Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

Sherlock's before dinner walk and closing thr coopView attachment 4041926they've all gone in...

View attachment 4041927and they're watching him...finding the ball under the snow cause he left it out there earlier...and he's NOT wearing training collar....and did NOT chase, responding to commands!

That is so satisfying to hear about Sherlock ~ good boy! Pretty pics!

 

[featherhead007]

Yes, but just like with people, sometimes it seems that personality is only a matter of individuality, and sometimes it's uncanny the way genetics come through and you (rather terrifyingly) find yourself being your mother, or even worse your grandmother .

And while I tend to think that breed and breeding for animals would only play a minor role, I still have found some of the generic statement about breeds to have some truth. For example I can attest as someone who began riding at the age of six that yes, all Shetland ponies are stubborn and very often have a contrary view of what they should do, to that of their small rider .

Roosting is also still quite horrible in my flock. There are periods when the nastiness only occur for five or ten minutes, but sometimes it can last for up to an hour. All the hens have learned this behaviour now - bully, or be bullied. The roosters don't seem to be able to do anything about it.
I've done a lot of moving around with the setting and it helps a bit ; but I think it's very difficult to solve once the hens have gotten used to it.
I'm inclined to think once Aurora is gone, one of yours will take over on the threats.

If you can come up with a backup plan for one of them in case the three roosters can't peacefully coexist, I don't see why not take both ? Would you be able to re-home or sell a young Silkie rooster ?

Portraits of Annette including some mugs.
I was watching her digging alone in the garden today, and I was wondering why she reminded me of that song "Africa" ...the song we either love or hate .
View attachment 4042217View attachment 4042218View attachment 4042219View attachment 4042220View attachment 4042221

And I finally got it...

Spoiler

It's the zebra vibe ! Talk about stereotypes !

There would be a lot to say about her personality compared to that of her three siblings Mélisse, Lulu and Laure (who is probably only half sister and the most different in temper) ; they have many common points but also many differences, including their attitude to humans. Annette is aloof but not really afraid ; she loves freedom and will always find a way to get out. But she's also by far the most clever of the four in terms of free ranging, as she has shown several times when she was caught out in a bad storm or locked outside the coop at night. They were all taught to free-range by the same broody and they are siblings, but they don't all show the same abilities and desire for freedom.

 

[Sylvester017]

Reading all your posts about nesting time squabbles, I realize we have not seen that in our flock. Maybe we aren't there when it happens.

After the first four years of adding coops to the run, we finally have a walk in coop that is 8x10 with roosting bars all around. Everyone has their place. When new young pullets first start roosting up on the bars, they settle on the lowest one and naturally go up last.

These days, when it's chilly outside, we go out at dusk and they are already in and roosted. Maybe the squabbling already happened, but we have never seen it.

We do have two roosters, but only 13 hens and I think that is not quite a workable ratio. At the moment, one rooster has his own run and coop, separate but right next to everyone. He hangs out with them along the fence. The two roosters are not fence fighting anymore, so we may soon be able to combine them. We'll give it a try when it warms up some.

As for new chicks this year, I'm hoping one of my girls raise a few for me. The reason we got a second rooster is that a year of broodies did not result in a single chick. Cooper, the separated rooster and my avatar pic, seemed to only go after the old ladies and they don't lay! Wordy, Birdie and Gertie are well over 8 now and they were his favorite girls. They are Australorps and I believe that it's normal for them to live a long time. I think they are relieved to have Ralphie taking care of the flock. He is a Buff Orpington and tends to like the Buff ladies the best.

Have you all experienced segregation in your flocks? Mine hang out with their same breed mostly. That's so interesting to me.

We also have noticed alike breeds gravitate toward each other ~ Silkies w/ Sikies. Dominiques w/ Dominiques, etc, while our Leghorns were not so cliquey. Different breed chicks raised together seem to stick together too. Who knows? Birds have different personalities like people & adjust living w/ each other accordingly. We've always tried to have multiples of each breed to allow them to have companions of the same breed within the flock. But that's just us....

 

[featherhead007]

Sounds like best case scenario.

Do you have any idea on the gender of them?

No idea of gender, but they have cute long legs like their mama

 

[featherhead007]

As I said earlier, Daisy, the greatest hen ever, did not behave this way. Patsy most definitely did and I have watched Lilly and then Aurora perpetuate the behavior. I hope that Sydney will not carry it on but I've already seen the tendency to do so in her behavior already. I expect that it will ever be the way things are done here as they have learned that's what leaders do.

That’s Queen Aurora to you!

 

[Ponypoor]

Nature vs Nurture

A bit of both I would say.

