Ribh's D'Coopage

[BY Bob]

I'm not sure Bob. The 1st scream was from within the coop, so obviously not Ha'penny. I would have suspected one of the Campines, known screamers, only I was looking @ Tuppence the 2nd time & Ha'penny was outside the 1st time so it's either Lavender or Patricia & of the 2 I suspect Lavender. She's not an overly chatty girl usually, certainly not raucous, but she is quite aggressive @ times & that certainly seemed to be an aggression noise. And she was throwing her not inconsiderable weight around last night & pacing the roost, obviously agitated.

That was truly an upset scream. I wonder what it means?

 

[BY Bob]

It reminds me of two chicken noises I've heard before.

The first is the noise made by my neighbours hen when she's trying to crow like a rooster, but that involves standing up and, well, trying to crow with lungs full and head back. I can hear her right now, "crowing" up the street.

The second was the squeal made by Sandy when Mary sat on her, grabbed her comb and twisted it. (Thankfully a one-of occurrence as far as I'm aware.) There were little black specks on Sandy's comb afterwards, which I was told were dried blood specks.

Do any of your hens have dark specks on their comb?

Not normally but they are popping up now that everyone is tussling. Aurora has one right now. I need to check everyone after Lilly's fit last night.

 

[BY Bob]

I tried to grab a sunset photo through my myrtle tree which had pretty red leaves right now. I thought you might like.

 

[rjohns39]

I tried to grab a sunset photo through my myrtle tree which had pretty red leaves right now. I thought you might like.
View attachment 1955983

Very pretty

 

[rjohns39]

The sunset during our drive home and the moon after we got here.

 

[BY Bob]

The sunset during our drive home and the moon after we got here.View attachment 1956052 View attachment 1956055

They are beautiful!

 

[Shadrach]

This is where I wish I had a ton more experience. I can see what's going on. I'm dealing with the symptoms but the underlying cause baffles me.

I lost 2 birds in 2 weeks & the flock barely missed a beat. I lose 1 & chaos erupts. Part of the problem is I seem to have no lead hen ~ not really. It should be Hepzibah, but she hasn't cared for the position [she's always been a bit of a loner] & abdicated. She also looks like she's thinking about going broody now the warm weather's arrived. She really is a bit of a nut job but I'm particularly fond of her nuttiness. Soda is trying her best but she suffers from *youngest child syndrome* & doesn't really have the authority. She also has Suyin, Lavender & occasionally Patricia constantly trying to usurp her authority. The one hen, when she can be bothered, who is able to put my troublesome middle trio in their place is Luna ~ & mostly she can't be bothered. This is leaving my bottom 3 particularly vulnerable. It seems to be a squabble for 2nd in command but all 3 hens are fairly equal in size, ability & dominance ~ & none of them would be my choice because of that tendency to bully. Luna is bigger & heavier, so can assert her dominance without causing injury, but she is a super calm, easy~going bird who is able to happily go about her business without interference from anyone else ~ which she does, while the flock squabbles around her.

None of my present hens have the really strong personalities my Australorps had ~ but I don't want more Aussies either. They're lovely but they have dominance issues & as I really want more Campines, who don't...

It is frustrating as I want to add new birds next year so I want my flock calm & stable enough to deal with the stress new birds always bring.

Tribe 2 was a bit like that after their lead hen Blue Spot died. All the other tribe members at the time were her offspring. There were two roosters, neither one adapted to not having their mother as tribe focus.
The tribe members didn't fight but it wasn't cohesive or directed.
The three hens of the tribe have recently done a triple sit. One of the hens has had some neurological problems on top of her normal eccentricity.
She is the top hen. The tribe seems to accept this. I won't be able to tell how much netter settled the tribe is until the three mums stop caring for the chicks.

 

[Ribh]

Tribe 2 was a bit like that after their lead hen Blue Spot died. All the other tribe members at the time were her offspring. There were two roosters, neither one adapted to not having their mother as tribe focus.
The tribe members didn't fight but it wasn't cohesive or directed.
The three hens of the tribe have recently done a triple sit. One of the hens has had some neurological problems on top of her normal eccentricity.
She is the top hen. The tribe seems to accept this. I won't be able to tell how much netter settled the tribe is until the three mums stop caring for the chicks.

The hen I recently lost was a top order hen, but not the top hen. She was an Australorp bantam & incredibly feisty, quite able to keep bigger birds in their place. My remaining hens are all fairly placid, including my BRs, though they are my top 2 & my oldest girls. Losing the one hen seems to have triggered the feather picking. Hepzibah is starting to look like she's molting, she's lost so many feathers. I'm going to get some Genetian Violet from the chemist today; bluekote isn't available out here, as I can see skin & it's looking a bit raw. I've got coal tar cream on hand but that doesn't seem to be deterring them. It should. It stinks & must taste bad.

 

[Ribh]

Good evening folks

Jeannie, even though it's uncomfortable, it sounds like they may be working it out

I've been spoilt. After the initial fracas this has always been a lovely, placid little flock so all this fussing is particularly distressing.

 

[Ribh]

That was truly an upset scream. I wonder what it means?

I'm not sure ~ but what I did notice was after each time Lavender screamed my late night partiers scurried into the coop & began settling for the night. Maybe she was just letting them know their elders & betters wanted to get some sleep.