The title is a little vague but it is accurate. So we have a 30 bird flock- 9 roosters, 21 hens. Overall they are establishing a really fantastic, healthy social dynamic. There are two problem birds though, because they do not mesh well with the rest of the flock. One is a rooster and he's unusually aggressive toward other birds, but we have a good home lined up for him, and until then he has his own pen that protects the other birds from him, but lets him interact with the flock still.
Then there is Basil. Basil is a complicated bird. You see, she is not a hen, nor a rooster, but somewhere in between, likely due to a damaged ovary resulting in production of roosterly hormones which has caused her to grow substantial wattles and a decent sized comb, crow, and sometimes try to mount hens. The roosters started getting very aggressive toward her because of this, so she moved to the other side of the yard to hang out with us instead. Now Basil has always had a biting problem, even since chickhood. When she was tiny it wasn't much of an issue, but she's big now, in fact she is our biggest bird, and has become obsessive about biting feet. I mean she will dive at feet to try to bite them, and her pecks go straight through skin if you have any exposed below knee height. If we're wearing boots and able to ignore her, then she stops and will just trot along beside us (she just followed me out to the pasture tonight to feed the horses, and followed me back down). She's very affectionate, though, and wants to be with us all of the time. Her hackles are never out, and she shows no sign of aggression at all while biting, she just keeps diving at feet, and hands if you're not careful.
We're really not sure what to do. We cannot rehome her because no one else would have the patience to handle her and would likely just kill her, but my folks are starting to talk about doing away with her, which my sibling and I absolutely do not consider an option. We have a pen that we'll set up for her this week so that she's safe from the other birds and our feet are safe, but being confined to solitary isolation would be awful for her already-confused mind, and she's way too terrified of our big silkie boy to have her in a pen near the coop.
So, aside from killing her (she's a pet, for pete's sake), does anyone have any idea of what to do?
Then there is Basil. Basil is a complicated bird. You see, she is not a hen, nor a rooster, but somewhere in between, likely due to a damaged ovary resulting in production of roosterly hormones which has caused her to grow substantial wattles and a decent sized comb, crow, and sometimes try to mount hens. The roosters started getting very aggressive toward her because of this, so she moved to the other side of the yard to hang out with us instead. Now Basil has always had a biting problem, even since chickhood. When she was tiny it wasn't much of an issue, but she's big now, in fact she is our biggest bird, and has become obsessive about biting feet. I mean she will dive at feet to try to bite them, and her pecks go straight through skin if you have any exposed below knee height. If we're wearing boots and able to ignore her, then she stops and will just trot along beside us (she just followed me out to the pasture tonight to feed the horses, and followed me back down). She's very affectionate, though, and wants to be with us all of the time. Her hackles are never out, and she shows no sign of aggression at all while biting, she just keeps diving at feet, and hands if you're not careful.
We're really not sure what to do. We cannot rehome her because no one else would have the patience to handle her and would likely just kill her, but my folks are starting to talk about doing away with her, which my sibling and I absolutely do not consider an option. We have a pen that we'll set up for her this week so that she's safe from the other birds and our feet are safe, but being confined to solitary isolation would be awful for her already-confused mind, and she's way too terrified of our big silkie boy to have her in a pen near the coop.
So, aside from killing her (she's a pet, for pete's sake), does anyone have any idea of what to do?
