Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Grandmas Coop]

I love apricots. I did not know they could survive in the cold. Are there male and female apricot trees, like pears?

Hmmmmmmmmmm I do not know, I will have to look into it?

 

[Marie2020]

I've been trying to find the best bedding for my girls and read somewhere on byc after I logged out that hemp was a good way to go.
Sadly I could only get the Eucalyptus Which apparently is no good for composting.

So I just thought I would add my thoughts here as it may come in useful for someone one day

 

[Marie2020]

Have a good day everyone

 

[BY Bob]

More on Hattie

I wandered over to say hello to her and she stood up. Here is how she stood. Notice the tail down position. She is not feeling well.

I put out some meal worms on the deck to see her reaction. I was pleased that she came over and she did eat some. However as you can see from this picture, she was not willing to mix it up with the rest of the tribe. She is pecking at leftovers after they have moved on.

 

[BY Bob]

Have a good day everyone

You too Marie

 

[featherhead007]

I've been trying to find the best bedding for my girls and read somewhere on byc after I logged out that hemp was a good way to go.
Sadly I could only get the Eucalyptus Which apparently is no good for composting.

So I just thought I would add my thoughts here as it may come in useful for someone one day

Thing about hemp, Your birds get stoned too much grazing on it! I'm kidding

 

[featherhead007]

Looks like BLU is only having a bad day. Nothing physically wrong, that I can tell. But I’m not a veterinarian.

 

[Grandmas Coop]

More on Hattie

I wandered over to say hello to her and she stood up. Here is how she stood. Notice the tail down position. She is not feeling well.
View attachment 2603490

I put out some meal worms on the deck to see her reaction. I was pleased that she came over and she did eat some. However as you can see from this picture, she was not willing to mix it up with the rest of the tribe. She is pecking at leftovers after they have moved on.
View attachment 2603491

Maybe she is getting ready to molt? or, sometimes if they have eaten something that disagrees with their crop that get that way.

 

[Shadrach]

The puzzle Bob has put up is a good distraction as I'm sorting out a near-disaster today.

The coop tractor is not unattached yet from the large run, and I had let the chickens free-range, supervised, the last several days, but I'd gotten too casual about it. Of course I had thought, hawks are going to be coming through here soon in their migrations, got to get the tractor unhitched and going soon, but I trusted the chickens to stick close to the house, thinking that was a safe strategy, and they mostly have done that. I noticed how very happy and enthusiastic and just chicken-y they behaved when they were exploring and scratching and moving around naturally. They are encountering a varied environment that challenges and exercises their brains too as they look for good things to eat. They are totally built for free-ranging. Yesterday they all helped me garden, and were spotting worms way before I could even get started seeing one.

But today they were attacked by a hawk. I believe they are all okay. I did a basic check on the two I was most concerned about, Popcorn and Butters, and will check more thoroughly tomorrow. Later this afternoon back in the big run Peanut and Hazel were digging a hole to China and getting into a dustbath, and I didn't want to stress them again with a closer check as at least for now they appeared well enough. Queenie looked good and a quick feel of her sides and breast feathers turned up nothing.

Also tomorrow I'm going to unhitch the coop tractor and start moving it around and keep them in it. I am thinking of building a secure low tractor that I could also move with it to give them more square feet in each spot. They will have new ground every day - leaves and woods floor stuff and grass, and that's got to be better than the run litter they've been looking at all winter. I decided at least for now, I didn't want to lose anyone this way, through a free-range attack, and from my point of view the fun times of free-ranging wasn't worth the terror of today for them and the sadness and guilt for me, at least not for now.

But maybe a chicken's thoughts work differently. Do they just roll with these things? They had no desire to leave the coop for several hours after this incident, about six hours. But late today I think they would gladly have gone out again. Short-term memories at work? Or when I'm around the coop or they see me anywhere they feel safe and want to come out? Or do I have here a bunch of thrill-seekers on my hands?

My neighbors have urged me to free-range the chickens. I have been researching electrified predator fencing for ground predators, and thinking of ways to protect against aerial predators in combination with the coop tractor moving around. With free ranging, I considered that there could still be a loss when outside the coop tractor even with reasonably good protections, and have been weighing how I feel about that possibility. Now I know. The thing is, a chicken that gets to really be a chicken by not being confined is living a great life, but if it is killed or wounded by a predator, was or is that still considered a good life? Who is the judge of this? And what kind of vote am I entitled to? Am I okay with knowing they lived really well and happily up until meeting a violent death, or painful wounding, or having a just-plain terrifying (thrilling?) experience?

