Turkeybird
Hatching
- Aug 11, 2017
- 3
- 4
- 9
Hello Backyard Chickens! My name is Adrienne, I live in Missouri, and happen to find myself with a rooster chick after a weird road trip with a friend to the country. I live in the suburbs, however a rather woodsy part of it (we get a lot of wild-life like wolves and turkeys even though it's a neighborhood).
Like most I found out, I didn't know my chicken would be a rooster when I got him from the random "meat" bin for about 50c. It worked out for the better though, as mentioned, I live in a place with lots of animal sounds and noisy critters anyway, so it turned out not to be an issue. The neighbors haven't complained, and quite frankly, I feel like if they were going to complain about noise, across the street from me is a loud band that plays percussion instruments at 3am so.. yeah, they would probably start there.
Anyway, my guy is pretty big now, I got him in April of this year. I've learned a lot as I go, but there's still a lot I would like to learn to help this guy thrive in my home. I'll tell you guys a bit about him, but please remember, I got him as a chick having no idea how to care for him. I've done my best on a budget with common sense about animal-care, google, and consistently calling feed stores for advice.
He lives in a pretty big room all to himself. There's a dog-food dispenser that I filled with Encore-Layer Feed pellets, someone at a feed store recommended I give him All Flock feed instead, so I've been searching for a good deal on amazon or something, since all feed stores are around 3 hours away from me. In the mean time, that's what has. He has a 5 lb chicken waterer that I keep clean and full. He has some large-bird toys that I bought at petco, and some guinea-pig willow balls that he likes to try to stand on and kick around. There's a small-sized dog crate with a large log-tunnel I used to use for a Bearded Dragon inside, sometimes he'll go inside and sit on it for a minute. There's also lots of furniture items that he likes to perch on. I'll open the door to the outside of the room, but he doesn't leave. I've taken him outside before, but he seems pretty unhappy and has actually climbed over my shoulder to go back inside. As mentioned we have a lot of predatory animals that frequent the yard that he can for sure see from all the windows, so I guess I don't blame him. Plus he's the only one. The floor is cement, so clean up is fairly easy. He also keeps it bug free, I never see any flies or anything. I check him for lice and fleas and what not and haven't seen any yet.
He wears a rooster collar since I read that they help to keep the crows from carrying /as far/ as they normally would. But honestly I don't think it works. I don't want to tighten it to much more. He crows a lot in the morning, if he keeps up someone in my home, I'll put him in the dog crate and throw a heavy comforter over it. He'll make little clucky sounds and then quiets down down. I never leave him in for to long.
He molted recently, but all his feathers came back pretty quick. The store-clerk at the feed store said that that was his "going into adult-hood molt".
Lets see, I read some articles that told me I need to become the dominant rooster, so when they crow or seem.. I guess feisty with you, you lightly hold your hand on their back and hold their head down till they calm down. I tried this for about 3 days consistently, and his body language towards me changed. He can see me from a big sliding glass door that leads to his room, when I walk by, he crouches down almost completely, and does a kind of little tap dance, looking at me with his head down and wings closed. Anyone know what that's about? I tried to find a guide somewhere on rooster noises and body language, but I can't find to much. He's not afraid of me, but that weird behavior has shown up.
In terms of consistent sounds, he makes a little soft clucky sound, sometimes a single loud squawk, something that sounds akin to zoidberg from futurama
, a low subtle gravely sound kind of like someone gritting while they hum, and of course crowing.
Body language I usually see, are as mentioned, the little head-down squatty tap-dance looking up at me, a kind of strutty-side eye, occasionally nipping at my boot-zipper, flappy wings chest out, and a long stare from the window with one eye. He also likes to fling toys, I figure he's just kind of having fun, but I don't know, maybe he hates his little elephant toy.
Anyway, so this is a nutshelled how my rooster lives. If anyone wants to offer me some advice on how to improve his life or teach me what certain things mean/how I can approach them better, I'd be super grateful! Thank you so much for your time
.
