MJ's little flock

[BY Bob]

Purple tooshi

The good news is Peggy twice inspected her favourite roving nibble spot and both times decided, "No! Purple is yukky! I refuse to eat it! No, please remove it from my sight. Plus it smells funny."

So I'll spray Ivy morning and night for a week then see how we go.

View attachment 2008883

Poor baby. It does kind of blend in with her coloring though.

 

[BY Bob]

This is a gratuitous Peggy shot to even the score.

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She looks so demure. It's hard to believe she's a feather pecker.

 

[BY Bob]

Funny pullet moment: tail to tail hole digging and getting nowhere because they're filling in each others' holes!

"Why is my hole so shallow?"

"My hole is shallow too. I'm digging hard as I can!"

"Wait a minute... Stop digging! [checks hole] Ok, all clear, dig on."

...

"What the heck is going on here? This hole be magic."

"sshhh... zzzzzz"

 

[BY Bob]

Day 2 report

The hens are much less concerned. Janet has taken several close looks at the pullets without pecking at the wire. Mary raises the alarm once every two hours for five minutes. Sandy gives the whole pullet question a very wide berth.

Blossom no longer takes an interest.

My system for herding pullets between little coop and henhouse is working really well. So is the cetrigen. I've sprayed it on Ivy's tail twice and it appears to be deterring Peggy. Ivy is quite easy to catch and pick up for spraying. Plus I get to give her a little kiss on her neck

The pullets have continued eating and drinking lots. They used the new roost last night, so that's good, I'm glad they like it. It gave them height but they've still got headroom and it's easy to hop up there.

At this moment, they're in the little coop after a full day in the henhouse. Peggy is eating some seventeen grain mix and Ivy is preening. Both appear releaxed and contented.

It is very clever how you found a way to enrich their environment by providing them access to the henhouse. Once the feather pecking is resolved you will have this working well.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Purple tooshi

The good news is Peggy twice inspected her favourite roving nibble spot and both times decided, "No! Purple is yukky! I refuse to eat it! No, please remove it from my sight. Plus it smells funny."

So I'll spray Ivy morning and night for a week then see how we go.

View attachment 2008883

Awe she looks mortified at her purple bottom!!!

 

[Shadrach]

Good afternoon Cafe.
The sun is shining. Nice big patches of blue sky showing. The storms have moved into Southern France.
Got a vehicle route open to the bottom of the land here. Two guys with Bobcats and a few of us with chain saws got the worst of the damage cleared during the night and this morning.
Still need to do the track from the bottom of the land to the house. It will have to wait for a few days. It's just one big wet sandy mud slide and whatever you take from the bottom just gets replaced by stuff sliding down from the top. I'll get a footpath cut in later this afternoon and that will have to do for a bit.

 

[MaryJanet]

Poor baby. It does kind of blend in with her coloring though.

That's kind, but it's not a pretty look. I'm pleased that it's antiseptic, insect repelling, and it camouflages the things Peggy's predisposed to peck at.

While I'd prefer Peggy had never had to adapt to her prior environment in this way, she's only a young pullet and it's not her fault. Also, I'm learning important lessons in how to care for bleeding feather shafts and it's a valuable opportunity to observe a chicken un-learning a bad habit and beginning to flourish.

 

[MaryJanet]

She looks so demure. It's hard to believe she's a feather pecker.

She can't help herself, it's like a reflex. But she is not impressed by the cetrigen.

If she adapts to overcome her dislike of the cetrigen, I'll have to separate them.

 

[MaryJanet]

It is very clever how you found a way to enrich their environment by providing them access to the henhouse. Once the feather pecking is resolved you will have this working well.

I hope so.

If you have any further ideas to support Peggy in her lessons, please share them with me.

I'll be home all day today, so I may put the hens in their house and give the pullets some supervised yard time.

 

[MaryJanet]

Awe she looks mortified at her purple bottom!!!

She does! She's a dear little pullet, very sassy and sweet too.