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  1. SamLockwood

    Black Copper Marans Cockerels, Roosters, and Raging Hormones

    Cyclical hormone surges are pretty normal with roosters. As a side note, aggression as chicks is no indicator of sex. A couple years ago I had a couple of cream legbar chicks that would raise their hackles at each other and spar like roosters: wings out, pecking and kicking at each other. They...
  2. SamLockwood

    Introducing a rooster to a new flock of aggressive ladies...?

    The only time I've seen problems with new roosters or cockerels in a mature flock is one of two situations: The roo is an over-aggressive bozo, in which case the hens may end up mobbing and killing him. You introduce a young (under 6 months) cockerel wihtout a mature roo in the flock and he...
  3. SamLockwood

    How long do feathers take to regrow?

    Mostly it's after they have their fall molt. Although I've had a couple of hens that had a sort of mini-molt after they stopped being broody.
  4. SamLockwood

    Considering a second rooster

    I have 3-5 roosters at a time with 24 hens and they get along reasonably well, but my flock free-ranges every day on over 4 acres. If it was me, I wouldn't add a second roo with that many hens in an enclosed space.
  5. SamLockwood

    Is my young roo gonna be a daddy??

    He could be a dud, or he could just be taking longer to figure things out. I have an 8 month cockerel that's eager but he's a bit of a doofus. When he tried mating one of my mature hens he took too long for her taste, so she just stood up and started walking since she was slightly bigger than...
  6. SamLockwood

    Hatching Guinea eggs under a broody silkie

    Not with silkies, but I've had broody hens hatch and raise guinea keets without any problems. Granted this was in summer time (they hatched late June last year).
  7. SamLockwood

    Free ranging with Kids

    There's no way to really train them to not "go" wherever they go. Plus they'll try to dust bathe and dig holes in your lawn or garden. I have a lot of acreage and no kids, so it's largely not a problem. I just hose off the sidewalk between my house and garage every couple days, and I ended up...
  8. SamLockwood

    Chickens not sleeping

    They don't sleep like mammals do, and will spend much of the night with one or both eyes open.
  9. SamLockwood

    Do I have to have a rooster?

    To answer your question, no you don't need a rooster unless you're trying to breed chicks. I can't really tell from your posts if he's really doing anything bad, or you just find normal chicken mating behaviors upsetting. As far as the lack of egg-laying it could be from stress, it could be from...
  10. SamLockwood

    Eating all my grass seed

    They'll eat any kind of seeds you lay out unless you fence them off. I even made some cubes with PVC pipe and chicken wire for when I plant. They also have their own peculiar ideas of landscaping. There's a couple areas in my yard they absolutely won't let anything grow in. They'll pick the...
  11. SamLockwood

    How to train where to lay eggs

    Young or old, they'll sometimes get some really weird ideas on where to lay eggs. I've had a couple go AWOL like yours did and pick oddbal places to lay eggs. A couple times a week they'll all decide they can only use one or two of the 7 nesting boxes I have for them, and then if one can't...
  12. SamLockwood

    Hen behavior towards chick

    The "egg song" is actually either a location / escort call or a warning, depending on the situation and the exact rythm of it. My hens will use it to call for a rooster, or when they're arguing over nesting space. My guess is she was concerned over the strange bird she saw.
  13. SamLockwood

    Pet Cat

    Quite the opposite. Initially she found them entertaining, when they got fully grown she's kind of scared of them. Different times she's tried to bully them but then one day one of the roosters retaliated: pecked and kicked her and chased her off. So these days she keeps her distance. That...
  14. SamLockwood

    Chicken lifespan

    They're not particularly long-lived animals even under ideal condtions. I had a hen that was over 10 years old and was pretty feisty until the last month she was alive, and I've got one old biddy that's at least seven years old and still laying eggs and keepign up with the youngsters. But those...
  15. SamLockwood

    Should I get an exhaust fan?

    I've used automatic crawlspace vents to pretty decent effect. I set them up with a cross-draft and away from where the birds roost. They tend to open up fully only when it's over 70 degrees and they close up when it's 40 degrees or below. If you're worried about heat in the summer, paint the...
  16. SamLockwood

    Too many boys?

    They're not prone to the same behavior problems roosters are: they won't over-mate hens, and you won't get one male that wants all the hens to himself and tries to run off or kill all his rivals. Guineas have a whole other set of behavior problems. The worst problems you'll have is when they...
  17. SamLockwood

    How Do You Know When They're Actually Broody?

    My broody hens have the same kinds of behaviors: They tend to make this weird sort of throaty cluck, almost sounds like they're gulping. They'll often pull their belly feathers out to warm the eggs better. They'll lay claim to a nesting box and won't want to leave it. They'll only leave once or...
  18. SamLockwood

    Will two guinea fowl males in a flock kill each other?

    They can get pretty aggressive in the spring time, but it's mostly chasing and feather-pulling rather than serious violence. By summer time they calm down as they pair off with their mates, although I always seem to have two that always end up chasing each other for what seems all day. There's...
  19. SamLockwood

    Rooster incompetent? Bullying?

    If he's under a year old, they take time to learn things even if there's an older rooster around to show them what to do. My youngest cockerel would grab a pullet by the neck, get her to squat, and then start humping the ground. I saw him do that for about six weeks before he figured out he was...
  20. SamLockwood

    Three hens in single digit temps

    Back before I covered my run I had three old hens (one was over a decade old), that would never sleep at night in coops. They even stayed out when we hit single-digits a couple years ago. I rigged some plastic on the one side of the run that was exposed to wind, and that night they got up on...
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