What the Actual Cluck? (A Journal)

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

I have hesitated starting a journal thread here. I'm not sure why, other than feeling like it would be another responsibility I'd be accountable for rather that a carefree space to ramble on about girls to an audience that may actually be interested.

Several times in recent weeks,I've logged on with a story to tell, pics/vids to share, or unimportant questions about minor scenarios and end up leaving because I can't decide on an appropriate place to post. Alternatively, I'll end up making someone else's post somehow about myself or my flock, and I don't want to be that person.

So here I am, starting a journal so I can post trivialities and whatnot about my crazy girls. I almost titled it "Sitcom Moms: A Drama in Real Life" because my girls are named after sitcom moms. But I figure that might not age well if chicken math gets me.

I've introduced my flock several times, and it's in my signature for easy reference, so I'll just give their names now. I have my original hen, Lucy Riccardo and 5 pullets: Peggy Bundy, Edith Bunker, Kitty Foreman, Marion Cunningham, Morticia Addams.

Hopefully I can embed a tiktok post here (I couldn't get it to work last time, idk why not).

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7439715161495342382

It's just something to kickoff my first journal entry for fun.

 

[Debbie292d]

That's awesome. -- except the volume on my PC must've been on high as when I clicked that, oh my, the cat ran off.

Many of us have a thread here. The link to mine is in my signature. You could put a link to yours there, too.

 

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

Starting this journal last night must have been fate because tonight I have news to report.

First things first, let me introduce the players:

The world and my whole chicken empire revolve around Lucy Riccardo, my two-year-old Leghorn. We've been together since October of 2023, when she and Ethel Mertz took up housekeeping together. Sadly, we lost sweet Ethel to predation in April, leaving Lucy alone in the coop with only me for company (and she found me wanting). We spent a lot of time together, enjoying Lucy-lead safaris around the yard every afternoon, but her loneliness was palpable, so we started preparing for chicks.

Lucy (L) and Ethel:
b

We expanded our two-hen run to accomodate an additional 6 birds, leaving a chicken wire wall between the old and new sections and adding an additional coop to the new section of run. Now that we had two full setups for "separate but seeing," we ordered chicks to hatch the week of July 8th, with the exception of one who failed to thrive, the chicks turned out to their setup at 8 weeks old and stayed apart from Lucy for almost 4 weeks. Integration went well. Chicks learned quickly that Lucy was in charge, and didn't openly show a pecking order among themselves.

At 15 weeks they had a a consistent schedule and achieved access to the yard, under my watch. The only trouble has been Lucy refusing to let them roost at night; she makes them sleep in the nesting boxes. After about two weeks I gave up waiting for Lucy to bond and let her move to a coop alone.

Fast forward to today: the chicks are 19 weeks and 6 days old. Edith Bunker, a Silver Laced Wyandotte, who was soft-spoken until a few days ago has been cackling a non-stop manalogue for a week. Marion
Cunningham,


a Colombian Wyandotte, has been re-arranging nesting boxes for days. Peggy Bundy, a Barred Plymouth Rock, who doesn't care to be touched but likes to dominate me by perching on me at will has added pecking to her routine. All three have been squatting for up to a week, especially Edith. I've been watching for brown eggs to turn up along with Lucy's white eggs.

Here's a demonstration of Peggy's recent behavior as of yesterday:

I get a Kick out of Marion in the background.

As for the other two, there's Morticia (Tisha) Addams,

a sweet and skittish Black Australorp at the bottom of the pecking order, and Kitty Foreman... Perhaps I should say RED Foreman. I have suspected Kitty, a Buff Minorca, of being a cockrell for weeks, but I've made up my mind of that in the past two days. All that's missing is to hear him crow.

This afternoon, when I let everyone out to play in the yard, my search for a brown egg was satisfied. One of the girls, I suspect Edith, blessed me with a fairy egg.


Next to Lucy's egg.


Edith

If you are still with me, thank you for your patience. I only have one more story to tell this very early morning, so you know a little more about Kitty, aka Red.

