Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Well this is unexpected.
Roosting this evening started out going to plan.
Mr. Chips roosted on a roost around the corner from the main one - he has tried that every night for days now.
Tassels hopped up and sat next to him and 'had a few words' so he flew down and went into the cardboard box.

Geronimo tried (and failed) to get up to the rafters and settled for a very high up roost opposite the main roost.
Tassels flew up and sat next to her for a few minutes and Geronimo flew down and went into the cardboard box with Mr. Chips and Bucky who was already in there.

Poor Cookie was pacing back and forth outside peeping. The issue was at least in part that Calypso was standing guard at the door. Tassels drove Calypso away from the door and after some hesitation Cookie went up the blue stairs and ran into the cardboard box.

Tassels then went into the cardboard box with her 4 Littles as usual.
So I went outside to lock everything up and much to my surprise found this.

Wait, what?!
Yup, that is 5 big chickens on the main roost. Tassels has taken up her prime position on the main roost leaving her littles in the cardboard box!
I was totally not expecting that - I thought eventually she would roost with them, but instead she tucks them up in bed and goes to sleep in her own bed.
I can't say I blame her as it was getting very crowded in the cardboard box!
They are 10 weeks and a day old.

 

[Sylvester017]

Day Late Mugs Monday, the miracle bird

Isabel's /Lizbel's eyes & face are striking in the difference between right and left, I realized a few weeks ago each side is different. She has much less or almost no blood flow to her right side at times. It sometimes looks better, here it is in-between, though you can see how grey her eyelid is, but sometimes she looks very ashen, she's usually closing her eyes at those times. It's changeable, when she's hepped up it flushes some but never as well as left left side. Her comb is always getting good blood flow I think.

Right side
View attachment 4232518
View attachment 4232520

Left side
View attachment 4232519
View attachment 4232521

So many differences between hens drives us crazy. W/me I wonder why one chick of the same breed grew smaller than the others, or why one hen has long toenails but the others don't, why a healthy hen suddenly keels over dead, why another one lives a long time, etc etc. Wonder/worry ever ends but it's all part of the chickens DH & I chose to have as pets .

 

[Sylvester017]

Well this is unexpected.
Roosting this evening started out going to plan.
Mr. Chips roosted on a roost around the corner from the main one - he has tried that every night for days now.
Tassels hopped up and sat next to him and 'had a few words' so he flew down and went into the cardboard box.

Geronimo tried (and failed) to get up to the rafters and settled for a very high up roost opposite the main roost.
Tassels flew up and sat next to her for a few minutes and Geronimo flew down and went into the cardboard box with Mr. Chips and Bucky who was already in there.

Poor Cookie was pacing back and forth outside peeping. The issue was at least in part that Calypso was standing guard at the door. Tassels drove Calypso away from the door and after some hesitation Cookie went up the blue stairs and ran into the cardboard box.

Tassels then went into the cardboard box with her 4 Littles as usual.
So I went outside to lock everything up and much to my surprise found this.
View attachment 4232794

Wait, what?!
Yup, that is 5 big chickens on the main roost. Tassels has taken up her prime position on the main roost leaving her littles in the cardboard box!
I was totally not expecting that - I thought eventually she would roost with them, but instead she tucks them up in bed and goes to sleep in her own bed.
I can't say I blame her as it was getting very crowded in the cardboard box!
They are 10 weeks and a day old.

Tassels is an amazing hen in spite of the past broody grief she put you thru. I think she's a one-of-a-kind keeper

 

[bgmathteach]

2 fers

View attachment 42323782 preening cockerels (Hawthorne and Jax), thank you Tundra for joining them.

View attachment 42323792 pullets (Matilda and Koonj) with a moulting Primula (she and Belladonna are going at it hard)

View attachment 42323802 babies, Jax and Tundra, with Nellie (they're getting big aren't they)

View attachment 4232382@ChicoryBlue for you, 2 play "things"

I think you need to practice your counting skills - all had 3 things in it except for the last!

 

[bgmathteach]

I have never seen any evidence that she can’t see to jump up on things - actually she is like Geronimo and tends to go up on stuff.

Anyway she was huddled in that corner to the right of the people door.

It may well have been that she waited until it was getting dark, and then, due to the darkness, couldn't see well to go in in the 'non-usual' way (I have found that once it gets to a certain level of darkness, if their usual routine is disrupted, they are a 'mess' and basically fret and don't think.

Kind of like when I hold out treats on the wrong side of the fence - they DO know how to get around it, but are so focused on the good treat right in front of them - they can't 'unfixate' enough to think and go around. That kind of behavior if it is too dark and their usual 'routine' is disrupted.

Edit: I see that Calypso was the culprit!!!

 

[bgmathteach]

Sorry for the insanely long post! The basic is this first sentence: I didn’t see what happened yesterday after the early morning because I was gone all day, but today Hazel decided she was taking herself totally out of the picture and stayed in the coop all day. Weather may have played a role, windy, rainy, cold at 43F (6C), but I think she’d had enough.

After four hours since the pop door opened and she was alive by camera and still hadn’t emerged, I checked on her in person. She seemed okay. I collected a couple eggs under her (from yesterday), which she stood up for me to get but didn’t leave the box. I then brought feed and water, and she left the box and ate a little bit and drank a lot. She walked a bit around in the coop, fluffed up her feathers, and went back to the nest box. I left the food and water dish under the opaque window in the coop with her. DH and I went for a walk, but before I left I put Tedi and two pullets in the attached little run thinking it could help reset their relationship with Hazel. That was a mistake. I thought in case Hazel wanted to go out she would be with a BO, and Tedi is very easy-going with the pullets.

