Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ikslo]

Gorgeous!!! (both the girls and the eggs!)

Same girl, Ozzy, just an older pick and then a newer one. The newer one didn’t show her feet color. In case anyone was curious. The other girl laying speckled is Laverne, one of these (on the right in this pic)

 

[drstratton]

Darn it! Just lost a long post. Basically: now have eight layers, Wheaten Marans #2 Laverne’s is speckled, just like Ozzy’s, rather than dark brown. Their eggs look identical. Still gettin dark brown from Shirley. Two speckled in same day, different nests, and we saw who laid what. The egg shown is from Laverne, not Ozzy, though, because stinker Ozzy keeps laying behind a bench on concrete and today it cracked. So will need to remedy that.

View attachment 4223462View attachment 4223461View attachment 4223463

It's so frustrating when that happens.

Your girls are very pretty. My Welsummer girls laid Speckled eggs. I'm waiting to see if my new girls will also.

 

[Ponypoor]

That sounds about right! How much space do you have for them? (i.e. how many chickens can you comfortable house?)

If you can house a dozen or more, I would get 3 this coming spring...... and maybe 3 every other year? Unfortunately, you will lose some.... ?maybe 3 every other year is reasonable? Or maybe every 3rd year, meaning this year coming up is year 3.....????

I have lot of chickens, and do process some of my older girls...but I get a few chicks early every spring so they are laying when my older girls start to molt and stop. Plus, I always have a few broodies who hatch some for me, too (but those are straight run...any extra roos go to freezer camp)

I have to say, I have been bad about culling - last year I only did a few, so, unfortunately, I have a lot to do this year it is always a sad day. I will have 12-15 girls, plus a few young boys (but most of the boys are still very young, hatched only in July or early August, so those will be sent to freezer camp in the winter...late Dec or early Jan.). Between the few I lost when the pine fell, and the freezer camp candidates, it brings me down to 80-85ish, which is my 'winter carrying load' (what I am comfortable having when they really can't free range - due to snow and short dys - except on weekends. Yes, I do shovel a bit for them, but it isn't the same as when the groud is bare.

@BY Bob , @RoyalChick & all - no worries, I will be keeping my 'Crop Girl (she is 8.5 now), and 'Friend', who is 7.5....plus a number who are broodies. Really, they don't even come close to paying for their feed, never mind bedding, repairs, etc!!!! I don't know what I will do upon retirement - I really AM working to feed/house them atm!! I will be increasing my egg prices next month - that should help so maybe they will (over the course of the year) with the new price cover their feed (not for the winter months, though!). I tell my husband that they are cheaper than paying for therapy, but he doesn't really buy that!!

They are the best kind of therapy - and yes they are cheaper!

I thought I was bad with my lot, I am over 50 now with the babies.

Of those about 20 are real free loaders, more like lawn ornaments. And the rest are not heavy layers so I guess I am getting around 14 eggs a day. I have a bunch of broodies and a barn full of exploding feathers! And now winter coming on they won’t lay as much.

 

[Ikslo]

It's so frustrating when that happens.

Your girls are very pretty. My Welsummer girls laid Speckled eggs. I'm waiting to see if my new girls will also.

I have to admit, even though I love the speckled, I was rather hoping for two dark layers, once I saw Shirley’s! Now I’m just waiting on little Lacy the Barnevelder and my three Ameraucanas, which I know to expect those three may lay much later. Mrs.B, my other Barnie, is laying regular medium brown. Which has me wondering if Murder, the Barnie we lost, was laying brown and not speckled; the speckled could have been Ozzy all along based on where the eggs were found. It may have been Murder was just inspecting the nest after Ozzie laid and then we saw her leave the nest and wrongly attributed it to her? But there was a lull in eggs after. I guess we may never know for sure.

 

[Ponypoor]

It's so frustrating when that happens.

Your girls are very pretty. My Welsummer girls laid Speckled eggs. I'm waiting to see if my new girls will also.

I am really interested in seeing what sort of eggs the Noirans lay. Supposed to be very dark like pure Marans. Seeing as how they are only 7 weeks old it will be likely the new year before I see eggs from them!

