Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[delisha]

Congrats on the successful hunt.

Roosters vs cockerels
Hard to judge these against each other. A good rooster will not put up with much mock flashing from a cockerel a smart cockerel will back down and respect the older rooster and if he challenges it might be something to observe. Some roosters are aggressive enough to kill and you might not want a cockerel who challenges so lightly. It might lead to messy bloody flocks.
Mock fighting with-in cockerels is normal. They head down with neck ring of feathers all flared up at each other and charge. Flip legs and feet at each other and try to spur. It is all normal behavior.
I have a young cockerel right now with a bloody crest because he thought he could challenge my old drake. He is now in a better frame of mind.
I look for an unselfish bird. One who looks out for the whole. One who calls sweetly to the other birds and to show all the good foods, bugs, and greens. It's like they say.."look what I found for you"! I like the ones who are gentle with younger birds and not aggressive. If the lead cock is at least disinterested and not constantly picking on young birds its a good trait. My old drake lays by the baby pen when the baby's are out and does not allow anyone to cause problems. The cockerel I presently have is disinterested in young birds. He is focused on breeding, watching, and eating. He has not matured enough yet, so I am not sure if he is a keeper. Your best tools is your eyes and gut. Can they find food? Are they flock orientated or self absorbed? Are they good alerters to predators?

 

[bruceh]

OH - and one more question on the rooster subject.

If you have a cockerel/rooster with the flock, and you want to bring another one into the flock, what do you consider is the best way to do this? I don't mean the quarantining and such, I just mean the introduction of a new rooster/cockerel to the flock to minimize the fighting/trauma/drama with the already established rooster/cockerel...

good luck with that. they will fight at some point. this is for top position. who mates and who does not. sometimes if you have enough hens they will split the flock. if bringing in another rooster watch them closely . roosters can inflict serious damage or cause death. think of lion prides. it can be done i have seen it go one of 2 ways. 1 as i described and 2nd nothing. if confined in a pen my money is as described. if free ranged and you have enough hens it could go the later.

just my opinion.

 

[Maven]

nice job on the hunt! Very impressive! Around here a lot of hunters have come back empty. I know one guy got a huge elk but otherwise nothin. Incidently its the same guy that slept on an air mattress to catch the bear in his coop and shot it point blank with a rubber bullet. If you ever saw him you would think he was a computer geek. He has some grit though. Have to laugh at how out of character his actions seem comparatively.

Holy-moly! I don't think I'd be brave enough to go after a bear with just rubber bullets! I think I'd have to have the Mr.'s 7mm or AK47 in hand!

Thanks, the hunts around here have all gone very well!! We have been very fortunate this year in many ways where the deer are concerned. The drought broke just in time to green up the pastures and fields and help fill out the acorns so that the deer have almost all regained the horrible tons of weight they had lost during the worst of the summer. And the weather for the season this year has been amazing - only one day of rain last Sunday, and nice and cold at night with the temps reaching perfect degrees for hanging the meat during the day. You just couldn't ask for better.

I LOVE elk meat!! They are beginning to reintroduce Elk here in our area of Missouri - this year's horrible drought was very, very hard on the fledgling herds but hopefully the endeavors will ultimately be successful.

 

[Maven]

Congrats on the successful hunt.

I look for an unselfish bird. One who looks out for the whole. One who calls sweetly to the other birds and to show all the good foods, bugs, and greens. It's like they say.."look what I found for you"! I like the ones who are gentle with younger birds and not aggressive. If the lead cock is at least disinterested and not constantly picking on young birds its a good trait. My old drake lays by the baby pen when the baby's are out and does not allow anyone to cause problems. The cockerel I presently have is disinterested in young birds. He is focused on breeding, watching, and eating. He has not matured enough yet, so I am not sure if he is a keeper. Your best tools is your eyes and gut. Can they find food? Are they flock orientated or self absorbed? Are they good alerters to predators?

Thank you!

And in regard to the bolded part, at what age do you expect to see this sort of behavior develop in a maturing cockerel? ie, when should he go from being a self-absorbed snot to a flock leader, providing there are no other roosters already in that position?

 

[Maven]

Mock fighting with-in cockerels is normal. They head down with neck ring of feathers all flared up at each other and charge. Flip legs and feet at each other and try to spur. It is all normal behavior.

Oh, and

- my PULLETS do this with each other all the time - that 'dance' is really hilarious to watch! Chicken TV is so much fun!

Gotta go take clothes off the line before it starts to rain - be back in a bit!

 

[bruceh]

Congrats on the successful hunt.