Oh and by the way, he was apparently vaccinated at the place I bought him from, and I check him over for health problems each day (odd behavior/discoloring/anything that would be an indicator of bad health for any animal). He seems totally fine, but if there's ever a problem, there's a chicken vet somewhat near me.
Like most I found out, I didn't know my chicken would be a rooster when I got him from the random "meat" bin for about 50c. It worked out for the better though, as mentioned, I live in a place with lots of animal sounds and noisy critters anyway, so it turned out not to be an issue. The neighbors haven't complained, and quite frankly, I feel like if they were going to complain about noise, across the street from me is a loud band that plays percussion instruments at 3am so.. yeah, they would probably start there.
Anyway, my guy is pretty big now, I got him in April of this year. I've learned a lot as I go, but there's still a lot I would like to learn to help this guy thrive in my home. I'll tell you guys a bit about him, but please remember, I got him as a chick having no idea how to care for him. I've done my best on a budget with common sense about animal-care, google, and consistently calling feed stores for advice.
He lives in a pretty big room all to himself. There's a dog-food dispenser that I filled with Encore-Layer Feed pellets, someone at a feed store recommended I give him All Flock feed instead, so I've been searching for a good deal on amazon or something, since all feed stores are around 3 hours away from me. In the mean time, that's what has. He has a 5 lb chicken waterer that I keep clean and full. He has some large-bird toys that I bought at petco, and some guinea-pig willow balls that he likes to try to stand on and kick around. There's a small-sized dog crate with a large log-tunnel I used to use for a Bearded Dragon inside, sometimes he'll go inside and sit on it for a minute. There's also lots of furniture items that he likes to perch on. I'll open the door to the outside of the room, but he doesn't leave. I've taken him outside before, but he seems pretty unhappy and has actually climbed over my shoulder to go back inside. As mentioned we have a lot of predatory animals that frequent the yard that he can for sure see from all the windows, so I guess I don't blame him. Plus he's the only one. The floor is cement, so clean up is fairly easy. He also keeps it bug free, I never see any flies or anything. I check him for lice and fleas and what not and haven't seen any yet.
He wears a rooster collar since I read that they help to keep the crows from carrying /as far/ as they normally would. But honestly I don't think it works. I don't want to tighten it to much more. He crows a lot in the morning, if he keeps up someone in my home, I'll put him in the dog crate and throw a heavy comforter over it. He'll make little clucky sounds and then quiets down down. I never leave him in for to long.
He molted recently, but all his feathers came back pretty quick. The store-clerk at the feed store said that that was his "going into adult-hood molt".
Lets see, I read some articles that told me I need to become the dominant rooster, so when they crow or seem.. I guess feisty with you, you lightly hold your hand on their back and hold their head down till they calm down. I tried this for about 3 days consistently, and his body language towards me changed. He can see me from a big sliding glass door that leads to his room, when I walk by, he crouches down almost completely, and does a kind of little tap dance, looking at me with his head down and wings closed. Anyone know what that's about? I tried to find a guide somewhere on rooster noises and body language, but I can't find to much. He's not afraid of me, but that weird behavior has shown up.
In terms of consistent sounds, he makes a little soft clucky sound, sometimes a single loud squawk, something that sounds akin to zoidberg from futurama
Body language I usually see, are as mentioned, the little head-down squatty tap-dance looking up at me, a kind of strutty-side eye, occasionally nipping at my boot-zipper, flappy wings chest out, and a long stare from the window with one eye. He also likes to fling toys, I figure he's just kind of having fun, but I don't know, maybe he hates his little elephant toy.
Anyway, so this is a nutshelled how my rooster lives. If anyone wants to offer me some advice on how to improve his life or teach me what certain things mean/how I can approach them better, I'd be super grateful! Thank you so much for your time
.Oh and by the way, he was apparently vaccinated at the place I bought him from, and I check him over for health problems each day (odd behavior/discoloring/anything that would be an indicator of bad health for any animal). He seems totally fine, but if there's ever a problem, there's a chicken vet somewhat near me.
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