California - Northern

[zooweemama]

Copper (marans) our most sexually active and aggressive rooster- has been attacking Joe (our Orp roo) and he has plucked several ladies clean of feathers. It's him that we see raping all the ladies (lol) they are def protesting! So we locked him up in the run by himself. He got Joe but good. Joe had blood all over his back. And I found poop under a wing- so he must be getting pooped on to? He doesn't seem to be sick but he is acting depressed. I brought him in and gave him a bath (oh good lord he was stanky) and blood ran off him in clumps and I hosed all the poo off. Used my ultra sensitive puppy shampoo on him. Wrapped him in, crated him in my office in front of a small heater to dry.

Question 1: suggestions for cleaning his face? I cannot get the gummy sugary dirty off with just a wash cloth and his gets all Poltergeist on me if I try.

Question 2: Copper is really aggressive with the chickens. The hens and the other roosters. There are 4 roosters (1 bantam, 2 marans and 1 orp) and about 10 hens (1 bantam, 1 marans and all the rest orps). The bantam rooster and the other marans totally hold their own with Copper. Joe and all the ladies cannot. Is Copper an aggressive rooster, just sexually on fire right now from hormones...I do not care how handsome he is- I do not do mean roosters. He's nice enough to us but he is totally different to us.

Thanks guys! Moving into the mature chicken phase and I am new to this part!

 

[debs_flock]

My family already thinks I'm out of my mind

I cant wait to tell them they make a car adapter ...LOL " Good to know"

The first time was because I had only been hatching for a short time and didn't want to miss anything. I was still at the point of recording the temp/humd twice per day and fretting over every little thing. It was near the beginning of the set and I wanted to be able to candle and I would be gone a week.

The second time, I was only gone over a weekend, my other incubators stayed home fine by theirselves. The problem was I had quail hatching THAT day. They are a bit fragile initially and I wanted to be able to keep an eye on them.

My DH is quite the enabler. He encouraged me to get the adapters and left room in the car when he was packing up so I could get them in where I could see them. The only change we made was to take turns at the rest stops so we never had to turn off the engine. We were in my fairly new vehicle, never had a problem with it, but all I could think is what if we stopped in the middle of nowhere to pee and the car wouldn't restart? My eggs would be in jeaopardy

When we arrived at the resort, he wrapped the incubators in a blanket, I grabbed the regular plug and that was the first trip to the room, so the eggs could be settled in first. We stay in a 2-bedroom condo on the coast. The incubators had their own room, LOL.

About a week ago, power went off for about a half hour, I just wrapped a blanket around my incubators and one bin of young chicks, it came back on and everything was fine. My real emergency plan is we have a generator. I had to buy that a few years ago when we had a HUGE snow storm and power was out a few days. That was before chickens, but I needed to be able to keep my frogs warm. I also carried my coffee maker out through the snow and plugged it in, in the frog room. Girls got to have her morning coffee and instant won't do! My backup to that, is to plug them into the adapter in my car.

Some sad news here.

Sorry about your pullet. Don't beat yourself up too bad. It's easy to miss something like that when you have more than a handful of birds and they hide their problems under a bed of feathers.

Deb

 

[debs_flock]

Question 1: suggestions for cleaning his face? I cannot get the gummy sugary dirty off with just a wash cloth and his gets all Poltergeist on me if I try.

Question 2: Copper is really aggressive with the chickens. The hens and the other roosters. There are 4 roosters (1 bantam, 2 marans and 1 orp) and about 10 hens (1 bantam, 1 marans and all the rest orps). The bantam rooster and the other marans totally hold their own with Copper. Joe and all the ladies cannot. Is Copper an aggressive rooster, just sexually on fire right now from hormones...I do not care how handsome he is- I do not do mean roosters. He's nice enough to us but he is totally different to us.

Q1 - My time is limited right now to look this up. I'm sure someone will jump in to help you. But just do a search on how to give a chicken a bath or preparing your bird for a show. It's pretty simple and can just be done with three buckets of water (one soapy and two rinses).

Q2 - They will settle down somewhat from "young love" - think grabby teenage boys on a date. Your roo ratio is a little high, it works better if there is at least 4 girls per boy. Even then, they will try to sneak in a tryst with the other ladies. Some roos never settle down enough and they have to be gotten rid of if they are just too rough on the ladies. But if they are just starting to breed, I'd give them time. Maybe settle the boys out to a bachelor pen (mine's called the Cockpit) for a few days to give the girls a break when they need one.

Deb

 

[zooweemama]

Q1 - My time is limited right now to look this up. I'm sure someone will jump in to help you. But just do a search on how to give a chicken a bath or preparing your bird for a show. It's pretty simple and can just be done with three buckets of water (one soapy and two rinses).

