Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[BY Bob]

Diane Ida-Biter has been a handful. She follows me around and pecks or tries to peck the back of my boots now. I'm disciplining her at least 2-3 times when I go in to see them and do chores. She calms down and then goes at it again a little while later. She's more wary of pecking my hands (she pecked twice today though), and the boots are a new target.

Popcorn has been interesting to watch with this Diane stuff. She usually comes over and stands near, as if: "You want any help with that?" I'm careful to not hold Diane down close to Popcorn because she will jump her. And yesterday there was a scuffle right behind me, I looked back and there was Popcorn chasing Diane off right at my boot heels, I think she was charging (chasing) me as I walked away. I don't recall if I felt a peck or not, but Popcorn was on the case.

I keep looking at her wondering if she's a roo but nothing physically nothing points to it. She does have an abnormal pupil shape in one eye, she has had it ever since Anna was sick, and maybe before then. but that's when they were getting their adult eyes and I began really examining them, 5-7 weeks. The bottom blackness is not round, it bulges down into the iris. So I'm looking at her iris band too, thinking how the pupil is like a symptom of optical Marek's. There are no other signs though her iris could be slightly lighter near it. They were vaccinated, but it's possible. I've got no pictures but will try tomorrow. In any case I've never heard of this aggressive urge being a symptom.

Lastly, the Spuds are 26 weeks old tomorrow and Tedi half-squatted for me, and Popcorn did today, so laying may be starting up / again soon. Yesterday I put a couple of ceramic eggs back in the nestbox to try heading off any interest in egg eating. I'll add more tomorrow. Glad I did. Diane explored them today while I was cleaning, so the coop back was open and there was good light for her. The Spuds often come in to look around the nestbox when I have the back off. She lightly pecked one, then really laid into it, putting her weight behind her pecks. Nothing. She walked away, yay! Hopefully that was a good lesson. Also, she did not try to peck my hands while I worked, another win (though that was after two earlier disciplined episodes where she did).

That's wild that you got to see the ceramic egg work. Hopefully the lesson is learned.

 

[BY Bob]

Flexi was so beautiful

Yes she was

 

[RoyalChick]

A couple of mugshots for Monday.
Piglet and Bernie. And Sylvie photo bombing.
Piglet never fails to amuse me with her determination to get food. She leapt from the tree stump and grabbed a mouthful while I was walking. I have to walk slowly because Tassels is always in my way.
Not a very elegant move by Piglet, but effective.
This morning they got lots of cauliflower and Babs goes nuts for cauliflower so she came out of the nest boxes to inhale the florets!

 

[BY Bob]

Why, no. Your instructions are completely different than the reply I did or @RoyalChick 's. She can find her attachments list, & that's the most direct, efficient way to go about finding one's own pictures! You did great!

I'm not sure about that. I have 430 pages of attachments.

 

[BY Bob]

Okay, I measured my chicken runs today and they seem perfectly roomy to me.
In theory, nine chickens (my current seven plus two new Spring chicks) should do fine.
Would you all humor me and reassure me they have enough space to be happy? (Certainly looking to avoid stress, feather picking, etc.)

I do let my chickens free range in the yard, but it’s ultimately just two to three times a week, for a 40-60 minute chunk of time. That’s not a ton of time out, which means the runs are where most of their lives are lived.

View attachment 3736167
When they first come out of the coop there is this little 5.5’ x 7.5’ space. It’s not well utilized (no clutter or perches, and the chickens don’t hang out here) but has the main food and water stations.

View attachment 3736168
That little space opens up to this main run, 14.5’ x 7’. It has the dust bath, perches, and roofing so is nearly always toasty dry.

View attachment 3736169
This run extension is 18’ x 10.5’. It has the most clutter, although it needs some work to become raccoon proof.

This is a total of roughly 330 sqft. The main pinch point is the doorway between the covered run and the uncovered extension. Especially since the old girls usually camp out by the dust bath, just waiting for a pullet to pass by so they could pinch them.

So, green light on Chicken math?

View attachment 3736173
The three pullets tonight, with Whiskey so asleep her wing unfolded teehee.

That's tons of room for 9 chickens.

 

[rural mouse]

I'm not sure about that. I have 430 pages of attachments.

I only have 151 pages....it's still overwhelming to look for a pic if I can't recall roughly when I posted it....

 

[BY Bob]

View attachment 3736180
September 2021
Agatha and Tina walked into the main coop for the very first time.

It was like children seeing Disney world, their first bit of freedom

My girls taking this fluffy butt thread upto 17963

Such a happy memory!

 

[BY Bob]

I only have 151 pages....it's still overwhelming to look for a pic if I can't recall roughly when I posted it....

I use the search function in the thread more. The key is to remember details about why I posted the photo.

 

[rural mouse]

A sort of mug

Came out with Sherlock to take him for a walk. Cheetah ran over to "rescue" one of the ladies. Sherlock ignored the chickens. He was all bouncy over getting to chase a ball.

He even ignored them....(and I fought with camera settings)

 

[RoyalChick]

I only have 151 pages....it's still overwhelming to look for a pic if I can't recall roughly when I posted it....

I use the search function to find the post. Usually I remember something about the post to put in the search field.