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ToxicFrog posted:Chickens aren't very good at pathfinding, are they? About as bad as the Sims pathfinding, but once they establish their routine, and the environment doesn't change much, they get used to where things like fences and gates are. If you really want to get them to come somewhere quick, associate a noise with giving treats. Even something like shaking a bag of mealworms will make them go nuts and come to you in a flash!
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May 5, 2018 15:26
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| # ? Jun 11, 2024 15:30 |
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If there's a hole in your fence that the chooks use to get to cool places they're not allowed (like the neighbours' chook paddock or the other neighbours' dog yard), they will get very confused when you patch it up. They will walk up and down a few paces from where it should be and bob their heads up and down to check that it didn't move two inches upwards while they weren't paying attention. They will also try just walking straight through like a Harry Potter train station wall and act very offended when it doesn't work. Also yes make a distinctive noise when giving food, both regular pellets as well as fruit/veg and treats like seed, and you will be able to get them to sprint from all over the paddock to you. We yell CHOOK CHOOK CHOOK CHOOK in a chook voice and it works very effectively.
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May 6, 2018 03:26
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My chickens just sprint towards me whenever I open the door, whether I have food or not. It was actually a little unsettling at first to have one tiny dinosaur spot me and start sprinting toward me while calling all the other tiny dinosaurs to join in the hunt. Now when I want to do anything, I have to lock them in the run or constantly shuffle along a few inches at a time, shoving fluffy butts out of the way with each step.
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May 6, 2018 12:19
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So I offered them mealworms and darkling beetles for the first time today. They're ambivalent about the mealworms, but all of them, especially the orpingtons, are complete fiends for the beetles. They're still pretty skittish around me, but if I offer them darkling beetles they'll run up and eat them right out of my hand. Speaking of skittishness, I wish I understood how their threat assessment works, because the results are something like: Completely ignore: groundhogs, squirrels, most birds Investigate cautiously while remaining out of reach: housecats, humans Freak the gently caress out and panic: grackles, sparrows
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May 6, 2018 16:48
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Enfys posted:My chickens just sprint towards me whenever I open the door, whether I have food or not. It was actually a little unsettling at first to have one tiny dinosaur spot me and start sprinting toward me while calling all the other tiny dinosaurs to join in the hunt. Now when I want to do anything, I have to lock them in the run or constantly shuffle along a few inches at a time, shoving fluffy butts out of the way with each step. Fluffy Butt Shover would be a good username.
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May 6, 2018 16:55
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ToxicFrog posted:So I offered them mealworms and darkling beetles for the first time today. They're ambivalent about the mealworms, but all of them, especially the orpingtons, are complete fiends for the beetles. Chickens’ instinctive fears are for large raptors and very large ground predators, so that’s probably why they startle for grackles and sparrows (a close by dark-colored and fast moving smaller bird looks like a larger hawk coming in for the attack) and cats/ humans. Humans are obviously big enough to be a threat just by size, and cats move like predators but are of similar size. Chooks are tough little tanks so it’s either got to be bigger than them or above them to take ‘em out
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May 6, 2018 16:59
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The fastest I ever see my chickens move is when they hear a seagull shriek nearby. There's just a blur of feathers as they disappear into the coop.
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May 6, 2018 17:50
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I have discovered that the best way to give chickens a watermelon treat is to leave it outside for a few hours so that it's covered in ants, then toss it into the run. My four-year-old has discovered that the chickens will peck at things curiously and has started holding out a stick to them, then shrieking delightedly and running away when they peck it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0iBgFMs8MY
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May 7, 2018 00:52
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Just keep bringing them treats and you'll eventually be recognized as the treat bringer, and everything you bring them will be pecked to nothingness. And then you'll have to contend with shoving the fluffy butts away when they swarm you when you don't have treats.
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May 7, 2018 01:05
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Enfys posted:My chickens just sprint towards me whenever I open the door, whether I have food or not. It was actually a little unsettling at first to have one tiny dinosaur spot me and start sprinting toward me while calling all the other tiny dinosaurs to join in the hunt. Now when I want to do anything, I have to lock them in the run or constantly shuffle along a few inches at a time, shoving fluffy butts out of the way with each step.