I was piddling in the chicken yard this afternoon when I thought I saw something, out of the corner of my eye, fly above the tall pine trees that border the yard on two sides. The the branches from opposite sides almost meet over the entire yard. At the same time, Kitty made a brief but lond call I'd never heard before and the girls took off! Lucy bolted for the run, Edith found cover behind pallets leaned against a tree. Tisha, Marion, and Peggy bolted together toward the back of a coop and froze where I compost a worm farm for the chickens and there's no cover other than the branches above the coop.

Meanwhile, "Kitty" stood her ground, neck stretched and head cocked with an eye to the sky where I had caught a glimpse of something. Then she cocked her head the other way to look at the sky behind me. I looked up and saw a crow coming on fast in the direction of the bogey I had not quite seen. another crow followed, coasting over the gap in the branches.
Kitty made a soft clucking sound and strutted toward an area with more cover. The girls behind the coop quickly followed.

I'm certain that I witnessed RED Foreman alerting the sitcom mams of a hawk overhead and two crows escorting the hawk out of the area. Unless that brave chicken lays an egg, my mind is made up that she's a he. There's been other Roo behavior leading to the same conclusion, namely the close attention paid, with outstretched neck, any time one of the girls squats near me, I pet someone or move them to the roost. He's very aware of where I am in relation to the others at all times and is always monitoring the sky.

Even if he IS a roo, he's going to stay here. But he can't stay if hes going to be aggressive toward me or my husband. I suppose I should probably be trying to win him over beyond giving treats as a group. He might need some 1-on-1 attention and treats. I want him to protect the girls, but not from me and he's already giving me side-eye.

Here's Red:


Any advice about teaching or showing him I'm trust worthy would be greatly appreciated. How do you keep your roosters from being aggressive, especially toward YOU???

That's all for now. Thanks again for seeing this long post through. I'll be back goon.

 

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

That's awesome. -- except the volume on my PC must've been on high as when I clicked that, oh my, the cat ran off.

Many of us have a thread here. The link to mine is in my signature. You could put a link to yours there, too.

Apologies to the cat! Sorry!!!!

 

[Callender Girl]

I enjoyed learning about your sitcom "moms," even if one is really a brave and protective dad!

I am, however, the last person to be able to tell you how to make a rooster like you. I have one good rooster and one total jerk, who despite me trying every suggestion on BYC, will never be a nice guy. He was bullied as a chick by another cockerel, so I feel as if I have to endure the result of my bad parenting. I eventually rehomed the aggressor, but clearly not soon enough.

Hurray on cute little fairy egg! How thoughtful of your girl to give you a great reason to post

 

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

Buckle Up! I'm Starting With Bullets!​

Honestly, it's so I don't forget (a) what I need to search before I start journaling or (b) what I actually came to journal about. Just trying to outsmart my own ADHD brain.
​

• Mice
• Weird Eggshells
• Coop Insulation
• Surveillance
• Worms
• Layer Identification
• Nesting Boxes and Deep Litter
• Peggy the Pecker
• Not Molting
• Winter Lighting Threshold
• Pics and Vids (of Course)

(That looks like a lot... BRB, but if you want to take some guesses, feel free to reply. )
​

MICE.... ick!​

Yesterday, in the middle of a cattle pasture, I was going to pick up a stray mineral feeder. It was upside down, so I kicked the crap out of it before I lifted the edge at the side away from me, trying to give any critter or snake a way to get away from me a clear path AWAY from me. I raised it a few inches and felt confident there wasn't a coon or possum, snake or cat in it so I went to pick it up and half a dozen field mice fled while an equal number froze. Little guys looked so scared! Broke my heart. I returned the tub as gently as I could, in the exact right position, then grabbed the ziplock bag of cheese and chips I'd been snacking on from my side by side and crumbled some on the ground. I tossed out a few range cubes too, trying to make amends to the cute little field nice out in a FIELD, far from anyone's house, car, boat, shed, coop, etc., like nature intended. I even felt bad about the fright I caused while driving home. Poor meeces.

