Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

Someone mentioned about bumps on the eggshells, what does this mean?

View attachment 2714537

I think this may have already been answered, but I believe they are calcium deposits.

 

[micstrachan]

From my personal observations I've noticed the correlation of smaller groups of chicks to greater growth. My new birds are three weeks old and came from a batch of around 52 but are the size of two week olds. For those of you who have raised chicks, have you noticed similar observations?

Very interesting! Mine are all hatchery stock, so I couldn’t say,

 

[micstrachan]

Dominance stories - Hazel is definitely the boss around here! She is a safety lookout and an enforcer. This morning someone, I think Popcorn, had caught a little moth. She ran around doing keep-away from the other two, but Hazel was on lookout and was intent on watching for something, and she didn't move. Except when Popcorn ran by her she did lean over and give her a quick peck on the neck. Just because.

Hazel
View attachment 2714215

A few days ago everyone was in the big run except Popcorn, who had just gone into the little run and up into the coop to lay her egg. Both runs were currently pretty close. The big run is fairly stationary and the little run is a tractor run/ coop. The three all began to dustbathe in the new doggie pool, only half filled with dirt, ashes & whatnot, I am filling it up still but was thinking the whole big run will move soon to a very shady spot so I didn't fill it all up. It's working well, esp. when their dirt hole by the apple tree is too damp for good fluffing. They don't seem to be mud bathers. It has a soft edge that they step on as they hop into it. When I set it up I got a wood block step for them, thinking the edge was a little high, and just as I set it down two just went right in stepping on and over the edge next to me.

They looked very much into their dustbath so I closed both runs and went into the house to do some chores, checking on both visually to see if they had stopped or Popcorn had finished or bailed for the moment, and I would bring them together. Everyone was busy for over an hour.

Cut to later, I saw Popcorn leave the coop and the others finish their bath about the same time. So I go out and open up both runs and everybody comes out. Pecking around under the apple tree while I watched and fed them dandelion leaves to tear off. Almost immediately Popcorn headed up to the big run and jumped into the dustbath and started scratching and bokking and fluffing around. Hazel followed her quite eagerly, but what does she do? Mercilessly peck Popcorn and drive her out of the bath. Popcorn leaves and exits the run and goes back to pecking and scratching under the tree, but a few minutes later tries again and jumps into the pool. Hazel is right on her and drives her out again. It seems pool times are heavily regulated around here!

Beware Hazel the Pool Master
View attachment 2714231

So just today, Hazel started to dustbathe and then decided not to and jumped out. A little later Butters started dustbathing and Hazel stopped her with a few pecks. Then Hazel left, went over to the coop run and approached the coop ladder. It seems she wanted to lay an egg soon. But then she came out. Butters and Popcorn got into the pool and started the beginnings of dustbathing, and Hazel looked interested but pecked a little at them instead, then wandered away. They weren't deterred, and Peanut joined in. Soon it was going full swing, all clucks and kicks and rubs and fun, but Hazel didn't join in. She did Sentinel duty, looking out and up near the run door, then browsed around the apple tree, said hello to me a bit, then went back into the big run, and lay down next to the pool and preened while they bathed. Later on she went into the nestbox, but came out a while later not having laid anything when I checked. I'll keep an eye on her tomorrow.

Usually the four dustbathe together. This was different. Here they are, the three in dustbathing ecstasy, having a blast in there, and Hazel just being mellow and preening.
View attachment 2714247

Your girls are gorgeous!

 

[Blazinga]

Sorry to see and here this. You need to get on it right away. Do you have amprolium on hand and if not, can you get some today?

Already dosed them. Now we just have to wait.

 

[micstrachan]

Not sure if it is affecting everyone, but You Tube now has a beta “shorts” program running and it was being applied to many of my shorter videos, and it’s incompatible with the media embedding in BYC... I’m not very tech savvy, I just know it annoyed the heck out of me and you may want to make sure a video is “long” to avoid having it posted under the shorts beta if you upload to you tube. I tried uploading it several times.

Thanks, Kris. I *think* I may have had this problem, too, but was able to get around it by manually entering the coding… I will sub a “3” in place of “E” so the site doesn’t get confused.

[M3DIA=youtube]link[/M3DIA]

 

[Shadrach]

From my personal observations I've noticed the correlation of smaller groups of chicks to greater growth. My new birds are three weeks old and came from a batch of around 52 but are the size of two week olds. For those of you who have raised chicks, have you noticed similar observations?

