Colorado

[megshenhut]

Good morning everyone!!!

just seeing if i have any neighbors here. ill be moving to gunnison in two months. anyone here from Salida, gunnison, montrose area?

a little nervous for my chickens since it gets so cold

I work in Salida and live in Buena Vista.

 

[samsr]

That's a huge egg! Do you eat the goose eggs same as chicken eggs, or do you do something else (besides hatch) with them? The only time I ate a goose egg, it was so rich I couldn't finish it.

This one is going to be some sweedish pancakes this weekend. Its a recipie that was my great great grandmas. Its more like a crepe. ithe recepie happens to take 3 eggs. At least i can find out for sure if picking up that male toulouse gander was worth it. I have seen him trying to do his job but i dont know if he has made it to the mark. The plan is to hatch quite a few. And maybe supply some hatching eggs to some members here if they want them. Its all about fun and the experience of trying to hatch these eggs. They are a bit more difficult to hatch, i wish i would have known a few of the tricks when i hatched my tufted. Lol
Chicken chicks will generally try and get away form you a few days after they hatck. Ehere as the geese will bond with you and follow you around. Its very cute.

 

[Ashdoes]

Wow, sorry to hear you're in the same boat as me now The boss buff roo keeps the 2nd up on the roost continuously. The 2nd comes down early to eat and drink and then back down late for the same but other than that stays up on the roost. I'm almost done with the runs and hopefully once they are able to access more space the 2nd guy will have a better life. If not, he'll be headed for the pot. The way my BO girls backs are looking, I might cook the boss roo and give the 2nd a chance to see if he'll be a bit more gentle with them. I've had to spray Blu kote on several of their backs because they were actually bleeding. Hope it works out for you.

We had the bare back problem with our Cochins too, because of the size of the Roos. I only had two boys at the time, with 15 hens and still, the Cochins girls lost their cushions, and those take forever to come back in. I finally got some saddles, a member here makes them. They really helped to keep the area protected from the Roos and the sun. Only one hen ended needing to wear it long term, I'm not sure why hers was so bad.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/651503/hen-saddles this is the woman I bought them from, she did a great job on them, and I have them in my emergency kit now.

 

[suncatcher]

Well we might be facing culling one of our BO roo's, as I went out to bring the gang in from free range and found the boys fighting. Both with blood running from there heads, we got them separate, one in the small coop the other with the flock. We will leave the second in command in small coop until am, then we need to decide. Not sure what happened today, seems out of the blue for this. They have never fought before, we have plenty of hens for each, multiple feeding and watering stations as well. I have noticed about 7-8 ladies with bear backs, like the roo's are matting the same girls. Maybe that is a coincidence.

I am dealing with the same rooster issue, these two have been together for months, and now all of a sudden they are fighting. I will be adding another small coop, or large chicken tractor, as I want to keep them both. One rooster is super gentle, the other not so much with the girls, I did notice last year when I was hatching eggs, not all eggs were fertilized, so that may change this year with the more aggresive roo added, he does not give up on breeding the hens that run from him, the chase is always on!

Thanks for the chicken apron info Ash, I have never had one, but will order one to have handy just in case.

 

[Mtn Margie]

I have some hen saddles as well from her. They are very nice!

 

[uzisuzuki]

So, from the sounds of it, a lot of you are having issues with your roosters suddenly getting feisty. Is this natural for "spring time" (ugh, it's only February and it feels like summer/spring already!)? I've noticed that my rooster has been getting super active in mating the hens and attempting to mate/attack me as the weather has been getting nicer and it had me wondering if this was a natural personality change with the change of weather. Nice weather = feeling more active and frisky kinda thing. I'm more used to male dogs only getting unbearable to be around when a female is in heat instead of a change in weather.

Before this morning, I wasn't really worried about his behavior change. However, I wasn't paying attention while he was in the barn with me getting their feed/snacks ready for the day and he got a good peck in right under my eye. Then the little turd walked himself back to the pen from the barn! He was on a roll this morning. Wondering if I have to be more on guard during nicer weather months than I have had to during the winter months.

 

[Mtn Margie]

I would say yes, be on guard during the Spring Friskies!

 

[suncatcher]

Yep, this time of year the roosters are trying to establish their dominance, and where they will be in the flock, so is bound to happen. I have one little Bantam that thinks I am his girlfriend, he brings me pieces of straw and does his "found food" call to me, he then jumps on my boot and tries to do his thing, I usually pick him up and hold him for awhile. Not sure if this is encouraging him or not, as he seems very content when I am holding him.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Yep, this time of year the roosters are trying to establish their dominance, and where they will be in the flock, so is bound to happen. I have one little Bantam that thinks I am his girlfriend, he brings me pieces of straw and does his "found food" call to me, he then jumps on my boot and tries to do his thing, I usually pick him up and hold him for awhile. Not sure if this is encouraging him or not, as he seems very content when I am holding him.

This is exactly how mine acts! Except he jumps onto the back of my head to try to do his thing. :| I've started wearing my hood up to help stop that. I mean, I will put up with a lot, but I draw the line at potential rooster stuff getting in my hair.

Normally, he's very content to be held and carried around but this morning he was just all attitude. He's never jumped off my shoulder or hand before getting to his pen before so I was initially worried I'd have to just let him take off since there was no way I'd be able to chase him. But he just beelined from the barn to his hens and impatiently waited for me to hobble the distance and open the gate for him. I've never seen such a tiny thing move with such determination and confidence. He knew exactly where he was going (and it was apparently to the hens that wouldn't rebuff his advances). Men! Geez!

 

[suncatcher]

Quote: Wow, jumping on your head is dangerous, might want to discourage that! Yep, they are all about the girls these days......