Windy hill chickens - first flock(s) of my own

[Perris]

sounds familiar

Have you read Shad's article on 'it's not an egg song, it's an escort call'? Well worth your time.

here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/

 

[kattabelly]

sounds familiar

Have you read Shad's article on 'it's not an egg song, it's an escort call'? Well worth your time.

here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-egg-song-it’s-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/

Yeah I have, thanks.

She does the "egg song" after laying but often won't if he's right outside. Before it's like the quiet clucking you sometimes hear if you open a nest box while one's in the middle of laying an egg, only a louder and more agitated version when she wants to go to the nest and lay.

 

[thistlewick]

I have hens that sing before they lay in right in front of the nests. I have hens that sing out wandering around, in this instance I think that's an escort request - Chuck does do this, sometimes. I have hens that sing after they lay, perhaps an escort request as well to go 'back out' to the flock? Perhaps, it never works, Chuck never ever comes for that.

This might be why he's got like 3-4 girls who like him out of my 16 layers.

I saw him trying to get with one of the new girls yesterday. He's trying to have game lol

Some hens don't sing at all and never have.

Chicken TV is the best animal documentary e v e r

 

[kattabelly]

I saw my cow friends on Thursday!

I used to live with these three and it was me who taught the calf that humans will comb your hair and scratch those hard-to-reach spots if you let them get close enough. I'd been past on the bus recently and thought it was them but couldn't work out why they'd be there - apparently they're on holiday as a tourist attraction

The people they belong to have been losing hens from their flock of Hylines now they're a few years old, and they're thinking of getting older breeds when they come to replace them which is good to hear. I happened to have one of the pullet's eggs in my pocket and showed it off, so might end up either giving them a few birds or hatching some chicks for them in future.

 

[kattabelly]

Now she's just showing off. One every day this week and then two double yolkers in two days.

 

[Perris]

Now she's just showing off. One every day this week and then two double yolkers in two days.
View attachment 4193436

enjoy it while it lasts!

 

[kattabelly]

And an even bigger egg again today. Hope she doesn't keep this up too much longer.

I had family visiting during the week, so didn't get to spend much time with the chickens while I was off playing tour guide, and they didn't get to spend much time out because of the weather. Trying to make up for that now. It's interesting watching the younger group at the moment - they've tended to mostly stick with the other birds their own age from the same hatch, but that's become much more fluid now there's less of a difference in size or maturity. (10 and 13 weeks old now iirc.) Today I think they split off into different groups every time they settled down for a rest or got up to carry on chickening again. The Norfolk Grey and one of the Sussex pullets are already starting to sound less like they want to be geese when they grow up as well.

Had a female hen harrier and a cattie face owl hunting overhead and in the surrounding fields this afternoon but even the smallest chicks are too big to be easy prey now, and the older cockerels are good about warning everyone to take cover when they get close. I did shut them all away early tonight though, after a cat appeared and started stalking along the wall just up from the chicken plot.

 

[Shadrach]

Clearly the pullet is reading this thread and knows I want identical eggs for the show next week, so today she laid this (next to yesterday's which has been her normal size so far).
View attachment 4187244

Big lesser black-backed gull on the hunt overhead most of this morning - I saw it carry off a huge dead rat that I'd left out as a message to the others - but the two oldest cockerels were really good about alerting everyone. All but the rock pullet and B knew to run for cover and it didn't take much encouragement from me for them to join the others.

Spent a good hour handling all the Shetlands and Rocks, and the big boys were in a sociable mood too.
View attachment 4187255
View attachment 4187256
View attachment 4187262
View attachment 4187263

Would the Gull attempt a chicken?

 

[Shadrach]

Keep forgetting to mention a behaviour I've noticed recently that cracks me up.

The pullet wants to lay an egg. If she and the boys are right by their run, she'll go herself but if they're further away she wants to be escorted back to the run (but left alone inside the coop to do her thing, thankyouverymuch). She makes this known by doing an increasingly agitated version of the "laying an egg" cluck and pacing about if one of them doesn't go with her straight away.

Black and white is trying his best to be a good cockerel - he always inspects the nest box when I put fresh hay in it and does the screechy nest approval growl, but he doesn't quite understand what's so special about that nest box. If they're foraging in the empty run or another bit of the plot, he usually wants to stay there and finds what he thinks is a good place nearby for the pullet to lay her egg. Last time he just about managed to cram himself into the pet carrier I used to use for the chicks. He'll do the nest noise, she goes to check it out, they have what looks a lot like a minor argument about whether or not it's a perfectly good place to lay an egg and why can't she just go here?! She eventually decides he's an idiot and stomps off to her preferred nest with him following behind.

Reads as perfectly normal to me.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Keep forgetting to mention a behaviour I've noticed recently that cracks me up.

The pullet wants to lay an egg. If she and the boys are right by their run, she'll go herself but if they're further away she wants to be escorted back to the run (but left alone inside the coop to do her thing, thankyouverymuch). She makes this known by doing an increasingly agitated version of the "laying an egg" cluck and pacing about if one of them doesn't go with her straight away.

Black and white is trying his best to be a good cockerel - he always inspects the nest box when I put fresh hay in it and does the screechy nest approval growl, but he doesn't quite understand what's so special about that nest box. If they're foraging in the empty run or another bit of the plot, he usually wants to stay there and finds what he thinks is a good place nearby for the pullet to lay her egg. Last time he just about managed to cram himself into the pet carrier I used to use for the chicks. He'll do the nest noise, she goes to check it out, they have what looks a lot like a minor argument about whether or not it's a perfectly good place to lay an egg and why can't she just go here?! She eventually decides he's an idiot and stomps off to her preferred nest with him following behind.

It’s HGTV’s “House Hunters” for chickens!