Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Sylvester017]

Good morning @Marie2020 & have a beautiful day w/Nancy Rose. I'm heading to bed ! Nite nite

 

[bgmathteach]

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'm so sorry to hear that you aren't making progress with Diane. I know you don't need her to be a lap chicken, but she sounds like she is really unhappy, and it would be nice for both you and the other chickens if she was less riled up all the time. (and her, too!.) I don't have any other suggestions regarding getting her to settle down and not attack....maybe @RebeccaBoyd or @BY Bob has some ideas? Maybe you could ask @Shadrach ??

I don't know if this would work for Diane Ida-biter, but someone did a post about CBD oil (regarding feather picking - but maybe it would help here, too?).I think @ValerieJ already linked to it. I know it is legal in Mass, not sure about NY. But, honestly, I got nothing else.


P.S. most humans who are like that are either in constant pain, or low self esteem. I guess it really could be her personality - but it is just so odd.

 

[RoyalChick]

Windy day today.

Great video. Love the zoomies!
Same weather here. Cold and very windy. I didn’t get video but poor Piglet was almost blown off her feet racing to get back to the shelter of the Chicken Palace, and broody fluffy Tassels had all her feathers blown in the wrong direction during her daily outing off the nest.

 

[RoyalChick]

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!

Make sure to call your post office so they know they are coming.
Or camp out on the doorstep!

 

[RoyalChick]

Different bird species recognize each other's speech ~ our chickens recognize the Sparrow alerts when there's a hawk or a creeping cat , or recognize Sparrow happy chitters when all is well, & ignore a Crow's caw at the top of the telephone pole cuz he's just talking to his fellow Crows in the sky, etc. When the wild green parrots fly overhead constantly cawing w/o stop our hens don't even look up anymore. But....they will suspiciously eye any silent floating party balloon till it disappears from sight!

Yes. Mine understand other birds. They relax when they hear the crows except when the crows are worked up about a hawk. Same with the smaller birds.
Clever my chickens. I only speak two languages: English and American.

 

[RoyalChick]

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.

Oh this is a genius idea. Alex needs to get a Silkie roo. Brilliant!

 

[RoyalChick]

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!

Wow. I hadn’t realized what a hard core case she had become. I have had biters but definitely not that obsessed with attacking me.
The only time I have felt really in danger was when the normally mild-mannered Calypso went broody and was terrifying to take off the nest for her daily feed and poop. I word those long leather gauntlets to handle her because she drew blood. But only when broody and I was messing with her.
I really hope you two can find a way to live around each other. Maybe she will mellow with age?

 

[Ponypoor]

Great video. Love the zoomies!
Same weather here. Cold and very windy. I didn’t get video but poor Piglet was almost blown off her feet racing to get back to the shelter of the Chicken Palace, and broody fluffy Tassels had all her feathers blown in the wrong direction during her daily outing off the nest.

Awwww! Poor pookies! The silkies didn’t even bother to go out, they get easily blown over. They did go out on Mount Poopmore and hang out on the south side out of the wind.

It’s still only March so we can’t expect 25C weather yet! But we are closer to summer than winter

 

[RoyalChick]

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/

She is not only one of the most experienced, she is also full of good sense.
On her recommendation I would give it a try.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm so sorry to hear that you aren't making progress with Diane. I know you don't need her to be a lap chicken, but she sounds like she is really unhappy, and it would be nice for both you and the other chickens if she was less riled up all the time. (and her, too!.) I don't have any other suggestions regarding getting her to settle down and not attack....maybe @RebeccaBoyd or @BY Bob has some ideas? Maybe you could ask @Shadrach ??

I don't know if this would work for Diane Ida-biter, but someone did a post about CBD oil (regarding feather picking - but maybe it would help here, too?).I think @ValerieJ already linked to it. I know it is legal in Mass, not sure about NY. But, honestly, I got nothing else.


P.S. most humans who are like that are either in constant pain, or low self esteem. I guess it really could be her personality - but it is just so odd.

I think legal in NY judging from the number of stores I saw walking a couple of miles in Manhattan last week.
Definitely worth a try and as I posted just now Azygous who created the post is very experienced and sensible and I would trust her recommendations.