Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

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I decided to breed my own chickens and hatch them when we received 2 black Jersey Giant Cockerels instead of pullets from our source. both of them were vent sexed, but obviously there was a mistake.

I only kept one of them because the other one was human aggressive, but the one that we have is amazing! He is such a good breeder and he even takes care of all the chicks. I can introduce my chicks around 3 weeks old and he will lay with them on the floor and put his wings around them 😍 We call him Papa Squatch now.

I have hatched probably 20ish times since last year and I have butchered only one of the chicks that I hatch from the egg because all of the other ones have sold.

I actually have some that are hatching between today and tomorrow and those will all be meat chicks.
Would one need to worry about a JG roo mating with a normal sized hen because of the weight difference of the roo? Do you find your roo (who sounds awesome) to be a gentleman in that regard? I've only ever had 1 or 2 roos in all these years who were not total snots to the hens.
The idea of a roo that is twice a hen's size being mean to my hens is something I'm concerned about.
 
Would one need to worry about a JG roo mating with a normal sized hen because of the weight difference of the roo? Do you find your roo (who sounds awesome) to be a gentleman in that regard? I've only ever had 1 or 2 roos in all these years who were not total snots to the hens.
The idea of a roo that is twice a hen's size being mean to my hens is something I'm concerned about.
My jersey giant hasn't been aggressive with them, there are a few hens that he does not like but they resolve their differences.

He does have his favorite hen and she has a little bit of a bare spot on her back, but I am going to get her a saddle once this wet weather stops.

He's not aggressive with them, I think any rooster would cause a bear spot on a chicken's back if they have a favorite.
 
When I was younger we actually lived in a trailer on family land and we didn't have much. My mom went through school and became a nurse that's when our life changed.

My household and my parents household are completely different. They seem to be wasteful with food and we aren't. They actually always send leftovers and vegetables they are throwing away to my chickens... They aren't even bad vegetables.

My neighbor started giving me vegetables to put in my compost/give to my chickens. I felt a little weird taking things out to eat myself... she gave me some broccoli and carrots and greens that looked like they could have come straight off the store shelf! They were maybe a little limp but nothing that sitting in water for 20 minutes didn't fix. I've heard that 30-40% of America's food supply is wasted. It's such a tragedy considering how many hungry people live in this country :(. I'm not judging anyone; I'm glad to have my compost pile and chickens now, as it feels less like I'm wasting things.

I do think we need some reeducation and maybe to lower our standards for what healthy food like produce should look like, and raise our standards for the other things we eat.
 
My jersey giant hasn't been aggressive with them, there are a few hens that he does not like but they resolve their differences.

He does have his favorite hen and she has a little bit of a bare spot on her back, but I am going to get her a saddle once this wet weather stops.

He's not aggressive with them, I think any rooster would cause a bear spot on a chicken's back if they have a favorite.
Thanks.
Bare back spots are no problem and I already have aprons.
Ripped off combs, bloody heads, and bullied and terrified hens are a big no-no in my book and the fastest way for a roo to reach freezer camp staus. Second only to going after anything that resembles a human...aka keeper of the food.
 
Thanks.
Bare back spots are no problem and I already have aprons.
Ripped off combs, bloody heads, and bullied and terrified hens are a big no-no in my book and the fastest way for a roo to reach freezer camp staus. Second only to going after anything that resembles a human...aka keeper of the food.
One of my Jersey Giants was human aggressive, but his brother is very mellow and I heard that Jersey Giants are pretty much the great dane of the chicken world. He is so laid back and he is very protective of his flock.

He has pretty much raised all of my chicks for me, it is kind of weird that my rooster does that and not my hens... If only I could get him to sit on eggs for me 😂
 
I have both bigger roosters weighing in at eight pounds or so, and bantams, and nobody has been injured, even if the big guy mounts one of the little hens. It does matter that I don't keep cockerels or roosters who are nasty, either to people, or their flockmates.
Mary

One of my roosters is substantially bigger than my hens, but he has like ten ladies to himself so nobody has been injured. He actually gets along better with my smaller hens.

I used to have a bantam rooster who was tinier than everyone else... it was HILARIOUS to watch him try to mate with hens double his size. He had to get a running start. I let one of my broody hens sit on a bunch of different hens' eggs, and only the egg from my smallest hen hatched. So he was successful at least once!
 
My neighbor started giving me vegetables to put in my compost/give to my chickens. I felt a little weird taking things out to eat myself... she gave me some broccoli and carrots and greens that looked like they could have come straight off the store shelf! They were maybe a little limp but nothing that sitting in water for 20 minutes didn't fix. I've heard that 30-40% of America's food supply is wasted. It's such a tragedy considering how many hungry people live in this country :(. I'm not judging anyone; I'm glad to have my compost pile and chickens now, as it feels less like I'm wasting things.

I do think we need some reeducation and maybe to lower our standards for what healthy food like produce should look like, and raise our standards for the other things we eat.
Our grocery store has the bargain bin for vegetables and it's usually vegetables that are very good, but the store has to chuck them because customers won't buy flawed vegetables.

I have bought stuff from the bargain bin and fed it to my chickens and I have also bought stuff from it and ate it myself... I bought peppers from there one time and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them, they were discounted at about 90% off 😳 they also throw away the bananas that have a little bit of browning on them, sometimes I get them at a discount and make banana bread with them and sometimes I just eat them.

Trust me when I go to my parents and they hand me all this good food, it really frustrates me because we don't throw away a lot in this house because usually we eat everything... I'm not saying that we are 100% perfect because sometimes we do throw stuff out, but we do give it to the chickens. We also have leaf piles that we throw scraps in and it creates a compost because the chickens dig through it... It has made my garden awesome!
 
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