Derperella, the (weird) Faverolles, & Friends

[blueberrychickens]

Happy New Year to Derp & all her feathered & unfeathered friends!!

 

[Nambroth]

Derperella and Trousers

It is no secret, now that the flock has settled in, that all the girls like Trousers. He has dreamy, glossy feathers, a comb that towers into next Tuesday, those gorgeous floppy wattles, and deep amber eyes that you can get lost in. His deep dubsteb bass voice, "Whhhaaaaoo-wwuub-uuuub-uuub-uuub" is to swoon for, and his gentle demeanor and patience with the complaints of the ladies is no small matter! Best yet, he feeds them all of the best treats and is infrequent and gentle with his lovins'. What is not to adore? They love him, they adore him.

Derperella, who has been scared of every other rooster to date, seems to recognize Trousers as some sort of fluffy furniture, more than another chicken. She constantly rotates around him, doing all of her Derpy weirdness, and he watches with infinite patience.

Last week, it snowed, and the Fud Lady insisted that the chickens go outside anyhow. They hated it and complained mightily, but the Fud Lady insisted they get some fresh air. Trousers stood perfectly still and watched all of the hens mill around and eat the snow, making sure everyone was safe. Derperella spent a lot of time around that rooster.


Trousers: "Hello smaller hen. Are you all right? Is this White Stuff hurting you?"
Derp: "OH HELLOOOOOOO!!! I LIKE CHAIR."



Derperella: "THIS IS NEW HOUSE OKAY? OKAY. THIS WHERE I LIVE NAO."
Trousers: "I accept this, and all things."

 

[drumstick diva]

Ha ha Trousers gets the best lines. Welcome Fud Lady - we all missed you.

 

[Bitterroot]

Aww, that's so sweet. He's a really handsome guy, too!

 

[NovaAman]

Thats great! Love Trousers.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Trousers is wonderful. Have you noticed any behavior changes in the hens? Maybe less aggression from the "top dogs"?

 

[Nambroth]

Trousers is wonderful. Have you noticed any behavior changes in the hens? Maybe less aggression from the "top dogs"?

Things have been pretty much the same. Lorp is the resident Evil Queen (though not the top hen) and she is still unpleasant to a few of the girls, but nothing more than grumpy pecking when they are too close to her, or near some food she might like. She can boss around everyone except Moa and Trousers.

Moa, the top hen, continues to be a stern but gentle matron. She doesn't really boss anyone, but she is the undisputed top hen and will be the first to stop a fight. She used to body check Panic Pants when he got too rowdy with any of the hens.

There is a strange love/hate triangle amongst the lowest hens, but that has been happening since before I got Trousers. Derp hates Coho (randomly? They used to be best friends) and will peck her as hard as she can. Chickadee will go out of her way to peck Derp and push her away from Coho (strangely, as Derp and Chickadee used to be close!). Coho lords over Chickadee, but is kindly toward her, and I catch Coho and Chickadee doing that weird staring match that is a dominance struggle. It always ends in them delicately nibbling at each other's beaks, and Coho is still the kind boss of Chickadee.

Trousers only mounts hens when they 'ask' him to, and so far that has only been Willow, Chickadee, and Kua. Unlike the last two roosters, it is polite, gentle, quick, and non-dramatic... none of the other hens run over and freak out during the process (which always happened with my other two roos). Used to be, when my hens saw another hen getting attention from my other two roosters, they would RUN over and start pecking the hen who was under the roo. Lorp was especially bad about this. She nor the others do it at all with Trousers.

It is fascinating to watch the flock dynamics. And they are very dynamic!

 

[Nambroth]

I updated this page so that you can see photos of all the chickens I mentioned above! https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/nambroths-flock

 

[Wishing4Wings]

That's too bad about the evil Lorp. My BA, Matilida, is a lovely and very gentle girl. The lower hens in my mob also seem to have frequent aggressive episodes. It's like they're all desperately trying not to be the lowest.

 

[artsyrobin]

i love the pics of derp and trousers- and always like hearing how the dynamics change when a good roo enters the scene.... he is a keeper!