retired at this point - my day gig ended the work I was doing remotely and there's no live music work at present. It's been in the teens, but today warmed up to 32F.

They would free-range when I'm out there to supervise, they tend to circle the coop and run, but not now with even just a thin layer of snow, they don't like to walk on it. They stand on the edge of the door looking out! When there was some green not long ago they went around it and over to the garage/barn to nibble.

I will appreciate your guidance but confess that because it was so warm out today I put her in one end of the run today with a divider, heated water, and food as a temporary setup. I hope it doesn't doom anything for the future top do that?

The Buckeyes were curious, then they all ran to the other end under their coop and stayed there until I threw a tiny bit of scratch on both sides of the divider, and was in there working on a part of the run, and they came over. She really loved it when the Buckeyes were near; they maybe not so much, but she was scratching and digging right next to the fence divider. A little while after that I noticed she was having a dustbath in that hole, she was doing that for quite a long time. She seemed quite content. The Buckeyes got on top of their log that I put next to the divider and watched her from above, but also got on her level pecking around next to the fence too.

Later on I set up the cat carrier on two buckets in the bump-out as a temporary roost for her, with extra shavings and hemp bedding. It's not high enough. I was sitting with them for a long time, I had finished setting up a second fence above the first one to keep her from flying over the first one, and didn't get to the dog crate, which I think I could attach to the run frame, up in the air. So I went with the cat carrier on buckets.

The Buckeyes went to roost, interestingly one ran to Queenie and then back to the coop, doing that twice. Was she trying to tell Queenie to come roost? Was she making sure the interloper was not a threat? Queenie made roosting sounds and looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to get up on to me, she's been flying on to my shoulder from the brooder; this morning she did that as I was brushing my teeth.

So I said OK, but she went for my head and unfortunately scrambled up my face and glasses, and I got a good scratch on my forehead and - the same toenail I think - scratched the side of the bridge of my nose right next to my eye. That was a near disaster. Newbie mistake! I've washed them out well, applied neosporin and my DH has repaired my glasses nosepiece, but I have to wear them like reading glasses for the next while. I sat there a little bit assessing what happened and feeling some blood come down. She actually did end up on my shoulder eventually, so I gently got her and put her in the too-low carrier and latched the door to it. She didn't want to go in there, then turned around a few times and sat down. It's very sheltered where it is. So tomorrow is another day.

That was a good start. You want them eating together. Try to relocate the food to where Queenie and the Buckeyes (great new rock band) must eat and drink together.

I like to let them start mixing it up without fencing between them before roost time. That enable you to control the total minutes they are together with daylight but you must be there to intervene in case it gets out of hand. It doesn't happen often but it did when I was integrating Mal twice. (Lilly was a bitch).

So start them off eating together tomorrow, even if it was just treats. That was a great instinct on your part. Then if you are feeling adventurous, give her 60 minutes of mix it up time before roost time with direct supervision. Only intervene if she is trapped and being hurt. There will likely be confrontations and you must let them play out. Let's see how that works and then we can plan the next step.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

That was a good start. You want them eating together. Try to relocate the food to where Queenie and the Buckeyes (great new rock band) must eat and drink together.

I like to let them start mixing it up without fencing between them before roost time. That enable you to control the total minutes they are together with daylight but you must be there to intervene in case it gets out of hand. It doesn't happen often but it did when I was integrating Mal twice. (Lilly was a bitch).

So start them off eating together tomorrow, even if it was just treats. That was a great instinct on your part. Then if you are feeling adventurous, give her 60 minutes of mix it up time before roost time with direct supervision. Only intervene if she is trapped and being hurt. There will likely be confrontations and you must let them play out. Let's see how that works and then we can plan the next step.

Y

Here's the layout. I will post photos & comments tomorrow. When you look at this, know that my plan was/is that the 9x6 ft tall run is for the wintertime, not year-round. I tractored them around in the better weather in their coop and low 9-ft run (Omlet Cube MK2 with an extra run length). So I attached it to Omlet's expandable "Walk-In Run" in the late Fall, adding a 2-foot section of hardware cloth as an adapter between them when I saw how ridiculously small Omlet's adapter doorway was. The coop handles for lifting & tractoring work pretty well as roof supports for that part. The 3-ft high bump-out was an afterthought when I realized I had extra parts after attachment (the doors to the bump-out are the tractor's run doors, for instance).

It's all to scale so the wavy lines are where I shortened the coop and the bump-out to fit on the page.

My thought was that this or something like it could be a permanent situation for the chickens if something happens and I can't or won't tractor them anymore. It is all like an erector set, to a big degree things can be swapped around, parts added, etc.

 

[micstrachan]

The "haunches" behind the toes don't look right for a hawk or raven, they wouldn't put the foot/leg fully down like that, I don't think. Also, you would likely see wing marks on at least one side in the snow too if they had landed that low for some reason.

Wing marks! Good point. Thoughts on what it could be then? Still looks chicken to me, but Bob seems sure it is not.

 

[micstrachan]

Maybe Ester likes the soft towel on her chest and belly instead of the wood?

Good point. There is a roost, but even Dorothy isn’t using it. I wrap their roosts in the coop in towels. Should have done the same here. Tomorrow! I think she’ll be in at least a couple more nights.

 

[micstrachan]

Thank you, Bob! I have been making a pdf of the layout and will send photos too and what I can. Their coop really holds only 4-5 large breeds and there's no room to get away. The roosting area is not very big at all.