When I came back Tedi was pacing to get out of there, one pullet had managed to get out past the tarps, and the other was also anxious to join her broodmates, doing circles around the bucket to keep away from Tedi who was just pacing.Let them out, then closed the big run doors to the aviary so no one would come out (they were all in there) and bother Hazel while I checked her. She seemed very content in the nestbox, as if all was going to plan. Her feed was completely gone, water tipped over with foot mud and litter in it and prints from her reluctant companions everywhere.

Brought more feed and fresh water, and she ate several bites and drank a little. Walked around a bit, looked out the open back with me there, and let me change out the roostbars which were really dirty - during which usually she would want to leave - and poop scoop the poop tray. She paid very close attention to what she could hear of the goings-on outside. Then she pooped, and went back to the nestbox. None of these times did she even peek out the pop door or go out on to the veranda. I checked her legs and head, belly and back, no signs of injury.

I kept the access to that little run open to the aviary and did some chores everywhere and observed up to roosting time. Because the weather is nasty - rain, blowing, 43F, everybody else was more or less in the big run and several were usually up on the perches. I put one of the pullet feeders at the far end and moved one of their waterers near it, so the Buckeyes had their end more or less. I set out “treats” of the pellet feed all over on things, hand fed everybody too, and everyone had some.

Everybody was getting along pretty famously, some pushing by BO’s, but also perching quite close together too. Shehnai was hanging out peacefully, patrolling in and out between perching or mostly just standing nearby. He never went over to Hazel’s coop or seemed to seek her out. Out of sight, out of mind?

So I decided that I’ll finish the run extension before working further on the roof and just get some new tarps, and concentrate on more interior space first. Try to arrange the coops and their runs up to the big inside space so that I can sequester reasonable areas. The way Hazel behaved today I’m tempted to have her in a no touch situation for awhile, with no-see places for her to feel safe. I can’t have her living in the coop for weeks, can I? I suppose I could, as if she were broody?

DH is suggesting I rehome Shehnai to solve all this. But it seems way early to give up now. DH has some deep fears because he encountered aggressive attacking hens in the way past, so roosters are like that times ten in his mind I think.

Shehnai is not letting the pullets eat first, he digs right in when I offer him feed treats first, but when a pullet comes next to him and starts eating too, after a few seconds he walks away, partly because a BO might be approaching, but maybe because he’s letting her eat?

No attempts at mating with anybody or any tidbitting that I saw today. A couple of days ago he did lift a leaf up a few times for one of the BO’s before running away.

He is leading the pullets to roost in their coop each night.

Deep breaths. I think @rural mouse is correct. Wouldn't it be grand if Hazel 'raised' chicks - and I would hope it would raise her status if she was thought of as their mom. It would also give her companionship (in an odd way) if she does stay in the coop - and though she isn't 'fighting' for herself, she still has quite a bit of knowledge she can pass on to littles - I truly believe chicks are smarter and grow more quickly when with a 'momma' that encourages and teaches them the way of the chicken...and also knowledge about good and bad things to eat in the environment.

 

[bgmathteach]

Well this is unexpected.
Roosting this evening started out going to plan.
Mr. Chips roosted on a roost around the corner from the main one - he has tried that every night for days now.
Tassels hopped up and sat next to him and 'had a few words' so he flew down and went into the cardboard box.

Geronimo tried (and failed) to get up to the rafters and settled for a very high up roost opposite the main roost.
Tassels flew up and sat next to her for a few minutes and Geronimo flew down and went into the cardboard box with Mr. Chips and Bucky who was already in there.

Poor Cookie was pacing back and forth outside peeping. The issue was at least in part that Calypso was standing guard at the door. Tassels drove Calypso away from the door and after some hesitation Cookie went up the blue stairs and ran into the cardboard box.

Tassels then went into the cardboard box with her 4 Littles as usual.
So I went outside to lock everything up and much to my surprise found this.
View attachment 4232794

Wait, what?!
Yup, that is 5 big chickens on the main roost. Tassels has taken up her prime position on the main roost leaving her littles in the cardboard box!
I was totally not expecting that - I thought eventually she would roost with them, but instead she tucks them up in bed and goes to sleep in her own bed.
I can't say I blame her as it was getting very crowded in the cardboard box!
They are 10 weeks and a day old.

Good momma - making sure the littles are tucked in (even if they aren't so little anymore!)

See, past time you removed the cardboard box!!!

 

[Ponypoor]

My two very tappit Shetlands are the same, the wheaten one especially. I often find her milling around on her own during the day - sometimes she'll be watching the others through the fence but it seems like either she can't remember how to get to where they are or the possibility hasn't even occurred to her. She's not done it at night yet, thankfully.

One of the Hylines has started plucking at her crest but she doesn't seem to mind and frankly I'm happy for that to continue if it saves me having to cut it.

Oh don’t go down that road - it can lead to bad things….

Mr P has been bald for the better part of almost 2 yrs, and it’s a few of the hens picking at his pin feathers - they bleed like crazy! Him being white-ish the blood shows up like a call sign for ‘free food’! And then everyone is wanting to pick at him.

This is the main reason he is stuck in the Summer House with his harem. That and he fights with Mr LC.

But now his topknot is growing back finally! And I aim to keep it that way!

 

[BY Bob]

Learning is Occurring

Joy roosted on her own tonight!

 

[Ponypoor]

I changed my mind. It's Saturday.

Chitch? What is chitch?