Later in the day, about an hour before dark, I went to my chicken coop with some left over cornbread (real cornbread, not that sugary carn cake everyone eats these days) as a treat for my girls. a small piece, like a slice of pie. I let the girls out of the run and into the chicken yard to scratch and peck at the crumbles while I started sealing up their food for the night and gathering eggs.

We had a good bit of rain awhile back that pointed to the fact that mice had been in the run. I had put pallets and old plywood down in the run because it was enough rain to stand water here and there. When I took the pallets and plywood out, I found trails and a nest, which I destroyed. Since then, I had seen a mouse hole outside the run that I plugged with a pine cone. I've looked around for droppings and haven't seen any significant evidence of mice or rats. I assumed the chickens were keeping the mice population down, especially if I was destroying their nests and tunnels.

Yesterday, after closing the feeder ports on the bucket feeder that hangs in the center of the run and raising it to about chest high, I sealed the flock block up in another bucket with a tight lid. We had a light rain most of the day, so I started moving some of the girls climbing blocks out of the wind and rain and discovered more tiny roadways leading to the coop I'm currently not letting the girls roost in. After I locked the girls in for the night I turned on my superbright flashlight and went to the other coop. The bright beam of light exposed a bit more high traffic areas outside of the coop and a tiny grey mouse came out of a corner to sit in the open to watch me open the door. Then he dashed inside to see what I was up to. The flashlight lit the inside of the coop and didn't scare a single mouse. Not because there weren't any mice to scare, but because those little effers didn't give a shit.

Mice in the empty nesting boxes casually milled about while a couple stroled down the ramp. Two mice were each sitting on top of the little bitty roosting trainers my girls outgrew at 5-6 weeks old. They looked at me and switched places. Eventually one went and hid behind the one he'd been sitting on. My initial count of mice who weren't afraid to be seen by me was eight... all at once. a couple even came OUT from under a mineral feeder we sometimes use as a dust bath to see what was happening. The mouse hole dug under it was wide enough that I could see 3 or 4 whiskered noses peeking out... that put the count over ten. I am SURE there are more under the feeder, but I'm saving that discovery for daylight.

The audacity of not even running from me! At least the mice in the field showed some respect. I was so mad when I left the chicken yard!!! I'll be putting out good snap traps in the morning. Then I have to fill in all their gaps and trails and whatever else they've got going on. Then I'll get to cleaning out the run. I know the food is secure, but I've always given them scratch in the run in the mornings, and they aren't crazy about the last kind I brought home, so there's quite a bit of grain left on the ground. I suppose I'll be raking and scraping out the dirt floor to "clean" it.

I don't know what to do long term, though. Not let them out of the run? I doubt I'll be doing that. A new feeder isn't in the budget at the moment. I guess I'll see what it looks like in the sunlight. I'm open to suggestions if you've got 'em.


I'll keep working on the bullets in new posts. There's one more coming this morning.



​

 

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

Weird Eggshells, Layer Identification(?) & Peggy the Pecker... All-in-one.​

It was 2 weeks ago yesterday that I got my first egg from one of my babies. I can now confirm that the egg was Edith's and she lays one every morning between 8:30 and 10:00 am. But, get this... every single one has been a fairy egg!​

​

I feel so guilty cracking 6 eggs to make a 3-egg dinner!

Will she grow out of it? Is there something wrong? Is there anything I can do to help her? The eggs are beautiful and delicious, but soooo tinyyyy.

Speaking of odd eggs... Fourteen days after Edith started, Peggy weighed in. when I say weighed in, I mean WEIGHED in!!!

This is Peggy's 1st, next to Edith's 14th, and Lucy's 397th (oops... I lost track. I'll have to check. It might be 399th.)​

​

How's that for a big 1st egg? It's huge! It's not egg shaped, and it has some issues, but she didn't know what she was doing. It looks like she welded 1/4 of one egg to half of another egg, but she forgot to use a pointy end. Then dropped it and had to spackle over a crack, so she put a little spackle all over it, then splashed some paint on it as a distraction.