 

[Ponypoor]

As I said earlier, Daisy, the greatest hen ever, did not behave this way. Patsy most definitely did and I have watched Lilly and then Aurora perpetuate the behavior. I hope that Sydney will not carry it on but I've already seen the tendency to do so in her behavior already. I expect that it will ever be the way things are done here as they have learned that's what leaders do.

I wonder if it also depends on how many chooks one has.

With my gang it’s definitely certain birds behaving bad, poor Daisy (my Daisy) is pretty much bottom of the pecking order and at roost time it’s her getting picked on by my youngest chicks.

The older birds ignore her pretty much. Thus at night I have to settle her someplace where she won’t be picked on. One would think she would learn to go where I put her!

 

[featherhead007]

I wonder if it also depends on how many chooks one has.

With my gang it’s definitely certain birds behaving bad, poor Daisy (my Daisy) is pretty much bottom of the pecking order and at roost time it’s her getting picked on by my youngest chicks.

The older birds ignore her pretty much. Thus at night I have to settle her someplace where she won’t be picked on. One would think she would learn to go where I put her!

Poor little Daisy

 

[ValerieJ]

We also have noticed alike breeds gravitate toward each other ~ Silkies w/ Sikies. Dominiques w/ Dominiques, etc, while our Leghorns were not so cliquey. Different breed chicks raised together seem to stick together too. Who knows? Birds have different personalities like people & adjust living w/ each other accordingly. We've always tried to have multiples of each breed to allow them to have companions of the same breed within the flock. But that's just us....

Yes, we do the same thing, but ours are all very similar type breeds. We have Australorps, Buff Orpingtons, Lavender Orpingtons, Leghorns and Cooper, who is a Black Copper Marans. We tend toward the larger dual purpose chickens, although the dual purpose here is, they lay eggs and they give us much enjoyment. Well, some are singular in purpose these days, they don't lay.

ETA: I forgot Splash. She is a mix of Buff Orp and Australorp. She is the only one who is completely unique in the hens, and then of course Cooper is unique too.

 

[TOMTE]

Reading all your posts about nesting time squabbles, I realize we have not seen that in our flock. Maybe we aren't there when it happens.

After the first four years of adding coops to the run, we finally have a walk in coop that is 8x10 with roosting bars all around. Everyone has their place. When new young pullets first start roosting up on the bars, they settle on the lowest one and naturally go up last.

These days, when it's chilly outside, we go out at dusk and they are already in and roosted. Maybe the squabbling already happened, but we have never seen it.

We do have two roosters, but only 13 hens and I think that is not quite a workable ratio. At the moment, one rooster has his own run and coop, separate but right next to everyone. He hangs out with them along the fence. The two roosters are not fence fighting anymore, so we may soon be able to combine them. We'll give it a try when it warms up some.

As for new chicks this year, I'm hoping one of my girls raise a few for me. The reason we got a second rooster is that a year of broodies did not result in a single chick. Cooper, the separated rooster and my avatar pic, seemed to only go after the old ladies and they don't lay! Wordy, Birdie and Gertie are well over 8 now and they were his favorite girls. They are Australorps and I believe that it's normal for them to live a long time. I think they are relieved to have Ralphie taking care of the flock. He is a Buff Orpington and tends to like the Buff ladies the best.

Have you all experienced segregation in your flocks? Mine hang out with their same breed mostly. That's so interesting to me.

I think my flock is too small to notice something like this. While Magrat and Gytha (SLW) tend to take naps together throughout the day, they also mingle with the others most of the time.

When we were still free ranging, I noticed that Sybil, the odd one out, was really timid and would hang back while the others went off to a new foraging spot. I'd often have to escort her over to them because she would just stand there calling out to them. Sometimes they would come back for her, but not usually.

Spending quality time with Sybil did seem to help with her confidence though. Also her being the first to lay. Now she's higher in the pecking order and doesn't allow herself to be bullied.

I don't notice any serious squabbles at roosting time. Lots of jumping around and climbing over each other, pecking toes and pulling tail feathers when someone wants somebody else to move over, but no fights or outright attacks. But I don't have a camera in there to watch them after I've closed everything up.

And Gytha is ALWAYS the last up onto the roosts. I need to get video of her in the evening because it's interesting, and very amusing

To me it almost looks as though she's making sure everybody is inside before going to bed herself. But maybe she's trying to negotiate a better spot for herself on the roost. She'll bop around in circles, looking up at the roosts, like she wants to jump up but she just doesn't. She'll peck at toes, making a noise that I've come to associate with urgency (wanting something? Excitement, anxiety?). It's like, "bdrbdrbdrbdrbdrbdr!"

Yeah, some evenings it's 10-20 minutes of this behavior from her, and then she seems satisfied and jumps up and settles.

Does anyone else see this behavior in any of their chooks? Any idea what it's about?