Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

Windy day today.

My vote ~ pullets

 

[ILoveDaffy]

Eek! They're on their way! The babies are coming, the babies are coming! I'm torn between excitement and worry. They hatched sooner and shipped faster than expected and I'm hoping they aren't going to try to deliver to the door instead of the post office. The last steps are preparing for delivery, out for delivery, and delivered. And I'm worried about them sitting in the post office through Sunday too. Prayers for their safe arrival would be much appreciated, I'm so nervous that I'm checking the tracker every five minutes!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Speaking of this, @ChicoryBlue , how is it going with Diane Ida-Biter? I'm hoping she continues to improve with her response to you. I really do think she is just mis-understood and feels under appreciated. Hopefully with time she will show her love/need more appropriately!!

I love that you care so much! She is definitely misunderstood by me; if there is a way to deal with her I don't know it. I'm afraid I have not unlocked the secret with this one. I'd say with the onset of regular laying she is pretty intense now. She is very high-strung, or something. Is there such as thing as a calming pill for a hen?

She is not squatting for me but when she gets a gleam in her eye, all growly, looking for a fight, I have taken to pressing down on her, hand on her back until she sits on the litter, and gently but firmly holding her there for 10 seconds or so. Hazel will sometimes come over and give her a couple of pecks. I release her and that seems to break it temporarily and she walks away. But she will come back again aggressively, sooner rather than later. I don't know if this is reinforcing a sense that she has to dominate me, as if I am a competing roo?

I have also tried ignoring her, or moving into her a little with my elbow or body so that she is not in a position to peck a hand while I do something like pet somebody else or lay down some pellets on their treat block. If she sees that I have pellets to eat she'll eat from my hands with the others, but pauses to glance up at me in between bites. Whereas everyone else just chows down.

It's very hard to do the normal things I do with the chickens if she is looking for a fight. (Tedi wants to stand and lean against a leg, or have my one hand a little under her, while being pet with the other; so then Diane comes over to bite any exposed hand. What do I do?) I sometimes pet Diane too as she passes by, I'm trying to normalize being touched, but she appears to not like it and takes it as an aggressive move by me.

Sometimes when I have to get something done and she wants to get all up in my business and bite me I pick her up and hold her with one hand against my side while I move about, either her head facing backwards or forwards. She might be quiet for a bit, or not, all growly and keening, but if quiet soon she complains and I let her down.

If I carry a stick around with me she generally keeps clear once she sees it, but sometimes charges to peck as I walk away unless it is behind me right in her line of sight. She wants to silently run at my legs and boots when I am moving away from her.

She is getting good at grabbing skin and twisting, if she catches me unawares. I had so many bites on my hands a couple of weeks ago before I realized how ramped up she's become that DH noticed. I also got a couple of marks on my forearm, and these were bites through exercise shirts plus a sweatshirt.

When I pick her up she is strangely compliant, though she might be growling. But if a hand is available in front of her she will likely try to peck it while held. She won't or can't bite very well unless her feet are on something solid. So I have held her on my lap for a minute or two, her feet off but her keel resting on my hand or leg. Only once last Fall did she relax enough to take even a one-eyed nap.

A hen on my lap brings Tedi around gently bokking, asking to get on too, because she loves lap time. Annie likes it too, but is asking less these days. Having another hen there and loving it, all happy, doesn't change anything for Diane though. She's usually just as upset or fearful or high-strung no matter who is with her.

Hazel will let her forage next to her. She will rest near Hazel. Tedi and Annie don't let her forage next to them for very long. Rest and preening times she's with anybody. But she's not that polite with Hazel either. Last week when Hazel was bathing, Diane decided to get up on the edge of the dustbath pool and step in - but decided to step right on to Hazel's back. Hazel was not impressed!

