Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

I would send you some eggs if I could, to hatch

Phyllis is not broody now. That was from the past.

 

[knoturavggrl]

Hello FBA! We've had a beautiful sunny week and just for Fluffy Butt day we are completely trapped in a deep fog, so no sunny butt pictures today.

I don't want to play the devil's advocate but I actually like the social aspect of the thread. The volume could be reduced quite a bit I suppose, but I like having an idea of who is the person behind the pseudo. There are people with very different lifestyles here and it makes it interesting. I've learned quite a few things when some of you have talked about things that have nothing to do with chickens like Kelly about her life on site in the deep north, or some of your health issues and the US and Canadian Health system. The issue I have is with language, I can skim through superficial stuff, but it takes me a lot longer to post than it would in french, and also I find it impossible to be succinct. I'm only giving up on daily updates but I will definitely still follow.

I will add my thoughts to the things that have already been well said. I have struggled with the idea of failing to correct Théo's behaviour. Having Gaston made me grasp how important role models are for chickens and in particular roosters, and no human can play that part. The first possible role model is the broody, in many ways the rooster's role for the hens is similar to what the broody does for the chicks. The second possible role models are having other senior roosters in the flock that will show the rooster what his role is and put him in place. The last indirect role model comes from having older hens who know exactly what to expect of a rooster and will teach that to the growing hormonal rooster. I think when none of these elements are fulfilled, it makes it more difficult for a growing cockerel to find his place, and understand that the human is not a threat or a competitor. Of course, individual personality also plays a role and some roosters will still turn out great with none of these elements, but I really believe it makes an important difference.

The other thing I wanted to comment on is the fact that you were successful in rehoming in. I mentioned before that I stopped reading BYC threads about agressive roos because too many posters were insistent on culling them. But, I did see once a post that had a different perspective just like yours, and when I read it it made me feel so much better : a person was successful in rehoming a human agressive rooster in exchange for a hen, to someone who had a free range flock and wanted a rooster to watch for predators, but not to interact with as a pet. Too many will only be saying that it's out of question to re-home agressive roos and that they don't deserve a chance because there are nicer ones around, but your example show that it's possible to rehome even being completely honest about it. I'm very grateful that you took the trouble to think this through for Oreo.
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@BY Bob : please tell Aurora that I read her letter to Théo. I'm afraid however that the only thing that got to his brain is his Gimli picture. Yesterday he shouted "Durin's beard! Cocorico!" and crossed the chicken netting to attack Gaston, which he hadn't done for at least ten days .


Thank you very much, that's very kind. I haven't caught up completely yet so not sure if you are home now ? Anyway, I'll take the spirit of your kind comment, hoping @BY Bob will not be upset at this twist of the rules :

A mug for past Monday from BruneView attachment 3407736
A two fer from Brune and Nougat
View attachment 3407738
A thirsty picture from Merle
View attachment 3407733
And a butt from Piou-piou Shakira.
View attachment 3407735
Wishing a very nice fluffy day to each of you!

Thank you for your thoughtful words. I really did agonize over the decision. Oreo was and hopefully will be in his new home an excellent Rooster to his girls. He was learning quickly how best to tend them and he was patient and never rough with any of them. I read and reread Shadrachs article on understanding roosters and I do believe he would have come around eventually with people. If my kids safety and well being hadn’t been an issue he would definitely still be here. I feel very fortunate that the gentlemen I sold him to wanted him very much drove an hr to come get him and insisted on paying for him. He fit what they wanted in their breeding program had no young kids and years and years of experience with chickens. It was the best possible outcome all around.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

Mystery solved, now…what to do about it?

Well it looks like the cause of my “naked butt” girls is from one of them “feather plucking/pecking”, and pretty sure the culprit is Scarlett.


I observed it happen several times this morning. It shouldn’t be dirt related, since they are on a food that is 18% protein. And it doesn’t appear overtly aggressive (although there is definitely some mild aggression to it). It is more like she sees a fluffy butt on a girl with her head down and can’t resist going over and grabbing a few of those fluffy little feathers. So now, what I do to stop it? Especially with my limited mobility right now?!

 

[BY Bob]

Thank you, yes, I definitely was. It could have ended up so much worse. I will take this as a warning: never leave chickens unattended outside even for a moment.
The second i walk inside to grab something they strike.