They quiet lovely chickies, very sweet and curious. The silkies on the other hand are like savage wild beasts on the Serengeti! They are scratching digging catching all sorts of things. Running like mad through the tall grass and weeds - true little dinosaurs!

 

[drstratton]

I have to admit, even though I love the speckled, I was rather hoping for two dark layers, once I saw Shirley’s! Now I’m just waiting on little Lacy the Barnevelder and my three Ameraucanas, which I know to expect those three may lay much later. Mrs.B, my other Barnie, is laying regular medium brown. Which has me wondering if Murder, the Barnie we lost, was laying brown and not speckled; the speckled could have been Ozzy all along based on where the eggs were found. It may have been Murder was just inspecting the nest after Ozzie laid and then we saw her leave the nest and wrongly attributed it to her? But there was a lull in eggs after. I guess we may never know for sure.

I love a dark egg too! My Marans girls laid dark eggs, but none of them were as dark as I would have liked. They were good layers though.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Sorry for the long post but I do have pictures! Big deal here - Shehnai is officially in the Idiot phase.

Long story short, there's been ninja fighting and chasing here; Shehnai is going after Hazel, who is losing the fights now and is running.

I did not see this coming, that he would be randy before the pullets matured. I thought if any, they or the Buff Orps, would be the targets. But he fears the Orps. Hazel is not laying except for one or two eggs in the Spring so isn't particularly fertile either.

I think: he thinks he can dominate her and take her, and he's probably right, she is small and has never been a fighter and has always been socially timid. She became Queen by attrition and not by social climbing or dominant personality, she got her power through Queen Peanut. Now she rules by being the eldest, with certain looks and precision pecks and not much physical dominance.

I'm worried for her - she is 5 and is not in great health with her respiratory problems, I think her air sacs are scarred; heat waves hit her harder than others. She's breathing very heavily after these skirmishes. After a long run with Shehnai trying to get on her and grabbing her neck - she cannot outrun his long legs - she was breathing a honk with each breath, like whooping cough. I feel really sorry for her and am concerned.

She is getting some protection from the Buff Orpingtons. I saw Shehnai back down early on before I knew what was going on but I realize now it was only because the BO's showed up.

So Hazel spent time in the main run hiding from Shehnai. She did gather her BO troops by doing this long calling, and they answered her and assembled. They really huddled around her, Tedi next to her and Annie up on the ledge and Diane on the outer edge. They had a little preening party then.

Shehnai came into the run and when he got toward the back area, Diane walked toward him, "foraging", pushing him away. That's him by the cement block.

There's Diane, and that's him behind perch and the red top waterer, leaving. Hard to see.

The Nomads all sequestered themselves up by their coop twice that I saw.

With things temporarily calmed down I went about the work on the run expansion & roof for awhile, and then went to check on the Nomad Buckeye's feed up there. In that coop's run I fed Shehnai from my hand, then he skedaddled, because I had made a mistake (in hindsight) - I left the main run door to the aviary open, which is usually not a problem. So the Buff O's did their usual thing when they saw me up there and came up to see what's what. Hazel of course stayed back.

The BO's pushed the Littles off, who hung around outside the Little's coop run. Except for Shehnai, who apparently saw the opportunity to go after Hazel again now that the BO's were away from her. He must have walked directly down there, because very soon after he left there was squawking and shrieking and Hazel was running, and I ran back down to find her running around in the run and dodging, using every piece of furniture available, except she didn't go up to a perch as Shadrach mentioned in his article would be a good escape.

This was where I actually saw he had some neck feathers in his beak and was trying to jump up on her while they both ran along. She tore herself away in a dodge, I opened the human main run door to outside the complex again - I had opened it for her before when she was looking longingly for another place to escape - and she ran out. Shehnai stayed inside because he saw her through the wire and didn't think about going around, which I counted on. He tracked her moves up and down that alley but couldn't reach her. That's when she hid behind the coop to catch her breath and honked like she had whooping cough.

The BO's hanging closely with Hazel earlier out there in a peaceful moment

Hazel had a drop of blood where the beak meets skin after this long grabby run. I thought at first she had been breathing blood out but it's not from the nares. It didn't look bad, and it would have stressed her even more to have me handle her so I just hung out with her protectively.

