Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[featherhead007]

Cooper's hawks are common in our community. The Spring fledglings come around watching but w/ no flight space in our yard & brambly thorny Citrus & Pomegranate trees in the yard the hawks can't reasonably fly into or out of those particular trees. Lemon, Grapefruit, & Pomegranate trees look innocent but are densely leafed & have numerous nasty sharp thorns down every branch & budding twig ~ not conducive for perching or flying thru ~ a large bird like a Cooper's has never entered or perched on these trees in our small yard. However the hawks love the less dense leafed trees like Eucalyptus, Maple, or Magnolia trees in other yards or along highway landscapes.

When harvesting fruit or pruning our thorny trees they have torn up our hands & arms even w/thick long leather gloves. The base of all these trees are encircled with rabbit fencing to keep the hens from getting close to the trees yet they will hide behind the shady trees against the block wall apparently feeling safe to do so.
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The only time we've seen a Cooper's hawk on the ground is on the street clutching a sparrow in one claw while tearing off pieces w/ its beak only after catching the sparrow in mid-flight first.

My lemon tree has those hidden thorny branches that really hurt when I get stuck by them.

 

[Sylvester017]

Were’s Georgie?!

She isn’t on the ledge or her favourite perch the spool…
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Oh there she is - sheesh now how did she get up there?! She is snuggled with Clyde.
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Best get her down and check to see where the rest of the munchkins are.

Good night everyone I am off to do chores.

Alike breeds in our flocks usually gravitated toward each other. & at roost time Silkies notoriously dog pile together. It's a Silkie thing.

When there was only a couple Silkies in the flock they seemed to toodle around w/ each other most of the day.

 

[Sylvester017]

My lemon tree has those hidden thorny branches that really hurt when I get stuck by them.

Running your forehead into a thorny branch sucks too. It's a good thing I wear glasses when gardening! There is so much fruit on Citrus trees that it's worth growing them. My DIL freezes squeezed lemon juice in lidded ice cube trays to make lemonade throughout the year. I squeeze a fresh lemon on my salads rather than using processed salad dressings.

 

[Sylvester017]

I had some and put it in a bowl tonight for the chooks

It amazes us how much oyster shell one laying hen consumes. We have 3 full bowls set around the 3 feeding stations. We have 4 laying Silkies & they really go to town on oyster shell right now cuz we have organic all-flock feed rather than layer feed which 2 other birds don't need layer feed. Keeping the oyster shell on the side means only the laying hens need to consume it.

 

[Marie2020]

I posted this elsewhere today and meant to post it here, I'm all sad and distracted.

Just found dear, dear Popcorn dead in the nest box.

It looks like she died suddenly, sitting on the fake eggs and one real one, which may or may not be hers. Stroked out? No sudden poop anywhere, her comb looked good, just kicked some hemp away and curled her head down and was lying on her side, eyes closed.

I feel thankful it seems that it was quick. She really wanted out of the run to forage when we went by to go on our walk this morning, but she was all talkative and seemingly her usual self.

She was a favorite, so personable, friendly and smart, very responsive to me showing and telling her things, and digging the garden with me in the spring, for instance.

I am unsure whether to try to get a necropsy. What are you opinions? There's a history of respiratory illness with her sister Hazel mostly, but Popcorn had some symptoms too, but never got treated. They both have displayed slightly bubbly eyes at times since then, Hazel more than Popcorn. Then there was whatever Annie had which was the same with different symptoms, or something else (bad conjunctivitis- practically bleeding eyes, sneezing) that the other Spuds also had - just sneezing - but to much lesser degrees. Annie survived but only with antibiotics. Is it a good idea to see if Popcorn succumbed to one of these diseases? Information that would be helpful going forward?

She's been lively, no indication of her unable to breathe well, she would run and dig like crazy, no napping, good self-care preening, but she had loose poop for two weeks or more. Very active, wanting only to forage in the last few days, not sitting in the nest box as if she were half broody and not laying. I'm sure she was hungry as she didn't want to eat much feed at all. Her neck had started a molt, which had seemed halted. I still felt concerned for her loose stools, which I was checking visually - found a whole pumpkin seed there a couple of days ago, which was concerning. This morning on the poop tray her poop was wet as it's been, with small poop squiggles as it's been, normal urates, normal darkish color.

