Backyard Brahmas!!

[CarolinaHen]

I just lock the gate to the run and let them figure out where to sleep. We have some that sleep in the trees and some that sleep on top of the coop. The three that sleep on top of the coop often have frost on them in the morning. I don't worry about it though because they know better than I do whether they are cold enough to go inside or not. I know it's not a matter of space in the coop because we have 17 birds in a 4'x16 coop. I don't lock the coop since the run encloses it. I think your birds will be just fine without you tucking them in and talking to them until they go to sleep.

 

[Vickis Girls]

CarolinaHen, I know how silly I must sound. I've wanted chickens for so many years, and I guess I thought they'd respond to kindness like we humans do. I just went to the coop and locked up the pop door and gave the three girls a quick pet and left. I'm going to try to re-home two of these young cockerels before I figure out if I've ruined them or not. I'll just keep whichever one is left. I never would have guessed that snuggling a cockerel would make him hate me in the end. Am I the only one this dumb?

 

[Gryphon]

Don't beat yourself up over it! Like I said, not everyone knows how to read body language until it's reached the boiling point (attacking) especially with birds, which are even more difficult to read than mammals. With a dog, horse, or cat, you can see them lay back their ears and use their tails to tell you pretty blatantly how they feel. With chickens it's a lot more subtle, and you can't blame yourself for not knowing something that you were never taught. It's when you know better and do it ANYWAY that would make it a real problem.

Depending on how many hens you have it's probably best for them to only have one cockerel since they tend to go through a stage where hormones are going crazy and they give the hens a LOT more attention than they really care for. Having two hop on every five minutes would probably make for some unhappy birds.

Each morning I open up the pop door and feed my hens while talking to them, and each night I check in on them to make sure everyone's settled in, tell them goodnight, and lock the pop door again. It's perfectly ok to talk to them, pet them, whatever you like, as long as you have a line and let them know you have it. If I had a roo (live in city limits so not allowed) I wouldn't be afraid to interact with him, pet him, whatever (in fact, like horses, I would make it a POINT to say "I can walk up to you at any time and handle you, and there's nothing you can do about it") it's a balance, but it shouldn't ruin you having fun with your birds.

 

[Vickis Girls]

Gryphon, Thank you for your time, your patience, and for sharing your wisdom in a way that I can understand without feeling too foolish. Tomorrow I will try to study the chicken behavior and try to figure out how the boys are viewing me. That should help me figure out which one is worth keeping. You've been so much help!!!
Vicki

 

[ocap]

I went to a horse whisperer demonstration once and the "trainer" spent the first half of the demo without saying a word, He wanted us to understand the value of watching.

 

[livininbrazil]

CarolinaHen, I know how silly I must sound. I've wanted chickens for so many years, and I guess I thought they'd respond to kindness like we humans do. I just went to the coop and locked up the pop door and gave the three girls a quick pet and left. I'm going to try to re-home two of these young cockerels before I figure out if I've ruined them or not. I'll just keep whichever one is left. I never would have guessed that snuggling a cockerel would make him hate me in the end. Am I the only one this dumb?

Vickis girls what a lovely kind owner you are. Not stupid, you´re learning. Stupid are those who don´t want to learn!
I tend to keep one cock-bird with my breeding hens, and no cock-bird with my laying hens, because too many cocks do the hens in..(no feathers on their backs, and often they reduce their laying).
I like to talk to all my birds, but after reading this thread I realise that I am more stand-offish with the cocks, just a natural thing I suppose. But I do pick them up to inspect, just to handle them, to take somewhere, etc, but I never do it to fuss them. The hens I fuss just because I like to, and then I get to fuss their chicks, too.

Another thing I notice is that the hens come right up and under our feet when we´re digging etc, but the cocks stay at a distance. It´s a natural thing. They know that I feed them, never hurt them, but they just never know that we won´t eat them! ...they keep their distance!

With your younger cockerels you´ll be fine...just stop fussing them, only pick them up to inspect them, don´t be all cooey with them, and then choose the one you like....walk into their space to make them move, just like gryphon said, good suggestion. I do that with my cocks, just so they remember. Trouble is, when I do want to pick one up, they keep moving out of my space, so I have to corner them! But once I have one, they´re really calm and no problem.
Enjoy your chickens!

 

[livininbrazil]

Here´s a little success story..To get new blood into my Brahmas, I got some eggs from someone a couple of hours´drive away. I planned to put them under a broody hen. Well, when I got home I found that she´d got a wound and didn´t want to sit on any eggs, poor thing (she´s recovered, fine now), so I put 6 eggs under one broody duck and 6 eggs under another. Well, 2 eggs vanished so I moved the 4 remaining eggs under a newly-broody chicken. Another chicken went broody so I put the other 6 eggs under her. Well, out of all those eggs only two hatched. One died soon after, and this is the one that´s made it. I´m not worried if it´s male or female, will be able to tell soon, but look at those lovely little fluffy feet! It´s with its adoptive hen and she´s taking good care of it.

 

[Huntress78]

Vicki don't feel alone. When problems come up I've often lamented to my boyfriend that "My chickens are smarter than I am!!" But you're doing just what I've done over the years...Identify the problem, analyze the options and implement a solution.

Remember my mean Dark Brahma girls who couldn't get along with anyone else in the coop? They now live in a separate pen/coop and are happy together.

When I realized that there were a half dozen or so girls in the main coop that cannot be with my big Brahma rooster I built a bachelor pen/coop and only some of the girls go to visit him at hatching time. I don't have enough hands to carry a stick or squirt bottle when I'm in his pen (I'm usually carrying a bucket, feed dishes, water) so my way of dealing with him is to walk right through him and if he doesn't give ground he gets a 'toe nudge'. I don't hurt him...just touching his tail feathers with my foot is enough to get his attention and get him to move away.

As for your girls sleeping in the window...I had some want to sleep in the rafters. I have poop boards and want them to use those roosts and it gets very cold here so I want them to all roost together for warmth, so I stapled wire over the rafters so they couldn't get up there (and poo all over). I stapled some cardboard strips over the wire as a visual barrier. Maybe you can staple wire over your window. If you need to access/open the window from the inside then make a wood frame with wire on it and hinge it so it can be opened like a screen door.

I think you're a good chicken owner as some wouldn't bother looking for solutions they'd just get rid of the chickens!

 

[Huntress78]

Livininbrazil congrats on your new chick! It's nice to see pics of babies at this time of year...too cold to hatch here now!

 

[livininbrazil]

Livininbrazil congrats on your new chick! It's nice to see pics of babies at this time of year...too cold to hatch here now!

I´ll post another of my gold brahma with her 3 when I can get on the other computer....