Hector's World: Adventures and Mayhem at Mountain View Poultry (or Sequel to The Evolution of Atlas

[speckledhen]

I don't know how you tell those girls apart. They are looking good even if they aren't happy. Maybe it will all work out when they can be outside more?

When they free range, they go one way and Hector, Thea and Jill to the other, but at least they are happier. I don't let them much when it's cold. Nothing to eat out of the pen anyway.

 

[getaclue]

It finally quit raining. YAY!!! I will get out to the coop today, and do some chicken chores.

 

[1muttsfan]

Ha, raining! I wish. It is brutally cold up here today, our high temperature was -9, and with the wind we have a serious ground blizzard going on in addition to all the snow that is falling. I'm sure the wind chill is at least fifty below, you just cannot stay outside for even a few minutes if you're in the wind.

 

[speckledhen]

We have a winter storm warning. Just north of us, they have only a winter weather advisory. But, they say only about 3", so not much of a storm, just enough to make it messy. I've lived in Ohio, Colorado and Utah. 3" is a snowglobe's worth.

 

[speckledhen]

Hector is in some hot water.

We removed the long, wall-mounted nestbox that Hector was standing in to look out into the barn aisle and replaced it with a 2 drawer file cabinet retrofitted as a nest box so Jane and Maddie also had nowhere to get above the floor to avoid Hector's attentions, which are not always amorous, but just mean. Tom was leaning into a nest box to see if there was an egg and one of the young hens tried to shoot out the door. Tom shoved her back in and she tried to push past him, so again he shoved her back into the pen. At that point, Hector charged over and bit the heck out of his hand. It's a miracle that rooster's neck is still attached to his body today.

 

[1muttsfan]

Oh, boy. At least he was defending his girls, but really he should know better. I don't think he handles changes well.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, boy. At least he was defending his girls, but really he should know better. I don't think he handles changes well.

Yes, he should know better. He's not bitten either one of us since we were calling him The Little Tyrant well over two years ago. And, the thing is, not one of my other roosters would do that. They know that no matter what we do to those girls, we are in charge, not them, and they also know, as Hector should by now, that we are not to be defended against. We've changed these groups around this barn multiple times and no one else acts this way. This is pure Hector.

And then, later when I was herding his group inside their pen, I found the walls and all the roost steps scattered with blood. It was everywhere. Either Hector or Jill had cut Maddie's comb badly and she threw blood all over the room. It looks like I slit someone's throat and spun that bird around holding its legs. Geez. I told Tom to put up a "princess roost" for the two younger sisters so they could get away from whoever is harassing them so badly and we did. Always something!

 

[1muttsfan]

Animals and kids. Always.

 

[getaclue]

I think I'd pen Hector up by himself for a couple days. That way you will know if it's him, or Jill that are picking on Maddie. That would give the hens a break from him too.

 

[speckledhen]

I think I'd pen Hector up by himself for a couple days. That way you will know if it's him, or Jill that are picking on Maddie. That would give the hens a break from him too.

Well, I know Jill is really awful to both of them. And Hector just chases them away from the other two most of the time. I hesitate to separate him from the girls because the only time I really ever did that, a rooster turned into something I couldn't even keep here any longer. I separated him only at night and did it for him because they were picking his comb/wattles raw on the roost, not because he was causing trouble himself. His behavior toward me changed after a couple of weeks of that, and he was never the same again. I did what I could and gave Maddie and Jane an escape from the bullying. Jill is really mean to both of them and Thea is just sort of "whatever, they're here", bless her.