Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Based upon that, PITA, Nellie, Storm, Lark, Indigo, Cardhu, Nimbus, Kate....are all cockerels. They all tried to bite as chicks.

I wonder if by ‘biting’ they were thinking of those naughty boys who grab you hand or foot in preparation for trying the ‘breed’ as they would with a hen.

That I do not consider biting.

Now Twister is a biter - she bit my arm yesterday! Ow!

 

[featherhead007]

Overall, her response is somewhat moderating, possibly. It sort of goes in waves. She does either tolerate or like being held a little. For instance, when she comes over to peck me and get a rise, lately she isn't looking up at me after each peck, to see if she's successfully started a fight or not. On the other hand, she's ready for any possible motion on my part that might indicate a fight. I withdrew my legs while sitting and she charged ahead at them, about to peck (but she didn't).

But there definitely could be an attention-grabbing aspect to this. Yesterday, when I had Teddy and Annie on my lap she came over. I reached down and gently held her body against my leg (no more room on the lap) without preventing her from leaving, if she wanted to. She moved away after a minute or so. Later she came back and I picked her up and had her on my lap, she was growling but didn't leave, I'm not sure if she is just compliant, or half-liked it and half didn't!

But “on the other hand” she bit you. You said it yourself

 

[featherhead007]

Mr P, Clyde and Mr LC don’t bite or chase me, they are nice gentlemen. None of them were biters as youngsters. Though Clyde and Mr LC did fall for my foot and my hand thinking they were a good substitute for the hens that didn’t like them. That involved ‘nipping’ my hand/foot.

I beg to differ I wasn’t gonna say this, but I had a strange dream just the other night, where Mr P attempted to eat me!

 

[rural mouse]

Rooster Experts - I have some questions for you.

So in many ways I feel like I won the “straight run lottery”. Out of 11 potential roosters I am now fairly confident I only ended up with two cockerels. But….that also means I ended up with two cockerels. I know many of you have multiple roosters without any major issues. And with 31 hens/pullets I think I am ok as far as rooster-to-hen ratio. I have read many helpful articles and posts on this site over the past three years. But I definitely still have some questions and concerns. I know y’all will most likely have several different opinions on things, but here is what I would like some advice on.

First of all, I have one full size (Chocolate Orpington) and one bantam (silkie) cockerel. If I continue to keep everyone as part of the same
flock, how much risk is there of the full size rooster hurting the bantam hens? Especially the Sebright and Duccle, since they will be small even for a bantam. We really don’t want to have to split the flock. Of course we will if we start having too many issues, but it definitely wouldn’t be the easiest thing to do.

How do you decide when it is just “hormonal idiot phase” and when it is a bad rooster? I know we will have to draw the line if one or both of them become people aggressive. I am hoping we will be lucky since both breeds are know for fairly even-tempered roos, but obviously there can always be exceptions. What other things do we really need to watch it for? So far Nestle, the Orpington, is fairly calm and backs down pretty quickly with both us and all the girls. He is 13 weeks old, and has been crowing for a few weeks but we haven’t seen him try to tidbit, dance, or breed yet. Cotton, the silkie, is another matter altogether. He is 12 weeks old, started crowing a week or so after Nestle, isn’t tidbittng or dancing yet, but has been caught trying to breed a few times. Every time I catch him it is with one of the Cochin bantams. They are still only 13 weeks old, are not interested, and squeal pretty loudly. But he does not back down and I have to go knock him off of them. After which I pick him up and tote him around under my arm for a while. I also have caught him pecking at the other young ones on occasion, including the Lavender Orps who are only 7 weeks old. That also earns him some well placed “pecks” from me or my husband and some more time getting hauled around under our arm.

We have handled both the boys almost every day since we got them. And as it became apparent they were males it has been much less “cuddly/affectionate” and more about establishing who is in charge and that we decide when they will be held and whether or not they get any treats.

Another concern I have with there being two males is the space we have them all in. The coop is 10’ X 12’, with 20’ of upper roost and about 10’ of lower roost, which has mainly been used as a way to get to the higher one. We have also added some wider shelf areas to the upper roost, and a large “silkie/bantam” shelf at the end of the lower one. There are at least two waterers and two feeders in the coop, and a little bit of clutter.

The coop is open every day, and the run is about 16’ x 50’. There is another feeder and several water sources out there, and some more clutter. I know that compared to where some chickens live that is a lot of space. But am worried it will be a little small with 33 chickens that include two cockerels/roosters.

Thought? Suggestions?

I have to state that I have no experience with bantams. Cheetah and his daughters are pretty small for standard breeds and Hector, while currently my largest roo, isn't the largest I've ever had.