Q2 - They will settle down somewhat from "young love" - think grabby teenage boys on a date. Your roo ratio is a little high, it works better if there is at least 4 girls per boy. Even then, they will try to sneak in a tryst with the other ladies. Some roos never settle down enough and they have to be gotten rid of if they are just too rough on the ladies. But if they are just starting to breed, I'd give them time. Maybe settle the boys out to a bachelor pen (mine's called the Cockpit) for a few days to give the girls a break when they need one.

Deb

Some one already helped with the bath part. What I am having a hard time doing is cleaning his nasty caked face. I cannot soak his face- he'd drown. A wet wash cloth didn't do anything. It's really on there. Wet qtips not helping either.

I locked the sassy roo in the run for today. I don't have any extra pens for now. I would happily buy some more hens - but I am afraid to add any chickens from random people on CL. All my kennels are full right now so I don't have anything available for quarantine time. Hmmm will think on this more. I can always sell off/give away the hens that I bought for this next year.

My husband is finishing up his design on an 8x12 coop for me. Then we can begin gathering supplies. He plans on working on it even in the rain. What a guy. LOL

Thank you for your help.

 

[ronott1]

Copper (marans) our most sexually active and aggressive rooster- has been attacking Joe (our Orp roo) and he has plucked several ladies clean of feathers. It's him that we see raping all the ladies (lol) they are def protesting! So we locked him up in the run by himself. He got Joe but good. Joe had blood all over his back. And I found poop under a wing- so he must be getting pooped on to? He doesn't seem to be sick but he is acting depressed. I brought him in and gave him a bath (oh good lord he was stanky) and blood ran off him in clumps and I hosed all the poo off. Used my ultra sensitive puppy shampoo on him. Wrapped him in, crated him in my office in front of a small heater to dry.

Question 1: suggestions for cleaning his face? I cannot get the gummy sugary dirty off with just a wash cloth and his gets all Poltergeist on me if I try.

Question 2: Copper is really aggressive with the chickens. The hens and the other roosters. There are 4 roosters (1 bantam, 2 marans and 1 orp) and about 10 hens (1 bantam, 1 marans and all the rest orps). The bantam rooster and the other marans totally hold their own with Copper. Joe and all the ladies cannot. Is Copper an aggressive rooster, just sexually on fire right now from hormones...I do not care how handsome he is- I do not do mean roosters. He's nice enough to us but he is totally different to us.

Thanks guys! Moving into the mature chicken phase and I am new to this part!

Another thing too--if the overly amorous boy is stressing out the pullets, that will slow them down from starting to lay. You should follow Debs advice about separating them.

Crazy teenagers....

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Some one already helped with the bath part. What I am having a hard time doing is cleaning his nasty caked face. I cannot soak his face- he'd drown. A wet wash cloth didn't do anything. It's really on there. Wet qtips not helping either.

I locked the sassy roo in the run for today. I don't have any extra pens for now. I would happily buy some more hens - but I am afraid to add any chickens from random people on CL. All my kennels are full right now so I don't have anything available for quarantine time. Hmmm will think on this more. I can always sell off/give away the hens that I bought for this next year.

My husband is finishing up his design on an 8x12 coop for me. Then we can begin gathering supplies. He plans on working on it even in the rain. What a guy. LOL

Thank you for your help.

I took a really warm, drippy-wet wash cloth and sort of soaked the comb and head for a few minutes. Then I rubbed and wiped and she really seemed to like the massage. Kind of calmed down and seemed to enjoy it, but it did take a while (this was an Ameraucana pullet with a huge filthy beard too!).

Maybe your guy got into some tree sap, in which case it will just have to wear off!

 

[juststruttin]

The first time was because I had only been hatching for a short time and didn't want to miss anything. I was still at the point of recording the temp/humd twice per day and fretting over every little thing. It was near the beginning of the set and I wanted to be able to candle and I would be gone a week.

The second time, I was only gone over a weekend, my other incubators stayed home fine by theirselves. The problem was I had quail hatching THAT day. They are a bit fragile initially and I wanted to be able to keep an eye on them.

My DH is quite the enabler. He encouraged me to get the adapters and left room in the car when he was packing up so I could get them in where I could see them. The only change we made was to take turns at the rest stops so we never had to turn off the engine. We were in my fairly new vehicle, never had a problem with it, but all I could think is what if we stopped in the middle of nowhere to pee and the car wouldn't restart? My eggs would be in jeaopardy

When we arrived at the resort, he wrapped the incubators in a blanket, I grabbed the regular plug and that was the first trip to the room, so the eggs could be settled in first. We stay in a 2-bedroom condo on the coast. The incubators had their own room, LOL.

About a week ago, power went off for about a half hour, I just wrapped a blanket around my incubators and one bin of young chicks, it came back on and everything was fine. My real emergency plan is we have a generator. I had to buy that a few years ago when we had a HUGE snow storm and power was out a few days. That was before chickens, but I needed to be able to keep my frogs warm. I also carried my coffee maker out through the snow and plugged it in, in the frog room. Girls got to have her morning coffee and instant won't do! My backup to that, is to plug them into the adapter in my car.

