Yep, familiar with that concept, but the funny part is that Carrie, the one roosting by herself, is the one who is usually pecking at every one except the two oldest when they're eating or scratching on the ground floor.
Just a fair warning: those collars have killed many cockerels/roosters. I would rehome him so he can have a normal life, which for a male, includes crowing.(Wed Jun 12 - Day 55)
El Aquilo, our 9wk old rooster has been crowing a bit more. It's usually quite amusing to us as he often responds when we say, "Hi Chickens!" He's not loud enough to be a legitimate nuisance to neighbors since he's muffled by being in the garage, but we wanted to get ahead of potential problems and try to get him used to a collar.
Yesterday, we had a trial run during the daytime, and Mom was super scared of strangling him to death, by accident. I tried to assure her that if the recommendation is "about a pinky tip of space", I was fairly sure that 3 fingers worth was way too loose. She sat with him and observed him in his own little box while I added some shavings, cleaned and refilled all the feeders; returning him to the group after about an hour. We continued periodic checks during the day and by that time, he seemed to forget he even had one.
This morning, sans collar, Mom got a 5:30AM wake up call.
So today was day 2 of the collar and tonight will be the first time overnight.
We're being super careful so it's definitely not tight enough to reduce his volume at all. Please send us good vibes that he'll sleep in. Some want Mom to send him to freezer camp, just yet.
We assume he isn't fully grown so we'll continue to remove/refit the collar on a daily basis for a while. Wouldn't want him to grow into a choking condition.
We never wanted a roo to begin with, but we're a house of animal lovers so we're trying our best to make things work. After reading about all of the positive benefits a roo can bring to your flock, I would hate to send him away.
Appreciate the warning.
I love those t-shirts!! They have good taste!
Thanks! It was a nice surprise. It wasn't until I opened my gift that I realized chickens have been the primary topic of conversation for weeks now. On sat, my wife actually said, "Is there something you want to talk about that isn't related to chickens?"
For sure, their current coop is temporary and that 7sq ft per bird I mentioned will basically become their open air coop. I'm hoping to get the roof on the pen tomorrow. Unfortunately had multiple false starts with hog rings and hog rings pliers that were just unsuitable for 1/2" hardware cloth, but I gave in and got metal zip ties, so that should also just be days before that also ready.
