Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

This is reminding me a lot of the brain being unprotected in crested ducks. I'm wondering if Legertha's condition is similar to the rare chance a homozygous crested duck is born. Usually they die before hatch due to the brain exiting the skull. Those that do survive have bigger crests. Thinking back, Legertha did have a much larger crest than Sylvie.

She did indeed.

 

[BY Bob]

It does rule out trauma? No one could know this situation was brewing. So is this also an inevitably fatal condition? It seems it causes problems that come on quickly, maybe there is some mercy in that. She looked fine in the videos. But as others have said, she did live a great life. You and Mrs Bob gave her the best one could hope for.

Thanks. She was a special little lady.

 

[BY Bob]

View attachment 2908617Found one! It’s kind of a funky picture, as Bridge is dust bathing, but the difference in their feathers is huge! I even posted about it on BYC asking for opinions.

Beautiful hens both!

 

[BY Bob]

Baby It's Cold Outside

They are clearly close together tonight. I moved the heater to the big coop for Sansa. So perhaps the cold helped to move this along.

So of course Sansa chose the nest box farthest from the heater.

 

[fuentemoon]

After days of being away most of the daylight hours I finally got a couple of quick pics of my ladies today. It has been chilly and breezy, they huddle here between forays out into the yard and hope I come out with snacks.

As you can see Rosie is still not her sleek fluffy self.

 

[micstrachan]

Dominique for one. Google them

Can Dominiques ever throw a single comb? My SLW, Roxy, has one.

 

[RoyalChick]

No apology necessary for this video, it was not all that long, and it was action-packed from start to finish!
Looks like a hen goes in one of the unblocked entrances and then can choose to go left or right, correct?

Yes exactly. Maggie always goes top right. The Roadrunners go bottom left.

 

[RoyalChick]

So is Dotty pecking Maggie's ankles?

It is quite possible!

 

[micstrachan]

Gave the girls a little Thanksgiving treat today.

 

[RoyalChick]

@Shadrach,

I understand your point about the severity of pecking. Here, though, it was definitely aggression (? the reason for it), and while Dotty clearly wasn't hurt, there has been documented evidence of increasing likelihood of egg issues if a hen is not allowed to lay for an extended period of time when they need/want to lay. Additionally, the stress this situation incurs on Dotty, if it continues over a number of days, can also cause issues. Given all of the health issues @RoyalChick has endured with her hens, she has every right to be concerned and to want to minimize the conflict, whatever the cause. I can't speak for @RoyalChick in terms of how she perceived the pecking in terms of severity (i.e. hardness of peck), but she did say that Dotty wasn't bloody. Again, imo, the real issue(s) regarding the behavior, is 2 fold: Dotty not able to lay when she needs to, and the amount of sustained stress she endures. Both of these can negatively impact her health in a variety of ways, the least of which would be to weaken her immune system...that alone is enough to worry about given the stress of sudden cold weather after a very mild fall.

@RoyalChick has quite the sizeable coop/run for the few chickens she has....so maybe just adding some hiding spaces/visual occlusion may alleviate this.

And, yes, I understand that a wild flock would occupy a couple of acres...but that is all about resources and resource protection. Here they have plenty of resources to go around and they have been a 'flock' for an extended period of time. So, why the sudden dominance/pecking order issues and why to this degree. (The pecks & grabs were quite strong! If you notice, one of the 'grabs' was strong enough to almost pull Dotty off her feet.)

Thank you for this. I am worried about stress for Dotty.
I don’t have the experience to judge the level of violence - all I know is Dotty is able to pick herself up and carry on running around. But several times Maggie physically dragged her out of the box. That seems more than trivial.
I read @Shadrach’s article but I am not failing to understand a warning peck. This is clearly an aggressive peck and looks like a grab. A while ago I caught video of Maggie grabbing and seemingly mating with a Roadrunner which I assume was also aggression rather than gender fluidity. This is different in that there is a clear goal - to get Dotty out of the nest boxes.
We had a day of calm yesterday.
I will watch another day but if it happens again I think an alternative box is worth a try.