A Very Good Boy!

[3KillerBs]

So, I was rebanding 6-week-old chicks this morning, with everyone confined in the coop because of Avian Flu having been found about 90-minutes away a few weeks ago.

As anyone who has tried putting zipties around growing chicks' legs knows, the chicks make a great deal of commotion and do a lot of complaining -- especially if you are also trying to photograph them by juggling a chick in one hand and the phone in the other.

My rooster, Rameses, was a very good boy the entire time. He came close to find out what was going on, and I spoke to him in a reassuring tone of voice. Then he went back to his normal morning routine of hanging out on top of the broody breaker, looking longingly at the run, and crowing back and forth with the boys in Camp Cockerel.

After he posed for photos, first with one of his daughters (who is the mother of some of these babies), and then with a wiggly son who turned his head just when I was trying to get a good shot.

How much of Rameses's good temperament is genetic, how much is in how he was raised, and how much is my management style I can't tell, but he proved again today that he is a very good boy.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

My chicks arent to bad when banding unless its anything am mixed then its terrible lol but next spring i prolly wont need to band i might just hatch certain pens at a time unless my silkies go broody

 

[3KillerBs]

My chicks arent to bad when banding unless its anything am mixed then its terrible lol but next spring i prolly wont need to band i might just hatch certain pens at a time unless my silkies go broody

I'm hoping to move to using wing bands, that only need to be applied once, but even then I'll probably have some zipties so that I can more easily tell which bird is which when they look so much alike.

 

[Missyschix13]

He's a handsome boy! I think it's all of it that leads to a good temperament. But there are a variety of opinions on the matter. I think that how he was raised and your management plays a good bit of a roll. My roo definitely has opinions about certain people and reacts accordingly. (He really doesn't like my husband. Lol) but is the calmest, sweetest boy for me. I like to believe my actions are consistent and calm and he favors that. He follows me everywhere and trusts that I'm not going to hurt his girls. Even helps me find out when things are wrong so I can fix it. But that me just being anthropomorphic. Lol I hope not though. Either way, I hope for your sake some of it is genetic and he passes it on to his son.

 

[3KillerBs]

He's a handsome boy! I think it's all of it that leads to a good temperament. But there are a variety of opinions on the matter. I think that how he was raised and your management plays a good bit of a roll. My roo definitely has opinions about certain people and reacts accordingly. (He really doesn't like my husband. Lol) but is the calmest, sweetest boy for me. I like to believe my actions are consistent and calm and he favors that. He follows me everywhere and trusts that I'm not going to hurt his girls. Even helps me find out when things are wrong so I can fix it. But that me just being anthropomorphic. Lol I hope not though. Either way, I hope for your sake some of it is genetic and he passes it on to his son.

So far all but one of his sons has been highly promising from the temperament standpoint. And that one was the grandson of a nasty rooster on his mother's side.

I haven't kept one to maturity yet, but I can walk into Camp Cockerel with the 5 cull boys in there (July 3rd hatch), and do what I need to do without having to watch my back.

 

[Missyschix13]

So far all but one of his sons has been highly promising from the temperament standpoint. And that one was the grandson of a nasty rooster on his mother's side.

I haven't kept one to maturity yet, but I can walk into Camp Cockerel with the 5 cull boys in there (July 3rd hatch), and do what I need to do without having to watch my back.

Well that sounds promising that his genetics are top notch and not bad statistics. Always a good day when you don't have to watch your back while working in the runs.