Neighbor hates my chickens- will she do them harm?

[enola]

Father's Day is hard for me too . . .

 

[Cluckies]

Looks great, you finally got the fence you wanted, not as high, but hey, fantastic!

And she can't go to the city yelling about it!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

The fence does look great! But your rock pile and rake look amazing!

I hope you get to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet now that they've put their own fence up!

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Yes, having that fence is great! It’s even greater as it appears that Meyer Hatchery has made yet another rooster mistake...that's 3 in 3 years. Oh boy. Imagine my surprise yesterday morning when I heard a very familiar croaking noise coming from under the Mulberry bushes. Below is "Mary"...Rhoda's counterpart this year. I have not yet changed Mary's name to be "Ted Baxter" because I am not 100% sure that Mary was the one doing the croaking-but I’m pretty sure since he/she is the only one out of 8 with a reddish comb at 10ish weeks! She/he is also significantly bigger than Rhoda. Rhoda was very small and took some TLC upon arrival. She just wouldn’t eat. So for a week I fed her 5 times a day, painstakingly putting little pieces of food in her mouth until she would swallow just a few. And I gave her lots and lots of sugar water. She perked up! I guess sometimes if you don’t give up on a chick, they don’t give up either.

It was the same way with the little cross beak in the group of chicks I had the year my mom died. This was not just a minor beak cross, her whole face was deformed. She wasn’t supposed to be my chick, but I knew my friend did not have the setup to care for a cross beak. And I already had one, so I thought she might do OK. They could be friends. But a cross-beaked chick is heart breaking because you know that this chick will grow up to be a hungry chicken. She would be destined to spend her days trying to shovel chicken food down a tiny opening morsel by morsel. Plus she was white and I was scared a hawk would get her.

So I brought a picture of this chick to the hospital when my mom was sick for the last time. She was very drugged and a little confused. She liked pictures she could hold and she always wrote who was in the picture and the date on the back. I showed her a picture of Angel and told her my dilemma. She looked at it and said clear as day, “You should keep her. Don’t forget to write her name and the date on the back.” So I kept her, for my mom. And I named her Angel. Even though I knew the little baby’s days were limited I decided to do for her the best I could.

Angel held her own all summer. And every day that she lived felt like a victory to me. But then when fall arrived she just couldn’t eat enough anymore and I could feel what little body fat she had slipping away. Then in November she stopped eating all together. I brought her in the house and fed her mushy food. She made a huge mess shaking her tiny head and spraying the couch, the dogs, and my dad, just everything with goo. But I didn’t care. I just wanted her to live. But I knew she wouldn’t. And two days later she died in her sleep. But I’m glad I kept her. She wanted to live and I did my best. In the months after my mom died little Angel gave me such comfort. It was like just having her here made me feel like a little part of my mom stayed too, just to help me look after her. But I guess just like it was time for my mom to go, so it was time for Angel to go too. And it was also time for me to stop thinking every day about my mom in the hospital looking at a picture of my Angel. It was enough.

So even though I pick my little peeps so carefully every year, really I never know just what I’m going to get. But I guess I need to keep them all because if I don’t I’ll never know what they were meant to teach me.

Ted Baxter...or Mary? Awfully fresh for his/her age..walking right up to a mean chicken like Mary Anne!


My Angel....I miss her...

 

[BigBirdy]

I have 3 very load roosters. Is there a forest or safe area I can leave them where they can find food and water and sleep on tree branches? Or even a sanctuary that will give them life long care?

 

[SirOfSilkies]

I have 3 very load roosters. Is there a forest or safe area I can leave them where they can find food and water and sleep on tree branches? Or even a sanctuary that will give them life long care?

Dumping them anywhere is dangerous, I'd take them to the humane society

 

[HeritageGoose13]

There are rescues that will take roosters. What state are you in?

 

[ChristieB]

I have 3 very load roosters. Is there a forest or safe area I can leave them where they can find food and water and sleep on tree branches? Or even a sanctuary that will give them life long care?

You can't just leave any domesticated animal in the wild, I'm pretty sure there's a decent fine involved not to mention certain death for the animal.
List them on your local bss on facebook as give away, Australia has gumtree for online selling I don't know what your equivalent is, Craigslist maybe? drop them off at a shelter or read up on humane processing and put them in your freezer.

 

[BigBirdy]

@HeritageGoose13
Northern California, but I can go as far as LA or Nevada to find them a good home.

@ChristieB I don't care about laws, all I care about is if they'll survive and live a decent life, since my neighbors are ******** it's almost going to be impossible to keep them.

 

[Strangecacti]

I understand you concern, if extra security is what you need then I suggest you check out Harbor Freights' web site, they have two camera security systems for under $100. If anything were to happen then it will be so much simpler to show a video of her committing an act against your poultry than to simply say it was her. Beautiful chicken by the way! Hope they bring you joy and eggs for a long time to come!