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May 7, 2018 02:47
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  (one has already died in the nest for no apparent reason so i know they're really quail and not chickens in disguise) e: felafel (the rooster) is being attentive and peaceful toward the chicks rather than trying to eat them like he did last time. see, they can learn! there is a brain cell in those tiny heads e2: nvm, felafel's brain cell wasn't big enough, he has been banished from the coop. (no injuries luckily.) moon unit has been doing a tiny melodic quail version of the broody borrrrrk at me which is hilarious. what a magical world we live in this broken hill fucked around with this message at 01:21 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 00:21
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Goddamn quail. Any chance of a recording of the bork?
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May 10, 2018 05:51
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https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/reddit-dl/2h877hu24qw01.mp4 Tried a couple of options to embed. Click link for broody hen noises. gyfcat link removed: it made a 15 second gif with no sound out of a 1:13 video with broody hen noises MisterOblivious fucked around with this message at 10:28 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 10:14
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Raspberry thief 
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May 10, 2018 13:25
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That girl really trusts and likes you! She didn't even get super freaky deaky like my mother's hens do, they'd rather peck and squeal-grumble than eat out of your hand while broody.
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May 10, 2018 14:50
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One of my ex-batts has laid a soft shelled egg 3 days in a row now  This is my second summer with them, and it feels like a constant battle to keep them from having laying problems. I keep a tub of oyster grit and a tub of crushed egg shells right next to their food, I give them calcium enriched yogurt regularly as that has seemed to help in the past, but I don't know what else to do in this kind of situation. There aren't any vets in the area who could do a hormone implant as spookygonk posted about or I would do that in a heartbeat. They're such happy, goofy creatures, and I hate seeing them struggle with laying so much Does anyone have any other ideas or experience keeping ex-battery hens from having these kind of issues?
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May 10, 2018 16:51
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Enfys posted:One of my ex-batts has laid a soft shelled egg 3 days in a row now You're kinda fighting nature. These birds aren't bred to have long or good lives. You've given them better than they would've gotten elsewhere. I say give them a general multivitamin to try to increase calcium absorption and give them nice days until there's nothing left at your disposal basically.
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May 10, 2018 21:48
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Enfys posted:One of my ex-batts has laid a soft shelled egg 3 days in a row now I've got battery breed but all bought at point of lay, it makes no difference if they are ex-batts or not we've hosed their genes and they get laying issues after a few years. We have one who had three implants over a year and is now laying properly again. Lube her butt up with KY if you can see she's struggling, and if she looks exhausted by it bring her in. As soon as they get the soft shell out of the way there's an immediate improvement. Try to stop them eating the softshells, too much protein in the diet isn't good for shell production so you get a feedback loop if it goes on. It's not always easy to tell this is happening. No treats at all, they are like egg laying athletes special diet only. EDIT : egg shell isn't a treat keep that up, you could try without the yoghurt though I just bake the shells crumble it and feed it to them with standard corn in the evening. Morningwoodpecker fucked around with this message at 17:20 on May 11, 2018 |
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May 11, 2018 17:13
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Today something went "ping" inside the chickens' heads and they realized that the yard extended more than a meter from the coop. They immediately started exploring, prompting a quick run outside with some chickenwire to discourage them from exploring the vegetable garden. They've now been all over the yard, pecked everything, shat on everything, spend a while scouring the back deck for crumbs from the outdoor lunch we had, and had to be herded back into the run at sunset. And they're not as easy to herd as they were a few days ago, either. They also spent a while eyeballing a dead rabbit one of the cats had left in the middle of the lawn.  
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May 12, 2018 00:48
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May 12, 2018 04:52
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and a video peep peep i can't get moon unit to do the full broody snarl now that the chicks are stronger, but take the vert vert noise from this video and make it long and growly and you can kind of get the idea. it was very intimidating, she'd be a hell of a bird if she wasn't an actual lemon on legs
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May 12, 2018 10:33
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ToxicFrog posted:Today something went "ping" inside the chickens' heads and they realized that the yard extended more than a meter from the coop. They immediately started exploring, prompting a quick run outside with some chickenwire to discourage them from exploring the vegetable garden. *squints* That looks more like a brick than a rabbit.
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May 12, 2018 10:36
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this broken hill posted:and a video *gentle musical honking*
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May 12, 2018 10:39
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CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:*squints* That looks more like a brick than a rabbit. I didn't get a photo of the rabbit, that's just a shot of them all heading out to explore the yard that I liked.
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May 12, 2018 12:33
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CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:*gentle musical honking* I remember reading some woman described chicken noises as "sopporific cooing." I don't think she'd ever met a chicken.
