Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Marie2020]

Just dirt

Chickens are such mucky pups

 

[featherhead007]

Off to the city:

Still makes me laugh!

 

[knoturavggrl]

Sounds like you are doing the right things with Oreo. Be patient and he will come out the other side calmer eventually.

Thank you, I’ll keep on trying. Thank you for always being generous and sharing your knowledge and experience.

 

[Marie2020]

Off to the city:
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Still makes me laugh!

 

[Marie2020]

Mugs Monday
I figure a prison photo is appropriate.

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Oh my she looks really mad

 

[Marie2020]

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I love those gold in their feathers and picture five has such an adorable look

 

[Ponypoor]

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I love that third last photo - she is so expressive!

 

[Ponypoor]

Sun and Sand!
My kiddos are enjoying to sun and sand today - earlier a couple were having a wild dust bath! The dirt was flying everywhere hahaha!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I will upload video's later tonight but Chiquita finally brought the chicks out of the coop. All was going well until she took them into Louis stall when she bolted because Gracie scared her walking by. Louis did nothing wrong really, he just dropped his head down to look at them. Chiquita is already tore up at this point and she attacked his face. This left Louis in one corner terrified and Chiquita in the opposite corner with her chicks angry. She wanted to get them out but with the warning clucks she was giving they did not want to follow and stayed huddled in the corner. It required human intervention. I held Louis and mom went in and put the chicks in a bucket to move them. Chiquita is now attacking mom but she got the first 5 easily. The last one she had to chase all over the stall as it wanted to avoid capture. We both decided as there is 2 more stalls left to clean that is enough adventure for one day and Chiquita and her marshmallows are back in the coop for the evening. Louis was rewarded with extra peppermints since he remained calm and still after the flogging and the entire time mom was gathering the chicks.

 

[knoturavggrl]

The problem being if he does suddenly get triggered by the kids, it could be a dangerous situation, depending on their age and awareness levels. The escalation after losing a hen and the hens more closely following him is very normal after they witness a predator attack. They are smart, and he’s taking his job seriously. It sounds like he could be growing into a superb rooster to me. You just need to get his trust and you should have an amazing guy. Sammy was actually taking full on runs across the yard at me. There were a few pecks and bites here and there at first, but now he’s the most delicate, gentle chicken to people in the yard. It took quite a while to develop my understanding with Sammy, but the work was 100% worth it, because he has made everything else much easier, and I haven’t had a single human aggressive rooter issue since in the free range flock.

I think, if I had to reduce my flock, if I was moving, or something like that… who would I keep? Out of the nearly 80 birds here if I were to keep only 20-25, I would keep Sammy, and two younger boys, because I think Sammy isn’t very fertile anymore, and a selection of hens that tend towards the crazy behaviors, like Rebecca’s crazy Old Bat, or my Grey Mama, Bully Girl, and Goldie, the ones that are borderline “is this crazy chicken worth the trouble?” Because those are the ones that truly are…

So far, the kids (3 & 6) have been completely exempt from his ire. I monitor that very closely. Today, DD and I went out to collect eggs and Oreo came into the coop to see what we were up to. My daughter did a great job just continuing on and slowly and steadily checking boxes while never turning her back on him and I stood stock still by the door ready to intervene if the need arose. He stood and watched her for a minute or two and looked me up and down a few times and then left to go back out to the run even with a few pullets still in with us. No aggression no drama at all. I find this promising. Some trust remains in his hormonal brain, I just need to build on that.

I will give him time space and all the treats to give to his girls. Hopefully hormonal idiocy will wane and he will learn that although there are indeed threats out there we aren’t one of them.