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

[galanie]

It is most likely curiosity, not to say you shouldn't take heed to the real OT's warnings. I say this because many parrots will "groom" a person's hair, it's as if they can't figure out why those feathers never grew out right. Regardless of what I've said here though about it possibly just being curiosity about your "feathers" I'd still be nervous about having him so close.

ETA: Also in parrots or at least small ones like cockatiels, it's a sign of affection. Mated pairs will groom each others heads and they will do the same a human they are bonded to. Watch out! =D That might be yet another warning light that you might be in for some aggression you can nip in the bud now by not letting him do it.

 

[Kassaundra]

Thanks for the responses. I don't cuddle w/ my chickens, when I do pick them up it is for a purpose (like moving them to where I want them, or checking something that may look odd etc....)

The reason the chickens can get that close to me is my garden / chicken set up is designed for the chicken runs to be the gardens, so I am in the run gardening, this is the major reason I even have chickens, when I am in the run preparing it for the growning season, getting the old grass weeds out ect... they are digging along w/ me. I will be more cautious of this behavior and redirect it.

 

[BooBear]

I have a dominance rooster question.  My policy since having the chickens has been to nip any and all dominance problems in the bud, and so far it is working well I have no problems w/ my one and only roo being human aggressive.  He has this one behavior that I just am not sure if it is innocent curiosity or the beginnings of a dominance issue.  He has a huge fascination w/ my hair, when I am gardening in the run areas he stares near continuously at it, and when he can't stand it any more he reaches out and "touches" it w/ his beak.  He has not attempted to peck me, more like the action of running a feather through their beaks while grooming.  I have red hair not sure if that is part of the fascination or not (like normal human red hair not punk rock red).  I can't find any information on this specific behavior.

He could be thinking about whoopie with your hair. A fluffy round head does look close to a fluffy round hen bottom.
I have had a few boys make the move in that direction. They only manage to trick me once, even that is both embarrassing and funny.
Cinnimon tried to romance my head once. I am very careful when picking him up now. Soon To Be was into legged humping. He made a nice roast. And recently Popeye, who looked like a girl Silkie for the longest time, showed my hand unwanted affection. (Anyone want a confused Silkie boys? )

Had to edit as this new setup is ruff on my phone when repling.

 

[mkcolls]

To all the wise ones a question about a change in rooster dominance in the flock.

We have 65 pullet/hens and 7 roosters. Until mid December the roosters were with their hatch mates, 4 separate fenced/coop area. DH decided to open the areas, mixing all but those that fly over fencing and are independent of the others. (seven EE's, one BA pullet, one SLW pullet)

Naturally there were many adjustments to the pecking order, but the hens sorted it out quickly. Our SLW cockerel has decided that our big, gentle giant Buff Brahma cockerel is his arch enemy and has made his life miserable. We have tried to intervene only when it gets ugly, we have warned the SLW off, and put the SLW in a closed pen. Because it does not have a roof, he flies over and goes right back to where ever the Brahma is and attacks.

The past few days the Brahma has flown over the indoor fencing, and stayed in corners alone. He always chooses to be outside when that is possible, and always alone. Our CO, refuses to fight.

Until this happened the Brahma and two other cockerels share a coop with 29 hens, normal fussing, but no fighting and had quite a harem of pullets.

DH plans to build a covered breeding pen in the early spring, I was hoping to speed up that project and put the SLW cock with some pullets/hens in now. But thinking about what I have read I am not sure that I want aggressive offsprings of this cock.

Any wisdom?

 

[flocksalot]

To all the wise ones a question about a change in rooster dominance in the flock.

We have 65 pullet/hens and 7 roosters. Until mid December the roosters were with their hatch mates, 4 separate fenced/coop area. DH decided to open the areas, mixing all but those that fly over fencing and are independent of the others. (seven EE's, one BA pullet, one SLW pullet)

Naturally there were many adjustments to the pecking order, but the hens sorted it out quickly. Our SLW cockerel has decided that our big, gentle giant Buff Brahma cockerel is his arch enemy and has made his life miserable. We have tried to intervene only when it gets ugly, we have warned the SLW off, and put the SLW in a closed pen. Because it does not have a roof, he flies over and goes right back to where ever the Brahma is and attacks.

The past few days the Brahma has flown over the indoor fencing, and stayed in corners alone. He always chooses to be outside when that is possible, and always alone. Our CO, refuses to fight.

Until this happened the Brahma and two other cockerels share a coop with 29 hens, normal fussing, but no fighting and had quite a harem of pullets.

DH plans to build a covered breeding pen in the early spring, I was hoping to speed up that project and put the SLW cock with some pullets/hens in now. But thinking about what I have read I am not sure that I want aggressive offsprings of this cock.

Any wisdom?

I'm sure others will chime in soon, but I would agree that agression is somewhat genetic. From my experience the SLW can be a bit of a bully and Brahmas are more laid back prefering to complain and puff themselves bigger than their nearest competitor.


This being said now that he knows he can force him away from the hens that is what he will do. I personally would find a replacement for the SLW if you are looking for more gentle birds.

What your husband did is similar to how our birds are wintered over. We move them from their individual flock houses into our two largest for over the coldest part of the winter. During the day they are free ranged. We have 146 chickens of which there are 15 breeding roosters and 131 hens (well 5 are still pullets, but the young roos don't care). One house has 6 roosters and the other house 9. If we get an agressive roo going after the other roos or terrorzing the hens/pulletswe move Big Daddy otherwise known as Rudy Roo. He gives the snot a smack down and usually we have no problems after that. If we do he becomes dinner. I don't sell aggressive roos. Rudy isn't agressive normally, but if another hen or roo is getting hurt he feels like he should be involved in some way. He's also great for taking out Norway rats when the Dark Cornish aren't around.

