Chickenkeeping, year 4: The Roostering

[Wildgrass]

So, if you look through my past threads, you can watch my rooster struggle over the last couple years. Rooster #1 was an unforgivable bastard! And Rooster #2 showed up when my hens were still recovering from the first guy's bullcrap, and he wasn't that great either. By the end of last summer, I was left with ten hens and a lot of bad experiences, and I was really wondering if it was possible for me to have roosters.

So I formulated a plan.

Step one: rest and recuperate. I let my girls live boy-free, grow their feathers back, and generally live their best lives until this May.
Step two: "research", aka ask everyone on BYC if they had recommendations for docile rooster breeds. I decided to give buff orpingtons and speckled sussexes a try.
Step three: rooster thunderdome. I put in an order for six male chicks, with the plan to handle them extensively as babies, move them in with the hens young so the girls have ample time to establish who's boss, and cull liberally, in the hopes of ending up with one, maybe two roosters who aren't more trouble than they're worth.

Of course, the hatchery sent me eight chicks.

 

[Wildgrass]

A few days and a new improvised brooder later, I had accepted my fate and color-coded everybody.

We handled them a LOT almost from day one, although nobody liked it much until I brought scrambled eggs into the equation. Last year I failed abjectly to teach my chicks eggs are food, and so they were impossible to handle, but this year I got smart and introduced eggs when they were out of food! Worked like a charm. Within a couple weeks, it was clear the Orpingtons were naturally less flighty and settled quickly into being held and picked up and all that. I spent a lot of time thinking about how rooster chicks seem so much friendlier than hen chicks, and how that's kind of cruel! But this was a really fun stage.

 

[Wildgrass]

Colorado had a pretty cold spring, so I was stuck with a lot of stinky boys in my house until the end of May. I think they hit about five weeks, and I moved them out into the "bachelor pad," in the chicken run, with some light fencing around the door so everybody could get a good look at each other.

The boys were really worried until they got some egg.

I let them hang out separately for about a week and then opened the fence to see how things went! Everyone integrated really smoothly. The boys respectfully avoided the hens for the most part, and the hens were unbothered by having the little guys around unless their space got invaded. Since the cockerels had been living with each other for six weeks, they'd gotten used to sparring and challenged the hens right at first, but that stopped after they got their butts handed to them!

 

[3KillerBs]

 

[Wildgrass]

That, I believe, brings us to the present of the Roostering. The boys have started crowing, they're sparring more, and some of the Orpingtons have been spotted mating with Leggie, my cream legbar hen and the bird that every other bird identifies as last in the pecking order. But she can also still chase the boys away after they mate her, so, who knows what's going on there.

We got some colored bands to tell the Orps apart, and now we know that one of them (his name is Pocket Sand) is ready to meet his maker. He's quite nasty with the other cockerels. Another Orpington, named Lizard Boy, is very human-focused and always wants to be on your shoulder, baby-peeping. I've kept an eye on him but have yet to see any nasty behavior with humans. The Sussexes are still more shy of people, but spar with all the other cockerels. And one of them is a pullet!

 

[Wildgrass]

And actually, before I leave it 'til the next update, I remembered something else I wanted to share. I've been trying hard to observe behaviors and learn, because I am so new to this species. And about a week ago we noticed what seemed like a very abrupt, bad turn in the boys. We were in the run late in the evening, after the hens had gone to bed and their auto-door was shut. The bachelor pad's coop door is broken, so they get in and out through the human sized door, which is always propped open. So all the boys were out around sunset, and we were hanging out with them, still getting in that handling time...

And I'm not sure what happened. I think the Orps were pecking me quite hard, so I used my hand to push them away. One of them made a very angry sound, and suddenly I had a lot of cockerels around me, ready to fight! It was kind of scary! It felt like they went from sweet babies to bad roosters in an instant! I think I picked up the angriest one and held him while I got the others to pay attention to other stuff. I worried about it for the rest of the night until I realized: it was because the hens were put away! The hens shoo them away from people, who are their food and attention resource, and so the babies have to be on the run, not ready to fight. We noticed the next day that some of the bossier hens would show up to chase off a cockerel if they started getting uppity with a human. I just thought that was really interesting!

The other trick I picked up is that, maybe obviously, shoving a bird back makes him frustrated and more ready to fight. Lots of squaring-up behavior. But if I swoop my finger out and use my hand to turn them around in place, they get distracted and calm down! It took a few turns at first, but it's been pretty reliable in getting them to stop hard-pecking me or squaring up. It seems like it's modified those behaviors for the time being.

And that's all I've got so far! I just wanted to record it for posterity, and for any other novice rooster-keepers looking for some anecdotes. I will update as the roostering progresses!

 

[Sally PB]

 

[Justso]

I know where this is going. You're going to end up with two that you really really like and have different pros and cons and end up with two pens of chickens and double the amount of hens that you thought you would.

 

[Wildgrass]

Listen, if I can whittle it down to two, I'm calling that a win!

 

[Mrs. K]

It will be interesting to see how this goes. I do it differently, and will be interested in your long term results. I want my roosters to keep their distance from me.

Mrs K