1. My experience with the little ladies and the large roos: the ladies are way to agile to get caught by the large roos unless they CHOOSE to be.

2. Space, space, and more space. If the ladies get cornered, the roo can nab them anyway. You've got pretty good space, but more is ALWAYS smart. How cluttered is the run? Ways for birds to go up? Things to dodge around? Hide under? Roos can't mate hens if the hens can't provide a stable stand. If where the hen is standing is small, wobbly, has no head space above her, he can't do it.

4. Cotton's behavior is currently hormonal idiot: trying to mate everything he can see/catch. It is a problem when he's not leaving the ladies who aren't ready alone. It also becomes a problem if he's mating one female on an endless repeat. She can't eat, drink, bathe without him hopping aboard.

5. If Nestlé isn't coming to the rescue of the girls too young, then he's not viewing them as his. He sees them as Cotton's ladies. As far as relations between Nestlé and Cotton, this is a good thing. If Cotton is going for Nestlé's girls, and Nestlé isn't defending them either, then Cotton is viewed as senior roo....and a possible solution is to temporarily split the run/coop with Nestlé with the bantams and Cotton with the big girls. The reason I say split is to keep them as a whole flock rather than breaking up the integrations.

6. Can you build some sort of "tree" in the run for perching on/dodging around? I'm sort of envisioning something like a coat stand with much lower/longer "branches". Maybe a 4x4 embedded in a bucket of concrete with 2x4 cross pieces at various heights around it.


7. Bantams (I think) typically reach maturity sooner than the large breeds can...and some of the large breeds take even longer (brahmas for instance don't reach Point Of Lay until 6-8 months and jersey giants don't stop growing until close to 18 months). It's entirely possible that Nestlé hasn't matured yet and is still feeling his way into it. It's also possible the cochin bantams are closer to POL than you think. This part all requires more observation.

8. Chickens feel comfortable when they can see out and feel the predators cannot see in (crawl under a bush and sit looking through the leaves for a bit). Putting things in the run that will emulate that will also help. Roos tend to be Line Of Sight. If the can't see the lady, they aren't trying for her. When they're all lounging under a bush/tree, the roos can see the ladies, but it seems to be a mating isn't allowed safe space. Even chicks doing the head bobbing spat step outside the shelter to do so.

 

[rural mouse]

I wonder if by ‘biting’ they were thinking of those naughty boys who grab you hand or foot in preparation for trying the ‘breed’ as they would with a hen.

That I do not consider biting.

Now Twister is a biter - she bit my arm yesterday! Ow!

None of the boys have ever tried that with me.

 

[rural mouse]

A couple of days ago

This morning, 1 week +/- a day

 

[featherhead007]

A couple of days ago

This morning, 1 week +/- a day

I didn’t think that you were so busy. But look at that crowd!

 

[rural mouse]

I didn’t think that you were so busy. But look at that crowd!

That's why I'm delighted that mamas are raising the babies. The littles move around so much I can't get an accurate head count at the moment. The adults I can count.

 

[RoyalChick]

A couple of days ago

This morning, 1 week +/- a day

Those littles are getting braver!

 

[TOMTE]

We just had a visitor! I wish I got pictures because she's a beauty, but there's always next time

I heard a bunch of commotion from the girls, they all scattered, and I went out to check what was going on. A husky who lives down the road was wandering in the woods! I called her and she ran up to me for lovins, completely ignored the chickens! What a good girl!

I have a leash upstairs so after bringing her into the garage I went to grab it so I could walk her home. Dad went with. On the leash she was a little more interested in the chickens but didn't try to run after them, and she was a very good girl on the walk home. I'm used to huskies pulling on the leash like their lives depend on it (my maternal grandma and grandpa have bred and raised huskies as working dogs for close to 30 years now, so I'm used to high energy, high drive huskies). She heeled very well, but was a little bit scared whenever a car went by.

Her owner intercepted us on the way, she was following the GPS signal from the dog's collar. We chatted for a few minutes and she thanked us for being so sweet to Elsa, because some people haven't been so kind. "Get that f#%$ing dog out of my yard" type people.

Apparently, she was hit by a car once and that's why she's nervous of them and stays out of the road. Also apparently, Elsa's a big hunter and has killed a neighbor's chicken, a woodchuck, and recently ripped the tail off a deer! When her owner found out that she had almost no interest in the chickens, even when they ran from her, she was so pleasantly surprised! I guess their nextdoor neighbors recently got chickens, so since Elsa gets to see them all the time, she's becoming used to having them around and not as prey driven toward them.

This is far from the first time she's gone on an adventure, we've caught her in our yard once or twice before. Such a friendly, sweet, well behaved dog. I wouldn't be upset to have her visit again