Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Spent a couple of hours in the coop taking pics of the junior crew in training....in the middle of a ruckus...Twirp was upper left nest box when I came in. Blanche came in, started the Bok-boks. Twirp screamed at her (or me). Blanche settled into middle top box. Twirp came down, ate a bit and left (no egg, not expected). Storm came on quietly, slipped into the box Twirp was in, and eventually laid an egg, no fuss, and left, also no fuss. Meanwhile, Nellie came in and set to Bokking , inside, outside, back in, continuous noise. ...15 min later, stopped when Sstorm left....started in again within 5 min without testing the nest box vacated....30 min later (I checked the clock), is still going. Cuckoo comes in for a bite. PITA comes to stand in the doorway. Nellie submits to a peck or 2, then scrambles through PITA's legs (Nellie swept Cheetah's feet) and out of the coop, blessedly quiet. PITA comes on in, only having 1 leg get knocked by Nellie. She starts investigating, quietly. Blanche lays her egg, then stands there panting, decides to hop down for a bite. I go check the egg (still trying to ID which white egg belongs to whom). Blanche fusses, gets chased out by PITA who also chases out Cuckoo. PITA starts testing nest boxes (after watching me closely on the egg examine ) , finally settle into the one Blanche vacated. I headed back inside to start the post, meanwhile the ruckus started again. Nellie went back in and started fussing. PITA joined in and Cheetah went running off to maybe try to settle it.

Leaving pics at the bottom.

Egg laying is such drama. My gosh these hens.

 

[BY Bob]

I learned a long time ago that there is never just one mouse. Just like there is never just one rabbit.

Our chicken for that matter.

 

[BY Bob]

Chooks are all inside the coop. I’m going to cook a steak and shrimp dinner (for me this time) and make an early night of it. I’m so happy that Arizona finally knows her place in the coop, and not inside my house. Ps. Eight eggs today from nine hens.

So with some time in the plane, a good day!

 

[BY Bob]

I'm glad you got home safely. That looked crazy dangerous.

It really was. I am still a little rattled by it. So glad I got off the highway.

 

[BY Bob]

I fear that as we enter our second week together my life with the Hooligans is entering an unfortunate new phase.

I was woken this morning by cries of distress. They are not based in my bedroom so to wake me from another room behind closed doors is LOUD.
This was not ‘peep peep’. This was ‘I am being murdered and need rescuing now’.

As I scramble to wake up and to untangle myself from bed my mind is racing. Did I not shut the door properly allowing a cat to get in? But even if a cat got in how would it get to the babies they are secure in their pop up tent? Did something fall over and crush them? Did the heater plate catch fire?
I get in there and it is Bernadette making all the noise. And why? Because the other two were crowded in the food bowl and in the pitch dark she couldn’t see how to get in.
When I turned on the light she saw an opening and squeezed in. And peace reigned in the land of the Hooligans.
Is it normal for them to be chowing down so much in the dark? I know Hattie has midnight snacks and mine often get up well before light to have pre-breakfast or to lay an egg, but I thought they were generally supposed to wake at dawn. There is no artificial light on in there at night.
Hooligans.
View attachment 3044204View attachment 3044205

I have never seen chicks eating at night but I also never looked for it. I never disturbed them at night so who knows?

 

[RoyalChick]

I have never seen chicks eating at night but I also never looked for it. I never disturbed them at night so who knows?

To be clear. I didn’t disturb them; they, well really just Bernadette, disturbed me!

 

[BY Bob]

Oh good point. Should I leave them a nightlight? Mainly they find their way in the dark, the issue this time was the other two had sort of blocked all the openings that were nearest the heat cave so she couldn't see how to maneuver her way to the food.
She is bigger than them so I am surprised she didn't just shove them out of the way.

I vote no night light. They are working it out. One issue one night is not worth rising them up all night.

 

[RoyalChick]

I vote no night light. They are working it out. One issue one night is not worth rising them up all night.

That is the conclusion I have come to for tonight. I have a new worry which is a big storm. If I lose power I cannot remember if their heat plate is plugged in to an outlet that gets generator power. Hopefully power will stay on. But I may need to check in the night.

 

[featherhead007]

That is the conclusion I have come to for tonight. I have a new worry which is a big storm. If I lose power I cannot remember if their heat plate is plugged in to an outlet that gets generator power. Hopefully power will stay on. But I may need to check in the night.

No power outage! I’m hoping.

 

[Kris5902]

This is my coop and run. I have ten birds. They usually free range most of the day, but when they don’t, is this big enough for them all? (Anybody have an idea?) I have seen much smaller ones on BYC .
I guess I want to hear that my setup is fine for my chickens. View attachment 3044554View attachment 3044555

I think bigger is always better, but they aren’t confined to the run constantly so I think it’s probably fine. A lot of the size standards don’t account for different husbandry techniques. If their usual yard is big enough, the smaller “safety yard” for when they need the extra protection is fine. I keep 60 in a trailer so… but they have all the acreage they want