At one point all the Nomads were in the aviary area up by their little coop but Shehnai was hanging close to the main run door out to there, looking to get at Hazel. Hazel wanted to go to the big coop because it was coming up on roosting time, which meant going by that door, but Shehnai's presence held her back. So Tedi moved to sit in the doorway. Annie was close there too, and then Diane took it upon herself to help again. She went out past Tedi and drove Shehnai back up to his coop. Here they are, Shehnai walking back up, Diane working up to a chase. Only the edge of Tedi is visible perched on the threshold.

Advice & comments please - just monitor? Or is this situation different? I feel her health is at risk, but I don't know. She recovered from the heavy breathing relatively fast and she isn't wheezing all the time.

But the Queen is not thumping the Idiot like I thought she would; she used to thump him easily but now she is afraid of him and he does not fear her. I'm worried whether she can physically handle incessant fighting and running, that she hasn't the stamina / breath. His behaviour has really changed from just days ago and that may be freaking her out too. She looked kind of panicked about it all.

Do these randy rooster sessions usually occur in the morning and then again late in the day, so she'll have a peaceful middle of the day?

He is not going for the Buff O's - he fears them instead. Will they step up more to help her? I am thinking I should somehow create additional areas she can hide in and they can defend her from? Better visual blocks. To the ramparts!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Darn it! Just lost a long post. Basically: now have eight layers, Wheaten Marans #2 Laverne’s is speckled, just like Ozzy’s, rather than dark brown. Their eggs look identical. Still gettin dark brown from Shirley. Two speckled in same day, different nests, and we saw who laid what. The egg shown is from Laverne, not Ozzy, though, because stinker Ozzy keeps laying behind a bench on concrete and today it cracked. So will need to remedy that.

View attachment 4223462View attachment 4223461View attachment 4223463

Wow that dark hen has some great blue tints in the light! What a pretty egg, too!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I have to admit, even though I love the speckled, I was rather hoping for two dark layers, once I saw Shirley’s! Now I’m just waiting on little Lacy the Barnevelder and my three Ameraucanas, which I know to expect those three may lay much later. Mrs.B, my other Barnie, is laying regular medium brown. Which has me wondering if Murder, the Barnie we lost, was laying brown and not speckled; the speckled could have been Ozzy all along based on where the eggs were found. It may have been Murder was just inspecting the nest after Ozzie laid and then we saw her leave the nest and wrongly attributed it to her? But there was a lull in eggs after. I guess we may never know for sure.

The loss of a flock member is traumatizing, and so egg laying can slow down for a bit while everyone recovers.

 

[rural mouse]

Sorry for the long post but I do have pictures! Big deal here - Shehnai is officially in the Idiot phase.

Long story short, there's been ninja fighting and chasing here; Shehnai is going after Hazel, who is losing the fights now and is running.

I did not see this coming, that he would be randy before the pullets matured. I thought if any, they or the Buff Orps, would be the targets. But he fears the Orps. Hazel is not laying except for one or two eggs in the Spring so isn't particularly fertile either.

I think: he thinks he can dominate her and take her, and he's probably right, she is small and has never been a fighter and has always been socially timid. She became Queen by attrition and not by social climbing or dominant personality, she got her power through Queen Peanut. Now she rules by being the eldest, with certain looks and precision pecks and not much physical dominance.

I'm worried for her - she is 5 and is not in great health with her respiratory problems, I think her air sacs are scarred; heat waves hit her harder than others. She's breathing very heavily after these skirmishes. After a long run with Shehnai trying to get on her and grabbing her neck - she cannot outrun his long legs - she was breathing a honk with each breath, like whooping cough. I feel really sorry for her and am concerned.

She is getting some protection from the Buff Orpingtons. I saw Shehnai back down early on before I knew what was going on but I realize now it was only because the BO's showed up.

