Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[GregnLety]

She was anything but impressed with my efforts!

Your fast action may have saved her. I'd consider crushing a baby aspirin and mixing it with water. Drop some in her mouth if she won't drink.

 

[Ponypoor]

You don’t want to know what she just said!

Oh she loves my summer hen house option? Who wouldn't! Smart hen!

 

[Ponypoor]

Hawk Attack
As most of you know, I have a lot of chickens. I am out with them when free ranging, but it is impossible to be 'near' them all as each group tends to go to a different spot.

So, I was hanging around with the group that is in the most unprotected area...when I hear a "Whummmp" (Sounded like a cow-patty hitting a wooden wall.) Then, a fruckus breaks out from the group near the house, with hens running & squawking bloody murder!. I go running over to that space (thinking the neighbor's dog was out & chasing them.) Nooooo, as I arrive (out of breath) a 'chicken'; flushes from the dense yew shrub against the house - I look down under the shrub, and there is a hen 'dust-bathing'. I look back in the direction the flushed 'hen' went and see our resident hawk sitting on a limb not 30 feet from me. I ran at ?her? yelling & waving my arms and she took off.

Back to the hen under the shrub..I could see blood dripping from her mouth, but she was clearly frightened and wouldn't let me near her. Finally got hubby to help and caught her. After cleaning her up, it appears this is her damage:
Scraped/abrasion on skin @ base of left side of beak and just below eye - minor. Blood from inside the mouth leaking out both sides of beak and dripping from cheek puffs appeared to be from a talon piercing the right 'cheek' through into the mouth, and she has an abrasion/cut around her right nare. After cleaning her up best I could and applying triple antibiotic ointment to exterior, she seemed okay but still quite frightened (she was anything but cooperative!). She will be fine if she doesn't get an infection. I am concerned about the inside of her mouth getting infected...but outside has been flushed well & again, anti-biotic cream....

Didn't have camera with me then, but older, poor pick of hawks (I am pretty sure they are Cooper's)
View attachment 2985772
My Americauna hen, after clean-up: (it was still bleeding slightly)
View attachment 2985776View attachment 2985777View attachment 2985778View attachment 2985780

Oh noooooo. Thinking good thoughts for your gal

I agree Cooper's Hawk, they are very adept at going I to shrubs for attacks. Red Tail Hawk are open ground birds. Surprised a Cooper would take on a full grown chicken that's a big bird for them, generally they take down Mourning Doves and that size - had one of the doves here taken by a Cooper one day, it was carnage with all the blood on the snow .

Please keep us updated I will be on tenter hooks thinking of her.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Hawk Attack
As most of you know, I have a lot of chickens. I am out with them when free ranging, but it is impossible to be 'near' them all as each group tends to go to a different spot.

So, I was hanging around with the group that is in the most unprotected area...when I hear a "Whummmp" (Sounded like a cow-patty hitting a wooden wall.) Then, a fruckus breaks out from the group near the house, with hens running & squawking bloody murder!. I go running over to that space (thinking the neighbor's dog was out & chasing them.) Nooooo, as I arrive (out of breath) a 'chicken'; flushes from the dense yew shrub against the house - I look down under the shrub, and there is a hen 'dust-bathing'. I look back in the direction the flushed 'hen' went and see our resident hawk sitting on a limb not 30 feet from me. I ran at ?her? yelling & waving my arms and she took off.

Back to the hen under the shrub..I could see blood dripping from her mouth, but she was clearly frightened and wouldn't let me near her. Finally got hubby to help and caught her. After cleaning her up, it appears this is her damage:
Scraped/abrasion on skin @ base of left side of beak and just below eye - minor. Blood from inside the mouth leaking out both sides of beak and dripping from cheek puffs appeared to be from a talon piercing the right 'cheek' through into the mouth, and she has an abrasion/cut around her right nare. After cleaning her up best I could and applying triple antibiotic ointment to exterior, she seemed okay but still quite frightened (she was anything but cooperative!). She will be fine if she doesn't get an infection. I am concerned about the inside of her mouth getting infected...but outside has been flushed well & again, anti-biotic cream....

Didn't have camera with me then, but older, poor pick of hawks (I am pretty sure they are Cooper's)
View attachment 2985772
My Americauna hen, after clean-up: (it was still bleeding slightly)
View attachment 2985776View attachment 2985777View attachment 2985778View attachment 2985780

You see a puncture wound into the right "cheek"? I can't see it. Is it possible the bleeding is from the nare damage, bleeding into her mouth, or possibly from a talon getting into her open mouth and cutting tissues there (or her tongue) from inside? I've never heard of anything that can be done for internal mouth injuries. I'm hoping she recovers well.

