Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Pastel the Rooster]

Put locks on your cages/runs/coops/nestboxes ...it's a free-for-all if you don't. It's like putting your lunch in the work fridge only to find it missing later... or a bite taken out of your sandwich & thrown back half-eaten. People are worse than animals sometimes.

Tx ~Suzu sunbathing at the door with her leg up in the air ~ she moved it just as DH took pic
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My friend and I were on the phone about two hours ago and I mentioned that we should. I think that once we finish our coop that we are building, we will. We’ll probably have a few keys made, instead of doing a password lock. One for me, her, our best friend who helps take care of the chicks if we aren’t there, and our good ag teacher who has been helping us, not the bad one.

 

[BY Bob]

I suspect stress is the cause. She has been stressed with Shenai (sorry, I am sure I am spelling that wrong). It takes a little bit after the stress response for 'things' to build up to a symptomatic level once the immune system is weakened by stress.

I am assuming that @BY Bob and/or @RoyalChick can confirm or refute my suspicions??????

Mycoplasma outbreaks occur when chickens are under stress. That is well documented. Otherwise, it is not normally an issue. What creates the stress can be varied but avoiding an over amorous rooster seems pretty stressful to me.

 

[BY Bob]

I was cleaning the coops while the gang was trying to go to bed last night, sorry guys! I changed out the poop trays to the winter ones without screens, it got quite cold last night. I also put on their coop warmer, thinking the sudden change in cold was not great for them, it had been in the low 20's F (-6.6C) and went drastically and quickly to -2F (-19C) in a few hours. The size of the Pro coop made it just maintain slightly above that, no more than ten degrees, for them.

Anyway it was interesting to see Shehnai again checking out the nestboxes with the ladies watching him! He went into the middle one and started scratching around in there, then turned and sat down in it, facing out. The ladies watched this pretty closely. You can barely see him here...View attachment 4261478
So I tried to adjust my camera settings to put on a flash. He started coming out as I got it on, plus the ladies started pecking my phone...
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But he decided to remain on mission, turned and went back in. Everybody followed his lead, except now I think they figured this is where he's decided they should sleep, so they all sat down near him too.
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After that I saw by camera he went to his usual spot in front of the pop door to wait for closing, and everybody arranged themselves as they have been lately, in a row more or less. Last night with the extreme cold they formed themselves into a close bunch at the nestbox end.
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Fascinating.

 

[rural mouse]

Here goes!

July 2023
Dreaming of warmer weather - allmof
us here

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I'd forgotten what Mr P looks like without the pullet grooming salon effect!

That pic just struck me....I think I have him at least somewhat figured out!

That info about silver affecting red. That's why he had the blonde look. His silver is covering the red which is bleeding through as straw/lemon (the lemon color may have more than just the silver going on). He throws orange Creamsicle offspring. (Other factors lighten the red to the creamsicle). They got the red color and not the silver from him.

Now the white.....he throws a lot of blue chicks, so he's got splash (affects black), but he doesn't have enough "fingerprints" ....unless he's splash AND Dominate white? (If both can be on the same bird, empirical evidence strongly suggests this).

Strip off all his white and he's classic black breasted red, if heavily modified......


I think.....

 

[rural mouse]

Oh yes, I don’t know much but I’m so happy with him so far, he’s very reasonable. He’s not jumping on hens all day long, or giving constant warnings, so I don’t think he’s feeling too much stress of the hormones.

He may not be at Full Hormonal Idiocy yet? Will he get more alert, more on edge, paranoid? Maybe any idiocy will increase when the ladies do get going?

Diane seems to find me a threat at all times these days, whether she’s gladly eating out of my hand yet whining at me while eating, or whether I’m ignoring her while she pecks my muck boot ankles, makes no difference. Compared to her, he’s so normal!

I keep an eye on him to try to read if anything I’m doing or how I’m moving around his hens doing chores is not setting right with him, and usually I’m talking to them all. When I put my hands on the pullets to feel around and all their bellies at a health check a couple weeks ago, he came close and watched both hen and me. The pullets were a bit upset at first and then waited it out. He quickly seemed fine with it - after the first two he sort of lost interest though he stuck around. So far he’s very chill.

The new Buckeye ladies' redness comparisons:

Bea and Olive, they are twins very hard to tell apart. One in front isn't very red.
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The other twin, Olive or Bea, she's redder
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Same pose but the color came through redder
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Below, Peaches, who used to be Piccolo but Peaches kept coming to me when I talked to her. She's definitely red. Shehnai chose her today for his evening assignation. She objected but also formed a good position, his feet were firmly on her wing wrists, and she didn't keep objecting.
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Lizbel, right and left sides, which flush and do so differently from each other. Shehnai chose her earlier this afternoon. She's been a favorite since early on, possibly because she's so easy to catch off guard. Her neck feathers are a little beat as a result.
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If they're submitting to mating, then they're able to lay. Whether they CHOOSE to lay or not is up to them. His hormones will likely flare up big come feb-june (somewhere in that date range). Then settle down over the summer. Next fall's moult will see some major changes, but once he's done moulting, he should be pretty well settled into his basic personality and no longer The Idiot.

 

[rural mouse]

I went and hung the sweeter heater over the roosting ledges for Mr P and his harem, they are all crammed into the corner to get under it I see, it’s really cold for those old kiddies. And poor Holly is moulting - what a time to moult!

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Even the Noirans want to be under it, I had to put it on an angle across the corner to get as much as I could for them all.

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How high could it go and still affect them? Could some settle in to the nest boxes or on the floor underneath that corner and still enjoy some added warmth?

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I'd forgotten what Mr P looks like without the pullet grooming salon effect!

That pic just struck me....I think I have him at least somewhat figured out!

That info about silver affecting red. That's why he had the blonde look. His silver is covering the red which is bleeding through as straw/lemon (the lemon color may have more than just the silver going on). He throws orange Creamsicle offspring. (Other factors lighten the red to the creamsicle). They got the red color and not the silver from him.

Now the white.....he throws a lot of blue chicks, so he's got splash (affects black), but he doesn't have enough "fingerprints" ....unless he's splash AND Dominate white? (If both can be on the same bird, empirical evidence strongly suggests this).

Strip off all his white and he's classic black breasted red, if heavily modified......


I think.....

I actually followed this, thanks!

 

[ChicoryBlue]

If they're submitting to mating, then they're able to lay. Whether they CHOOSE to lay or not is up to them. His hormones will likely flare up big come feb-june (somewhere in that date range). Then settle down over the summer. Next fall's moult will see some major changes, but once he's done moulting, he should be pretty well settled into his basic personality and no longer The Idiot.

Well it didn’t sound like submission, but she quieted down when I looked up after they got into position, what does that mean? Nobody’s squatting for anyone…

 

[rural mouse]

I actually followed this, thanks!

I'm not entirely sure the idea is correct, but....the concept of Dom white vs silver actually clicked for me. Glad it makes sense to someone besides just me....

 

[ChicoryBlue]

Mycoplasma outbreaks occur when chickens are under stress. That is well documented. Otherwise, it is not normally an issue. What creates the stress can be varied but avoiding an over amorous rooster seems pretty stressful to me.

She isn’t having to run or avoid him, but they are in proximity to each other, sometimes can see each other, and she hears his warning calls and the pullets objecting when he jumps somebody. I think that’s enough to stress her.