thecatumbrella
Furiously Foraging
Did anyone else have a disastrous first year of chicken keeping?
We started with 2 Golden Comets (Ginger + Nutmeg) and 2 Black Australorps (Mushroom + Pepper)
We've had to rebuild the pen 3 times. First to dodge the weather, then to expand their space. My back is ruined after 100+ hours of labor.
We re-homed Nutmeg at 18 weeks when she turned into a bully. Golden Comets are advertised as being "confrontation averse". I get every chicken's unique, but what are the chances?
Next, Pepper became aggressive towards me at point-of-lay. She'd always been an anxious bird, but we enjoyed a special relationship built slowly over time through trust. That's completely gone. I won't even go in the pen alone. Again, we chose Black Australorps because they are described as docile and gentle. What are the chances??
Now that Mushroom's about to start laying, she decided that Ginger is not allowed to eat with them. Ginger spends 80% of her day eating. I tried doing separate feeders, but she wants to eat with her Australorp friends.
Ginger is now food deficient, and has started pulling the feathers out of her friends' butts for a protein boost. She's currently in jail. I immediately switched them to a higher protein diet (Purina Flock Raiser), but they refuse to eat unless it's presented as hot mash.
I'm about ready to throw in the towel and send them off to free-range with Nutmeg. I tried REALLY hard to do everything right, pick the right breeds, give them the right environment, etc. Maybe I'm just not meant to have chickens. We can't free range here. Both my neighbors have massive, untrained, off-leash dogs that I'm constantly chasing out of my yard. We also have HEAVY predator presence in the woods.
The whole experience has been so demoralizing. I love my girls so much, and I'd be devastated to see them go, but I need to do what's in their best interest. Fingers crossed we can get things back under control this week. And thanks for listening (if you made it this far).
We started with 2 Golden Comets (Ginger + Nutmeg) and 2 Black Australorps (Mushroom + Pepper)
We've had to rebuild the pen 3 times. First to dodge the weather, then to expand their space. My back is ruined after 100+ hours of labor.
We re-homed Nutmeg at 18 weeks when she turned into a bully. Golden Comets are advertised as being "confrontation averse". I get every chicken's unique, but what are the chances?
Next, Pepper became aggressive towards me at point-of-lay. She'd always been an anxious bird, but we enjoyed a special relationship built slowly over time through trust. That's completely gone. I won't even go in the pen alone. Again, we chose Black Australorps because they are described as docile and gentle. What are the chances??
Now that Mushroom's about to start laying, she decided that Ginger is not allowed to eat with them. Ginger spends 80% of her day eating. I tried doing separate feeders, but she wants to eat with her Australorp friends.
Ginger is now food deficient, and has started pulling the feathers out of her friends' butts for a protein boost. She's currently in jail. I immediately switched them to a higher protein diet (Purina Flock Raiser), but they refuse to eat unless it's presented as hot mash.
I'm about ready to throw in the towel and send them off to free-range with Nutmeg. I tried REALLY hard to do everything right, pick the right breeds, give them the right environment, etc. Maybe I'm just not meant to have chickens. We can't free range here. Both my neighbors have massive, untrained, off-leash dogs that I'm constantly chasing out of my yard. We also have HEAVY predator presence in the woods.
The whole experience has been so demoralizing. I love my girls so much, and I'd be devastated to see them go, but I need to do what's in their best interest. Fingers crossed we can get things back under control this week. And thanks for listening (if you made it this far).