I've had hawks attack while I was standing with the chickens. You are only somewhat of a deterrent. The hawks here are simply not afraid of humans.

Satan the Hawk let me get this close.

 

[BY Bob]

Sounds cool!
How does it work? A real letter? Pms? Im clueless. So is Peep. Thanks!

Just submit your letter as a post. I do not guarantee it will be answered. Those that inspire Aurora in some fashion will be answered.

 

[BY Bob]

Hello FBA! We've had a beautiful sunny week and just for Fluffy Butt day we are completely trapped in a deep fog, so no sunny butt pictures today.

I don't want to play the devil's advocate but I actually like the social aspect of the thread. The volume could be reduced quite a bit I suppose, but I like having an idea of who is the person behind the pseudo. There are people with very different lifestyles here and it makes it interesting. I've learned quite a few things when some of you have talked about things that have nothing to do with chickens like Kelly about her life on site in the deep north, or some of your health issues and the US and Canadian Health system. The issue I have is with language, I can skim through superficial stuff, but it takes me a lot longer to post than it would in french, and also I find it impossible to be succinct. I'm only giving up on daily updates but I will definitely still follow.

I will add my thoughts to the things that have already been well said. I have struggled with the idea of failing to correct Théo's behaviour. Having Gaston made me grasp how important role models are for chickens and in particular roosters, and no human can play that part. The first possible role model is the broody, in many ways the rooster's role for the hens is similar to what the broody does for the chicks. The second possible role models are having other senior roosters in the flock that will show the rooster what his role is and put him in place. The last indirect role model comes from having older hens who know exactly what to expect of a rooster and will teach that to the growing hormonal rooster. I think when none of these elements are fulfilled, it makes it more difficult for a growing cockerel to find his place, and understand that the human is not a threat or a competitor. Of course, individual personality also plays a role and some roosters will still turn out great with none of these elements, but I really believe it makes an important difference.

The other thing I wanted to comment on is the fact that you were successful in rehoming in. I mentioned before that I stopped reading BYC threads about agressive roos because too many posters were insistent on culling them. But, I did see once a post that had a different perspective just like yours, and when I read it it made me feel so much better : a person was successful in rehoming a human agressive rooster in exchange for a hen, to someone who had a free range flock and wanted a rooster to watch for predators, but not to interact with as a pet. Too many will only be saying that it's out of question to re-home agressive roos and that they don't deserve a chance because there are nicer ones around, but your example show that it's possible to rehome even being completely honest about it. I'm very grateful that you took the trouble to think this through for Oreo.
.
@BY Bob : please tell Aurora that I read her letter to Théo. I'm afraid however that the only thing that got to his brain is his Gimli picture. Yesterday he shouted "Durin's beard! Cocorico!" and crossed the chicken netting to attack Gaston, which he hadn't done for at least ten days .


Thank you very much, that's very kind. I haven't caught up completely yet so not sure if you are home now ? Anyway, I'll take the spirit of your kind comment, hoping @BY Bob will not be upset at this twist of the rules :

A mug for past Monday from BruneView attachment 3407736
A two fer from Brune and Nougat
View attachment 3407738
A thirsty picture from Merle
View attachment 3407733
And a butt from Piou-piou Shakira.
View attachment 3407735
Wishing a very nice fluffy day to each of you!

I am never upset at photos from your piece of heaven. Beautiful chickens in a beautiful location.

 

[BY Bob]

@BY Bob : please tell Aurora that I read her letter to Théo. I'm afraid however that the only thing that got to his brain is his Gimli picture. Yesterday he shouted "Durin's beard! Cocorico!" and crossed the chicken netting to attack Gaston, which he hadn't done for at least ten days .

I will let her know, but of course that would be what he would learn from it. Let us know if you see him working on his balance.

 

[BY Bob]

Ok, logic this out. Bear with me, it's 430am, just waking up, no coffee yet and brain may ramble. No barring, so no Dominique, barred rock, cuckoo marans. Clean legs eliminates all the French marans, cochins, brahmas, and Faverolles. Has neck feathers so not a turken. No crest so not Polish, appenzeller slitzhauben. Doesn't fit bred standards for anything in breeding books, so no Wyandotte, Delaware, sussex, jersey giant, leghorn, Rock, orpington, australorp, new Hampshire, Rhode Island, Andalusian, welsummer, lakenvelder, barnevelder (not ruling the barnevelder out entirely as the coloring could fit, but come back to that after checking out more pics).

