Got Flogged by A rooster tonight

[iceblue]

If you walk him around and he gives you any poop you can swing him above your head a couple times. Just be sure to tell your wife your bringing dinner home tonight.

 

[Tres Amigas]

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OK!! This is the best thread!!! "codgers" "kung fu crap" "mad on for my boots" "foofoo chickens" EYEBALL PECKING!!!!!!!!

 

[Tres Amigas]

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I work my birds intensively to facilitate measures and detailed observations. Many are trained to fly up into hand and are placed on shoulder while I reset equipment (weighing scales, camera, callipers). Restraining terrified or aggressive birds is not practical if any number involved. Having trustworthy birds has not presented any negative impacts so far. I am unable to justify need for potentially manfighting roosters for any application involving use as food, for show or simply pets.

oh God - I just shot my drink thru my nose!! ......Where did I lay those clucking calipers???

 

[TigerLilly]

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I just aspirated diet coke. Lol!

Thank goodness I wasn't drinking anything when I read that!
I will admit to a couple of things:
I am one that carries my roo's around with me to keep them in line--NOT because I don't want to hurt them, but because that's all that's been needed to this point. I am NOT adverse to using harsher methods if necessary. I can send Romeo to freezer camp & not have any qualms about having him for supper. Because I carry him around doesnt mean I don't have real chores to do...I have to take a break in this Florida heat periodically, might as well bond with my roo

I do not now, nor will I ever, in all likelyhood, ever own any foofoo chickens lol
My flock is a hobby at this time--taking care of them & collecting eggs is what I do to relax...I have a stressful & somewhat dangerous job...this is what works for me to chill. No doubt when I retire & build up my farm, along with the amount of work I have to do, my thoughts may change...
All I know is what works for me, but I also say, "to each his own." It is nice to know, however, that the cane I bought when I hurt my ankle can be used again in the future, whether it's for me or the chickens

And one last thng...as much as I love my chickens...and I dont care what anyone thinks...NO ROOSTER LOOFA FOR ME!!!

 

[centrarchid]

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So you use your birds for scientific studies? Well, see....that explains the confusion. Normally folks just use their birds for food, or in the case of many on BYC, for a place to waste money, time and affection that could otherwise be used to house, feed and clothe the needy in the world. I can see where scientific study of chickens would require having them up near your face...or at least under a mighty big microscope.

I've never really "manfighted" any of my roosters and also found that I didn't need to have them up on my shoulders to observe their general behaviors either....I guess there is a happy median between bringing out the whip and using a foofoo for a loofah.

how do you get detailed observations from an intensely worked flock?

edit to add:

or rather what is the quality of the observation of a flock so heavily influenced, or "worked"?

Most of birds monitored are individually confined so not operating as part of flock. Others are harem leaders or key hens being tracked. To be accurate, I do not have a single flock, rather group of sub-flocks, many with discrete home ranges. Having birds accustomed / acclimated to handling reduces effects of handling on birds. Handling frightened birds causes them to avoid me or interupts egg laying. Handling also not daily for most and last only seconds to a minute or so. Flighty birds take longer. See need for stress management?

 

[oshun55555]

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I just love your sense of humour, your posts just keep me in stitches

 

[Beekissed]

Sometimes...just sometimes, when I'm up too late things just strike me as funny and I must open the pot-licker and just SAY it. In my defense, Al started it....

Oh, BTW... Al? My roo is so tough that when the red-tailed hawks land in the yard to grab a hen, he hurries up and mates them while they are grounded. Bunch of barebacked red-tails flyin' around these parts and all the environmentalists trying to figure out what disease is causing the phenomenon.

For the record, the hawks only land to scoop up the gratuitous foofoo that I keep on hand for my chicken's wiping needs....hawk couldn't lift my other birds.

 

[Farm_Maven]

I just had to subscribe to this thread!! just about the funniest sh#t I've read here on BYC. Incidentally, I've arranged a trade for eggs in the spring that will net me some foofoo slash yard art!! Cheaper than an incubator I say. I have one breed of LF that may tend to go broody, but I know a Silkie thinks she is created JUST for that purpose, lol.

 

[K9ThorsMom]

This thread is great! I'm one of those people that has "house chickens"...sort of...my RIR roo and one of his hens (his sister) live in a large dog crate in my house at night because I don't have a coop yet, and get to free-range during the daytime in my backyard...I usually let them out after the sun has been up for an hour or so, after I get off work (I work midnight shift)...well, got home early one morning, and let them out in the dark, and my 7 month old RIR roo, Big Red, decided I was an intruder and came at me and tried to attack...little F-er got booted across the room and yelled at...prior to this, he has "danced" at me, all puffed up with one wing down (wasn't sure if he was trying to attack me or mate with me...lol)...but this particular morning it was different...he was definitely attacking...eventhough i'm one of "those" people with pet chickens, I won't hesitate to boot his ass across the floor or the yard...he hasn't done that since, but still dances (and stops when I tell him NO!)...then he glares up at me....looks like I may have to put him in his place once and for all before it gets out of hand...

 

[Beekissed]

Ya gotta stop them at the first dance....you've already lost control if you don't stop it real quick and in a hurry. The first dance gets an over the top reaction from me that a roo never forgets.....sort of a "Oh, no, you didn't!"~insert head swivel and finger swing here~and a quick lesson in who's bigger, faster and has the longest object with which to strike out. Then I wait for him to get over the shock and try to enter the henhouse once again...then...WHAMMO!!! Roo stick against the pop door opening, making a very loud THWACK! right in front of his bulging eyes!

Then I wait quietly while he runs around in circles wondering where he lost control....and then tries to re-enter the henhouse. I let him come in....wait.....go ahead, son, walk around a little.....WHAM!!!! with the stick against the flooring right next to a flying featherduster who is trying to create a new hole in the wall from which to escape!

After that, I nonchalantly walk outside....to see a red streak heading for the far side of the acre. He has decided he no longer wishes to dance with the very large and aggressive hen who wasn't that attractive anyway, as far as chickens go.

Later that day I do a roo check....I walk casually by to see if he remembers. I carefully don't make eye contact and I act like I'm innocently doing other things...I'll even whistle quietly like I'm preoccupied with picking up the foofoo bird pieces left by my ruthless hens. If he gets anywhere near my vicinity, I lunge at him suddenly and stamp a foot where he used to be before he jumped 3 ft. into the air and left poo in the shape of a chicken, creating a diversionary decoy as he tries to escape this very ugly, large, and crazy hen-human.

I consider the lesson to be a success when I spy him changing his undershorts and wiping up the mess with foofoo chicken.

I have a 100% success rate with this method and it only takes about 15-20 min. of one very pleasurable day...and requires zero loofahs by my eyeballs.