I keep bird feeders in my front yard. About 3 months ago, I was checking on my feeders and I saw what appeared to be a large black buzzard at the ground eating seed. Upon further review, it was what I thought at the time was a hen. “She” also had a young, much smaller rooster with her.
They immediately started exhibiting behavior that I thought was interesting. These chickens are arboreal....yep...they live in an oak tree. The smaller rooster can fly about 30 feet or so, while the “hen” is so large she has to jump straight up.
A few weeks in, my rooster found his voice. It was a proud day for me. The “hen” wasn’t very vocal at all. They’d stay close, and if I got too close, he’d crow. They aren’t afraid of me. They seem to know when I’m bringing them mealworms and will chooka chooka nearby.
I give them fresh water and once I realized they weren’t going anywhere, I got them a complete chicken feed. I also feed them veggie scraps. They are happy.
One morning, it sounded like my rooster was being strangled. I’d had them around about a month at this point. Being that I live in the city, I thought maybe his voice was changing....until I heard him and saw that “she” was making the sound.
That leads to the first question...what do I have? I’m posting pics and any help is appreciated.
The second thing is that there has been what is different behavior lately. The rooster seems to be separating himself from the “hen” more this last couple of days. “She” and he were squacking and crowing at each other like an old married couple on the brink of divorce. He has packed his stuff and moved to a different tree. “She”is hen pecking him...crowing at him to come home or move. I can’t tell. “She” seems to be protective of him, or at least nosy.
They have 4 yards they roam. The “hen” is in a different spot in her day time spot. What behavior am I witnessing?
I’m attempting to post pics. Can anyone identify what I have? (Sex, breed, if you’ve ever seen them on a milk carton, etc.)
They immediately started exhibiting behavior that I thought was interesting. These chickens are arboreal....yep...they live in an oak tree. The smaller rooster can fly about 30 feet or so, while the “hen” is so large she has to jump straight up.
A few weeks in, my rooster found his voice. It was a proud day for me. The “hen” wasn’t very vocal at all. They’d stay close, and if I got too close, he’d crow. They aren’t afraid of me. They seem to know when I’m bringing them mealworms and will chooka chooka nearby.
I give them fresh water and once I realized they weren’t going anywhere, I got them a complete chicken feed. I also feed them veggie scraps. They are happy.
One morning, it sounded like my rooster was being strangled. I’d had them around about a month at this point. Being that I live in the city, I thought maybe his voice was changing....until I heard him and saw that “she” was making the sound.
That leads to the first question...what do I have? I’m posting pics and any help is appreciated.
The second thing is that there has been what is different behavior lately. The rooster seems to be separating himself from the “hen” more this last couple of days. “She” and he were squacking and crowing at each other like an old married couple on the brink of divorce. He has packed his stuff and moved to a different tree. “She”is hen pecking him...crowing at him to come home or move. I can’t tell. “She” seems to be protective of him, or at least nosy.
They have 4 yards they roam. The “hen” is in a different spot in her day time spot. What behavior am I witnessing?
I’m attempting to post pics. Can anyone identify what I have? (Sex, breed, if you’ve ever seen them on a milk carton, etc.)