This leaves the assorted Eggers, Links, Rainbow, production reds (less likely), isa browns, gems, Calico Princess California White (nope, wrong color), and I'll include the midnight Majesty marans as they're not accepted in breed standards yet. All the blue birds are out, but I don't know enough about the assorted Eggers to know if the names are because of Blue eggs or blue feathers. The links, isa browns, and Golden comets are VERY breed specific hybrids (both parents are pure bred), so while they don't breed true for breed standard, offspring do turn out consistently.

The Gems, Eggers (americauna included), Calico Princess, cinnamon queen, and midnight marans haven't been around long enough as breeds to get the standards established to be recognized as breeds for shows. There's a lot a variation, throwbacks, and unusual things popping out in them. They're also harder to ID specific birds because of that.

Back to barnevelder. Checked out more pics: they're double Laced so eliminates them as a pure breed. If a roo played with the wrong hen at the breeders, they're still a possibility as 1 parent, but not both.

Cinnamon is a beautiful bird. When she starts laying, let us know as that will help with the puzzle too.

What an expert you are. Amazingly well reasoned.

 

[bgmathteach]

All this coop / run talk got me thinking of how I am going to 'finish off' my Rooster Run (it's not just for roosters haha). I really want to put part of it under a solid roof, and the rest under netting. But then I was calculating the size of roofing I needed and panicked !! Need to win that lottery for sure now!

I am still planning on turning Truly's stall into a 'summer coop' - and that will be more able to be done (though I still need to win that lottery hahahaha).

So I have a 10'x20' stall to work with, I need to make it Racoon proof so I will need to put wire of some sort from the top of the walls to the ceiling and also replace the two stall doors with more secure doors to protect those chickies from any Racoons. Then there will be a good space for them and the huge stall fans to keep air moving. Better than the 4x10 Hen House!

I will work up to the Rooster Run... but it's huge so not going to be able to roof it any time soon unfortunately! But netting to keep birds of prey out is do-able - 16'x98' of netting is more able than with half of it as a solid roof!!

For the sides I will put a couple rows of electric twine around the outside to keep coons and foxes, etc from climbing in / digging in (I love electric fencing!).

Anyways it's a plan for when I get home, something to look forward to!

You know, you can put solid roofing up in small sections at a time! Your 'run' is quite long...and if I remember correctly, part of it you need to keep 'open' to be able to access your paddocks with a truck if need be. That said, you could, on an area that doesn't need the flexibility of access by truck, choose to put a few roofing panels wide across the run ( the 16' direction). A couple wooden cross-members, plus a 12' and an 8' plastic or metal corrugated roofing panel would go across the run. Start with it 3-4 panels wide (6-8') While at that small width it won't give a lot of truly protected space on a blustery day - it would be a great start. When you are able to put up the next 6-8 feet of roofing panels, it will start to have some REAL protected space. AND, you can always hang a tarp on the run wall facing the wind in the colder weather to give them semi-protected space out of the wind/weather. I think this is quite doable! Just plan big but start small!

Note: given where your run is, I think I would suggest the plastic, as there is a type that allows light through, but blocks UV rays - and thus makes it slightly cooler as well in the summer without blocking the needed sunshine in the winter. (as much as I don't like plastic, in this application it is probably better - at least for parts of the 'roof' of your run, than all metal that could make the run pretty dark.)

 

[BY Bob]

Mystery solved, now…what to do about it?

Well it looks like the cause of my “naked butt” girls is from one of them “feather plucking/pecking”, and pretty sure the culprit is Scarlett.


I observed it happen several times this morning. It shouldn’t be dirt related, since they are on a food that is 18% protein. And it doesn’t appear overtly aggressive (although there is definitely some mild aggression to it). It is more like she sees a fluffy butt on a girl with her head down and can’t resist going over and grabbing a few of those fluffy little feathers. So now, what I do to stop it? Especially with my limited mobility right now?!

I wish I had some ideas. Other than the random peck at Phyllis's head that grabs a feather I've never had that problem here. You may need to go outside this thread for help.

I will say that most feather pecking comes from either boredom, overcrowding, or lack of protein in their diet.