Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Blazinga]

Sometimes it feels like mine are living Game of Thrones.
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Game of Roost/Nestboxes?

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

My Caturday offering:
This is my Grandkitty, Romeo

 

[micstrachan]

They are out, having a dust bath. (And loving it) say hi to these nice people on BYC, Arizona and Leann.
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Hi Arizona and Leann!

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

I kind of want to die. Queenie was killed today, we think by a hawk. Butters may have been the first target but she escaped with a couple of big tufts of hackle feathers out of her neck. A hawk, we think THE hawk, came back and flew down towards the body, while I was gone digging a grave for Queenie, DH saw it and chased it away.

Spoiler: What likely happened and why I can't deal

We were home, out and about, and they were out in their yard. There was no sound that we heard, and it happened around the corner of the house just out of sight while we were moving the big wire run over to their yard to set it up there. We suddenly noticed we didn't see any chickens around, I went looking, only finding Queenie's body and seeing no others. Whatever it was had eaten some of her. But she was warm still, and limp except for her legs. Eventually one Buckeye came out of the coop box. The four had run into the coop tractor and up into the roosting enclosure, Butters far into the nest box. I need to check her body again but I found no blood, and she let me handle all of her except her neck area was very tender.

I am so sorry. I feel I got Queenie killed. And she is particularly dear to me. I have tried to let them be chickeny and also have been putting into place safety measures to try to minimize risk, which I knew there was - I accept that to some degree but I feel particularly guilty about putting the electric fencing not up to the back house deck. Peanut had tried to run under there before and encountered the fence. I had thought about doing that, but it would be in the way of gas deliveries and DH didn't want them hanging out on the deck and pooping on it. I think Queenie, who had also run to the house when there was a previous attack in this same area - another reason to not have widened the fence area to include this spot! - and she had run that way when this hawk came I think, and of course couldn't get past the net. There were fluff feathers there. She fought back though and made it halfway back towards the coop where she either died because of her injuries sustained already, or was overtaken again. I think Butters was attacked first and then Queenie, which makes her inability to escape due to what I did with the fencing, denying her the house which she probably had time to run to, really hard.

There aren't enough emojiis in the world

I am so sad to see this news! So many chickens lost recently, among us, it’s awful. I’m always nervous for my girls, birds are so vulnerable somehow.

 

[micstrachan]

We had some nest box drama today, too. Six eggs so far. Buttercup is singing about eggs and Millie (broody) and Cashew are in boxes. Buttercup wants her box back.

I think I have decent video from earlier, but haven’t looked at it yet.

 

[MaryJanet]

I kind of want to die. Queenie was killed today, we think by a hawk. Butters may have been the first target but she escaped with a couple of big tufts of hackle feathers out of her neck. A hawk, we think THE hawk, came back and flew down towards the body, while I was gone digging a grave for Queenie, DH saw it and chased it away.

Spoiler: What likely happened and why I can't deal

We were home, out and about, and they were out in their yard. There was no sound that we heard, and it happened around the corner of the house just out of sight while we were moving the big wire run over to their yard to set it up there. We suddenly noticed we didn't see any chickens around, I went looking, only finding Queenie's body and seeing no others. Whatever it was had eaten some of her. But she was warm still, and limp except for her legs. Eventually one Buckeye came out of the coop box. The four had run into the coop tractor and up into the roosting enclosure, Butters far into the nest box. I need to check her body again but I found no blood, and she let me handle all of her except her neck area was very tender.

I am so sorry. I feel I got Queenie killed. And she is particularly dear to me. I have tried to let them be chickeny and also have been putting into place safety measures to try to minimize risk, which I knew there was - I accept that to some degree but I feel particularly guilty about putting the electric fencing not up to the back house deck. Peanut had tried to run under there before and encountered the fence. I had thought about doing that, but it would be in the way of gas deliveries and DH didn't want them hanging out on the deck and pooping on it. I think Queenie, who had also run to the house when there was a previous attack in this same area - another reason to not have widened the fence area to include this spot! - and she had run that way when this hawk came I think, and of course couldn't get past the net. There were fluff feathers there. She fought back though and made it halfway back towards the coop where she either died because of her injuries sustained already, or was overtaken again. I think Butters was attacked first and then Queenie, which makes her inability to escape due to what I did with the fencing, denying her the house which she probably had time to run to, really hard.

There aren't enough emojiis in the world

I'm so sorry

 

[micstrachan]

 

[MaryJanet]

The Egg Saga (part 1)

I told you I had collected a bunch of 30 second videos from monitoring egg laying on Wednesday. Well I got about a 1/3 of them uploaded to YouTube to try and tell the story of how egg laying works at Fluffy Butt Acres. The motion sensor did miss a couple of events. The videos are not there but I will fill in with commentary as I walk you through a day of my tribes egg laying.

The nest boxes are numbered in my head from left to right. 1, 2, 3. Nest box #1 is the prime egg laying box. that is where is vast majority of all eggs are laid.

View attachment 2670037

9:00 I knew Phyllis would be early after skipping a day. She begins trying to select a nest box at 9:00 sharp.

9:40 After 40 minutes, Phyllis selects box 2 but after 15 minutes at 9:55 she changes her mind and moves to box 1.

10:02 Aurora arrives to lay her egg.

10:17 After waiting 15 minutes Aurora's patience is exhausted and she roots Phyllis out of box 1.

10:22a My best guess is that for 5 minutes Phyllis has been mouthing off. You can see her beak flapping and Aurora has had it. She comes after Phyllis and tries to run her out of the coop. Watch closely at the end because this seems to work out for Phyllis.

10:22b Something distracts Aurora from getting back in the nest box. I probably opened the back door. Phyllis settles back into box 1.

10:36 Aurora has returned an booted Phyllis from the box again.

10:44 Sydney shows up. Somehow Phyliis has gotten back into box 1 and Aurora is trying to get her out of it again.

10:54a Aurora gets Phyllis out of the box while Sydney waits

10:54b Phyllis gets back into box 1

11:04 Even without sound you can tell how angry Sydney is. Watch her beak flapping.

11:05 Hattie arrives to find Phyllis and Aurora in box 1 and Sydney waiting

11:08 Phyllis finally lays her egg. 2 hours and 8 minutes after she started. She leaves the nest box, pecked at as she does but Phyllis will hang around and chat with everyone for a while. Probably saying something like, "Phew, I'm glad that one had a shell. Those softies are rough I tell ya." EGG #1

11:10 Hattie starts to check out alternate laying locations as Aurora still has box 1. Hattie considers box 3. Sydney continues to wait.

11:11 Hattie has moved on to box 2. Sydney is still waiting, Phyllis is still yacking away. "That wasn't the biggest egg I have ever laid but let me tell you, I am glad it is out. Better out than in I always say."

11:12 Hattie looks to try and join Aurora in box 1, just a threat or does she really mean it? Something happens outside the coop and Phyllis and Hattie go to investigate. (It's probably me doing something)

11:13 Sydney returns and checks out box 2

11:15 Sydney has settled in box 2 but Hattie returns and she gets up in case Hattie wants box 2. Sydney knows her place.

11:16 to 11:23 The camera missed it but somewhere in this time period Aurora lays her egg and Hattie takes over box 1. It took Aurora at least 1 hour and 14 minutes to lay her egg. EGG #2

I wonder if a second bunch of boxes might relieve some of these tensions. Somewhere out in the run maybe.

 

[fuentemoon]

Happy caturday, Star demanding Bill come give her attention last night

 

[featherhead007]

Oh, the horror! Kidding. Mine get distracted quite easily too, (especially when the teenagers are around) but I do get eggs so I don’t complain too much.