INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

Lol no its not a riddle and yea there dirty I have a light brahma that got pooped on and a white Japanese that has yellow stains and a Leghorn hen that has dirty feathers

I have to give my injured Violet a bath in a plastic wash tub. I add a little Dawn to the lukewarm water and a little on a washcloth. I have another plastic tub with water and around a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar. I put her in that to give her a short soak before rinsing her under the faucet. (I mentioned before that I watched some youtube videos about giving a chicken a bath.) She's used to the routine.

Violet gets watermelon stains on her lavender feathers from the watermelon splashing as she and Adeline peck at it. The pink watermelon stains on her gray feathers give her a true lavender color! It makes her kind of sticky though, so I have to give her a full bath and blow dry every other day, and a mini wash off/hold her rear end under the faucet every day. This is one of those moments that, "I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would be doing this!"

 

[Mother2Hens]

Do overly amorous teenage roosters chill out with age? Gus is not buying them dinner first, if you know what I mean! I have been hearing hen screams for a couple of weeks off and on now. My poor new hens haven't layed an egg since we got them from Cluck. I am thinking they are afraid of Gus. He is also taking his job as flock protector a little too seriously and will follow anyone who walks up our drive all the way up and down the fence line. He went after my friend the other day and she picked him up and held him. He walked away after and didn't bother her again. (I think it embarrassed him in front of his girls). He doesn't ever come at me or my husband since we started holding him under our arm while doing coop stuff. He will occasionally wing dance at me but gets scooped up immediately. He is very humiliated by that I think. Any way, I have no plans on re-homing or killing him. I just hope it's hormones and he relaxes with age. If anyone decides to respond to this, please no freezer camp or stew pot etc.. advice. I've definitely heard enough of that. I would love to hear if anyone has had good experiences with their roos though. Thanks!

I'm so glad to see Gus in your avatar! I don't know anything about his desires-- haha-- but I kinda doubt he'll be backing off (no pun intended) anytime soon. You should probably sew up some hen aprons for your poor girls. And get them into counseling. It sounds like you're doing the right thing by showing Gus that humans rule. : - )

 

[kabhyper1]

I'm so glad to see Gus in your avatar! I don't know anything about his desires-- haha-- but I kinda doubt he'll be backing off (no pun intended) anytime soon. You should probably sew up some hen aprons for your poor girls. And get them into counseling. It sounds like you're doing the right thing by showing Gus that humans rule. : - )

LOL! If he doesn't cool it I'm shipping him to you!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Do overly amorous teenage roosters chill out with age? Gus is not buying them dinner first, if you know what I mean! I have been hearing hen screams for a couple of weeks off and on now. My poor new hens haven't layed an egg since we got them from Cluck. I am thinking they are afraid of Gus. He is also taking his job as flock protector a little too seriously and will follow anyone who walks up our drive all the way up and down the fence line. He went after my friend the other day and she picked him up and held him. He walked away after and didn't bother her again. (I think it embarrassed him in front of his girls). He doesn't ever come at me or my husband since we started holding him under our arm while doing coop stuff. He will occasionally wing dance at me but gets scooped up immediately. He is very humiliated by that I think. Any way, I have no plans on re-homing or killing him. I just hope it's hormones and he relaxes with age. If anyone decides to respond to this, please no freezer camp or stew pot etc.. advice. I've definitely heard enough of that. I would love to hear if anyone has had good experiences with their roos though. Thanks!

Just keep doing what you are doing. I joke about it, but Red, my GLW I love so much, I couldn't do it. Red is my first Roo. He makes me upset at him, but I correct him when its needed.They may mellow as they get old, but mine are still young. Roos are at the peak the first few years, so the easiest answer is to separate. But if you have a roo, his job is to watch the ladies and fertilize eggs. Watch for raw backs, necks and wings, and torn combs. If he has spurs, watch close for punctures to the girls sides/backs and do trim the spurs back. I lost one of my oldest hens due to punctures from Red, even with the spurs trimmed! It was too late by time I realized she was injured. I assumed she was broody since she would not leave the nest, and lost her due to my ignorance

. Some of my girls will just squat as soon as he walks by her, poor things. I do confine him on occasion and give him "time out" If I see he injures a hen now. I plan to build a bachelor pen to give all the girls a break in the winter.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

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You aren't kidding! I can't count how many times I have been blessed by poo on my shoulder! I am asking myself why I let my BR turkey poult on my shoulder knowing it may weigh 35 pounds some day

 

[kabhyper1]

Just keep doing what you are doing. I joke about it, but Red, my GLW I love so much, I couldn't do it. Red is my first Roo. He makes me upset at him, but I correct him when its needed.They may mellow as they get old, but mine are still young. Roos are at the peak the first few years, so the easiest answer is to separate. But if you have a roo, his job is to watch the ladies and fertilize eggs. Watch for raw backs, necks and wings, and torn combs. If he has spurs, watch close for punctures to the girls sides/backs and do trim the spurs back. I lost one of my oldest hens due to punctures from Red, even with the spurs trimmed! It was too late by time I realized she was injured. I assumed she was broody since she would not leave the nest, and lost her due to my ignorance

. Some of my girls will just squat as soon as he walks by her, poor things. I do confine him on occasion and give him "time out" If I see he injures a hen now. I plan to build a bachelor pen to give all the girls a break in the winter.

Gus doesn't have his spurs yet. He just turned 5 months. He is just a big boy. He weighs about 10 lbs already. I don't know when they stop growing, but I hope soon. He is plenty big! I haven't been letting the kids that visit out in the pasture with the chickens because they don't know how to handle him. I don't want to make it worse. He was running with/ chasing my ten year old nephew, so I had him hold Gus too. It was pretty comical seeing a little boy holding him. As soon as you pick him up he just submits, but man does he test anyone who walks into that pasture. I am very attached to my chickens, so I will have to figure something out. I just got back my cochin roo from Cluck because I broke down into tears when I saw him. I'm ridiculous. These are our first chickens, so I haven't calloused myself to the emotional aspect yet. Probably never will. I haven't eaten chicken since we got them in february. The thought of it makes me gag. So gus will probably live his life out here. Rotten and all. I do have a quarantine cage in the barn. Should I isolate him for a bit? Or would that make it worse?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

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Do your hens show any injury or loss of feathers? That is the most important thing. How many hens (ratio) to roos? It will give your girls a break if you confine him, but he will be right back at being a roo once you let him out. If theres no signs of either injury, I would just continue to watch. If you have the ability to separate him, you could let him rejoin them only during range time if you allow free ranging.

 

[Mother2Hens]

I happened to see this ad and since it's not a typical breed and they have hens, roos, and hatching eggs, I thought I'd post it in case anyone is interested. I'm sure bradselig already has these in his catalogued collection. Ha

 

[Too Fast]

Nice info about the roosters and their loving ways (pun intended). We are having a rooster dilema here, my vote is to not get ours back but I don't have everyone in the family convinced. I like our quiet mornings again and all I can see in the future is for Merlin to get more aggressive.

 

[Webechickens]

I'm having the same problems with my cockerel, Spurs. He's a BO and about 17-18wks old. He was always the sweetest and friendliest until a couple weeks ago. He decided he didn't like the girls coming over to us anymore and sitting on our laps. He's in "jail" (rabbit pen) right now in the coop with eveyone else. The girls love being able to be around us. Hate seeing him separated but am loving the peace. Trying to figure out what I want to do.