Hen and Rooster Pair as Yard Ornaments

[azygous]

Centrachid is doing a study on interspecies managed chaos.

 

[centrarchid]

The chaos is evident only when you parse out the details. Most people keeping chickens do not take any further than "chickens will be chickens" or "they are animals with their own interest".

 

[azygous]

Yes, but not many chicken keepers have two kids in the flock.

 

[centrarchid]

Those are details although my kids would fit in better with free-ranging hogs based on interest in playing in mud.

 

[azygous]

Human children are more closely related to wildlife (wild pigs), though your attempts at domestication are admirable.

 

[centrarchid]

Clutch now represented by four eggs. They are decidedly off-white. I betting clutch will be set by early next week. Edgar will then be pulled. Another brood sired by him will be hatch about a week after that.

Edgar perching on nest box.

 

[centrarchid]

Clutch at five eggs. She is laying every other day. Previous batch I enriched her diet so she was closer to one egg per day.

I took juveniles from barn and released them into yard to forage for about an hour. At roost time they all moved as a group relatively quitely to very same tree they were roosting in before and moved on into it. Several other trees where in area yet they went to that tree. They even went to same branch to cluster on. The last time in tree was roughly one week ago so they do have some memory.

 

[sourland]

Is Edgar's beak clipped ?

 

[centrarchid]

His beak is busted so horn on upper and lower mandibles damaged then broke off due to swelling. Ultimate cause was fighting through cage wire. Normally euthanize such birds but can be salvaged with work. End product needs babying.

 

[sourland]

Evidently he is able to mate. Do you periodically have to trim beak, or is there no overgrowth ?