Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

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?

This is where you need to keep track of what is going on and intervene when needed. Also the sooner as we can take down the plastics fence the better.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Let's try to Remember

I'm posting this early for all my friends around the world.
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I think the National Pork Board may be a bit biased. They have a vested interest in this.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Broody Trance

I have been contemplating the broody trance and why ladies that have no eggs seem to get stuck in the trance and forget to leave the nest to eat, poo, and bathe. I believe it might be a good idea to give them some ceramic eggs. Let me explain why.

I went back and looked at all the video I shot of Sydney when she was hatching. She was very active. She did not seem to sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time. Between grooming herself and moving the eggs around every 15 minutes or so (I need to look at the chart to find the average again) there are not long stretches where she stares into nothingness. Perhaps with more responsibility, i.e. eggs to take care of, they will not zone out completely and forget they have other stuff to do.

If nothing else it would be an interesting experiment to see if their behavior improves.

Remember, Sydney had a 100% hatch rate. I believe that she knew what she was doing. This is 30 minutes of her setting. If you can watch without getting bored, you will see she seems to be in motion most of the time.

How close to hatching were the eggs when this video was taken By Bob?

If it was close to hatching I imagine Sydney was getting some feedback from the eggs in the form of movement, and later cheeping. Do you think she might behave a bit differently depending on the incubation stage?

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Hi, BYC Peeps!!!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

All Dressed up and Ready

@featherhead007 , Phyllis is ready for the big party tonight. When is Blu getting here to pick her up?
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She really does look like her namesake in that pic!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

HAHAHA!! A chicken wipeout is a slip and fall. Someone lost their footing in the snow and I saw chicken tracks, feather prints, and smush of snow, and more chicken tracks. I'm sure who ever it did it quickly looked around (much like Hattie) to make sure no one saw it and quickly moved along.

Thanks @CrazyChookChookLady .

 

[BY Bob]

I think the National Pork Board may be a bit biased. They have a vested interest in this.

Color me surprised but my Mum did tell me this as well.

 

[BY Bob]

How close to hatching were the eggs when this video was taken By Bob?

If it was close to hatching I imagine Sydney was getting some feedback from the eggs in the form of movement, and later cheeping. Do you think she might behave a bit differently depending on the incubation stage?

I have the date of the video. I need to check the hatch date but this feels like week 2 at the latest.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I try very hard not to get involved in chicken politics. I don't understand the manifesto.
I patch up the injured, admonish the aggresor and wait for the next kick off.
Chickens fight, hens as well as roosters. I would be a nervous wreck here if I tried to intervene in every dispute. The injuries are rarely serious. It's often mostly about status and I'm not in the hierachy.
I can do this here because there is plenty of room and there is always Bucket Boys place to escape to if required. All are welcome, even the horrid ones.
It is easy to misunderstand my relationships with the chickens from the pictures I post of them in the house. They come and go at will. I won't let them fight in the house is about the only rule. I throw them out; hens or roosters, if they want to fight.

You are a good chicken wrangler Shad. I like your house rule.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

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

Could you use a plastic garden table like this

or this?

They even have roosts underneath!

P.S. Your runs look like a fun set up for the chooks.