Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

@Labsandchickens8 ~ this is an old youtube I've posted before but I always enjoyed watching these Wellie beauties:

 

[featherhead007]

I have given the new birds some steak, chopped up into little beak sized morsels. They probably never had steak before. They were hesitant at first, but then…. Wow, ravenous wolves!!

 

[RoyalChick]

Well the hormonal idiot phase has started!
Mr. Chips jumped a passing hen this afternoon.
He picked the only hen laying at the moment, and the only hen who wouldn't beat the crap out of him.
Yup, had to be his Mom, Tassels.
She seemed fine with it the hussy!
Shocker.
My cockerel/rooster support group please stand by to provide reassurance as the next few weeks unfold. I have more ideas of places to jump up on and under so will continue adding.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

On this fine Monday, Hawk and Raven are having a dust bath under the trailer. Consider this an early Twofer.
View attachment 4256705

Thats POW-worthy. I would say calendar-worthy, it really is great! But I think the rules are you have to always have the whole body in the frame?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Question: I've seen pictures of chicken yards with some ropes crisscrossing open areas, I guess so hawks can't swoop down. Not actual arial netting. Do those work? Currently trying to create an open area for my poor confined birdies.

Depends on your aerial predators, and your tolerance for loss. All hawks are pretty smart and can evade any barriers that leave space for them to fit through. Woodland hawks actually are totally suited to flying in between things like string & branches. @BY Bob has video (I think) of a Cooper’s hawk hopping down through a tall bush going after finches. As one who lost a hen to a Red Tail hawk that flew around the edges of a piece of aviary netting set above like a rain tarp and trapped the hen against fencing, I recommend aviary netting secured on all sides.

Well the hormonal idiot phase has started!
Mr. Chips jumped a passing hen this afternoon.
He picked the only hen laying at the moment, and the only hen who wouldn't beat the crap out of him.
Yup, had to be his Mom, Tassels.
She seemed fine with it the hussy!
Shocker.
My cockerel/rooster support group please stand by to provide reassurance as the next few weeks unfold. I have more ideas of places to jump up on and under so will continue adding.

Actually, Mr. Chips may stick with his most willing, non-combatant hen (his mom). He might get better at grabbing others if he’s really amped up, or he may learn his manners with them and respect their wishes. From what I’ve read it depends on how high his hormones drive him, and that is very individual to the roo. Meanwhile, his mom is doing the others a favor taking the heat off!

 

[SimpleJenn]

Well the hormonal idiot phase has started!
Mr. Chips jumped a passing hen this afternoon.
He picked the only hen laying at the moment, and the only hen who wouldn't beat the crap out of him.
Yup, had to be his Mom, Tassels.
She seemed fine with it the hussy!
Shocker.
My cockerel/rooster support group please stand by to provide reassurance as the next few weeks unfold. I have more ideas of places to jump up on and under so will continue adding.

Remember, he has to mess up to receive correction! If he doesn't jump on a girl who isn't happy with it, he'll never learn the difference between willing and unwilling. As sucky as it is to see, we can't really let human morality label a rooster as bad when he is acting appropriately for his species.
I'm saying this because Riddick had a two week period where he jumped the ladies and even though I never saw him get thumped, he started asking them instead of chasing. He still runs them around in the morning, but if he catches one he doesn't do anything, just lets them go and chases someone else. And he doesn't bother Buffy at all, he saw her and Marble thumping his brothers.

Tax

 

[Ponypoor]

Well the hormonal idiot phase has started!
Mr. Chips jumped a passing hen this afternoon.
He picked the only hen laying at the moment, and the only hen who wouldn't beat the crap out of him.
Yup, had to be his Mom, Tassels.
She seemed fine with it the hussy!
Shocker.
My cockerel/rooster support group please stand by to provide reassurance as the next few weeks unfold. I have more ideas of places to jump up on and under so will continue adding.

I really really wanted to put a chuckle emoji but I know you’re worried, if he’s going to learn the facts of life who better than his mama

 

[Ponypoor]

Petra really wishes I would get everyone to bed so she can also go sleepy-time

 

[bgmathteach]

View attachment 4256643View attachment 4256644

I agree with @rural mouse : the black ones with golden hackles are most likely Black Sex Links. They are usually Barred Rock hens mated to a Rhode Island Red roo (sometimes a New Hampshire Red roo). They tend to have the good temperament of BRs, and are, in my humble opinion, beautiful and sweet birds.

That said, one of the black bodied girls I think is far too light for BSL. The one. in the last picture looks more golden than copper (which is what the BSLs tend to look like in the hackles area - similar to BCM, but tend to have more coloring in the hackles - though it varies)

That said, it could also be different hatcheries pair a different breed with a BR for their own proprietary BSL, since it isn't a breed, more a description and hybrid, anything goes. There are many variations on the red sex link...so could be on the BSL.

Well the hormonal idiot phase has started!
Mr. Chips jumped a passing hen this afternoon.
He picked the only hen laying at the moment, and the only hen who wouldn't beat the crap out of him.
Yup, had to be his Mom, Tassels.
She seemed fine with it the hussy!

At some point, she won't be okay with it. But for now, he will almost always try first with his 'mom' - remember the boys' fondness for @Ponypoor 's hand, and @RebeccaBoyd 's boots? (or was it the other way around?). At some point, he will try others, and get roundly thumped...and learn his manners.

Depends on your aerial predators, and your tolerance for loss. All hawks are pretty smart and can evade any barriers that leave space for them to fit through. Woodland hawks actually are totally suited to flying in between things like string & branches. @BY Bob has video (I think) of a Cooper’s hawk hopping down through a tall bush going after finches. As one who lost a hen to a Red Tail hawk that flew around the edges of a piece of aviary netting set above like a rain tarp and trapped the hen against fencing, I recommend aviary netting secured on all sides.

Lots of hawks can and will fly through and around things. I had a Red Tailed Hawk recently dive-bomb a hen, missed, hen ran into thick underbrush, and hawk pursued on foot - right into the thick of it, until it saw me and took off. Coopers are notorious for flying in and through shrubby areas after prey. It really depends on how hungry/desperate they are, what they have learned from parents, and their past experience with success. (plus the type of bird/predator they are.)

My general advise is to make any run as predator proof as you possibly are able to - even if that means making slightly smaller spaces (that you can 'roof' with an actual roof or with netting or whatever), and connecting them. i.e. 2 12X8 foot pens, side by side, with doors to each other each end (so chickens can go 'round and round' instead of being trapped in one) instead of 1 24X 8, or 16X12 - if it means you can easily protect from above.

In my previous place, I had a 12x24 foot pen that I covered with chicken wire for arial predators - 7 feet tall, and that worked well. A bit of a pain in the butt getting it covered, but it was well worth it.

Good aviary netting would work, too - not sure the dimensions it comes in...going for too long of a stretch and you would need to put supports like @ChicoryBlue has done (tripods) in the centers.

 

[Ponypoor]

This is hilarious!

I am having chicken envy!