Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

My birds don’t die, not on my watch! I will pay any price to protect my chickens!! And actually I have. (Bought a piece of land and moved back to California just for my feathered family)

I know, Alex. You are a very attentive servant. I mean, human.

 

[micstrachan]

Here's an egg weight guide.

https://weightofstuff.com/how-much-does-an-egg-weigh/

Here's a rough nutritional analysis of an egg.

https://www.egginfo.co.uk/egg-nutrition-and-health/egg-nutrition-information

Taking a rounded up average of 50 grams for a medium egg, this leaves 70 grams for the hens nutrition.

Roughly,one third of a hens food intake goes towards making the egg when she's laying.

You can, with some research, work out very accurately how much of a particular nutrient a hen needs to make an egg. This is unfortunately how commercial feed producers work out what to put in their feeds.

However, there are for example many ways to ingest the various amino acids required to make a complete protien. A free range hen, assuming adequate forage opportunities, makes up the essential amino acids from a much wider range of foods than a contained hen. This leaves extra amino acids in many cases and recently there has been some interest in the role these extra amino acids and various other nutrients, play in the overall health of the hen.

Some chicken keepers will have noticed a hens reluctance to eat commercial feed when they are moulting. This is a time when one might expect a hen to eat as much as she can to promote feather growth. It seems form my experience that hens require nutrients other than those provided by the commercail feed and take quite alarminng risks to forage for what they believe they need.

There was an experiment done by a man who lived on McDonald's for some months. He got ill. Keeping chickens contained and just feeding them commercial feed I believe produces similar results.

A varied and balanced diet is what nutritionists recommend for humans. Chickens, being omnivores, benefit from the same type of diet.

Short version: free range your chickens on natural ground as much as possible.

I agree with this. It sometimes seems they need something else and they know it. Ruby is still off commercial feed, I think. However, she was starving to death with just free ranging (as you know, they only range while supervised), so I just kept trying various foods. Currently she still loves to forage, but will also gobble up sardines and cooked brown rice. She went totally off her favorite treat of raw, hulled sunflower seeds, but today I offered again snd she was delighted! It’s so good to see her appetite back. I might try baby bird formula again in the morning as a step toward her commercial pellet and crumble feed.

 

[micstrachan]

Monday Mugs

View attachment 2727965

Ooohh… this is a goodie!

 

[micstrachan]

What a great momma. I love hens and chicks together.

My absolute fave.

 

[MaryJanet]

I have looked for some like them. I found some on Etsy but they were from the UK and very expensive even without shipping.
I will keep looking.

There was a place in Alabama making ceramic water dispensers but those ones were unreliable in freezing temps, and I'm thinking of all that snow you had last winter.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I just watched little Xzit chase off a stray cat (twice her size) I guess my yard belongs to the chickens, not stray cats. It was funny to see. Xzit is a smart little girl! And definitely one of my lap chickens. Nine out of twelve are lap chickens (Jaffar included)

I'm envious. Mine can tell when I want a cuddle and run away!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I think so, they seem to be "on the regular" much more now. So last evening I was with them as they foraged right up to about 8:30 when they wanted to go in to the little run and roost. Maybe free-ranging & being with them that late was the cause of the following? They would have gone to roost sooner, and it speeded up their evening routine? There was a bit of a kerfluffle -- (kerFLUFFle!)

Hazel had been moaning to roost since probably 8:10pm. It's similar to the sound she makes when she's waiting for a nest box. But everyone was having a great time eating dandelion leaves and grass, including Hazel, and Popcorn also found, beat up, and ate a really big frog, swallowing it head first, whole. Looked like she had to work to get it settled in her crop it was so big. I was amazed/horrified and very sorry for the frog. Anyway, nobody really paid attention to Hazel's moans.

It was only when Peanut made a long kind of fluty trill and walked toward the nearby coop that Hazel immediately followed her and the others did too. But Hazel always wants to be first up and ran past Peanut and up to the top of the ladder. Peanut jump-flew up to the side perch and let Hazel go in, then shuffled over and got on the threshold looking in, and just stayed there. As if Hazel hadn't settled yet - not gotten to her spot maybe? But this was where my suspicions about previous times got raised, because I often found Peanut sitting in the threshold, facing in or out. Maybe she still has inclinations to take the night air? And when there is a lock-out, it's usually been Popcorn and Butters, or just Butters, on the perch.

Popcorn and Butters were waiting on Peanut. But within 30 seconds Popcorn climbed the ladder, and immediately tried to burrow under and push Peanut, with Peanut making protest squeals while getting lifted up and pushed in. Butters jump-flew up to the perch during this and moved right over and in after those two. A little bit of shuffling, and then pretty quiet right away.

That's a great description. I can see it all happening in my mind's eye.

 

[RoyalChick]

X2… those look quite yellow to me.

Promise it was the light - definitely white. I even went back to check after Shad posted that.

 

[RoyalChick]

Aww… Red. You sound like a mini Me. The heartache will continue, but clearly you are an attentive chicken mom and are doing well with them. All the good times are worth the heartache. I can’t tell you how many tears I’ve cried for Ruby and she’s still going!

And I cried for Maggie who is still with us 9 months after her lash egg and Diana seems to be doing better too (fingers crossed).
I had not realized keeping chickens would be so much heartache. I thought they would bring eggs, and companionship, and entertainment. But not heartache.

 

[RoyalChick]

There was a place in Alabama making ceramic water dispensers but those ones were unreliable in freezing temps, and I'm thinking of all that snow you had last winter.

I think you are right. I am actually OK with my current set-up but will keep my eye open for ceramic.