Sorry about your pullet. Don't beat yourself up too bad. It's easy to miss something like that when you have more than a handful of birds and they hide their problems under a bed of feathers.

Deb

I wish my dh was more involved and then again....... maybe not. If he ever knew how many birds I have he would freak. LOL

 

[zooweemama]

I took a really warm, drippy-wet wash cloth and sort of soaked the comb and head for a few minutes. Then I rubbed and wiped and she really seemed to like the massage. Kind of calmed down and seemed to enjoy it, but it did take a while (this was an Ameraucana pullet with a huge filthy beard too!).

Maybe your guy got into some tree sap, in which case it will just have to wear off!

Ok ty! I will wait until he dries out. He looked like a drowned rat. Boy those Orps are just big balls of fluffy feathers- lol. He is in the house right now and he gobbled up some food. Poor guy. I think I will make him an egg later.

-------------

What do you guys think about this to help out my female to male ratio? (I've lost several pullets- the mold stuff- over the past month so my ratio is now seriously off) I am culling my last female today affected by it. ALL Marans every single one. (well except Hope and she was my Orp that struggled from the Cocci before) All t he rest Marans (male and female).

http://redding.craigslist.org/grd/3338554451.html

I found this ad on CL. Price sound about right? I really want to make sure the ratio is better- I don't want my hens harassed more than they need be.

If anyone here as some extra ladies (they don't have to be super young either) they need to sell off that's not too far off- I would rather do that. I feel safer knowing you. (chicken health I mean) You can PM me. I don't need SQ though.

Otherwise...this CL look promising to you? It's very local to me. Thanks!

But if no one has anything

 

[tls_ranch]

Copper (marans) our most sexually active and aggressive rooster- has been attacking Joe (our Orp roo) and he has plucked several ladies clean of feathers. It's him that we see raping all the ladies (lol) they are def protesting! So we locked him up in the run by himself. He got Joe but good. Joe had blood all over his back. And I found poop under a wing- so he must be getting pooped on to? He doesn't seem to be sick but he is acting depressed. I brought him in and gave him a bath (oh good lord he was stanky) and blood ran off him in clumps and I hosed all the poo off. Used my ultra sensitive puppy shampoo on him. Wrapped him in, crated him in my office in front of a small heater to dry.

Question 1: suggestions for cleaning his face? I cannot get the gummy sugary dirty off with just a wash cloth and his gets all Poltergeist on me if I try.

Question 2: Copper is really aggressive with the chickens. The hens and the other roosters. There are 4 roosters (1 bantam, 2 marans and 1 orp) and about 10 hens (1 bantam, 1 marans and all the rest orps). The bantam rooster and the other marans totally hold their own with Copper. Joe and all the ladies cannot. Is Copper an aggressive rooster, just sexually on fire right now from hormones...I do not care how handsome he is- I do not do mean roosters. He's nice enough to us but he is totally different to us.

Thanks guys! Moving into the mature chicken phase and I am new to this part!

Young cockerels can be really rough on the girls and the cockerels tend to be sexually mature before the pullets. The pullets are not ready for mating...yet the cockerels are all randy. It really helps to have older hens or an adult rooster when raising cockerels. They keep the cockerels in check and teach them manners. Otherwise even the little cockerels can start acting out too early and start crowing and harrasing pullets at just a few weeks of age. But, in your case with all young birds you'll just have to wait it out and hope they get through this with out blood shed. Rehoming a cockerel or two would help or pen them up away from the girls in a bachelor pen (out of sight of hens works best).

Most cockerels will eventually learn "manners" and figure out how to get the job done without causing a lot of fuss. If they continue to be mean then get rid of them for the sake of your hens.

Trisha

 

[zooweemama]

Young cockerels can be really rough on the girls and the cockerels tend to be sexually mature before the pullets. The pullets are not ready for mating...yet the cockerels are all randy. It really helps to have older hens or an adult rooster when raising cockerels. They keep the cockerels in check and teach them manners. Otherwise even the little cockerels can start acting out too early and start crowing and harrasing pullets at just a few weeks of age. But, in your case with all young birds you'll just have to wait it out and hope they get through this with out blood shed. Rehoming a cockerel or two would help or pen them up away from the girls in a bachelor pen (out of sight of hens works best).

Most cockerels will eventually learn "manners" and figure out how to get the job done without causing a lot of fuss. If they continue to be mean then get rid of them for the sake of your hens.

Trisha

I actually do have an older rooster. He is about 18 months old- he is a bantam blue laced wyandotte and he TOTALLY puts Copper in his place. Copper plays hop on top and if Foghorm sees him- he totally rush over and dive bombs etc and makes Copper run away. I am actively looking for some chickens (hens) to fill in the space. We have a local family member where we used to buy eggs and I wonder if he would be willing to part with some. Plus this ad on CL that I shared. I have room for a few newcomers.