Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! She Isn't Pleased!

[speckledhen]

About a week ago, we integrated a then 12 week old Delawegger cockerel (Del x EE) and his 15 week old coop-mate, a nice BR pullet, into the main flock. The BR, Dru, has not been tortured much, or at least, she has made the best of it, since she pretty much blends with the other BR hens in there. Gideon, on the other hand, is jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof, even though his sire, my Delaware rooster in charge of that flock, Isaac, has not even glanced in his direction, even when he crows (or does his imitation of crowing, LOL) and Ike has only mildly flirted with Dru in a gentlemanly fashion.

I've never seen Gideon even attempt to mate Dru, though they run together everywhere.Today, I witnessed Gideon grab hold of one of my 2 year old hens for nefarious purposes. Of all the ones he could have picked, he chose my supposed-to-be-Ameraucana/EE/obviously-Sumatra-lineage half-blind hen with spurs, Tiny, who we all call "The Tiny Terrorist" because she bites and even flogs for attention-and I mean she outright attacks you if you go into the coop after roost time!

Tiny, however, in spite of her aggressive nature, due to her sight impairment (which really is more depth perception than anything else), is at dead bottom of the pecking order and now, these teenagers are making her run for her life, LOL! Yesterday, I saw them bully her away from the feeder when they and she were alone in the coop, which surprised me, and today, I see Gideon grab Tiny by the head feathers, with her screaming and struggling to get away. She ran into the pen (they were all free ranging at the time) and I found her hiding underneath the coop. She wouldn't even be coaxed out for a few minutes.

Here is Gideon, my up-and-coming-second in command:




And his intended, the Tiny Terrorist-gee, that pic is from last year. Need new ones, I guess-she was molting then:

 

[sumi]

Sounds like Tiny met her match! Beautiful boy, Gideon.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, he's filling out some, but has quite a way to go. He's also getting lots of very red feathers in his plumage. as you can tell in the pic below, and I wonder just how much red he'll be showing as an adult. Now, I need to go find Tiny and see if I can get a more up to date picture of the little monster.

 

[sumi]

Poor little thing! She looks so cute and innocent.
I just love that pattern around Gideon's neck and the bit in his tail. I think he's going to be quite an impressive roo when he's grown up.

 

[speckledhen]

I was delayed in getting better pics of Tiny. She wouldn't come out from under the coop, LOL.

 

[Cetawin]

Cyn he is really turning into a looker. Handsome boy indeed. That terrorist should be in awe, in love and happy to have him.




Here is your Terrorist in April of this year undergoing her Terrorist Rehab

 

[sumi]

I was delayed in getting better pics of Tiny. She wouldn't come out from under the coop, LOL.

Probably too scandalised.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, thanks for those more recent pics, Ladyhawk! I don't know if I have those in my file or not.

Oh, sumi, she was quite scandalized! It's too funny to see her bullied by a teenager who mostly still peeps and honks like a baby, LOL.

 

[sumi]

I'm curious to see see if this embarrassing experience will makes her behave better or worse. Is she still under the coop?

 

[speckledhen]

Haha, no, they are free ranging. She went one way and he went the other with Dru. If they do end up in the same area, I'm sure I'll hear some screaming.


Here is a picture of Tiny I just snapped. It's hard to get one because she runs toward me when she sees me, so I can't get a side shot that's really clear. If you look closely, you can see those spurs, too.