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

[stonykill]

Glad to read all members of your flock were adept enough to keep from being eaten. My initial guess would be a four-legged predator, but this past spring we had a falcon get itself trapped between the inner and outer walls of our barn in pursuit of a pigeon, so I took from that, that winged predators here have proven themselves willing to enter buildings. We freed the falcon, by the way. Had to pry four boards out of the interior of the barn, but we were not going to leave the falcon in there to kill itself trying to escape.

I know from experience hawks will enter buildings. They also will chase chickens on the ground and into and under tree's. Hawks are amazingly fast on foot.

 

[galefrances]

Quote: That's pretty amazing. So glad they were all okay. They'll be spooked for a bit I'm sure.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’ll include an article I found interesting. I’ve copied the summary. Look at the part in bold if you don’t feel like reading it all.

There is an assumption on the forum that bare-backed hens are caused by frequent matings. The rooster is a brute so kill the rooster. This study shows that it ain’t necessarily the case. The hen has some responsibility.

I generally solve the problem of barebacked hens by eating the hen. I think I’ll keep doing that.

http://japr.fass.org/content/19/1/24.full

Commercial broiler breeder managers have reported differences in fertility among strains of birds, with the assumption that less feathering on the backs of hens results from more frequent mating. To determine if mating frequency is associated with back feathering, a study was undertaken to compare the mating behavior of 2 different lines of broiler breeder hens housed with a single strain of roosters. Each pen used in this study contained between 80 and 85 hens and 9 males. Mating behavior activities recorded included aggression, neck flares, male approaches, male waltzes, hen crouches, attempted mounts, completed mounts, attempted matings, and completed matings. Mating observations took place in the evening because this was the most active time for mating. Perivitelline layer sperm penetration, fertility, and hatchability were determined on eggs collected at each observation period. The hen strain with greater feather loss had fewer mounts by males as well as fewer completed matings, indicating that feather loss is not necessarily a good indicator of mating activity and, in fact, that it may deter such behavior. Sperm penetration, fertility, and hatchability were not different between the hen lines. In conclusion, although mating behavior varies in some genetic strains of broiler breeders, it does not fully explain the differences in feather loss, indicating that feather loss on the backs of hens is not a good indicator of mating activity. Furthermore, even though mating activity varied in the 2 hen strains, it did not result in differences in fertility.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I’ll include an article I found interesting. I’ve copied the summary. Look at the part in bold if you don’t feel like reading it all.
There is an assumption on the forum that bare-backed hens are caused by frequent matings. The rooster is a brute so kill the rooster. This study shows that it ain’t necessarily the case. The hen has some responsibility.
I generally solve the problem of barebacked hens by eating the hen. I think I’ll keep doing that.
http://japr.fass.org/content/19/1/24.full
Commercial broiler breeder managers have reported differences in fertility among strains of birds, with the assumption that less feathering on the backs of hens results from more frequent mating. To determine if mating frequency is associated with back feathering, a study was undertaken to compare the mating behavior of 2 different lines of broiler breeder hens housed with a single strain of roosters. Each pen used in this study contained between 80 and 85 hens and 9 males. Mating behavior activities recorded included aggression, neck flares, male approaches, male waltzes, hen crouches, attempted mounts, completed mounts, attempted matings, and completed matings. Mating observations took place in the evening because this was the most active time for mating. Perivitelline layer sperm penetration, fertility, and hatchability were determined on eggs collected at each observation period. The hen strain with greater feather loss had fewer mounts by males as well as fewer completed matings, indicating that feather loss is not necessarily a good indicator of mating activity and, in fact, that it may deter such behavior. Sperm penetration, fertility, and hatchability were not different between the hen lines. In conclusion, although mating behavior varies in some genetic strains of broiler breeders, it does not fully explain the differences in feather loss, indicating that feather loss on the backs of hens is not a good indicator of mating activity. Furthermore, even though mating activity varied in the 2 hen strains, it did not result in differences in fertility.