What happened, if you care to read more --
I let the chickens out to free-range around the house, and DH was outside too, working nearby, about 70 feet away. I was in and out, and had just noticed that Hazel was in the coop run but didn't see the others. So I had gone in for a few minutes when a hawk attacked four of them in some blackberry bushes right at the base of a tree about 10 feet from the house. I think the brambles being in the way helped, slowing down grabbing someone. Queenie let loose all kinds of desperate calling and screaming and DH looked over to see a lot of flapping and realized it wasn't just a group of chickens flapping there, there was a big hawk on them, and he rushed over to drive the hawk off. The hawk saw him but paused and didn't want to move. DH kept going toward him and it finally flew off. That pause DH reported made me think someone had been in it's talons. But now I think there was still a chicken there - Butters - right in front of it, so close, and the hawk had not wanted to leave.

I flew out the sliding door on the side where the screaming was, and Queenie was right there at the door and hopped up and inside as I went out, and I saw the hawk flying up and circling around, and land briefly in a tree near the road. It was big but I was pretty sure it wasn't carrying anything. One Buckeye was coming from the brambles straight toward me and went right under the little deck that that door opens on to and I was standing on. I looked around and didn't see anybody else, then found Peanut under the nearby Rhododendron bush. I called her and she came towards me all twittering, and I led her to the other Buckeye - turned out to be Butters - under the deck space, then got Queenie and showed her the others and got her under there too. Then we went looking for the fourth; Hazel had retreated to the bump-out nook of the coop run and was scared but okay, but the fourth Buckeye was nowhere to be found.

Checked on everyone under the deck again and the one Buckeye was crouched in a most inaccessible corner of wood, she appeared to be sitting and not moving much, with Peanut standing but wedged right next to her, looking around but sort of cowering, and Queenie standing in front of them, all neck up and wary, seemingly guarding them both.

We looked around and called and called, and I checked under the house crawl spaces, then we did a wide circle around in front, checking every fallen tree and nook and hiding place. It didn't make sense that a hawk could carry anyone, and we both thought it didn't have anything when it flew up. I made a big circle around the house, checking on Hazel again as now I didn't see her either - but she had moved to the coop itself and was sitting down on the roosting bars, a very unusual daytime place for her but a safe one. She looked wary but okay. She later moved into the nestbox to lay her egg.

After a long search I was very sad and worried but concerned for the remaining group, so I got the three hens out from under the small deck with some mealworm enticement. They were really reluctant to leave there, but I led them along the house's front, which was reassuring to be next to, and then across the driveway and when they saw we were going to the coop they broke into a run toward it. Nobody was limping or bleeding in any obvious way. Saw it was Butters with them, so it was Popcorn who was missing - spunky Popcorn! We circled and searched again, but this time also went around to the very back end of the house and the garage barn.

It took half an hour to find her. At least it felt like ages. She had got herself in under a corner of our big back porch and side decking. Totally hidden, and up on the slope of the ground, way under the decking. I was calling and suddenly thought I heard a tiny, faint pip. Called again, and there it was again, a little louder bok. Then I saw a shadow move through the light coming through the deck boards. She must have run straight back from the attack toward DH, but along and under the overhanging side of the house, a good fifty feet, to then hang a sharp right and run another twenty feet to the most dark and far-away corner under there.

She came partly out and I gave her some mealworms while I cried. Then she scooted back in. It took some convincing to get her to come out. Then I picked her up, which I know she isn't crazy about, but I wasn't sure she would go with us back to the front and the coop. But she didn't want to be held, and putting her down again she did follow us back, my DH calling and encouraging her too. When she got to the barn and kitchen doors that was familiar territory, and she acted comfortable again, running to the coop when she saw the others there.
They all seem fine, so far, and are tucked in tonight.
This day was pretty stressful.

