Airyaman's flock stories

[Airyaman]

I'm new to chicken keeping. All of my chickens (too many to count now, I lost my mind) with the exception of 3 are hatched from Ebay sellers and my first chick was hatched on March 12th 2025.

I have 4 main flocks (by oldest to youngest):

• 9 - 2 JGs (M), 1 Bielefelder (M), 5 CCLs (3F, 2M), and 1 SS (F, first chick)
• 6 - 2 BCMs (F, M, not pure I think), 2 Welsummers (F) and 2 Barnevelders (F)
• 9 (7) BAs. Originally 7 males, 2 females but I was able to rehome 2 males
• 8 SS - 2 males, 6 females

I have others much younger but I will talk about them in the future.

So this is just my thread of my experiences as a newb BYC enthusiast.

I decided to start this thread because of my experience with a CCL cockerel this evening. He is one of the poor birds I have that ended up with crooked toes, and I think that I am at the point where I need to separate him from the flock.

Usually all of my oldest flock will go back into their space with very little enticement (food mostly, but they wander back as the light fades at night). He would go back as well with little issue until last night, and especially tonight. He was the last to go in last night and tonight he simply didn't want to go back at all. I have had fun chasing a few hard to get pullets but he became impossible to get without assistance (I used a plastic lawn rake to cover him so I could grab him). His chase went from fun to frustration. He just didn't want to go back.

And I know why. He is with 4 other cockerels and they are 17 weeks old. Hormones are changing relationships, and he is the "weakest".

So when I finally caught him, I held him and tried to calm him for a good 10 minutes while I determined how to get him back with his flock without causing a ruckus. The rest of his flock was roosting for the night but in my chasing I had stirred the two JGs and they are the masters of the flock. Or at least the guardians.

I waited until one of the JGs went back to roost but the other was roaming. I tried to put the CCL back with them but the roaming JG immediately started chasing him. Luckily that did not last long as the CCL jumped up to one roost and then to the highest level (the JGs don't go to the top).

He will be going on his own soon (sorta). I can tell he no longer wants to be part of this flock because he is being bullied. Nothing serious has happened yet, but with every day they move towards rooster age.

Other than his handicap, he is a good bird. He will crow as hard as the rest, but he is the gentlest with the pullets. He was also the one who found my "secret stash" (I left a container with scratch in it out and forgot about it) and he alerted everyone when he found it. Plus, he's quick as hell, even with his crooked toes.

So my plan is to move him into another space with the 3 CCL pullets and let the 4 remaining cockerels be my bachelor flock. Is he the best rooster for them? He is good enough for my purposes. I am not ready to produce hatching eggs so all works out if he is the rooster for them. Plus he will no longer be bullied.

This is the first installment of "Airyaman's flock stories".

 

[GodLovesU]

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I'm new to chicken keeping. All of my chickens (too many to count now, I lost my mind) with the exception of 3 are hatched from Ebay sellers and my first chick was hatched on March 12th 2025.

I have 4 main flocks (by oldest to youngest):

• 9 - 2 JGs (M), 1 Bielefelder (M), 5 CCLs (3F, 2M), and 1 SS (F, first chick)
• 6 - 2 BCMs (F, M, not pure I think), 2 Welsummers (F) and 2 Barnevelders (F)
• 9 (7) BAs. Originally 7 males, 2 females but I was able to rehome 2 males
• 8 SS - 2 males, 6 females

I have others much younger but I will talk about them in the future.

So this is just my thread of my experiences as a newb BYC enthusiast.

I decided to start this thread because of my experience with a CCL cockerel this evening. He is one of the poor birds I have that ended up with crooked toes, and I think that I am at the point where I need to separate him from the flock.

Usually all of my oldest flock will go back into their space with very little enticement (food mostly, but they wander back as the light fades at night). He would go back as well with little issue until last night, and especially tonight. He was the last to go in last night and tonight he simply didn't want to go back at all. I have had fun chasing a few hard to get pullets but he became impossible to get without assistance (I used a plastic lawn rake to cover him so I could grab him). His chase went from fun to frustration. He just didn't want to go back.

