Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

I am sure that I will never find it again but I read a legit article about how 'cage free' was actually worse for hen welfare than cages.
Cage free sounds like they are outside - but actually they are just all stuffed in a huge concrete floored barn so they are very over-crowded and cannot escape the pecking from their neighbors.
Equally 'free range' is a misleading label because that means that there are openings in the big concrete-floored barn so that the chickens nearest the opening can get outside for a few hours - but there are so many chickens in the barn that very few of them ever make it to the opening.
The only reliable label is 'Certified Humane' because that is independently verified by an organization who focuses on hen welfare.
I think it was National Geographic where I read it.

Haven't found the original article but came across this on free range:
https://www.greenerchoices.org/free-range/#:~:text=Chicken and eggs labeled “free,of 120 days per year.

I am so happy my kiddos can dig, and run, and jump.... kill snakes... eat bugs.

 

[Marie2020]

Bad news at the Butler Hollow Coop. All the rain eroded the very edge inside the unfinished section of the shed. This created a chicken sized opening and a few of the pullets got out of the run at some point today. Powder, my first layer of stunning moss green eggs, is gone. The only sign of her or what happened to her is a few feathers outside the run. How could I have not noticed the hole! Sad, mad, and feeling just awful.

View attachment 3393614

I've only just read this. Has she been found?

 

[Marie2020]

I'm so sorry, and I can imagine how terrible you must feel.

It seems that it's exceptional to keep chickens and not make a fatal mistake one day ....and often more than one mistake, unfortunately. Not many chickens die of old age. At some point, every chicken keeper will feel responsible for a chicken's death. I agree with By Bob, try to not be too hard on yourself .

I would look again just in case before it gets dark because when they are in a panic, chickens can hide in very strange places. But I don't want to give you false hopes .

I've found princess hiding so many times after panicking

 

[Marie2020]

I don’t know when it happened it could have been this morning as I thought they were safe in the run and I had not been out to check on them for several hours. So, perhaps the other girls had calmed down by the time I saw them.

Oreo remains quite agitated and aggressively upset. I don't think he could have fit through the small hole the girls got out of to help her. I imagine that would be terribly upsetting to him. Ill give him grace, time, and space as we all work through losing her.

For now everyone is locked in the coop. Tomorrow we will head to Home Depot to fix this so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

* To anyone who wished me condolences I might have missed thank you.

 

[Marie2020]

It’s true been six years now.

Congratulations

 

[Ponypoor]

How do you get anything done? I could watch them all day.

I am hard pressed today to get anything done! Between her chicks, and Valaries...

 

[featherhead007]

Congratulations

Thanks. But it really is an accomplishment, because they only tried throwing me out twice!

 

[Ponypoor]

I could do with some reassurance (or not).

Babs went into the nest boxes today. First time just for a few minutes and came back out. But just now she was in there for over 20 minutes.
Of course I rushed out thinking she laid an egg. She had definitely been arranging the bedding into a nest, but no egg.
She is out now and behaving normally.
Is she just scoping things out? Or could she be having trouble laying her first egg?
I am a bit of a nervous wreck because I still couldn't catch her to examine her.
One interesting thing, both times while she was in there, Eli stood outside looking in and 'growling'.
Am I being overly anxious? Do hens do practice runs before their first egg?

Mine did!

 

[Marie2020]

When I win the lottery I will buy a holiday house for all to visit - someplace very warm and sunny with lots of chickens! Maybe a few ponies too....

 

[Marie2020]

Thanks. But it really is an accomplishment, because they only tried throwing me out twice!

No one would ever dare