blackfishfin

Chirping
May 16, 2019
77
98
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We've gotten addicted. It's only been a few months and I'm hopeless.
Update on the Chicken Flock
We got 22 new chickens. All of them are female but three, but the person who gave them to us accidentally bought full Rhode Island Reds instead of Bantams, which is definitely a problem seeing as we have to get rid of the roosters before breeding age. We want to give it a while before we end their lives, but not many people are interested in roosters other than for fighting, which is not a good thing. One of the new Rhode Islands has a club foot, but she is not handicapped by it at all. We also received a rescue chicken. Her name is Hen-Hen and she is also a full-grown Rhode Island Red. She is now no longer a chicken and now a dog. She eats out of our dog's food bowl, steals his treats, and comes inside the house when she's cold or hungry. She'll also yell at you if you don't give her what you are eating, and she really likes it when people scratch her neck. Another one of our chickens, Angel, has had three chicks. They are not old enough to be gendered yet, but they look absolutely beautiful, just like their mother and father. I love them very much and they are well taken care of by their mother. :)

Update on the Guinea Gang
They are up to their usual Guinea shenanigans. They have all calmed down (they got a little crazy a few months ago when they were old enough to breed) and have now started going back to their old selves. They have unfortunately not gained any new IQ points, but I still love them. It is now official that we have two Guinea males and three Guinea females, but one of our Guinea's gender is unknown. They still eat out of my hand, but are still really skittish in the dark when I go into the chicken coop to close things up. They hiss and peck at me, but it's funny because they can't peck very hard. Their eggs are all fertile, which is super good because we might want more guineas in the future.

Unfortunate Events
So our neighbors are being entitled and grumpy because our roosters make too much noise. (you cannot hear them when you are in their house) They threatened to sue, but we completely ignored them. About 3 weeks ago, Angel's mate, Storm, died for no reason. He was just found dead on the ground at about 8:00 in the morning. I unfortunately didn't get to see his body to find out what happened because my mom buried him. A week later, our other rooster, Molasses, disappeared as well. We can't find his body, and he was in the coop the night he disappeared and my mom just couldn't find him when she opened the coop. We think the neighbors might be killing them. We are waiting for a game camera so we can put it in the coop and see what happens. We only have two roosters left. I suppose this solves our rooster overpopulation problem, but the two best roosters we have were the ones that were killed. We can't jump to conclusions without evidence, but it is still so disappointing.

Recent Deaths
Storm and Molasses. :(
Also that one Rhode Island we can't find.

Recent Newcomers
Hen-Hen: Rhode-Island Labrador Mix
20 Rhode Island Reds that I can't name.
Hobbit: Club-footed Rhode Island
Noel: Angel's chick
Mistletoe: Angel's chick
Jingles: Angel's chick
 
So sorry for your losses. I wouldn't be surprised if it is your neighbors that are causing it.
We had neighbors who poisoned our dog - thankfully we got him to a vet promptly and was saved. In our case the neighbors didn't like us because we weren't the right religion.

We moved away over 50 years ago and it was well worth it. If you had a game camera set up and got photographic proof of what happens to your birds. That would be the ideal time to show it to the authorities.
 
I'm surprised your neighbors complain of the roosters and not the guineas-which make even more noise.

My wife and I moved to the country to not have close neighbors.

I'm a bird addict too.
They complained about them as well, but the guineas we have are pretty quiet. Also, you cannot hear the birds from our neighbor's house very well. You can really only hear them on the back porch, which is even more ridiculous because it shouldn't be enough to cause a disturbance. Our houses are also separated by about half an acre of trees, so it is a miracle that they can even hear them at all. It's ridiculous, but we have built a completely new coop that's twice as large as the other one and moved it to the other side of the house so that the neighbors cannot hear or see them.
 
So sorry for your losses. I wouldn't be surprised if it is your neighbors that are causing it.
We had neighbors who poisoned our dog - thankfully we got him to a vet promptly and was saved. In our case the neighbors didn't like us because we weren't the right religion.

We moved away over 50 years ago and it was well worth it. If you had a game camera set up and got photographic proof of what happens to your birds. That would be the ideal time to show it to the authorities.
We have had no more losses after our two most-crowing birds have died, which is wonderful.
 

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