Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[perchie.girl]

Well, y'all know me as someone who doesn't do the Freezer Camp routine with my roosters unless it was absolutely necessary. I love my birds, but I don't love "on" them beyond hand-feeding treats once a day. If some don't make it to the traditional spot where I sit in the afternoons to offer BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds), they miss out. I do scatter some for the less brave birds.

I say this to try to describe the dichotomy that is my affection for poultry. I love them but don't love "on" them. If a chicken wants to sit on my leg, or the arm or back of a chair or bench next to me, I appreciate it. But I don't pick them up and carry them around unless I am training a cockerel or rooster to respect my authority. This is only necessary if he has challenged me. Otherwise, they stay on the ground.

Kicking at a rooster is a challenge; connecting does not solve the problem even though it may get talons away from you in a knee-jerk reaction.

I walk with purpose towards and "through" a cockerel or rooster challenging me. I will walk him backwards until he turns away from facing me, then I just continue forward as if that was my intended direction. I have held and pushed a rooster to the ground, holding him down until he stops struggling (gives up) and I have carried roosters around for a while for the same reason.

My dominant rooster Carl knows this drill and HE has been a great help in kicking the butts of young cockerels foolish enough to challenge me.

Chasing - that is, at speed with the chicken leading and facing away from you, will not make it respect you OR "gentle" a "mean" rooster. Kicking out at one invites challenges.

I have had ONE truly mean cockerel. He met his fate after he injured hens and tried to kill a beloved non-dominant rooster even after that rooster was cornered and obviously no longer fighting.

Almost every other rooster I've had in my flock has been obnoxious during adolescence. It's just the hormones. They did settle down. It took some management, but all but that one afore-mentioned cockerel was redeemable - mostly because I understand testosterone overload is not permanent and sometimes a rooster is just doing what he's supposed to be doing: protecting hens & his flock. Carl has run at me and flared his neck feathers when he heard a hen squawk as I pick her up to put her out of my garden. He has never flogged me, nor has he let other roosters challenge me, much less flog me.

Of course, your mileage may vary. Just don't think kicking at a rooster will teach him anything constructive. It won't. Chicken brains don't work that way.

this is how I am..... I dont handle my birds though. Nor do I feed treats unless I need to get them back in the pen. I have caught on occasion and hung by the feet for a while..... LOL.

The other thing I do is I have at least four to five roosters at one time. ONE is usally the dominant one and he will Manage the others keep them in line and the bachelors will help set up guardian parimeters when the hens are out in the yard.... Of course the bachelors get a shot in occasionally on a hen and if they get caught the dominant roo will Thump em if he can catch em.

deb

 

[Wisher1000]

Deb - That made me laugh out loud! I had two roosters last year, an old (>5 years) EE alpha and a strapping young BCM cockerel. They did a wonderful job of "seeing to" the girls. They both watched and both would sound the alarm and all the hens would respond to either. The EE roo would occasionally slam into the young one to remind him who was boss, but it never lasted beyond on hit and maybe a beak full of feathers. Both of them were taken by a coyote in early spring this year. The funny thing is , I expected most of the eggs from that flock to hatch out half EE chicks, and in fact, most of the babies were the BMC's. That sneaky bugger........

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Thanks for the advice all.

I have a lot to learn about chicken-rearing, lol. Honestly, kicking at Bob was kind of a last resort. Hubby said, "You need to show that bird who's boss and if you don't, he'll always dominate you." I wouldn't otherwise kick at or try to intimidate any of them. Ironically, Bob does NOT attempt to peck at my husband...lol.

I'm going to take the next two weeks and see if I can't use some of these techniques to help Bob learn to respect authority. Otherwise, he'll be heading off with the other roos for the freezer!

 

[tcmstalcup]

I'm all for freezer camp over reforming. To many easy Roos around to tolerate a bad one. I also have small children visit frequently and do not want them to be fearful or in any danger. I know I'm a hard hiney on this issue

 

[Jucknath]

great advice on the rooster control

 

[ozexpat]

Indeed.

Its important to be the alpha in all flocks / packs.

We lost 2 quail yesterday. Nothing like the 5-10 per day earlier. Hopefully this will be just the weakest ones and the remainder will survive. If not - there will be quail eggs on the manifest for the dept of agriculture in late November.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Well the husband (who thinks this whole thing is absolutely hilarious) accompanied me to the chicken house this afternoon to "teach Bob a lesson" on who's boss. He made me pick him up by his feet, which I think is terrible. So I'm sitting here teaching Bob a lesson when one of the other roos snuck up behind me and pecked at my rear end!!! Well don't you know, my husband just thought this was the funniest thing EVER!

So Bob is now giving me a wide berth. But we'll see how he REALLY feels about me in the morning when I let them out of the coop for the day. That's usually when he's the most aggressive towards me.

 

[Wisher1000]

In the morning, open the gate and immediately go to him to pick him up. Grab him and hold him by the legs again, for a bit, then you can turn him right side up and tuck him under your arm like a football. I usually point their heads toward the rear so they don't think they are part of what I'm doing. Carry him while you go about your chores then put him down when you are ready to leave. If you can't catch him, make another attempt when ever he gets close to you.

Or... you can try the move that Renee Zellweger pulled in Cold Mountain. "I just dispise a mean rooster (twist, pop, drop) Let's put him in a pot!"

 

[ozexpat]

I personally have a low tolerance for nasty roos. When we were kids we had a great example of one. He would constantly attack my sister. He ended up in the pot.

I stand up to them and walk through them. I will hold them down - as I have done with disobedient dogs to show I am in charge but I don't give it a lot of effort. I dont want to breed nasty roos when there are nice ones. The mean ones go in the pot.

Apart from the quail dramas its been a quiet week. All the chicks and keets are doing well. The brooder lights will go off during the day this week and then off all together the following week.

With the incubator taking a break and the brooder lights off, we should get a nice low electricity bill.

The Mid June hatch chicks are 16 weeks old now, I expect eggs from the early layers - RIR and Barred Rocks to start laying over the next 4-6 weeks. By the time I get there for Thanksgiving we should have quite the production going,

 

[maryhysong]

I personally have a low tolerance for nasty roos. When we were kids we had a great example of one. He would constantly attack my sister. He ended up in the pot.

I stand up to them and walk through them. I will hold them down - as I have done with disobedient dogs to show I am in charge but I don't give it a lot of effort. I dont want to breed nasty roos when there are nice ones. The mean ones go in the pot.

Apart from the quail dramas its been a quiet week. All the chicks and keets are doing well. The brooder lights will go off during the day this week and then off all together the following week.

With the incubator taking a break and the brooder lights off, we should get a nice low electricity bill.

The Mid June hatch chicks are 16 weeks old now, I expect eggs from the early layers - RIR and Barred Rocks to start laying over the next 4-6 weeks. By the time I get there for Thanksgiving we should have quite the production going,

Yes there are plenty of nice boys out there. I do work with them a bit when they first get hormonal but if they don't settle down pretty quick then it's off to the pot. I have noticed in butchering that the meaner the boy the bigger the testes. So I think sometimes it's a matter of testosterone overload.