 

[rural mouse]

You do have a special circumstance having an oncologist (especially if he has associate referrals you could see should he not be available) so plan around his region. There are property choices for residences w/poultry allowances & researching locations now will give you peace of mind. You might decide a move is easier now rather than later. Just some thoughts since we went thru similar dilemmas planning our retirement options.

Health issues are never fun but inevitable. Our birds have all been raised around my quad canes & gardening tools for many years & now I'm getting them accustomed to my outdoor rollator. Because of chicken poops I have one rollator for outdoors & a cleaner one for use indoors & travel.
View attachment 4079925
View attachment 4079926

Our lives for the last 15 yrs have been planned around our chickens & our health issues. We've been so glad our ordinance allows only 5 hens/no roos or we could easily have gone nuts w/chicken math overload. Chickens are so wonderful it's easy to get overrun w/them. As it is we are one hen over allowance w/ 6 hens rather than the allowed 5 (but Silkies only count as 1/2 a chicken, right?)
View attachment 4079932

That means....you have room for 3 more silkies: 2.5 plus 1.5 = 4 plus 1 Dom = 5 chickens.

 

[featherhead007]

You can resist as long as you like. You can call them feather dusters until the end of time. It will not change the fact that silkies are one of the friendliest, in your lap snuggle buddy breeds of chickens. They are clowns.

I'm telling you right now if you let yourself give one a chance you will be hooked. Nothing will ever replace Jaffar, or my Branch. Look at Barbosa now. He came here at 5 months old, not frequently handled and very untrusting and skeptical of me.

Look what happened the other day....
View attachment 4079930
He willingly jumped into my lap and buried his head, started purring and went to sleep.

I have done nothing special to cause this. I simply did what I always do, I gave him time. The first week I was very much hands off. I then worked on him eating out of my hand. He then started shadowing me, developed a love for shoelaces. I let him come to me on his own terms and when he gave me the opportunity I massaged his crop. Imagine if I had hand raised him myself from day 1.

You have stated it countless times. "all roos need love too." Let yourself love a silkie roo.

Star Trek has a name for that species: “Tribbles” loving and sweet until they breed rapidly and eat up all your food supply!
I do love those little creatures (Silkies) but they are not chickens.
Barbosa for example;Is that the way a normal chicken would act? I don’t think so.
It’s quite possible that Silkies are those gremlins that taunt airplanes and wing controls. Even Naval Aviation has stated that Gremlins are a problem with their aircraft.

 

[featherhead007]

Windy day today.

Yep, GREMLINS! So cute

 

[featherhead007]

I love that you care so much! She is definitely misunderstood by me; if there is a way to deal with her I don't know it. I'm afraid I have not unlocked the secret with this one. I'd say with the onset of regular laying she is pretty intense now. She is very high-strung, or something. Is there such as thing as a calming pill for a hen?

She is not squatting for me but when she gets a gleam in her eye, all growly, looking for a fight, I have taken to pressing down on her, hand on her back until she sits on the litter, and gently but firmly holding her there for 10 seconds or so. Hazel will sometimes come over and give her a couple of pecks. I release her and that seems to break it temporarily and she walks away. But she will come back again aggressively, sooner rather than later. I don't know if this is reinforcing a sense that she has to dominate me, as if I am a competing roo?

I have also tried ignoring her, or moving into her a little with my elbow or body so that she is not in a position to peck a hand while I do something like pet somebody else or lay down some pellets on their treat block. If she sees that I have pellets to eat she'll eat from my hands with the others, but pauses to glance up at me in between bites. Whereas everyone else just chows down.

It's very hard to do the normal things I do with the chickens if she is looking for a fight. (Tedi wants to stand and lean against a leg, or have my one hand a little under her, while being pet with the other; so then Diane comes over to bite any exposed hand. What do I do?) I sometimes pet Diane too as she passes by, I'm trying to normalize being touched, but she appears to not like it and takes it as an aggressive move by me.

Sometimes when I have to get something done and she wants to get all up in my business and bite me I pick her up and hold her with one hand against my side while I move about, either her head facing backwards or forwards. She might be quiet for a bit, or not, all growly and keening, but if quiet soon she complains and I let her down.