Love this!!!! Earlier, when discussing the ISA re-breeding program, I mentioned we were breeding for softer, slightly looser feathering, on the line. The commercial layer strains we started with come with genetics seemingly designed for protein use that produce eggs, not quality feathering. The intended destination for their selective breeding was highly condensed laying environment, ie, the cages or similar of the intensive hen houses. Since those hens would never see a rooster, never be exposed to true ambient air temperatures, the feathering goals of such a bird doesn't match up well with the feathering preferred by the homesteader, it seemed to us. Thus, we have intentionally, selectively bred to reverse some of the commercial hen's feature and breed for less brittle feathering. We were operating on intuition in our decision making, just relying on our own experience.

RidgeRunner's assertion that in far too many cases, the pre-supposition here is "the rooster is the brute, kill the rooster" seems accurate, to me. When in reality, the average flock keeper is not fully considering a multitude of other contributing factors such as diet, genetic makeup and feather conditioning on the hens, and this possible new insight into hen behavior, as indicated by the statement above, which RidgeRunner placed in bold text.

 

[aussie pete]

after reading these posts by kathy but before reading the one by ridgerunner i was thinking some bare backed hens may have been caused by "fake mating" by the dominant rooster in an attempt to claim as it were all the hens prior to any mating attempts by another rooster - ridge runner throws up another variable
i had always considered the cause to be too lower hen /rooster ratio
recent observations of my flock have shown that a couple of my hens actually while not being able to avoid the attention of one rooster do not co-operate with regard to stance ,where as with another rooster do co-operate in that regard with better wing spread and stance to help the rooster balance better .
question,has anyone found less feather damage in a flock with one rooster rather than one with a couple ?
may it be better to observe hen preferences for roosters if trying to choose one to keep, given there is little difference between 2 rooster in IMO ?

 

[galanie]

The feather loss thing is interesting to me because I have one with lots of feather damage from mating. BUT. She does seem to be the roo's favorite. And she has loose brittle feathering. I've watched and often he just surprises her, she lets out a tiny squawk and squats, then he sometimes does the fake mating thing but sometimes follows through. I need to watch them all more than I do I think. I still think she's his favorite because of her behavior. She's "easy" for him to mount and since he's been around, she follows him and stays with him more than the others. It's almost like she has gained status because of him. But maybe he doesn't really even try to mount her that much. I'll have to watch.

 

[rowerjen]

Glad to read all members of your flock were adept enough to keep from being eaten. My initial guess would be a four-legged predator, but this past spring we had a falcon get itself trapped between the inner and outer walls of our barn in pursuit of a pigeon, so I took from that, that winged predators here have proven themselves willing to enter buildings. We freed the falcon, by the way. Had to pry four boards out of the interior of the barn, but we were not going to leave the falcon in there to kill itself trying to escape.

Wow, that's one determined falcon. My neighbor has game cams out and said we have a lot of grey fox in the area, and some fishers. Seems odd that they would be out mid day though. Haven't seen any hawks or owls of late, but I know they're out there. Doesn't matter much in the end I suppose; we've got enough winged and four footed predators for anything to be possible.

 

[smyers32]

Exciting news today! Mr. Nixon(my roo) is finally crowing!!
I know, no one cares, but I'm excited and proud and wanted to share with my BYC friends!
And I was beginning to wonder if he would ever crow!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Exciting news today! Mr. Nixon(my roo) is finally crowing!!
I know, no one cares, but I'm excited and proud and wanted to share with my BYC friends!
And I was beginning to wonder if he would ever crow!

Hey, I care!! LOL

My anointed prince, (due to ascend the throne before breeding season), is gaining his voice very well, thank you. Some of his ladies in waiting also entered POL yesterday.
As I wipe a tear from my eye and exclaim, "Don't you just adore how the young'uns are comin' up?"

You'd think after 50 years, all this would be old hat. Don't believe it.

 

[caj1985]

Fred,

You old softy you!