No Love

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Maybe they don't care, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't.

Having livestock is a win/win situation for humans and animals if it is done well.

When we look at the red jungle fowl, the wild chicken, it has a much shorter live span than a backyard chicken for many reasons. Even roosters profit from beeing a backyard roosters. When we hatch eggs every 2. chick is a little roo, but even wild chickens live in flocks with 4 to 10 hens and only one rooster. From that you can see that a roosters job in the wild is dangerous and many of the young roosters die before they have the chance to lead a flock. Our little roos grow up with their sisters til they being to fight with each other. We kill them before they kill each other and only because they will kill each other.  Our hens live til they drop dead, most will live 8-10 years. A wild chicken can live 15 years but only 25% live longer than one year.... so even if we would kill the hens after they are done laying it would be more profitable for the hens to live with us than to live in the jungle. 
People often talk about the pact we made with "our" animals and even if we never wrote a contract, we have a kind of contract. They live better and longer lifes in our backyards than in the wild and we have a  protein source. 

I keep multiple roosters that are different ages, I've never had a rooster kill another, they develop a hierarchy amongst themselves, usually oldest is highest, divide up the hens if there's enough and some live on the outskirts without hens, I currently have ten roosters, they occasionally fight in the spring, not to the death, only until someone runs away.

 

[shortgrass]

In agreeance with you both in certain respects, tati and Bine... I guess in its simplicity, I consider "our" job husbandrymen(or women lol)... My sole responsibility is to nurture soil, plant, animal, self. In that order

I'm very blessed to have been raised on this land, eat from this land, and inherit a smidgen of the same land to give to my children; mostly because they, as I, appreciate what cones from my hands and all the hard work, and the health of the crops animals shows that my job is being done.

I do realize they have their purpose, so I am very sad when its time to cull, but beef and chicken and eggs, lsmb chops, and wheat bread... Sweet corn... Oh I could go on and on about the joys my body feels from fresh food that literally grew from ashes and got used until ashes. I don't feel like a "god", but I do feel extremely humbled and consider it an honor and privilege to get the chance to have a part in it; the cycle of life

 

[Tati]

@ oldhenlikesdogs: Thanks for the info. Good to know that roosters don't necessarily kill each other. We don't have a rooster now but intend to acquire one, at some time. And having a reputation as animal lovers, it is quite likely that we get more than one offer to adopt a rooster. We really only want one, but we are softies when it comes to animals.

 

[Tati]

@ shortgrass: I have dreamed of being a "Selbstversorger", ever since I read John Seymour's book, in my early thirties. Unfortunately, apart from having a garden (at certain times of my life), I have never had the opportunity (or the physical condition) to be self-relient. I just always wished that meat would grow on trees. Any animals I might have raised for meat would probably have had eternal life if they waited for me to have them slaughtered.

My (2nd and present) husband, however, grew up on a farm and hates gardening and farm-work. (He was shocked when I came home with these eight 1-$-clearance baby-chickens, last spring.) I always tease him and say that the only reason his parents allowed him to study physics is that he was useless at the farm. (My husband, btw, let his next-younger brother have the farm, who pretended to be "the born farmer"--until he had the farm. As soon as he had it, he rented it out. :-( )

My husband (a more consequent animal lover and so much "holier" than I ) would be vegan if I did not coax him to eat eggs and occasionally fish. (He only weighs 118 lbs and, IMO, needs more protein than what he can get from beans.)

 

[Bine]

I keep multiple roosters that are different ages, I've never had a rooster kill another, they develop a hierarchy amongst themselves, usually oldest is highest, divide up the hens if there's enough and some live on the outskirts without hens, I currently have ten roosters, they occasionally fight in the spring, not to the death, only until someone runs away.

No, not my breed. When I first had my birds I tried to have all roosters that hatched... It was a disaster, some teamed up to chase the hens to do something that looked and sound like gang rape and than they began to really hurt the older rooster and finally the killing began.
That day I ended the experiment. I have max. two roosters, a young and an older one, carefully seperated when inside the run/coop... they are okay when free.... most of the time.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

No, not my breed. When I first had my birds I tried to have all roosters that hatched... It was a disaster, some teamed up to chase the hens to do something that looked and sound like gang rape and than they began to really hurt the older rooster and finally the killing began. 

That day I ended the experiment. I have max. two roosters, a young and an older one, carefully seperated when inside the run/coop... they are okay when free.... most of the time. 

That's sad, I never had that experience, I keep both bantam and LF roosters, they all can free range and mingle, young ones grow up in the flocks, I really like roosters, though teenagers can be a pain and sometimes end up in my chicken jail for a few months before being allowed to reintegrate, they are in a pen where all can see them and sometimes there are mock rooster fights through the wire.

I do believe in the wild there are multiple roosters in a flock of all different ages.

 

[Arwenelfmaiden]

You are so right on not expecting too much from my girls and now that they are older, they are friendlier. We bond almost everytime I let them out to free range. I am so overjoyed that they are all just about laying! I'm a happy girl!

 

[TBirdsTheWord33]

@Arwenelfmaiden, that is GREAT NEWS!!! I am so glad you got back with us. I've been thinking of you lately and almost PMd to ask if your girls warmed up to you as they reached laying age. Thanks to your update, I am wrapping up my evening with a smile.

 

[Arwenelfmaiden]

My six are finally calming down. They are getting closer, everyday. But they are all squatting as soon as they see me. hope they are not unhappy due to the fact that we have no rooster, but my neighbor has as a Banty. I wonder what would happen if I took them over, maybe one at a time or he could bring his banty to my coop. There is soooooo much I don't know, even about this.

 

[shortgrass]

I'm so glad to hear they are warming up to you! They must have decided that you aren't so scary after all!

I'd just enjoy them as they are. They don't need a rooster bugging them just yet, unless you want chicks again already

I have 16 "teenagers" right now lol, and they are right in the midst of the "I hate you, don't touch me, you're not my mom" phase, so its always fun to repeat the cycle all over again when you add a rooster. It can be fun but challenging.

Chickens don't really understand "calendars" or my convenience, or brooding chicks in winter... And I can't say "no" to broody mom having at least just one chick to hatch... Now I'm the "crazy chicken lady" of the family lol; can't control my chickens that breed like, well, chickens