Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

What am I going to do with Phyllis

First let me say that I appreciate all of the advice from everyone. It really did help me and I am grateful to you all for being willing to provide your thoughts. I considered a lot of things. From the two extremes lock her up with them to leave everyone alone to a lot of "half measures".

I have been accused of vacillating. In a way that was absolutely true because I had reached the end of what I had mapped out when I started this journey. It is easy to forget that the original plan called for Phyllis to raise the chicks herself. That part was not in the cards this time.

Perhaps the best way to assume they bonded would be to force them to live together in the coop and run for months. If you had seen her this morning when the door to the main coop opened before the hut you would know that I could not do that to her. She was frantic to be out with the others.

Should I rely on the Birds of a Feather process and let them be at it and choose for themselves. Who knows what might happen? It would be all up to the birds.

The Plan
What I have decided on is that I am going to give things a small push and then leave it up to them. Phyllis is already being forced out or just choosing not to roost in the main coop around half the time right now anyway. In those instances I have been putting her in with the littles for Phyllis's safety with the added benefit of them spending time together. I am now going to add moving her from the main coop on the nights where she roosts there. So every night for the next few weeks, Phyllis will be sleeping in the hut. As a means of making it a nice place in which to wake up, I will be providing meal worms on the floor of the hut, every time I place Phyllis onto the roost. Perhaps this breakfast of chicken champions will convince her it is a pretty nice place to sleep.

This is as far as I am willing to go to try and make her transition from the main coop. This solution is compromise that my heart and head will allow. In the end Phyllis will still get to choose her place and her friends. Hopefully she will hang with the new ladies eventually and live a less pecky life.

Please feel free to go on the record and tell me I am making a mistake. It does not bother me. I am wrong a lot in life. You are however very unlikely to change my mind. Unless something untoward happens, I can't see myself deviating from the plan outlined above.

 

[Ribh]

What am I going to do with Phyllis

First let me say that I appreciate all of the advice from everyone. It really did help me and I am grateful to you all for being willing to provide your thoughts. I considered a lot of things. From the two extremes lock her up with them to leave everyone alone to a lot of "half measures".

I have been accused of vacillating. In a way that was absolutely true because I had reached the end of what I had mapped out when I started this journey. It is easy to forget that the original plan called for Phyllis to raise the chicks herself. That part was not in the cards this time.

Perhaps the best way to assume they bonded would be to force them to live together in the coop and run for months. If you had seen her this morning when the door to the main coop opened before the hut you would know that I could not do that to her. She was frantic to be out with the others.

Should I rely on the Birds of a Feather process and let them be at it and choose for themselves. Who knows what might happen? It would be all up to the birds.

The Plan
What I have decided on is that I am going to give things a small push and then leave it up to them. Phyllis is already being forced out or just choosing not to roost in the main coop around half the time right now anyway. In those instances I have been putting her in with the littles for Phyllis's safety with the added benefit of them spending time together. I am now going to add moving her from the main coop on the nights where she roosts there. So every night for the next few weeks, Phyllis will be sleeping in the hut. As a means of making it a nice place in which to wake up, I will be providing meal worms on the floor of the hut, every time I place Phyllis onto the roost. Perhaps this breakfast of chicken champions will convince her it is a pretty nice place to sleep.

This is as far as I am willing to go to try and make her transition from the main coop. This solution is compromise that my heart and head will allow. In the end Phyllis will still get to choose her place and her friends. Hopefully she will hang with the new ladies eventually and live a less pecky life.

Please feel free to go on the record and tell me I am making a mistake. It does not bother me. I am wrong a lot in life. You are however very unlikely to change my mind. Unless something untoward happens, I can't see myself deviating from the plan outlined above.

As I was a 1/2 & 1/2er I like this plan.

 

[Lady Red]

Visit from a Hawk

While I was outside with all 8 of the hens free ranging yesterday we had a hawk stop by for a visit. I was standing on the deck with the grown up six, having just given them some pasta to chow down on. When Lilly who had not quite made it to the deck zipped into the butterfly bush. She moved so quickly that I knew something was up. I immediately looked to the sky and a hawk swooped in from over the shed and roosted in the birch tree. Here is where the hawk roosted and where the littles were located when it did.View attachment 2871618

At the time none of the other 7 hens knew the hawk was there. Lilly did not make a sound. Hattie was at my feet so I shushed under the table on the deck and threw more pasta there to get everyone under the table.