If I carry a stick around with me she generally keeps clear once she sees it, but sometimes charges to peck as I walk away unless it is behind me right in her line of sight. She wants to silently run at my legs and boots when I am moving away from her.

She is getting good at grabbing skin and twisting, if she catches me unawares. I had so many bites on my hands a couple of weeks ago before I realized how ramped up she's become that DH noticed. I also got a couple of marks on my forearm, and these were bites through exercise shirts plus a sweatshirt.

When I pick her up she is strangely compliant, though she might be growling. But if a hand is available in front of her she will likely try to peck it while held. She won't or can't bite very well unless her feet are on something solid. So I have held her on my lap for a minute or two, her feet off but her keel resting on my hand or leg. Only once last Fall did she relax enough to take even a one-eyed nap.

A hen on my lap brings Tedi around gently bokking, asking to get on too, because she loves lap time. Annie likes it too, but is asking less these days. Having another hen there and loving it, all happy, doesn't change anything for Diane though. She's usually just as upset or fearful or high-strung no matter who is with her.

Hazel will let her forage next to her. She will rest near Hazel. Tedi and Annie don't let her forage next to them for very long. Rest and preening times she's with anybody. But she's not that polite with Hazel either. Last week when Hazel was bathing, Diane decided to get up on the edge of the dustbath pool and step in - but decided to step right on to Hazel's back. Hazel was not impressed!

I never took you as being a roo! (Just saying)

 

[Sylvester017]

Hush you! No enabling! I already almost caved last evening when I stopped in at one of the local feed stores, they had the chicks to order from Freys at the cashier. Seems they have already had chicks brought in! Silly me opened my mouth and said ‘if you ever get any more of those Azur no one wants let me know’ - bad Kelly!

March isn't done yet & the feed store was sold out of chicks 2 weeks ago ~ unprecedented. Once they sell out they don't reorder. Even the bantam Silkies are gone! If they can get more from the Belt hatchery they might order more but usually the temps get unbearable by mid-April here so they don't like to keep chicks then. We'll watch & see since more people are getting into backyard chickens for the eggs.

Our nearest feed store

 

[featherhead007]

You do have a special circumstance having an oncologist (especially if he has associate referrals you could see should he not be available) so plan around his region. There are property choices for residences w/poultry allowances & researching locations now will give you peace of mind. You might decide a move is easier now rather than later. Just some thoughts since we went thru similar dilemmas planning our retirement options.

Health issues are never fun but inevitable. Our birds have all been raised around my quad canes & gardening tools for many years & now I'm getting them accustomed to my outdoor rollator. Because of chicken poops I have one rollator for outdoors & a cleaner one for use indoors & travel.
View attachment 4079925
View attachment 4079926

Our lives for the last 15 yrs have been planned around our chickens & our health issues. We've been so glad our ordinance allows only 5 hens/no roos or we could easily have gone nuts w/chicken math overload. Chickens are so wonderful it's easy to get overrun w/them. As it is we are one hen over allowance w/ 6 hens rather than the allowed 5 (but Silkies only count as 1/2 a chicken, right?)
View attachment 4079932

There is no such limit on how many Silkies you can have. Fact is, because they are not real chickens, it is likely getting more of them shouldn’t be stressful.

 

[featherhead007]

Eek! They're on their way! The babies are coming, the babies are coming! I'm torn between excitement and worry. They hatched sooner and shipped faster than expected and I'm hoping they aren't going to try to deliver to the door instead of the post office. The last steps are preparing for delivery, out for delivery, and delivered. And I'm worried about them sitting in the post office through Sunday too. Prayers for their safe arrival would be much appreciated, I'm so nervous that I'm checking the tracker every five minutes!

Just relax and prepare for the awesome spectacle of new chicklets. I will send out the stork to guide the mail to the right place.