And I know why. He is with 4 other cockerels and they are 17 weeks old. Hormones are changing relationships, and he is the "weakest".

So when I finally caught him, I held him and tried to calm him for a good 10 minutes while I determined how to get him back with his flock without causing a ruckus. The rest of his flock was roosting for the night but in my chasing I had stirred the two JGs and they are the masters of the flock. Or at least the guardians.

I waited until one of the JGs went back to roost but the other was roaming. I tried to put the CCL back with them but the roaming JG immediately started chasing him. Luckily that did not last long as the CCL jumped up to one roost and then to the highest level (the JGs don't go to the top).

He will be going on his own soon (sorta). I can tell he no longer wants to be part of this flock because he is being bullied. Nothing serious has happened yet, but with every day they move towards rooster age.

Other than his handicap, he is a good bird. He will crow as hard as the rest, but he is the gentlest with the pullets. He was also the one who found my "secret stash" (I left a container with scratch in it out and forgot about it) and he alerted everyone when he found it. Plus, he's quick as hell, even with his crooked toes.

So my plan is to move him into another space with the 3 CCL pullets and let the 4 remaining cockerels be my bachelor flock. Is he the best rooster for them? He is good enough for my purposes. I am not ready to produce hatching eggs so all works out if he is the rooster for them. Plus he will no longer be bullied.

This is the first installment of "Airyaman's flock stories".

You’re a good chicken dad!!

 

[Airyaman]

Flock story drop.

I travel for work. Sometimes as long as 3-4 days, so I have to make sure my flocks are ready for that. Right now I've not been gone for more than 2, but I have to be ready.

Now that my flock is getting closer to adulthood, I have to make sure they have plenty of food, water, and space. Well, that is the same at all stages, but the amount of food and water (and space) is much more!

Anywho, learned a new lesson. Always give them more than enough rather than just enough. I should have known that since I have cats but...

I was supposed to have a long day trip yesterday. I flew out early in the AM and was supposed to be back late in the night.

But the first leg of my flight back was delayed so the airline had to rebook me for the next day for the 2nd. Normally I would not care other than the inconvenience but I had chickens (and a dog honestly) at home that I made sure were ready for a very long day with me absent.

Not 1-1/2 days.

All was fine with all animals. I worried most about water because of the summer temps, but only one of the flocks appeared to have been out of water for more than a few hours. The rest had water but getting low. I got back late morning before the heat of the day kicked in.

Phew!

So life lesson to pass on: if you have to go out of town, always provide more than enough and if you can, find friends and neighbors who can check on your flock when you can't.

 

[Airyaman]

Had to do a quick installment of my flock stories for the day.

My oldest flock has been free ranging most of the day. Usually I let them out twice a day: they get the first and last "shifts" and I rotate my other 3 flocks in the period between. All of them were back in their run while ago except the CCL cockerel (17+ weeks) of post #1 and the SS pullet. Rather than trying to get them back in so I could let another group out, I just opened the door to the BA flock (14+ weeks) and let them wander out. I was there in case things "went south".

They all came out as a group and the CCL cockerel just decided to wander in their midst.

Not a single reaction from the 5 BA cockerels. No dances, no puffed out feathers, nothing. Then the CCL just walked into their run and started eating out of the feeder. The others wandered in after him and fed with him.

Not something I expected. It's almost as if he feels more welcome with these guys than his own flock.

 

[Airyaman]

So when it came time to for the BAs to go back into their run, the CCL cockerel went with them.

He was the low boy in the pecking order in his current flock. In with these 5 other boys 3 weeks younger, he thinks he's king rooster. The other cockerels fear him. He isn't bigger than any of them, and 2 are bigger, but they fear him. So I took him out because I wasn't ready to just toss him with a new flock overnight. He's back wandering the yard with his old flock.