Ribh's D'Coopage

[Ribh]

Oh okay, gotcha!

It so funny.. cuz you can really hear it in the way yall write too
When I am with the gals.. I have a lot to say!
The coop is not far from my moms house and she could hear me the other day.. later she goes “who were you talking to?” I say “the chickens!” She says “you have got to be kidding!?” ... she was certain that I was talking with someone ... as much as I was carrying on.... I’m a bit cooky

Well, normally I'm very chatty around the chooks. I tell them they're beautiful. The Man thinks I'm mad but they talk back ~ even the newbies. The OGs talk to me constantly ~ even when I'm in the house. They congregate @ the end of the pen nearest the house & tell me all about it! And I always speak when I'm entering the coop, especially if it's darkish, to let them know it's me & no need for panic stations!

 

[WhoDatChick]

Well, normally I'm very chatty around the chooks. I tell them they're beautiful. The Man thinks I'm mad but they talk back ~ even the newbies. The OGs talk to me constantly ~ even when I'm in the house. They congregate @ the end of the pen nearest the house & tell me all about it! And I always speak when I'm entering the coop, especially if it's darkish, to let them know it's me & no need for panic stations!

They DO talk back... or first! Now I know what they mean when they call women a bunch of cackling hens .... I actually called all the ladies in our homeschool co-op that today

 

[Kris5902]

Me too! But not just to my girls, also to let the guys know it’s me, otherwise they start crowing and sometime will carry on all night. “Alert! Alert! Strange noise”... mostly it’s the girls that talk back though, and I’m always careful to make sure the boys don’t think I’m trying to court them away. Chicken politics are always interesting.

 

[Ribh]

Me too! But not just to my girls, also to let the guys know it’s me, otherwise they start crowing and sometime will carry on all night. “Alert! Alert! Strange noise”... mostly it’s the girls that talk back though, and I’m always careful to make sure the boys don’t think I’m trying to court them away. Chicken politics are always interesting.

I still have some readjusting to do. My cats are male. I understand cat politics. I bring the food. They bring the loving ~ & if necessary, the protection. All my chickens are female. I'm not sure how this works...

 

[MaryJanet]

All good. Lottie is holding her own or I'd be really concerned. How is Sandy doing?

She and Janet shared the run today. Janet chased her around and sat on her once, pecked at her but didn't get a hold of her. Then they spent a couple of hours just relaxing.

Then Sandy decided to see if she could jump up on top of the little coop, which is an escape route. She made it. Climbed all the way up and stood there like a weather vane. I'm going to have to clip her wings

Yesterday I tried Sandy and Mary together and that was not good at all. Mary chased her, flew at her with claws and wings out, sat on her and grabbed her comb and made Sandy squeal out loud then Sandy went into a safe corner and made crying noises

So the integration is going slowly, one chook at a time.

One of my mates has chooks and he says to put her bed on the perch with them after dark, then get up early to let them out before the fighting starts. Might give it a try if they need more encouragement over the weekend.

I love that video! How good is it when Lottie ducks under a cranky campine! Cool as a cucumber

 

[Ribh]

She and Janet shared the run today. Janet chased her around and sat on her once, pecked at her but didn't get a hold of her. Then they spent a couple of hours just relaxing.

Then Sandy decided to see if she could jump up on top of the little coop, which is an escape route. She made it. Climbed all the way up and stood there like a weather vane. I'm going to have to clip her wings

Yesterday I tried Sandy and Mary together and that was not good at all. Mary chased her, flew at her with claws and wings out, sat on her and grabbed her comb and made Sandy squeal out loud then Sandy went into a safe corner and made crying noises

So the integration is going slowly, one chook at a time.

One of my mates has chooks and he says to put her bed on the perch with them after dark, then get up early to let them out before the fighting starts. Might give it a try if they need more encouragement over the weekend.

I love that video! How good is it when Lottie ducks under a cranky campine! Cool as a cucumber

The roosting together is what I've been doing with lots of separation during the day, gradually spending more time together. They will roost without too much squabbling. For one thing they can't really see each other. For another they need each other's body heat. Still, 1 goodish, 1 not so good meeting isn't bad odds. They will get used to each other.

I made a video for WhoDat [no need to inflict everyone else with my Awesome Aussie Accent ] & just as I say Whose beautiful, then? Soda swings round & comes running. It's hysterical. You'd think she'd understood me.
Lottie is awesome. She's really good @ staying out of trouble.

Wing clipping doesn't always work. Some chooks can still manage something equating to flight.

 

[MaryJanet]

Haha brilliant!! Good work Soda and that's a heaps Aussie phrase too! You need the 'then' on the end for sure!

I'll give the roosting a try. It can only help

 

[Ribh]

Haha brilliant!! Good work Soda and that's a heaps Aussie phrase too! You need the 'then' on the end for sure!

I'll give the roosting a try. It can only help

lol Yeah, funny how you only notice little things like that when you do stuff for other people. Good luck with the roosting. Let us know how it goes.

 

[rjohns39]

Evening folks. How was your day?

 

[Kris5902]

With just introducing the one chicken into a group, a dog crate could be helpful. Sandy could be protected but there during the day, then when you put her up with Mary to roost after dark it should be smoother the next day. That’s what I did with Chickie Hawk and his new GF’s, and then repeated with the bottom bird in my cockerel pen. He had a really, really bad day... he was on my culling list anyway due to some genetic things I didn’t want to breed on, but I hadn’t found the time for it with all the Easter fussing going on. A day in the crate then back in after dark, and the next day they weren’t as bad to him. The day after that I culled him.

It’s not 100% but it helps, and you can rotate the birds in it Sandy first then catch Mary, let Sandy out and stick Mary in the crate for a while instead.