Delaware x Barred Rock Chicks--Indy, Rex and Ira's Progress Thread

[speckledhen]

Yes. I call it the "poop deck" now.

 

[Cetawin]

My love Rexie Poo cannot help it that he is a lover now stop calling him stalker. He just wants nomnoms and I am not there to give them.

 

[speckledhen]

The hens will hang out with Ira, but they hide from Rexie Poo. He's a little over-motivated to breed for their taste.

 

[speckledhen]

Ira has gone to a new home tonight. A couple whose rooster was no longer producing fertile eggs wanted him, even insisted on paying me for him, though I tried to wave him off. So, now, I just have (with Isaac) Indy, Rex, Deacon and the younger ones, Scout and Gabriel, who are now 12 weeks.

 

[speckledhen]

Just found Indy dead in the middle of the pen. Not a mark on him anywhere, but his neck was arched backward and his intestines were pushed outward. Rigor had already set in. None of the birds had been acting like there was anything amiss all day long and I saw him just a couple of hours prior to finding him.

Looks like he was hit from behind with great force and it instantly broke his neck, pushing his organs out the cloaca. The only thing strong enough and big enough to do that is his sire, Isaac. It's happened before, Isaac sneaking up on him from behind, hitting him in the bum with both feet, but at that time, Ike was downhill from Indy so didn't get on top of him. Today, Indy was downhill from the ramp that comes out of the coop and if Ike had come barreling down the ramp and landed on Indy's back with both feet, maybe to save one of the pullets from being mated by Indy, he could easily have snapped his neck. Rex is not big enough and certainly, Deacon is way too small and scared of Indy to do any sort of damage. Nobody had any blood on them, no scratches, no wounds at all, but if it happened the way I think it did, there wouldn't have been.
DANG IT! Indy was the best of the lot in every way, caused the least amount of trouble.

I'm so upset.

Wish I could change the title of this thread, now that Indy is dead and Ira rehomed. Now, it should be Rex, Deacon, Gabriel and Scout. Sigh.

Well, here are Scout and Gabriel anyway:

 

[chickenneighbor]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you. It's hard to believe I won't be seeing that big dinosaur of a boy around anymore.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Sorry here too. I was anxious awaiting seeing his fully grown up pics. You know these things always happen to the best ones/hopefuls it seems, never fails. laws of the land Hey atleast you still got the ingredients there, maybe someday you will hatch another one just like him.

Jeff

 

[speckledhen]

I know why this happened- as I was waking up, I suddenly got it. Isaac has never liked the BR hens, for some reason I cannot understand. He sometimes stomps his feet to shoo them away from the feeder, and mates them only occasionally, as if it's a chore for him. Indy was the only male in there who truly looked like a pure Barred Rock rooster. So there was a target on his back, unfortunately. Rex nor Deacon has crisp barring and Rex looks mostly silver. So I guess Gabriel and Scout, who are Delaware colored, should do well in there with big daddy, Ike. Ike isn't ready to give up his position as King yet, that's for certain.
Unfortunately, I cannot even gather eggs to incubate, in case Indy is a dad, because no one is laying other than Tiny, one Blue Rock and one EE hen. I'd want Indy over one of his aunts or his cousin, Druscilla.

 

[speckledhen]

I just noticed something about Deacon. He has no spur nub on his left leg. The right one has a normal spur bump, but the left one has a slighly raised area on the leg, but no bony protrusion at all. Looks like he'll not have one there. Defective hen produces defective son. He's sweet as pie, which is why I was able to even see it-I was close to him, talking to him while he was on the steps during free range time and I touched his legs and saw the absence of it.