Then I took off after the hawk. I needed to make certain it was gone before it saw the littles. I did not even get around the pool and it vacated the area leaving as it had come.
I then called Lilly over and lectured her for not alerting everyone else. I don't believe that those on deck ever knew a hawk was present. It is certain that the littles had no idea as they were happily peeping away.

How fortunate you were there!
Do you think the hawk saw any of the flock?

 

[Lady Red]

What am I going to do with Phyllis

First let me say that I appreciate all of the advice from everyone. It really did help me and I am grateful to you all for being willing to provide your thoughts. I considered a lot of things. From the two extremes lock her up with them to leave everyone alone to a lot of "half measures".

I have been accused of vacillating. In a way that was absolutely true because I had reached the end of what I had mapped out when I started this journey. It is easy to forget that the original plan called for Phyllis to raise the chicks herself. That part was not in the cards this time.

Perhaps the best way to assume they bonded would be to force them to live together in the coop and run for months. If you had seen her this morning when the door to the main coop opened before the hut you would know that I could not do that to her. She was frantic to be out with the others.

Should I rely on the Birds of a Feather process and let them be at it and choose for themselves. Who knows what might happen? It would be all up to the birds.

The Plan
What I have decided on is that I am going to give things a small push and then leave it up to them. Phyllis is already being forced out or just choosing not to roost in the main coop around half the time right now anyway. In those instances I have been putting her in with the littles for Phyllis's safety with the added benefit of them spending time together. I am now going to add moving her from the main coop on the nights where she roosts there. So every night for the next few weeks, Phyllis will be sleeping in the hut. As a means of making it a nice place in which to wake up, I will be providing meal worms on the floor of the hut, every time I place Phyllis onto the roost. Perhaps this breakfast of chicken champions will convince her it is a pretty nice place to sleep.

This is as far as I am willing to go to try and make her transition from the main coop. This solution is compromise that my heart and head will allow. In the end Phyllis will still get to choose her place and her friends. Hopefully she will hang with the new ladies eventually and live a less pecky life.

Please feel free to go on the record and tell me I am making a mistake. It does not bother me. I am wrong a lot in life. You are however very unlikely to change my mind. Unless something untoward happens, I can't see myself deviating from the plan outlined above.

I have no experience in this sort of situation, and therefore no advice. But I wish you all the good luck for two happy and balanced tribes living in harmony.

 

[Lady Red]

That one on the left is the one who is looking for a nest site. I have a feeling she will be featuring in future post quite a bit so I better get her a name sorted.
View attachment 2871570

I love that they've been collecting names!

 

[BY Bob]

As I was a 1/2 & 1/2er I like this plan.

You always get me.

 

[featherhead007]

You peeps are lucky enough! I would be rather ticked off, if it wasn’t for my afternoon cup of Coco! She’s such a cute little hen (extremely friendly)!

 

[BY Bob]

How fortunate you were there!
Do you think the hawk saw any of the flock?

There are currently billions of songbirds in my yard. Frankly I wish it would eat some of them. I have video somewhere of the songbirds in the run with the littles I will try and find. It is ridiculous. I stop feeding them in the spring when they told us not to and now I have more than I have ever had before.

To answer your question, I believe that it swooped after a song bird and missed. I do not believe that any of the chickens were its target. They were not anywhere near where it was hunting.

 

[BY Bob]

I have no experience in this sort of situation, and therefore no advice. But I wish you all the good luck for two happy and balanced tribes living in harmony.

Thank you. You are very sweet to say so.

 

[bgmathteach]

How long should the bandage be left for?

It should be checked daily, but continue until the leg is better/stronger. I have used a different method for splay leg with excellent results. I'll try to find the link, and edit this post shortly.

Edit:
https://104homestead.com/fixing-spr...ck is nestled into,are in the proper position.

Another video with lots of information:

The trick is the appropriate sized & shaped glass. It should be about as wide at the base as the chicks shoulders, with a slight taper at the bottom, and high enough so s/he doesn't 'pop out' too easily. The idea is that the glass prevents the leg from sliding outward, while the smooth surface of the sides allows it to try to climb out without getting enough traction to achieve that, thereby giving the leg a good workout - physical therapy for splayed legs! (Make sure you put something grippy on the inside bottom of the glass, though, so at rest the legs have something to grip on and be at the proper alignment.)
If caught early, 1-2 20 min 'exercise' treatments 2 days in a row should be enough. Someone gave me a chick to 'fix' once where it was severe, and it took multiple days of 2-3 'treatments' per day, but in less than a week, it was running around like all the others!