Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

I am a tech ignoramus. One thing I have discovered is the BYC App is actually really easy to use to add photos direct from my phone (I never even upload them to the PC). Video is a different kettle of fish and requires something like a You Tube account. But photos are as easy as clicking 'add file' in the app on the phone. Generally the BYC App I find better than the website (though I use both).
And as for the chicken integration -

I did upload the latest pictures directly from my phone, using my data, that works well. I find writing any text there weird - if I put the cursor into the text to edit, as soon as I hit space and sometimes before then, it jumps ahead and then I see I'm typing not where I put the cursor...

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Haha! She might want that, but I highly doubt she’ll start out on top. This will be so interesting to watch.

As far as protecting yourself from friendly chickens, here’s a hint: If a chicken on your shoulder suddenly has renewed interest in your face, close your eyes. Your eyelashes or eyebrows might be quite tempting.

That's happened already, one of the Buckeyes went for an eyelash! Luckily I squinched my eye just at the last moment and not much harm was done. They do see the smallest speck!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

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.

I'm looking at this from my PC now, and I can report that I think one or more of the Buckeyes was definitely doing that, one (Hazel?) was pecking several times at the fence, and there was pecking around at the ground in between. I didn't put them together at the time. It looked like she was testing the fence; it was new and I attributed it to that. Queenie did it once that I saw. Thank you, @BY Bob and @Shadrach !

 

[ChicoryBlue]

They're fence fighting and you should try to prevent it. It's easy for them to get a
toe caught in the mesh.

I saw this post earlier today, thank you for the warning. I did not see any foot action though, did you mean like when they flap and get some height and claw with their feet toward the other chicken? The only thing I saw with toes was twice in scratching the litter a toe tugged the base of the fence as the hole was being dug. Is that what you meant?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

You taught me well, thanks. I spent over an hour looking for that video today.

Wow thank you for that effort, @BY Bob! I very much appreciate it, it was very educational, thank you!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Fudge.
View attachment 2470168

I like that in this picture you can see her toes & feet. It really gives you a sense of her weight distribution on that branch.

 

[BY Bob]

And I thought quilting was done by hand - I guess that disqualifies me!

My dad thought that as well. He learned otherwise the hard way!

 

[BY Bob]

Here's photos of my coop / run setup.
This view is facing north-northeast
View attachment 2470325

The Omlet coop and run all tarped up. I added 2 ft hardware cloth along the base, plus hardware cloth extension/adapter to attach to the tall run. You can see a small black 2" pipe on the roof of the coop. It is actually inside a 4" pipe section holding the tarp away from the top of the run, and the pipe holds the tarp away from the coop top, which overlaps onto the roof, away from the roof there, helping with ventilation. The setup is on the ground which is pretty damp (I've got bedding all piled upon it). There is one of the coop vents right below the pipe, and I had seen some condensation on the low-run tarp. That's gone since doing this.
View attachment 2470331

The 6x9 tall run. The pipe and wood wedged in over the top stable door are holding out the tarp for now, keeps the rain & snow away. I want to try to make a hardware cloth overhang for it. To the right of that I just made a roof extension of hardware cloth & shower curtain to do just that over the south-facing un-tarped vent area. I want to do one on the opposite back end, but maybe baffled/pointed down as the wind, rain and snow really blow fiercely 'round the garage/barn into it. Right now I have wood wedged between the top tarp and the run wall tarp on the back end. This tall run still needs 2-ft hardware cloth all around the bottom, won't get to it until the weather warms up. You can see from the lower door in the above picture that the bottom 3-foot panels have wire that is set smaller, but each column is still about 3" wide.
View attachment 2470335

The 3x3 bump-out I made from freed-up panels after the coop & run were attached. I wasn't planning on using the small stable doors on the end so I wrapped them in shower curtains; I'm going to cut it and I have panels from shower curtains made that will fit there so the doors can be used. That's the cat carrier on buckets in there. I put a 2x3ft panel of hardware cloth between the right side wall and the carrier.
View attachment 2470336

Looking from the tall run down the low run to the coop. The run handles are supporting the shape of the run top, and although the bottom panel is buckled in a bit where it hinges/attaches, it works. That's as far as it has ever buckled and I don't think it's going to move more. In the Summer and Fall the Buckeyes seemed to like to dustbathe on the right side of the length, and also they sometimes fly straight out of the coop door on the left side, so it's been free of furniture for awhile. They do like running down the length also. There were two above-the-head swings set up in line with the run length for the Summer and I will set them up that way once they start tractoring again. But now that there's a 4-5" log perch in the tall run they stopped using the swings for their mid-day siestas. The 3" flat wooden swing I made (not here now) was always 1st choice over the smaller diameter plastic yellow manufactured swing seen here, even with rug-stopper non-skid cushioning on it for when they were chicks. I set this one up perpendicular to the length but it is unused. I took off the rug stopper when they began shredding it.
View attachment 2470339

OK that's the setup. I want to add levels in the tall run - a card table for instance which was suggested here, but I have to make or get one.

This is very helpful.

You can also add saw horse elevation as well. It will help a lot for there to be someplace for Queenie to escape upwards.

You have done well with the tarps to keep the wind off of them.

 

[BY Bob]

I did upload the latest pictures directly from my phone, using my data, that works well. I find writing any text there weird - if I put the cursor into the text to edit, as soon as I hit space and sometimes before then, it jumps ahead and then I see I'm typing not where I put the cursor...

I have been known to build a post on my phone and tablet because the pictures are on the phone. You can upload the pictures and the use save draft. When you access on your computer the photos will be there and you can write the post on the computer. Remember you can attach your phone to your home wifi to save on data.

 

[BY Bob]

Wow thank you for that effort, @BY Bob! I very much appreciate it, it was very educational, thank you!

No problem. I need to file things better.