Brink
Chirping
- May 24, 2023
- 30
- 102
- 79
Hello,
I have a mixed flock of chickens, geese, ducks, and one rooster.
I am still very new to owning backyard birds. Most of my birds are around 2 months old with a couple of them younger (ducks and a few chicks) except my rooster. He is older and was given to us by friends of our neighbor who was expecting to have hens and then 4 out of 5 of their chicks turned into roosters. We were told he was around 8 months old when we got him so I would guess he is around 9 months old now.
All of my birds free range the yard during the day on about .75 acres of grass and then they go into their coop at dusk to roost which I then lock them in. Come morning I unlock them and they roam the yard during the day.
I also have starter/grower feed that is in the coop for them to wander in and munch on as they please. Currently they are free fed the starter/grower feed.
I used to have their starter/grower feed on ground level so all of them could reach it as they pleased. However, one of my geese started to get angel wing a couple of weeks ago so I removed the starter/grower feed out of the two geese reach but still so the chicks could get up to it. I then wrapped the angel wing on my goose and that seemed to fix her angel wing and now her wings are perfectly in line as they should be.
However, since she got the angel wing already I have been really hesitant to put the food back down to her level. I was doing it on a rotation of two days out of her reach and then one day in her reach. Now I am not 100% sure if my rooster goes up on the platform that I put the feed on during the days when it is out of the geese reach. I've never seen him on the platform eating but when I see him around the base of the platform I'll put it down for him to munch on. I don't want him to not have the amount of food he needs so I could really use some advice.
This rooster, Gimli, has never been aggressive persay but he is very nervous. He'll come and eat blueberries and snacks out of your hand and walk around you but he doesn't want to be touched or anything. Then today he flogged me for the first time out of nowhere. He was walking around with me while I was feeding my horses and while I was waiting on their water trough to fill he flogged me. I just started talking to him and he went back to pecking and digging around in the horse stalls. Now I don't know why he would flog me as again I am new to owning birds, but I wonder if he isn't getting enough food and he's angry?
Is it okay to put the food back to normal level and have all of the birds be able to reach it? Will my goose overeat the feed and the grass and risk getting angel wing again? Any and all advice is highly appreciated.
Below is a picture of my rooster along with a couple pictures of my goose when she started the angel wing and how she looks now.
I have a mixed flock of chickens, geese, ducks, and one rooster.
I am still very new to owning backyard birds. Most of my birds are around 2 months old with a couple of them younger (ducks and a few chicks) except my rooster. He is older and was given to us by friends of our neighbor who was expecting to have hens and then 4 out of 5 of their chicks turned into roosters. We were told he was around 8 months old when we got him so I would guess he is around 9 months old now.
All of my birds free range the yard during the day on about .75 acres of grass and then they go into their coop at dusk to roost which I then lock them in. Come morning I unlock them and they roam the yard during the day.
I also have starter/grower feed that is in the coop for them to wander in and munch on as they please. Currently they are free fed the starter/grower feed.
I used to have their starter/grower feed on ground level so all of them could reach it as they pleased. However, one of my geese started to get angel wing a couple of weeks ago so I removed the starter/grower feed out of the two geese reach but still so the chicks could get up to it. I then wrapped the angel wing on my goose and that seemed to fix her angel wing and now her wings are perfectly in line as they should be.
However, since she got the angel wing already I have been really hesitant to put the food back down to her level. I was doing it on a rotation of two days out of her reach and then one day in her reach. Now I am not 100% sure if my rooster goes up on the platform that I put the feed on during the days when it is out of the geese reach. I've never seen him on the platform eating but when I see him around the base of the platform I'll put it down for him to munch on. I don't want him to not have the amount of food he needs so I could really use some advice.
This rooster, Gimli, has never been aggressive persay but he is very nervous. He'll come and eat blueberries and snacks out of your hand and walk around you but he doesn't want to be touched or anything. Then today he flogged me for the first time out of nowhere. He was walking around with me while I was feeding my horses and while I was waiting on their water trough to fill he flogged me. I just started talking to him and he went back to pecking and digging around in the horse stalls. Now I don't know why he would flog me as again I am new to owning birds, but I wonder if he isn't getting enough food and he's angry?
Is it okay to put the food back to normal level and have all of the birds be able to reach it? Will my goose overeat the feed and the grass and risk getting angel wing again? Any and all advice is highly appreciated.
Below is a picture of my rooster along with a couple pictures of my goose when she started the angel wing and how she looks now.