I could write pages about this and make myself thoroughly unpopular in the process.
The bottom line, as they say, is if you free range chickens some of them are going to die through predation.
If you read enough of the emergencies and deaths post on BYC you would soon realise that chickens kept in coops and runs get predated to; lots in fact.
If you see a run enclosed with chicken wire for example you're looking at a death trap. Believing that because you keep chickens in a coop and run makes them safe is a delusion. When, rather than if, that run gets broken into by a predator you are likely to end up with more dead and injured chickens than you would have should they have been free ranging.because the chicken can't escape. Out of all the coops and runs I've seen here on BYC only about 5% are what I would consider secure from the majority of predators.
So, that's your first consideration, how secure is your coop and run?

Next question. Do you consider the chickens to be your chickens, or individuals with a right of self determination?
It seems a silly question but here on BYC it seems to be THE core question.
@cfonts chickens it seems have that right of self determination. They chose to live there. Just because cfonts didn't buy the chickens, or otherwise get them, doesn't mean she/he cares for them any less I should point out.
If you see them as 'your' chickens then you are likely to feel responsible for everything that happens to them and have a range of emotions should they die in your care including pride fired anger. If you might feel these things then don't free range. You will be consumed by guilt should something terrible happen.

Next is the way you manage the chickens if you manage them at all.
I accept that many are going to die and this is as nature intended. It doesn't mean I don't cry over them when they do die, but I am not such a person to believe I can keep any other creature safe from harm even if I kept them in a padded cell.
I try to let them replace the losses as they would naturally. I have had to compromise and limit who sits and clutch size, but then I belong to the chickens greatest abusing species. I am the chickens worst predator. I steal their eggs, kill some to eat and sneak up on them at night when they're locked in their coops to catch them.
So, to 'manage' a tribe or tribes that free range you need a rooster, maybe more than one. If you can't keep, or cope with roosters, broodies, etc, then free range probably isn't for you. Just letting them out when you have the opportunity to supervise them is not really what free ranging is about.

Are you primarily interested in the welfare of the species, or the welfare of your chickens?
I don't think there is much doubt that our interference has meant that the probability is, in the not to distant future, the majority of chickens, even those kept by people who believe they care about them will have had their natural life span reduced by 80%. That's human care for you.

Other considerations.
Could you kill an injured chicken?
This is probably the most important skill if you are going to free range. There are some injuries that should not be tended to. The agony the chicken goes through while the human does what it thinks is a kindness can be devastating.
Could you kill a predator?
Some predators won't take no for an answer.
You've already got some chickens. There are breeds that fare better than others for free ranging. How one intends to keep chickens and manage the population if necessary should be the first question one asks oneself before one gets chickens. Not many do.
If you have hatchery or store bought chickens they wont have a clue about predator avoidance and will be reliant on 'natural' instinct. Natural instinct isn't enough with true free ranging. They need to be taught, or learn through experience. It's taken three generations for the chickens here to learn enough to make the losses through predation drop from one a month to one or two a year, excluding chick deaths.
A great deal is made of assessing what predators one has in the area. This of course changes and sometimes very rapidly. I've read with complete incredulity people posting that they don't have any predators in their area. Most predators like chickens it seems. Word gets around.
What sort of terrain do you have that the chickens will free range on? An open yard with a few flowers is not suitable. Chickens need cover, lots and lots of it.
A car scrap yard is probably a better environment for cover than most people gardens.
If you live in the jungle, then they should find what they need quite quickly. If you live in the desert or in some bit of frozen tundra then you probably shouldn't be keeping chickens at all.

I write at the end of the book I've written that I am completely against the keeping of chickens unless they are Ex Batts. What I am in favour of, if the circumstances are right is the introduction of feral flocks that hopefully we might all learn to live with.without them being seen as pests. It's strange how ownership and control can turn a creature from pest to pet.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Good afternoon everyone. BYBob I hope Hattie starts feeling better. I also hope Alex's Blu's day gets better. ChickoryBlue, I am glad no one was seemingly injured during the hawk attack. Hawks are a constant worry in the back of my mind and I hate that due to legalities there is only so much you can do to deter them. Personally my first instinct would be to grab the gun but I prefer not to be in jail. Instead when they start circling the yard I've lit a few firecrackers and threw them up in the air. It scares them off for a few minutes but I know they don't go far and if they really wanted a chicken it would do nothing to stop them.