 

[Ponypoor]

You did say - what is the floor? Watering the floor provides quite a lot of cooling unless you are in a very hight humidity situation.

Paving bricks, and yes summers here are saunas, hot, hazy and humid, just how I like it - horses and chickens not so much. The flooring already 'sweats' a lot when it's humid, those bricks are darn slippery when damp!

I will likely turn one of my unused stalls into a summer hen house, they are 10x10 and open so I can wrap it in chicken wire to keep out coins, etc, and then still use a big box fan like I do with the horses. Don't know why I didn't think of that at first - duh! It's not like I will be getting any more horses so may as well use the space for my feather babies

 

[Ponypoor]

You see a puncture wound into the right "cheek"? I can't see it. Is it possible the bleeding is from the nare damage, bleeding into her mouth, or possibly from a talon getting into her open mouth and cutting tissues there (or her tongue) from inside? I've never heard of anything that can be done for internal mouth injuries. I'm hoping she recovers well.

Good thing is head wounds generally heal fast good blood supply. Wow just gobsmacked! Now I am more freaked out than ever, that's it my gang is never going outside again without me there with a big stick !

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Free Ranging on a Saturday

Yesterday's free range meeting went very well despite the need for them to work on some pecking order reminders and establishments.

Betty must have been relationship building along the drop door as no one was phased at all when she came around the corner and joined everyone.

Here is the first time they truly met, beak to beak.

Aurora did give her one little peck that weren't nothing but Lilly knows how to welcome new hens. The best part of this video is when Lilly spits out Betty's feather at the end. I don't know why but it made me giggle. Poor Betty but that is so classic Lilly. The old girl still has it.

OK: Just before 1:30 or so in the first video, I swear Betty gets close to Sidney, and decides / knows they are friends, no issue, all is good. Betty then decides to go up to Aurora and stretch her wings out right there in Aurora's face, pretty much AT Aurora, and gets a put-down for it. Is that how you all see it?

 

[bgmathteach]

Lovely. You can always cheer me up with a black chicken.
Is a black sex-link a high production kind of chicken? Probably right?

I am sloppily using the term 'black sex link'.

Somewhat, in theory they are a high production breed. They are not as high a production as the red/buff sex links, nor breeds like the leghorns, but being a hybrid, do show hybrid vigor in terms of laying, etc. Next gen would not. Real plus for hatcheries is that they are sex-linked so can easily be sexed at hatch. IMO, they have the personalities of the BR parent (hen).

Mine are not 'true' black sex-links, as it is typically BR hen X Red (RIR or NHR) rooster - which I don't have. I suspect she mated with my Dark Cornish roo, but the chick has no exterior characteristics of the DC. But, given the only choices for mating was with a BR a WR, or a DC Rooster, it had to be with the DC - otherwise there would be at least some 'leaks' of white or would be a BR. A BRXDC would NOT be high production, as DC are not high producers, and tend to lay small or med. size eggs. Since her eggs are on the smaller size for a BR, it further reinforces my suspicion of the DC boy.

I hatched her just because I wanted more chicks at the time, and it happened to be that mix. With the exception of a few intentional breeding sets (my BRs, and a couple of crosses at an attempt to create a reasonable meat bird. = i.e. cockerel has some breast meat, but they act like 'normal chickens' and are healthy), the rest are 'mutts/mixed'. I just took additional eggs from decent hens to fill the incubator. They hatched in 2020. Unfortunately, we kept losing power this past spring, so had virtually no luck with incubating in 2021.

 

[Ponypoor]

These are for @RoyalChick :View attachment 2985790View attachment 2985791
The first 2 are my black sex-link ( BR dad and not sure of mom)
These next 2 are of her 'twin' Raven, Part Marans & part Lavender Orpington (my neighbor's fertile egg, so not related!)

View attachment 2985792View attachment 2985793
Raven's has the big, gorgeous brown eyes, and a slight flop to the back of her comb, otherwise they look identical! However, Raven will follow me everywhere - especially into the barn where there might be treats. You can see in the last picture that she hopped up next to the metal feed can while I was replenishing their feeders.

Beautiful love that jaunty comb of hers

 

[featherhead007]

Mine are safely tucked in for the night. I haven’t seen any hawks here in quite a while. Sorry to see your hen hurt I hope she will be okay.