INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

I am so worried that may happen. We may very well end up with no roo at all. Granger is already sneak-attacking the pullets any time Blue is out of sight, so I feel he already has that mentality. I do feel it is very likely that he will turn, if I take Blue out. =( If I end up sending them both to freezer camp, I will be on the look out for an Orpington roo. I kinda wish I had gotten some when we got chicks.

@kittydoc and @jchny2000 have lavender Orps and breed them. Last I saw, jchny2000 had an extra cockeral, but he might not be there now.

Roosters competing for ladies will tend to be more aggressive with the ladies. Try separating your flock and rotate which roo is on what side of the fence, and you may get a better idea of what he's going to be like alone with the girls. Your boys are pretty darn young and going through the dreaded horny, aggressive teenager phase, which they'll likely age out of. I've never had a roo that didn't go through that phase; some last longer and have worse symptoms than others, but they all had it.

Since he's bothering your kids, football the living crap out of that bird or eat both him and the mean pullet. Do not put up with any kind of aggression toward your children. I've never had one go after my kids, but Lord knows I would kill anything that went after my kids, and maybe the roos know that.

Footballing is grabbing said rooster and carrying him upside down like a football. Go about your business, but don't let him down until he's done struggling and has thoroughly submitted. Humiliate him in front of his girls. When he settles down, give him a small treat and send him on his way. I've found this to be the fastest method of dealing with an aggressive rooster, so as soon as he cops an attitude at all, I'm footballing the little baznastard. Don't wait til he attacks. Don't wait for hackles. Soon as he so much as gives you a dirty look, football him mercilessly.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote: @greenthumb
I have the exact situation. One pullet that bites...stands up to me in an aggressive manner and sometimes even seeks me out to bite when I'm completely somewhere away from her. Never had that behavior in more than 4 years.

I thought the same thing about taking her out. I don't have small children around so I can give her more time to see how things pan out. But if I did, her fate would be settled.

Hate to even think of removing a pullet but...


On the cockerel...
I have 3 Buckeye cockerels now that are 15 weeks. Yesterday I removed 2 of them to a remote area away so that the single cockerel has a chance to interact w/the flock without the competition. I'm hoping that will be a better way to make it work - and I only want to keep one of them anyway.

The hormones haven't kicked in yet on these kiddos...though I saw for the first time yesterday that 2 of them were doing the obligatory chest-bumping moves. Interesting that they were the 2 that I had planned to move this weekend so, since I saw them starting that, I just nabbed them up and moved them right then.

Are all your chickens Orpingtons...or are you just looking for a flock roo?

 

[Greenthumb83]

@greenthumb
I have the exact situation. One pullet that bites...stands up to me in an aggressive manner and sometimes even seeks me out to bite when I'm completely somewhere away from her. Never had that behavior in more than 4 years.

I thought the same thing about taking her out. I don't have small children around so I can give her more time to see how things pan out. But if I did, her fate would be settled.

Hate to even think of removing a pullet but...


On the cockerel...
I have 3 Buckeye cockerels now that are 15 weeks. Yesterday I removed 2 of them to a remote area away so that the single cockerel has a chance to interact w/the flock without the competition. I'm hoping that will be a better way to make it work - and I only want to keep one of them anyway.

The hormones haven't kicked in yet on these kiddos...though I saw for the first time yesterday that 2 of them were doing the obligatory chest-bumping moves. Interesting that they were the 2 that I had planned to move this weekend so, since I saw them starting that, I just nabbed them up and moved them right then.

Are all your chickens Orpingtons...or are you just looking for a flock roo?

I only have 2 buff orpington ladies right now. I just wished I had gotten an orpington roo for my flock, at least a contender or two. The more I learn, the more I see which breeds will be best for us. All 3 of my BR cockerels were chest bumping in the brooder by 5 weeks old. They sure seem to have developed quickly. I hope your Buckeye boy works out well. We are trying to keep 2 roos.

I will probably wait on the pullet. I feel she at least deserves a chance. Her comb turned red literally overnight, so I keep telling myself she's hormonal and maybe it will get better once she lays a few eggs.

@kittydoc and @jchny2000 have lavender Orps and breed them. Last I saw, jchny2000 had an extra cockeral, but he might not be there now.