Roosters vs cockerels
Hard to judge these against each other. A good rooster will not put up with much mock flashing from a cockerel a smart cockerel will back down and respect the older rooster and if he challenges it might be something to observe. Some roosters are aggressive enough to kill and you might not want a cockerel who challenges so lightly. It might lead to messy bloody flocks.
Mock fighting with-in cockerels is normal. They head down with neck ring of feathers all flared up at each other and charge. Flip legs and feet at each other and try to spur. It is all normal behavior.
I have a young cockerel right now with a bloody crest because he thought he could challenge my old drake. He is now in a better frame of mind.
I look for an unselfish bird. One who looks out for the whole. One who calls sweetly to the other birds and to show all the good foods, bugs, and greens. It's like they say.."look what I found for you"! I like the ones who are gentle with younger birds and not aggressive. If the lead cock is at least disinterested and not constantly picking on young birds its a good trait. My old drake lays by the baby pen when the baby's are out and does not allow anyone to cause problems. The cockerel I presently have is disinterested in young birds. He is focused on breeding, watching, and eating. He has not matured enough yet, so I am not sure if he is a keeper. Your best tools is your eyes and gut. Can they find food? Are they flock orientated or self absorbed? Are they good alerters to predators?

 

[delisha]

Thank you!

And in regard to the bolded part, at what age do you expect to see this sort of behavior develop in a maturing cockerel? ie, when should he go from being a self-absorbed snot to a flock leader, providing there are no other roosters already in that position?

This cockerel will be a cockerel till he is about 14-18 months I am thinking. He is a Cornish, cross of some kind. His mother is in the flock and he still runs to her when he is looking for food or is ummm..*chicken* he was hatched in June, so it is going to be a while. He is the only male I have kept, so he might mature earlier, the rest were butchered out. I normally do not keep roosters long, however it was suggested if I did keep one perhaps the neighbors roo would not attempt to visit so freely. I was never worried about diseases, worms, and contamination till I started on here and have done some radical changes in my flock keeping. Some cockerels mature much sooner, closer to 12- 14 months. He does breed some of the younger females, but the older hens are not impressed. I do not expect any type of real maturation till July at the earliest. My hens will tell the story. I will make my decision to keep or cull in May or June.

 

[delisha]

If you are going to introduce a new young cockerel to the flock, it might not be a bad idea to put him in with older mature established hens first. They will teach him some manners before he is introduced to the established rooster. It might be less bloody.

 

[JulieNKC]

Sorry, had to ditch quick the water guys were here to check the interior and exterior meter to make sure they matched.

I'm prepared to go to my friend's house and cull this chicken for her right now if that is the advice. She has antibiotics and would rather not use them. She is chucking her whole coop and replacing the litter with new right now. ACV in the water and garlic in the food. All help appreciated. I cannot remember the details I know this has been discussed before. I think what was said is that if they live they will be stronger and healthier and if they dont then its a natural cull of the weaker birds. Her beak is open and she is struggling to breath.


I know. I can here all the voices already....bad idea to mix flock what was she thinking and well there you go punk.



The guy she bought em from has 50 chickens and is about 70. His flock was picking on these Americanunas so he wanted to get rid of them. She said he was the quintessential farmer with the bib over alls and everything. She is trying to find his number to call him and warn him his flock has been exposed.

Somebody that knows please log on....I'm sending a mental plea toward the East!

L

Not an old timer. More of a middle timer, lol, but have been around chickens and other animals my whole life. If she's had them for a week and they are just now showing symptoms I would consider the possibility it's her flock carrying something they exposed to the new birds, so her chickens likely already carry it and are immune, and hopefully should be ok. I would cull the sick chicken though. Most diseases they will remain carriers if exposed, transfer it to other people's flocks, if they are stressed they can relapse, and might never be truly healthy afterwards. Be careful not to bring anything home to your birds from there, and if she does have more birds that become sick or it spreads through the whole flock consider sending it for a necropsy. Some states will do them for free, just pay for shipping, for small flock owners.

If you are going to introduce a new young cockerel to the flock, it might not be a bad idea to put him in with older mature established hens first. They will teach him some manners before he is introduced to the established rooster. It might be less bloody.

I keep a leghorn around that I don't particularly like, and isn't that great a layer. She does have a mean set of spurs though, and is good at teaching the new birds the ropes on foraging, where to sleep, and how to act.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Not an old timer. More of a middle timer, lol, but have been around chickens and other animals my whole life. If she's had them for a week and they are just now showing symptoms I would consider the possibility it's her flock carrying something they exposed to the new birds, so her chickens likely already carry it and are immune, and hopefully should be ok. I would cull the sick chicken though. Most diseases they will remain carriers if exposed, transfer it to other people's flocks, if they are stressed they can relapse, and might never be truly healthy afterwards. Be careful not to bring anything home to your birds from there, and if she does have more birds that become sick or it spreads through the whole flock consider sending it for a necropsy. Some states will do them for free, just pay for shipping, for small flock owners.
I keep a leghorn around that I don't particularly like, and isn't that great a layer. She does have a mean set of spurs though, and is good at teaching the new birds the ropes on foraging, where to sleep, and how to act.

I keep my game hen around for the same reasons JulieNKC but I like her. lol