Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

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

Belt Hatchery is the place where all my chicks came from (over the years) every feed store here gets their chicks from Belt. Good quality birds I might add.

 

[featherhead007]

Belt Hatchery is the place where all my chicks came from (over the years) every feed store here gets their chicks from Belt. Good quality birds I might add.

They are in Fresno, just an hour and half away from me.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

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.

Well, Barbosa is not the first to act this way.

The very first rooster to snuggle in and take naps. Who showed me that chickens could purr and was so spoiled that he waited for me every night to lift him to the roost was Drummie.

By both yours and Queen Aurora's standards, he was a REAL chicken.

The 2nd to do so was Branch

Branch took it to a whole new level though. He had house privilege's. He napped on my bed and watched tv with me. Investigation Discover was his favorite channel. He watched those shows with me. If I muted the tv he would stir and tell me off until I unmuted it. Then he would settle right back down. He was not a gremlin, he was the "Monkey Man".

The 3rd cockerel, almost a rooster is none other then George.

Queen Aurora would argue he is not a real chicken. He very much disagrees with that statement.

Barbosa is the 4th such little man. He cannot be called a "Monkey Man" as that honor and title will forever be Branch's alone. You just gave him his new title. Barbosa is a Gremlin and he will wear that badge of honor with pride.

It will not be much longer and this little dude will be the 5th to join the ranks of "I'm snuggling in and taking a nap." Davy loves his crop massaged and very much likes to sit right next to me. It is just a matter of time and he will be joining his brother in my lap.

I guess his new title shall be a "Tribble".

 

[Sylvester017]

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

& I might add....more than 1 Silkie in a flock...there should be 2 to 3 (or more if there is space) so they can toodle together in their own tribe away from older or bigger breeds.

Our youngest trio are their own little tribe

 

[featherhead007]

& I might add....more than 1 Silkie in a flock...there should be 2 to 3 (or more if there is space) so they can toodle together in their own tribe away from older or bigger breeds.

Our youngest trio are their own little tribe
View attachment 4079973
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Good pictures of the little fluff balls.

 

[Sylvester017]

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!

This experienced BYCer believes they have a working solution for aggressive chicken behavior & even feather picking. We had to re-home an aggressive 7-1/2 lb hen who kept attacking our 2-1/2 lb Silkie. We tried all ideas to stop the bullying but nothing worked. We didn't know about the calming effects of CBD at the time before re-homing . Maybe it would've worked before re-homing a hen who was good w/ people but not w/ our other chickens.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...lly-found-a-cure-for-feather-picking.1651769/

 

[ValerieJ]

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!

I'm so excited for you!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

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

Yeah, we've done that math for fun many times in our head

 

[ValerieJ]

Yeah, we've done that math for fun many times in our head

That is some serious chicken math.

 

[Sylvester017]

Belt Hatchery is the place where all my chicks came from (over the years) every feed store here gets their chicks from Belt. Good quality birds I might add.

San Dimas Grain has ordered from Belt every year we've gone there. Wes's Pets & Feed order their birds using Privett from New Mexico.

The problem w/ San Dimas Grain Silkies is that they never ordered variety colors of Silkie chicks ~ only White every year ~ Belt offers Black Silkies but San Dimas never orders black ~

?

So, we had to locate private Silkie breeders w/ other colors w/ the added benefit of DNA sexed chicks. No matter where we got our Silkies, they've all been great.

Our Ginny was an aggressive Silkie chick but her sister Suzu knew how to evade her. Ginny hangs out w/ alpha Dominique Dana so we suspect Ginny will assume flock alpha status once old Dana is gone.

Ginny

Ginny w/ alpha Dana

Ginny w/sister Suzu 2021