MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

Not as good a strategy!

She's doing her best but soon she'll have to admit defeat. She's only landed one strike in about 15 attempts since they all started mingling, and that one was because Peggy got herself trapped in a corner!

 

[MaryJanet]

I have just that situation now. Hattie is my coolest hen. She sits at number 2. She will stand watch over the flock as the sentinel hen, checking for predators, and she kept an eye on Maleficent and Aurora's interactions.

Lilly as alpha, focuses primarily on Hattie at roost time when Hattie took her spot and was vicious over roosting location.

To my observation, the battle between last and next to last is never ending. Even if the last place hen has conceded the position completely. When the flock is only 3 number 2 acts decidedly differently. It is one of the reasons I preferred the flock of 4. It is much calmer for all involved.

It will be interesting to see how Hattie's and Aurora's interactions change now with Maleficent no longer in the picture. Especially so now that they are forced to live in close quarters.

Especially with them adjusting to life without Mal. I wonder if they will become pushy sooner or later.

 

[MaryJanet]

I’ve got quite a few, which is probably why they keep getting away from me! I listen to some of Triple J’s podcasts; ‘Hack’, ‘The Hook-up’, ‘Dr Karl’ etc, others like ‘The Teacher’s Pet’, ‘The Lighthouse’ and some American ones such as ‘Serial’ and ‘Unraveled’. Oh, and ‘The Duclutter Hub’ and ‘Parental as Anything’. Just as well I’ve got lots of wire to put up!

there's so much choice nowadays! Something for everyone, I love it.

 

[MaryJanet]

When Bessie and Charlie were young pullets, they once sidled up to Lucy who was having a dirt-bath. When they got too close she stood up and took a couple of steps towards them. They took off and she returned to what she was doing!

I've seen similar in Peggy but not Ivy. She approaches to say hi or to assert herself a little, and Janet makes a menacing gesture with a couple of quick steps. Peggy scoots away!

I know introductions are very serious chicken business, there's so much information to convey to the new ones, but sometimes I can't help myself and the laughter comes bursting out

 

[Shadrach]

I went looking on YouTube once to see if there were any videos on different chicken vocalisations. I couldn’t find any. I’d be interested in hearing your recordings, Shad, and their explanations. Charlie still surprises me with new sounds; when she gets hot she honks like a goose!

There hasn't been a lot of research on chicken behaviour in general. Research has until fairly recently been concentrated around egg and meat production and genetics relating to physical features.
There is massive resistance to the very notion that chickens may be intelligent social creatures capable of what we understand as emotions, cognitive behaviour, similar, or even more complex than some mammals. The reasons for such resistance can be seen on this forum and on many others. One needs to look fairly closely at the cultural core values of the forum contributors to see why this is.
The purpose of me writng the book I have is to try and challenge the status quo, I've got ten years of fairly constant observations of free range chickens. There are two other people I'm in contact with who are also 'researching' free rage behaviour. We seem to agree on a lot of topics and have observed similar behaviour.
Given the average PhD student may spend a a few weeks covering one particular aspect that needs to be presentable for assessment as science, the lack of knowledge isn't surprising.

 

[MaryJanet]

Then again, what is natural nowadays? I'm not sure the suburb is a natural habitat for humans neither

At least it's a large backyard for the chickens. They run out of steam before they run out of space and there's lots to forage and the odd bug or two to be triumphant about.

 

[Shadrach]

She's doing her best but soon she'll have to admit defeat. She's only landed one strike in about 15 attempts since they all started mingling, and that one was because Peggy got herself trapped in a corner!

Are you sure she means to make contact? Fat Bird (Very senior and well respected hen) just needs to look at a pullet and the pullet quakes.

 

[MaryJanet]

Are you sure she means to make contact? Fat Bird (Very senior and well respected hen) just needs to look at a pullet and the pullet quakes.

Well, I'm doing a lot of inferring from the one time she had a hold of Peggy so, no, I'm not at all sure

I'm impressed that when a hen catches a pullet, really catches it, there's no thought of slaughter. If they caught a mouse it would be torn apart. But a pullet is allowed to walk away to reconstruct her dignity.

 

[MaryJanet]

There hasn't been a lot of research on chicken behaviour in general. Research has until fairly recently been concentrated around egg and meat production and genetics relating to physical features.
There is massive resistance to the very notion that chickens may be intelligent social creatures capable of what we understand as emotions, cognitive behaviour, similar, or even more complex than some mammals. The reasons for such resistance can be seen on this forum and on many others. One needs to look fairly closely at the cultural core values of the forum contributors to see why this is.
The purpose of me writng the book I have is to try and challenge the status quo, I've got ten years of fairly constant observations of free range chickens. There are two other people I'm in contact with who are also 'researching' free rage behaviour. We seem to agree on a lot of topics and have observed similar behaviour.
Given the average PhD student may spend a a few weeks covering one particular aspect that needs to be presentable for assessment as science, the lack of knowledge isn't surprising.

I'm looking forward to your book coming out!

 

[Shadrach]

Well, I'm doing a lot of inferring from the one time she had a hold of Peggy so, no, I'm not at all sure

I'm impressed that when a hen catches a pullet, really catches it, there's no thought of slaughter. If they caught a mouse it would be torn apart. But a pullet is allowed to walk away to reconstruct her dignity.

I've often thought that the Japanese designed their social structure around chickens. A lot of it is about maintaining face with chickens.