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May 12, 2018 13:24
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McGiggins posted:That girl really trusts and likes you! She didn't even get super freaky deaky like my mother's hens do, they'd rather peck and squeal-grumble than eat out of your hand while broody. Just a quick thread reminder that I don't have chickens, I just post the most  pictures and gifs I run across.I couldn't possibly raise chickens right now from my apartment even if I could afford the bureaucratic fees.
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May 13, 2018 11:00
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I will redeem my shame with the battle cry of our people, and then an anecdote. Ahem: chooooook chook choook chooook chook chooook. Today i cut down a super overgrown tree-hedge thing (im not a gardenfolk) that my birds LOVE to sleep under first thing in the morning, as well as sunbathe and dust bathe. It was basically chooky heaven, and now they wander its barren soils like the shellshocked survivors of Gallipoli. I feel really bad, but the hedge had overgrown a doorway under the house i use once every couple of months, and that just wont do. How do you fellow birdmasters deal with any and all guilt you may incur in your wrangling and the effects it causes to your captive populace? I just want them to love me.
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May 13, 2018 11:22
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just understand that it's literally impossible to please them and also that they have very short memories
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May 13, 2018 11:39
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McGiggins posted:I feel really bad, but the hedge had overgrown a doorway under the house i use once every couple of months, and that just wont do. How do you fellow birdmasters deal with any and all guilt you may incur in your wrangling and the effects it causes to your captive populace? I just want them to love me. ... but what you could do is create a new interesting shady / diggy spot, let them discover it and make it their own. spookygonk fucked around with this message at 13:32 on May 13, 2018 |
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May 13, 2018 12:49
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Last summer, my chickens favourite spot was my potato patch. They absolutely adored snoozing and relaxing under the leafy canopy of the potato plants. When I finally harvested the potatoes, they were conflicted - they lost their bushy cover, but they ended up with a giant patch of freshly tilled dirt to play in. I didn't plant anything there this year, in part because it has become their favourite area for dust bathing.
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May 13, 2018 14:26
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Enfys posted:Last summer, my chickens favourite spot was my potato patch. They absolutely adored snoozing and relaxing under the leafy canopy of the potato plants. When I finally harvested the potatoes, they were conflicted - they lost their bushy cover, but they ended up with a giant patch of freshly tilled dirt to play in. I didn't plant anything there this year, in part because it has become their favourite area for dust bathing. You're lucky your chickens weren't stupid enough to eat your deadly as hell potato greens 
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May 14, 2018 00:06
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Extra points for a Gallipoli reference. 
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May 14, 2018 02:02
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my hypothesis was that a quail chick under care of a hen wouldn't be allowed to drown itself in two millimetres of water the hypothesis has been proven false 
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May 14, 2018 09:37
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Jesus christ they really are just the least functional animal around.
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May 14, 2018 10:04
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this broken hill posted:my hypothesis was that a quail chick under care of a hen wouldn't be allowed to drown itself in two millimetres of water Quail have diseases that chickens can catch, that are deadly for chickens and completely innocent for quail. Don't mix them, dude.
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May 14, 2018 13:16
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:You're lucky your chickens weren't stupid enough to eat your deadly as hell potato greens Our original three demolished a pretty sizeable rhubarb plant, all the (poisonous) leaves, stalks   and even started digging the root up. They were manically focussed. No ill effects afterwards. The rhubarb plant was donated to a family allotment, where it did very well indeed.
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May 14, 2018 15:01
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spookygonk posted:Our original three demolished a pretty sizeable rhubarb plant, all the (poisonous) leaves, stalks That little split between three chickens probably just made them weird and twitchy for a few hours. Nightshade leaves are a drat good bit more toxic than rhubarb.
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May 14, 2018 15:43
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Quail have diseases that chickens can catch, that are deadly for chickens and completely innocent for quail. Don't mix them, dude. i actually didn't know that about the diseases (so thank you for telling me!) but i already didn't mix the species because chickens crave blood and chaos
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May 15, 2018 02:09
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chickens were what started all this though. back in the day when i was manically churning out hatchlings of all species, chicks and keets raised by a hen had a death rate so much lower than the ones in my brooder box that i thought "then surely quail...!" but the answer was still no quails can not they simply can not
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May 15, 2018 02:16
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Quails seem to have an innate lust for their own demise that puts horse stupidity to shame.
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May 15, 2018 03:15
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