Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Can’t they fly really well though? I don’t want them roosting in the 20m Eucalyptus tree in the school grounds behind us.

Is that the tree that holds the family of “Drop Bears”?

 

[featherhead007]

Was the carrot attacking her or just scowling? They can be very aggressive.

So can corn! ( Very aggressive )

 

[BY Bob]

View attachment 2909631View attachment 2909632

So can corn! ( Very aggressive )

My fault those are back.

 

[featherhead007]

“I want some peanuts”?

I don’t have any peanuts

 

[bgmathteach]

I would be interested in reading the documented evidence should you have a link to hand.
I am not discounting that if a hen doesn't lay an egg for a particular length of time it may cause some discomfort, but long term health damage...
I would want to know how long. Hens have laid two eggs in quick succesion, mainly due to the first egg getting stuck and the other being delivered right behind it. It is far from ideal but with the hens I've known to have this happen there have been no long term ill effects that I've been able to see.
The issue is that one hen is preventing another from laying, if that is what Dotty intended when she entered the nest box. Dotty could have gone elsewhere to lay the egg. I have seen hundreds of such egg laying disputes if that is what that was. The tribes used to form queues for a particular nest box and in many cases get in the nest box a fight over who can lay. I've had hens get evicted from a nest box, go and call their rooster for support and end up with the rooster and both hens in the nest box scrpping over who covers annd eggs that are already there and how much room each is allowed to lay an egg.
This to me is normal chicken behaviour.
As for the aggression, we don't really know what the problem is and one would have spend some time observing the behhaviour between the two in other situations to make any reasonable assessment.

I can't find the article I had previously read, but I read it 5-6 years ago when I first started with chickens. It mentioned increasing risk of egg binding (which scared me - that's why I remember that part). As previously said, it was an article, not a scientific study.

However, this clinical study from 2019 does mention stress (2nd most prevalent among other things) as a cause of cloacal egg binding/dystocia:
https://www.researchgate.net/profil...ems-of-the-Domestic-Fowl-in-Zaria-Nigeria.pdf

 

[featherhead007]

Just because pic.

 

[BY Bob]

Just because pic. View attachment 2909650

beautiful oranges

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Yeah I agree with everyone, in that there's some other dynamic here going on that just happens to be focused on the nestbox and whatever that means to them I think they have to work it out themselves, mostly. Once Maggie knew Dotty was intent on getting in there she even went to look and found her in there, so I'm not sure sight blocks would work. They will work it out, or not. Maybe it's the seasonal change, and Maggie's molt. So it may take some time.

Dotty will have to learn to be more secretive with Maggie. Possibly options for being in a nestbox that is in a totally different location will help. But that's in the future. Because Dotty wasn't choosing anywhere else right then either. It was a battle of wills.

Somebody decided to give Popcorn a hard time roosting today, there was serious pecking and yelping leading up to roosting, the usual orderly line to get in was all discombobulated. Enough that I looked over to see what was going on as I finished up more winterizing in the dim light. Maybe my presence does it, I don't know, it hasn't been consistently so in the past. She was pecked off the perch bar at the doorway and had to try again. Last night too she had to run a gauntlet to get in and roost. To her credit both times she eventually makes a run at it and storms the gates, blowing by whoever it is, and endures some pecks along the way. Then things settle down. Maybe it's the seasonal change?

Tonight there was no fuss with roosting. Popcorn went in early and roosted in the nest box. Everybody else followed shortly. This morning Peanut had laid an egg, the first egg in many days, and the first from her on a long time. She emerged tossing litter on her back and was very vocal. Maybe that's what it was the last few evenings? There was intermittent chasing throughout the day today, including some running that looked like play, going in and out and around about the run configuration in short bursts. Then they'd gather and preen and rest. I was out there with them all day so they came and went at will, sticking close by.

Hazel, she always stands and poses for me when I take my phone out.

 

[featherhead007]

beautiful oranges

I didn’t think that they were so beautiful (scattered all over the highway. )

 

[Lexicon]

Tonight there was no fuss with roosting. Popcorn went in early and roosted in the nest box. Everybody else followed shortly. This morning Peanut had laid an egg, the first egg in many days, and the first from her on a long time. She emerged tossing litter on her back and was very vocal. Maybe that's what it was the last few evenings? There was intermittent chasing throughout the day today, including some running that looked like play, going in and out and around about the run configuration in short bursts. Then they'd gather and preen and rest. I was out there with them all day so they came and went at will, sticking close by.
View attachment 2909654
View attachment 2909655
Hazel, she always stands and poses for me when I take my phone out.

I just love your photos! I love that our view is at eye level with the hens and you capture the details of their feathers so wonderfully.