Ok, now to try to make sense of my last nights ramblings on... lol
With Roosties recovery very questionable, I decided to hold back “little Red” as a potential breeder for my meat girls, so Tuesday morning I packed up all the rest of the meat birds for their morning trip. In retrospect I should have pulled four girls with him, and sent in Roosties four youngest girls instead. Little Red has nice conformation an looks more like a heritage breed than a 4 way Hybrid meat ranger bird. He was also a bit of an outsider, and would distance himself from all the other meatbirds.
Tuesday mid day: Red would not integrate with Roosties girls. Purple came at him like she was another cockerel, not a hen, and he retaliated in kind. This set Roostie off, and he started trying to chase little Red (not working very well because of his foot issues, but Roostie doesn’t tolerate his girls being upset, even if they are the aggressors)! I gave in and put Red in my general yard, free ranging with Sammy, Dean, Cass, 21 Layer pullets, and 11 hens. Come Roosting time Red was looking to get back into his old empty tractor, so I popped him in with Sammy and girls, then promptly had to put him in the Bad Rooster Box for separation.
Wednesday was essentially the same, until a little windstorm hit and tore off all my tarps around midnight. This is the biggest negative to chicken tractors IMO. I fixed up Sammy’s Tarp, but left the rest for the morning when I could see better. 2:30 am Thursday morning, I awoke to the trailer rocking with the wind, which had changed direction. Back out to re-secure the tarp for Sammy and add some windblocking. I released little Red to get him closer to the flock for warmth. I got a days work making nut burgers on the other side of the island Thursday, but this meant I needed to be at the farm at 9am for a carpool. It was a frantic morning of fixing the wind damage and getting the Chickens set up for the day. Work ran Late as Mr. Murphy seemed to rule the day.
I arrived back on the farm a little past 6:30, in full dark, with a half hour or slippery Mud between my chooks and I. I managed to get a ride a little more than 1/2 way home (BIL was useful for a change) and everyone was Up. Even Little Red, snuggled in right near Sammy, no less. Sammy is very good at herding the girls up for the night, and will not settle until his own girls, as well as Cass and Deans, are up. He probably rounded up Little Red too, I will see how things go at Roosting time tonight and have a better idea of how things went while I was at work.
After getting everyone closed in, while I was doing an egg Check, I spotted Three young
Raccoons up in the trees... I am thankful everyone was at least up and Ok when I got home. I just don’t get why Aurora is being so rude to Phyllis? I mean Sammy took in a Teenage Cockerel, mostly on his own last night, with very little integration attempts on my part.
With Roosties recovery very questionable, I decided to hold back “little Red” as a potential breeder for my meat girls, so Tuesday morning I packed up all the rest of the meat birds for their morning trip. In retrospect I should have pulled four girls with him, and sent in Roosties four youngest girls instead. Little Red has nice conformation an looks more like a heritage breed than a 4 way Hybrid meat ranger bird. He was also a bit of an outsider, and would distance himself from all the other meatbirds.
Tuesday mid day: Red would not integrate with Roosties girls. Purple came at him like she was another cockerel, not a hen, and he retaliated in kind. This set Roostie off, and he started trying to chase little Red (not working very well because of his foot issues, but Roostie doesn’t tolerate his girls being upset, even if they are the aggressors)! I gave in and put Red in my general yard, free ranging with Sammy, Dean, Cass, 21 Layer pullets, and 11 hens. Come Roosting time Red was looking to get back into his old empty tractor, so I popped him in with Sammy and girls, then promptly had to put him in the Bad Rooster Box for separation.
Wednesday was essentially the same, until a little windstorm hit and tore off all my tarps around midnight. This is the biggest negative to chicken tractors IMO. I fixed up Sammy’s Tarp, but left the rest for the morning when I could see better. 2:30 am Thursday morning, I awoke to the trailer rocking with the wind, which had changed direction. Back out to re-secure the tarp for Sammy and add some windblocking. I released little Red to get him closer to the flock for warmth. I got a days work making nut burgers on the other side of the island Thursday, but this meant I needed to be at the farm at 9am for a carpool. It was a frantic morning of fixing the wind damage and getting the Chickens set up for the day. Work ran Late as Mr. Murphy seemed to rule the day.
I arrived back on the farm a little past 6:30, in full dark, with a half hour or slippery Mud between my chooks and I. I managed to get a ride a little more than 1/2 way home (BIL was useful for a change) and everyone was Up. Even Little Red, snuggled in right near Sammy, no less. Sammy is very good at herding the girls up for the night, and will not settle until his own girls, as well as Cass and Deans, are up. He probably rounded up Little Red too, I will see how things go at Roosting time tonight and have a better idea of how things went while I was at work.
After getting everyone closed in, while I was doing an egg Check, I spotted Three young
Raccoons up in the trees... I am thankful everyone was at least up and Ok when I got home. I just don’t get why Aurora is being so rude to Phyllis? I mean Sammy took in a Teenage Cockerel, mostly on his own last night, with very little integration attempts on my part.