I had given her a sponge butt bath & blow-dry inside yesterday, followed by almost a whole salt-free sardine, which she loved. I thought, if "wild" protein is what she'll eat, then okay, and inside the house she didn't have to compete with the three piranha Spuds for a good share of it. Checked her keel, she seemed under-conditioned for her normal weight, but not super skinny at all. She really only wanted to eat protein & fats - foraged worms and skinks and frogs, and some small amounts of oats, walnuts, sunflower seeds and mealworms as treats. They did get a little cooked farro recently.

I'm sad, I miss her already. She was four years and three months old. Hazel looked at her a few times and poked her comb once after I brought her out, and Annie, they were friends, seemingly tried to rouse her, trying to move her head a bit with her beak.

I so sad reading this, that must been such a shock

It sounds as if she just went to sleep and passed. I hope you can find out what is was.

I've been using a little slippery elm on princess and my animals lately, a little detoxing doesn't hurt.

 

[Ponypoor]

Owls fly even better & so silently its spooky!

Lots of owls here, but they are not a likely predator for the chooks here as they are nocturnal hunters. Except for Snowy Owls which seem to appear here from the north country about every few years. They are daylight hunters. Very beautiful birds.

 

[Ponypoor]

It amazes us how much oyster shell one laying hen consumes. We have 3 full bowls set around the 3 feeding stations. We have 4 laying Silkies & they really go to town on oyster shell right now cuz we have organic all-flock feed rather than layer feed which 2 other birds don't need layer feed. Keeping the oyster shell on the side means only the laying hens need to consume it.

I have found here that it depends on how much actual grit they have access to, they will use the oyster shell as grit if non is handy. They feed I use has ‘limestone granite’ mixed with the feed so they are ingesting that as they are eating. That is then their source of grit and calcium.

 

[Ponypoor]

Cooper's hawks are common in our community. The Spring fledglings come around watching but w/ no flight space in our yard & brambly thorny Citrus & Pomegranate trees in the yard the hawks can't reasonably fly into or out of those particular trees. Lemon, Grapefruit, & Pomegranate trees look innocent but are densely leafed & have numerous nasty sharp thorns down every branch & budding twig ~ not conducive for perching or flying thru ~ a large bird like a Cooper's has never entered or perched on these trees in our small yard. However the hawks love the less dense leafed trees like Eucalyptus, Maple, or Magnolia trees in other yards or along highway landscapes.

When harvesting fruit or pruning our thorny trees they have torn up our hands & arms even w/thick long leather gloves. The base of all these trees are encircled with rabbit fencing to keep the hens from getting close to the trees yet they will hide behind the shady trees against the block wall apparently feeling safe to do so.
View attachment 3965452
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View attachment 3965460
View attachment 3965461

The only time we've seen a Cooper's hawk on the ground is on the street clutching a sparrow in one claw while tearing off pieces w/ its beak only after catching the sparrow in mid-flight first.

Your garden is chicken heaven, a lovely place for them

 

[RoyalChick]

I have found here that it depends on how much actual grit they have access to, they will use the oyster shell as grit if non is handy. They feed I use has ‘limestone granite’ mixed with the feed so they are ingesting that as they are eating. That is then their source of grit and calcium.

Huh?
I thought they served very different functions.
- Limestone, oyster shell, egg shells all dissolve in the digestive system to provide calcium.
- Granite stays for some time in the gizzard and acts instead of teeth to grind up food.
Is limestone granite a mix of limestone and granite? They are very different rocks!
Yours also go outside so they may pick up granite for themselves.

 

[Ponypoor]

How often Mr P has been pecked it's a wonder infection never set in poor baby. Separation from the offenders sounds smart.

It’s a feather that gets broken - they bleed like a son of a gun. Once I find the broken feather and haul it out it stops bleeding. Then clean up the blood as much as one can and spray on blue-kote or Alu-spray (both are an antiseptic spray And drying agent). The key to preventing infection is to keep any wound site dry and clean.

Naughty girls, they are so bad!