I have hours every day to observe them; we go skiing or for a walk which takes 2 hours or so, and there's household chores to do, but I am basically retired at this point - my day gig ended the work I was doing remotely and there's no live music work at present. It's been in the teens, but today warmed up to 32F.

They would free-range when I'm out there to supervise, they tend to circle the coop and run, but not now with even just a thin layer of snow, they don't like to walk on it. They stand on the edge of the door looking out! When there was some green not long ago they went around it and over to the garage/barn to nibble.

I will appreciate your guidance but confess that because it was so warm out today I put her in one end of the run today with a divider, heated water, and food as a temporary setup. I hope it doesn't doom anything for the future top do that?

The Buckeyes were curious, then they all ran to the other end under their coop and stayed there until I threw a tiny bit of scratch on both sides of the divider, and was in there working on a part of the run, and they came over. She really loved it when the Buckeyes were near; they maybe not so much, but she was scratching and digging right next to the fence divider. A little while after that I noticed she was having a dustbath in that hole, she was doing that for quite a long time. She seemed quite content. The Buckeyes got on top of their log that I put next to the divider and watched her from above, but also got on her level pecking around next to the fence too.

Later on I set up the cat carrier on two buckets in the bump-out as a temporary roost for her, with extra shavings and hemp bedding. It's not high enough. I was sitting with them for a long time, I had finished setting up a second fence above the first one to keep her from flying over the first one, and didn't get to the dog crate, which I think I could attach to the run frame, up in the air. So I went with the cat carrier on buckets.

The Buckeyes went to roost, interestingly one ran to Queenie and then back to the coop, doing that twice. Was she trying to tell Queenie to come roost? Was she making sure the interloper was not a threat? Queenie made roosting sounds and looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to get up on to me, she's been flying on to my shoulder from the brooder; this morning she did that as I was brushing my teeth.

So I said OK, but she went for my head and unfortunately scrambled up my face and glasses, and I got a good scratch on my forehead and - the same toenail I think - scratched the side of the bridge of my nose right next to my eye. That was a near disaster. Newbie mistake! I've washed them out well, applied neosporin and my DH has repaired my glasses nosepiece, but I have to wear them like reading glasses for the next while. I sat there a little bit assessing what happened and feeling some blood come down. She actually did end up on my shoulder eventually, so I gently got her and put her in the too-low carrier and latched the door to it. She didn't want to go in there, then turned around a few times and sat down. It's very sheltered where it is. So tomorrow is another day.

This sounds like wonderful progress! I really can’t wait to see/hear what happens once they are allowed contact!

 

[Ribh]

Thank you, Bob! I have been making a pdf of the layout and will send photos too and what I can. Their coop really holds only 4-5 large breeds and there's no room to get away. The roosting area is not very big at all.

I have hours every day to observe them; we go skiing or for a walk which takes 2 hours or so, and there's household chores to do, but I am basically retired at this point - my day gig ended the work I was doing remotely and there's no live music work at present. It's been in the teens, but today warmed up to 32F.

They would free-range when I'm out there to supervise, they tend to circle the coop and run, but not now with even just a thin layer of snow, they don't like to walk on it. They stand on the edge of the door looking out! When there was some green not long ago they went around it and over to the garage/barn to nibble.

I will appreciate your guidance but confess that because it was so warm out today I put her in one end of the run today with a divider, heated water, and food as a temporary setup. I hope it doesn't doom anything for the future top do that?

The Buckeyes were curious, then they all ran to the other end under their coop and stayed there until I threw a tiny bit of scratch on both sides of the divider, and was in there working on a part of the run, and they came over. She really loved it when the Buckeyes were near; they maybe not so much, but she was scratching and digging right next to the fence divider. A little while after that I noticed she was having a dustbath in that hole, she was doing that for quite a long time. She seemed quite content. The Buckeyes got on top of their log that I put next to the divider and watched her from above, but also got on her level pecking around next to the fence too.

Later on I set up the cat carrier on two buckets in the bump-out as a temporary roost for her, with extra shavings and hemp bedding. It's not high enough. I was sitting with them for a long time, I had finished setting up a second fence above the first one to keep her from flying over the first one, and didn't get to the dog crate, which I think I could attach to the run frame, up in the air. So I went with the cat carrier on buckets.

The Buckeyes went to roost, interestingly one ran to Queenie and then back to the coop, doing that twice. Was she trying to tell Queenie to come roost? Was she making sure the interloper was not a threat? Queenie made roosting sounds and looked at me, and I could tell she wanted to get up on to me, she's been flying on to my shoulder from the brooder; this morning she did that as I was brushing my teeth.

So I said OK, but she went for my head and unfortunately scrambled up my face and glasses, and I got a good scratch on my forehead and - the same toenail I think - scratched the side of the bridge of my nose right next to my eye. That was a near disaster. Newbie mistake! I've washed them out well, applied neosporin and my DH has repaired my glasses nosepiece, but I have to wear them like reading glasses for the next while. I sat there a little bit assessing what happened and feeling some blood come down. She actually did end up on my shoulder eventually, so I gently got her and put her in the too-low carrier and latched the door to it. She didn't want to go in there, then turned around a few times and sat down. It's very sheltered where it is. So tomorrow is another day.

This sounds like a pretty good start to me. I suspect Queenie is quite a bit older. She seems to have a better idea of what's going on & how this will play out. That could be a really good thing as she seems to be such a calm placid girl.

 

[Ribh]

Wing marks! Good point. Thoughts on what it could be then? Still looks chicken to me, but Bob seems sure it is not.

Bob does have rabbits... but I've got no idea. No snow ever round here.