See for yourself.​

​

It looks like it took two days and three trips to Home Depot! Poor thing.

Did I mention it's big? It won't sit in an egg cart on the right way. It's too tall. Can't Close the carton! I had to put it in like this and take up three spots...


Bless her pea-peckin' heart.

All joking aside... Is this shell telling me anything that I need to know to help her? With her diet or hydration, electrolytes, pro-biotics? The girls have eggshells given back to them and oyster shell. They also have access to both layer and grower feeds with herb blend from Scratch and Peck. They also get S&P fermented layer mash. Edith's eggs are smooth, but Lucy has occasional bumps or deposits on her shells lately. Advice would be appreciated.

Now, I'm giving Peggy credit for this egg, but Marion and Morticia are also of age. Neither of the other two are showing signs like Peggy has. Squatting, sass-talkin', bossing me around, etc.

And there's the behavior she hit me with Tuesday when I got home from a surgical diagnostic procedure at the hospital:​

I don't know why it didn't play here, but here's the link on youtube.
***EDIT***​

I was able to watch the YouTube video in the YouTube app, but not the browser. I made the YouTube version from the original tiktok because I know some here don't get down with the tikketytok. I try to be accommodating for nice folks like y'all. I tried to embed the tiktok when the YouTube screwed the pooch, but a technical error message prevented that as well. I don't know if this only happens to me, but it happens to me about half the time. I'll address it on the proper forum so y'all don't have to miss out on more of my world class content. ​

***End of Edit***​

Well, time to go to work. I hope you enjoyed the update!
​

*** Second Edit***​

For all the embed trouble I've been having, you'd think I'd remember that I have a BYC media Gallery I can up loan to and share my rinky-dink videos.

Well, I DID remember! AND I uploaded the Peggy Bling video there. Does anyone know if we can embed from the Gallery?
​

Click the pic to see the video I've hyped to death...

​

,​

 

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

 Eggs Don't  Lie
(But they can keep a secret)
​

​

Eight days ago, I was here to announce that I had gathered my second "first egg" from my flock. Someone had left an oddly shaped egg in the nesting box for me to find and I suspected that someone had been Peggy. Two weeks earlier I announced that Edith had been the first to produce an egg and continued to produce daily.

Since that last entry, I've been collecting three to four eggs every day. Two out of three days I get a giant white egg from Lucy. Her eggs weigh about 72 grams. The other two to three eggs I've been gathering average 36.5 g, with the exception of Peggy whose first two eggs weighed more than 60g. The remaining eggs collected are so similar in size, color and shape to Edith's that I can't tell hers apart anymore. Although there are a few tiny variations in the eggs, I can't even tell how many of my girls are actively producing. Of my six breeds, four (Edith, Peggy, Marian and Morticia) lay light brown eggs. I found one on the ground in the run and believe it's Marion's first, but I'm really just guessing. I have asked the eggs and the chickens for some insight, but no one is talking.

But eggs aren't the only drama in the coop. Far from it. In fact there's been rumors that Morticia and Red have a little some thing going on. In case you've forgotten, Red used to be called Kitty, but rooster traits caused me to change his name. For about the past four or five days Red and bottom. of-the-pecking-order, Morticia have been eating, exploring, dust bathing, and sleeping together, in the nesting boxes. A couple of nights ago, as I was locking up, I noticed Red on Morticia's back in a secluded nesting box. My 98% certainty he's a roo went up to 99.5%.

That was until I checked on the flock on my lunch break today and found a tiny, white egg by the water dish. It's the egg I would have expected from Kitty. So. all theories are out the window. Time to head to the coop for nighty-nights.

More later.

 

[Callender Girl]

Enjoyed your Problem Child video! Peggy shows a lot of determination, doesn't she?

 

[Dogs Cows Chicken]

Enjoyed your Problem Child video! Peggy shows a lot of determination, doesn't she?

Peggy is a stinker, but she's a tiny bit more chill since she's got her eggs sorted out and "normal." She must have been going through a hormonal hurricane there for a while.