Decide what you really want from this boy and if he can't give it to you then you should look for another roo to replace him. That's the advice I give my son the actuall owner of the chickens I'm just the mentor and turkey farmer. I would do the same with a turkey.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't consider this behavior aggressive in the undesirable way~he's not aggressive towards you or the hens, is he?

Yes, he seems to want to be boss roo and he sees this one roo as his only rival, apparently. If I were going to get rid of a roo in this scenario, it would be tempting to keep the big, sweet roo just because I always root for the underdog....but I wouldn't. Any roo worth his salt will try to establish a dominance over the flock and this boss roo just might be the most vigorous breeder.

As my setup is different and free range allows subordinate roos to keep a safe distance from a boss roo, I would let the situation sort itself out. If the more docile roo kept getting his comb handed to him and it was resulting in repeated injury, I'd cull the sweet but weaker roo.

It seems you have a breeding setup and want a roo for each of the breeds you currently have, so your situation is different than mine. I only require a hardy, vigorous, brave and vigilant roo of meaty build with good layer genetics.

You, on the other hand, have different goals so you probably want to keep all your roos that you currently have....that being the case, I'd just keep your boss separate from the rest of the flock and see if a little isolation cools his jets for awhile. When you get back to separate penning you can just slide him back with his gals.

Any other breeder operations want to chime in? Sure would be nice to hear from an OT that has breeding flocks....

 

[BooBear]

I agree, as long as he is not showing aggression toward people or being overly ruff with the girls. What the SLW is doing is establishing himself as the top rooster and making sure the Brahma keeps away from his girls. This is normal behavior not to be confused with high aggression.

The submissive rooster probably needs to be seperated if his is picked on too much.

You want enough umph in your rooster to hold his ground, fight for the girls, protect the girls, and yet be a perfect gentle roo with the hens along with minding his manners around his human caregivers.

 

[Lollipop]

I don't consider this behavior aggressive in the undesirable way~he's not aggressive towards you or the hens, is he?

Yes, he seems to want to be boss roo and he sees this one roo as his only rival, apparently. If I were going to get rid of a roo in this scenario, it would be tempting to keep the big, sweet roo just because I always root for the underdog....but I wouldn't. Any roo worth his salt will try to establish a dominance over the flock and this boss roo just might be the most vigorous breeder.

As my setup is different and free range allows subordinate roos to keep a safe distance from a boss roo, I would let the situation sort itself out. If the more docile roo kept getting his comb handed to him and it was resulting in repeated injury, I'd cull the sweet but weaker roo.

It seems you have a breeding setup and want a roo for each of the breeds you currently have, so your situation is different than mine. I only require a hardy, vigorous, brave and vigilant roo of meaty build with good layer genetics.

You, on the other hand, have different goals so you probably want to keep all your roos that you currently have....that being the case, I'd just keep your boss separate from the rest of the flock and see if a little isolation cools his jets for awhile. When you get back to separate penning you can just slide him back with his gals.

Any other breeder operations want to chime in? Sure would be nice to hear from an OT that has breeding flocks....

I agree with Bee 100% on which rooster to keep and also like she said, it appears that you need both for your breeding pens. I like a rooster that asserts himself as long as he doesn't attack a human. That's just being a rooster. They're built like that. The Brahma may be what you need for Brahma hens, but the other guy is what you need for his breed of hens. If you don't want him asserting his manliness, pen him alone or with a few hens in a facility that he can't escape from. His whole psyche tells him he MUST be the boss, over the hens, but especially over any males in his line of sight. I breed gamefowl. All of my pens have secure tops that do not allow predators in or cocks out. People think that gamefowl are aggressive, but gamefowl are athletes and any rooster will fight. It's just that gamefowl are so adept at it because they are athletic. I'm rambling, but I hope I'm making a little bit of sense..........Pop

 

[mkcolls]

Thank you all for your advise and expertise. You have brought up things that we have considered and some things that we haven't.

After discussing your advise we plan a cooling off period for the SLW and seeing if the Brahma is willing to take up his manly duties, and get out of the corner and be ready to defend his ladies and his place in the flock.He is still a cockerel, just 7 months, and culling is not our first resolution to this.

DH will set up the cooling off pen, later to be the breeding pen, tomorrow.

Thank you for reminding us that different breeds have different strengths. It is why we didn't start with only one breed. They all bring something to the barnyard that make a colorful, diverse, and for us, desirable flock.

 

[mohillbilly]

Welcome, Doof! Just go to your profile where you log in. I'm in Eastern Washington. The more time you spend here, you'll get better at discerning who really knows what they're talking about. It will also help with your coop planning. You'll see just what kind of problems people have that could have been avoided with better coop planning/building. Let me warn you about one thing, although I'm a noob too. Stay away from chicken wire. It'll keep chickens penned up real nice for the predators to corner. Use welded wire or hardware wire. A plus with hardware wire is it also keeps the mice out if your coop is otherwise well-built. This site has lots of coop ideas.

why would you want to keep the mice out ? the chickens love them as do the cats when a mouse comes back thru the wire after the chickens get done chasing it...only reason i see for heavy wire is to keep coons and other large animals out of the chickens..I even stop them with 1 strand of electric fence.