Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

I love that you are a scrapbooker. I was heavily into scrapbooking when the kids were little, before I sent back to work. I participated on design teams, contests, blogs, etc. I guess when I get into something, I get really into it!
On that note, I’ll be learning a new skill... quilting! I convinced my colleague and friend to take some of us through a virtual quilting class in January. Of course the fabric collection I selected has some chickens involved!

My Mom is a quilter. Her last quilting machine cost $2,000. You can invest some serious money.

 

[micstrachan]

Gaaah I just about figured out how to get pics from my phone to the PC quickly (my charger cord is USB and that connects to the PC, yay So much better than through our wifi). I just loaded pics from this morning. I'd use the BYC app on my phone but it really is quirky and annoying, my cursor jumps back and forth and I'm editing more than writing

Yes I would like to figure out how to put video up here but haven't yet. Create YouTube channel, load it to there, link here to there, yes? I DID figure out how to edit them down to short lengths on my PC though, once I figured out the transfer issue.

I am on the expanding horizon of tech learning. Ex: I would post a pic of my face but it would need a spoiler and I haven't figured that out either! Baby steps here (loved that movie, what is the name? haha).

This morning they all ate together, the waterers are also together on the right side. After they ate enough for a first meal there was a little face-off. Then lots of scratching around where the treats were yesterday, in search of more, followed by more looking and mirroring, mostly by Popcorn and Peanut. At one point Queenie held quite still in a firm pointy-face low-head stance while the Buckeye kept her head high and stretched-out, but moving it. Here they were beak-to-beak. Later Queenie was standing up against the fence and let herself be touched (it seemed) through the fence on her side feathers by a curious Buckeye beak.

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Well done! This is great to see!

 

[micstrachan]

My Mom is a quilter. Her last quilting machine cost $2,000. You can invest some serious money.

Oh my! I’ll be using my regular, nothing-special sewing machine. LOL. Something to look forward to in retirement, perhaps!

 

[BY Bob]

Oh my! I’ll be using my regular, nothing-special sewing machine. LOL. Something to look forward to in retirement, perhaps!

That's when she got it. Retirement

 

[micstrachan]

This is the kind of behavior I am interested in. "Queenie held quite still in a firm pointy-face low-head stance while the Buckeye kept her head high and stretched-out, but moving it."

Did it look like this?

What you are seeing exhibited here in the video I posted is called fence fighting.

The peck at the ground and then lift head and peck at each other is the fence fighting. Did you see Queenie peck the ground and then at the fence or Buckeye? If so, she may very well be trying to intimidate the Buckeye in question. I am pretty sure that my resident baddy Aurora was doing so to Sydney.

Now that is my read on the behavior. Others will say they have no idea why chickens fence fight and more interestingly, why some chickens do and some don't. Additionally it is also interesting to note that once the fence is removed in the majority of cases no fighting ensues.

I learned much of this from @Shadrach and I am glad to pass it on.

Interesting, Bob. In my flock, if there is a stand off like that, usually the lower ranked hen’s head is low and the higher ranked hen’s head is high.

 

[micstrachan]

Feather control is an amazing thing. Chicken that have a heavy moult when it's hot suffer as badly, if not worse, than they do in the cold. Feather control allows them to organize their feathers when it's hot so that air will cilculate close to the skin while the outer layers prevent heat reachinng the skin. Dogs can do the same apparently.

Fascinating!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I should have read ahead....

I'm posting from the run. Came back from a ski and found Hazel in the divided area with Queenie 2 1/2 hours ago and I've been with them watching. Hazel must have flown over, as Queenie still wanted out but wasn't flying out. I had taken down the upper fence after putting Queenie to roost last night. There was mild pecking and sometimes Queenie went past Hazel, in front, to avoid a peck. Then they foraged and preened and scratched around. Queenie looks unharmed. Fence fighting: that's the stance but Queenie hardly pecked the ground and then the fence, but I think I saw that once. I eventually took Hazel out, then, while I was replacing the water, Queenie flew out. There was no brawl, Queenie is submitting to everyone it appears, holding her head low and still, and moves to get away if it persists. After awhile I rolled up the fencing for more room and refilled the bowls with mash. So far no bad pecking, sometimes a gangup -maybe 4-5 times so far? But Queenie submits and moves away. She appears really content, she was pacing the fence before, and seems to accept how things are. She is eating and preening. Early on she found high ground on the low perch pictured here, she's there now, preening. They did keep her from the water bowl for awhile, but later she drank from it. I'm staying until they roost, thinking Queenie should go into the carrier again. Thoughts?

 

[BY Bob]

Interesting, Bob. In my flock, if there is a stand off like that, usually the lower ranked hen’s head is low and the higher ranked hen’s head is low.

In face to face confrontations with no fence between them, you are correct. It reverses with a fence between them. I can't tell you why.

 

[BY Bob]

I'm posting from the run. Came back from a ski and found Hazel in the divided area with Queenie 2 1/2 hours ago and I've been with them watching. Hazel must have flown over, as Queenie still wanted out but wasn't flying out. I had taken down the upper fence after putting Queenie to roost last night. There was mild pecking and sometimes Queenie went past Hazel, in front, to avoid a peck. Then they foraged and preened and scratched around. Queenie looks unharmed. Fence fighting: that's the stance but Queenie hardly pecked the ground and then the fence, but I think I saw that once. I eventually took Hazel out, then, while I was replacing the water, Queenie flew out. There was no brawl, Queenie is submitting to everyone it appears, holding her head low and still, and moves to get away if it persists. After awhile I rolled up the fencing for more room and refilled the bowls with mash. So far no bad pecking, sometimes a gangup -maybe 4-5 times so far? But Queenie submits and moves away. She appears really content, she was pacing the fence before, and seems to accept how things are. She is eating and preening. Early on she found high ground on the low perch pictured here, she's there now, preening. They did keep her from the water bowl for awhile, but later she drank from it. I'm staying until they roost, thinking Queenie should go into the carrier again. Thoughts?View attachment 2470259

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Let her try and roost with them if she wants. Just stay available in case anything gets out of hand if you can.

They are taking care of this for you. It can happen quickly but you need to make certain it does not get out of hand.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Let her try and roost with them if she wants. Just stay available in case anything gets out of hand if you can.

They are taking care of this for you. It can happen quickly but you need to make certain it does not get out of hand.

The Buckeyes have gone to roost, and Queenie made no attempt to go with them. They messed around more than usual and went back to where Queenie was eating the mash they left, pecked her some and drove her away, then let her be when she switched to the other bowl. Now they're sitting in the coop now waiting for the autodoor to close. Queenie was first on this small round perch higher than I'm sitting that I threw onto the end corner here by her carrier, then she jumped onto my shoulder, and now is back on the perch. I'll move her to the carrier soon,the perch is not secure I think, being too close to the run wall. Totally exposed otherwise too. I got lots of video today but it will have to await the IT person learning how to wrangle it all.