Yup. Chickens are social eaters. In effect this can mean that once the bulk of the group stop eating and move away from the food source, the rest will follow. If there are not enough feeders or places of access, or even feed, then some get less.
With small clutches usually all can get adequate access to feed at once.

 

[Shadrach]

Dominance stories - Hazel is definitely the boss around here! She is a safety lookout and an enforcer. This morning someone, I think Popcorn, had caught a little moth. She ran around doing keep-away from the other two, but Hazel was on lookout and was intent on watching for something, and she didn't move. Except when Popcorn ran by her she did lean over and give her a quick peck on the neck. Just because.

Hazel
View attachment 2714215

A few days ago everyone was in the big run except Popcorn, who had just gone into the little run and up into the coop to lay her egg. Both runs were currently pretty close. The big run is fairly stationary and the little run is a tractor run/ coop. The three all began to dustbathe in the new doggie pool, only half filled with dirt, ashes & whatnot, I am filling it up still but was thinking the whole big run will move soon to a very shady spot so I didn't fill it all up. It's working well, esp. when their dirt hole by the apple tree is too damp for good fluffing. They don't seem to be mud bathers. It has a soft edge that they step on as they hop into it. When I set it up I got a wood block step for them, thinking the edge was a little high, and just as I set it down two just went right in stepping on and over the edge next to me.

They looked very much into their dustbath so I closed both runs and went into the house to do some chores, checking on both visually to see if they had stopped or Popcorn had finished or bailed for the moment, and I would bring them together. Everyone was busy for over an hour.

Cut to later, I saw Popcorn leave the coop and the others finish their bath about the same time. So I go out and open up both runs and everybody comes out. Pecking around under the apple tree while I watched and fed them dandelion leaves to tear off. Almost immediately Popcorn headed up to the big run and jumped into the dustbath and started scratching and bokking and fluffing around. Hazel followed her quite eagerly, but what does she do? Mercilessly peck Popcorn and drive her out of the bath. Popcorn leaves and exits the run and goes back to pecking and scratching under the tree, but a few minutes later tries again and jumps into the pool. Hazel is right on her and drives her out again. It seems pool times are heavily regulated around here!

Beware Hazel the Pool Master
View attachment 2714231

So just today, Hazel started to dustbathe and then decided not to and jumped out. A little later Butters started dustbathing and Hazel stopped her with a few pecks. Then Hazel left, went over to the coop run and approached the coop ladder. It seems she wanted to lay an egg soon. But then she came out. Butters and Popcorn got into the pool and started the beginnings of dustbathing, and Hazel looked interested but pecked a little at them instead, then wandered away. They weren't deterred, and Peanut joined in. Soon it was going full swing, all clucks and kicks and rubs and fun, but Hazel didn't join in. She did Sentinel duty, looking out and up near the run door, then browsed around the apple tree, said hello to me a bit, then went back into the big run, and lay down next to the pool and preened while they bathed. Later on she went into the nestbox, but came out a while later not having laid anything when I checked. I'll keep an eye on her tomorrow.

Usually the four dustbathe together. This was different. Here they are, the three in dustbathing ecstasy, having a blast in there, and Hazel just being mellow and preening.
View attachment 2714247

Lovely pictures of Hazel.

 

[Shadrach]

What would be sources of calcium while foraging do you think? Mouse, frog and snake bones maybe? But most bugs I don’t think have calcium in their exoskeletons.

Grass and many weeds provide quite high levels of calcium.

 

[Ribh]

I haven't been able to even look at pictures of the tribes without getting very upset until the last couple of days, so yes, I miss them terribly.
I don't have any plans for a new tribe. My current circumstances make keeping chickens free range impossible and the circumstances are unlikely to change enough in the foreseeable future.
Keeping ex batts, or rescues may be possible at some point. Ex batts would never be safe in a fully free range environment in the UK, so a chicken old peoples home with a run and supervised exercise might be an option.
The fact is that Bucket Boy and the tribes is over. I've been incredibly privileged to have lived with the tribes for a decade.
What I hope to do is get organised here and get my book published in the hope that the book will help change the appalling view most people have of chickens, their intelligence, their behaviour and the cruelty involved in the keeping of them.
Meanwhile, I'll come on to BYC when I can and see if I can pass on some of what I've learned to those prepared to pay attention.

You know you have all our love & support. I hope in time you get a set up that makes you happy. As for the book ~ pull your finger out, mate! Some of us have been waiting a long time on that!

 

[Scrambles83]

Already dosed them. Now we just have to wait.

My thoughts are with you and your new babies. You observed and have acted quickly which is great.
Keep us updated when you can.