So Hazel spent time in the main run hiding from Shehnai. She did gather her BO troops by doing this long calling, and they answered her and assembled. They really huddled around her, Tedi next to her and Annie up on the ledge and Diane on the outer edge. They had a little preening party then.
View attachment 4223398
View attachment 4223399
View attachment 4223400

Shehnai came into the run and when he got toward the back area, Diane walked toward him, "foraging", pushing him away. That's him by the cement block.
View attachment 4223412

There's Diane, and that's him behind perch and the red top waterer, leaving. Hard to see.
View attachment 4223413

The Nomads all sequestered themselves up by their coop twice that I saw.
View attachment 4223414

With things temporarily calmed down I went about the work on the run expansion & roof for awhile, and then went to check on the Nomad Buckeye's feed up there. In that coop's run I fed Shehnai from my hand, then he skedaddled, because I had made a mistake (in hindsight) - I left the main run door to the aviary open, which is usually not a problem. So the Buff O's did their usual thing when they saw me up there and came up to see what's what. Hazel of course stayed back.

The BO's pushed the Littles off, who hung around outside the Little's coop run. Except for Shehnai, who apparently saw the opportunity to go after Hazel again now that the BO's were away from her. He must have walked directly down there, because very soon after he left there was squawking and shrieking and Hazel was running, and I ran back down to find her running around in the run and dodging, using every piece of furniture available, except she didn't go up to a perch as Shadrach mentioned in his article would be a good escape.

This was where I actually saw he had some neck feathers in his beak and was trying to jump up on her while they both ran along. She tore herself away in a dodge, I opened the human main run door to outside the complex again - I had opened it for her before when she was looking longingly for another place to escape - and she ran out. Shehnai stayed inside because he saw her through the wire and didn't think about going around, which I counted on. He tracked her moves up and down that alley but couldn't reach her. That's when she hid behind the coop to catch her breath and honked like she had whooping cough.

The BO's hanging closely with Hazel earlier out there in a peaceful moment
View attachment 4223452

Hazel had a drop of blood where the beak meets skin after this long grabby run. I thought at first she had been breathing blood out but it's not from the nares. It didn't look bad, and it would have stressed her even more to have me handle her so I just hung out with her protectively.
View attachment 4223453View attachment 4223454

At one point all the Nomads were in the aviary area up by their little coop but Shehnai was hanging close to the main run door out to there, looking to get at Hazel. Hazel wanted to go to the big coop because it was coming up on roosting time, which meant going by that door, but Shehnai's presence held her back. So Tedi moved to sit in the doorway. Annie was close there too, and then Diane took it upon herself to help again. She went out past Tedi and drove Shehnai back up to his coop. Here they are, Shehnai walking back up, Diane working up to a chase. Only the edge of Tedi is visible perched on the threshold.
View attachment 4223455

Advice & comments please - just monitor? Or is this situation different? I feel her health is at risk, but I don't know. She recovered from the heavy breathing relatively fast and she isn't wheezing all the time.

But the Queen is not thumping the Idiot like I thought she would; she used to thump him easily but now she is afraid of him and he does not fear her. I'm worried whether she can physically handle incessant fighting and running, that she hasn't the stamina / breath. His behaviour has really changed from just days ago and that may be freaking her out too. She looked kind of panicked about it all.

Do these randy rooster sessions usually occur in the morning and then again late in the day, so she'll have a peaceful middle of the day?

He is not going for the Buff O's - he fears them instead. Will they step up more to help her? I am thinking I should somehow create additional areas she can hide in and they can defend her from? Better visual blocks. To the ramparts!

My experience: he may catch her and mount, but if she won't pop her tail up, he's kinda stuck. If she not using going up to escape, then she needs places where there isn't room ABOVE her for him to climb aboard. Stable footing is also important. If she's on narrow/rickety things, she can't make a solid platform for him. Even low step ups can be enough. My guys have NEVER (that I've seen) tried to mount a girl standing on any of the assorted boulders around here. Those are very solid and fairly level, but they still avoid for breeding purposes.

Now while he is in the IDIOT phase, he's going to have to find all that out the hard way. Experienced roos help kick the dumb out of the young idiots. The hens who aren't willing/able to thump the dingalings themselves, usually go running for one of the mature roos or scream and the roos come running.

Anything and everything you can do to eliminate corners so his chances of trapping her would be good. Places where he can't stand fully upright will also help. Some of this is him trying to get boss lady at his side. The are expected to follow her lead.