Roosters competing for ladies will tend to be more aggressive with the ladies. Try separating your flock and rotate which roo is on what side of the fence, and you may get a better idea of what he's going to be like alone with the girls. Your boys are pretty darn young and going through the dreaded horny, aggressive teenager phase, which they'll likely age out of. I've never had a roo that didn't go through that phase; some last longer and have worse symptoms than others, but they all had it.

Since he's bothering your kids, football the living crap out of that bird or eat both him and the mean pullet. Do not put up with any kind of aggression toward your children. I've never had one go after my kids, but Lord knows I would kill anything that went after my kids, and maybe the roos know that.

Footballing is grabbing said rooster and carrying him upside down like a football. Go about your business, but don't let him down until he's done struggling and has thoroughly submitted. Humiliate him in front of his girls. When he settles down, give him a small treat and send him on his way. I've found this to be the fastest method of dealing with an aggressive rooster, so as soon as he cops an attitude at all, I'm footballing the little baznastard. Don't wait til he attacks. Don't wait for hackles. Soon as he so much as gives you a dirty look, football him mercilessly.

Thank you for the advice. I had heard of the footballing, but I never realized you carried them upside down. I will use this in the future. I think we have are pretty firm now on the decision to get rid of Blue. I won't have anything around that will attack my kids. My son that got attacked is 10. I can't imagine letting that big rooster out around my toddler.

If @jchny2000 or @kittydoc have any orp roosters or possibly cockerels, I may be interested. If there are any Cogburn boys around, I am very interested.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Not to interrupt the rooster talk... But I thought I would share the latest pictures of our covered porch build. We finished the roof yesterday (well, except it doesn't have shingles, just tar paper) and I got a little more hardware cloth up. Since it appears as though we aren't going to have any more rain soon, we're hoping that today we'll finish putting hardware cloth up and get all of the nooks and crannies filled in so that it's predator proof and ready for use!

EDIT: And... So much for that. Started hearing thunder right after posting this, and now a steady rain has set in... Oh, well...


Anyway, here's where we stopped yesterday:

I'm only pausing to post now because it became evident we weren't going to have enough hardware cloth to finish, so mom had to run in and get more. Works for me, because I already have a blister from snipping hardware cloth today!

 

[Jntnrmn]

HORRAY FOR FIRST EGGS!!! I'm still waiting for 2 of mine to start.

congrats...that first egg is so exciting! I'm still excited to collect eggs and mine have been laying for a year now.

 

[Jntnrmn]

@greenthumb
I had 2 road island red pullets that had been so aggressive toward me that I believed they MUST be boys coming into their own. They would not only attack me but a HUGE Tom cat that everyone seems afraid of. They bit me every chance they got. One of them put a HOLE in my leg THROUGH stiff DENIM! I was concerned for sure. I tried to get rid of them. I was almost willing to start toughening on my self up to make them dinner....I had not found the Indiana thread yet but when I started posting on BYC I was advised to wait it out until they started consistently laying. I HATED that advice bc I had no desire to be afraid of an animal I was caring for and they would get me every chance they got. But sure enough, the lesser aggressive one began to lay and she was fine, a couple weeks later, the horrible one began to lay ...although she calmed down, it took her about a month or two after laying began to become friendly again. Now ALL my road island reds love me.they are mean lite boogers to everything else but they LOVE people! I didn't do anything to train them, I just would shoo them away and lock them out of the pen area when I needed to work. I feared a training session may make them worse or afraid of me in the long run and if folks were right about them mellow in out once they started to lay eggs I didn't want that to happen. But I didn't have full time kids around, just a visiting grandson that I could monitor...good luck, I know how tough a decision it is when you really enjoy them as pets.

 

[Greenthumb83]

@greenthumb
I had 2 road island red pullets that had been so aggressive toward me that I believed they MUST be boys coming into their own. They would not only attack me but a HUGE Tom cat that everyone seems afraid of. They bit me every chance they got. One of them put a HOLE in my leg THROUGH stiff DENIM! I was concerned for sure. I tried to get rid of them. I was almost willing to start toughening on my self up to make them dinner....I had not found the Indiana thread yet but when I started posting on BYC I was advised to wait it out until they started consistently laying. I HATED that advice bc I had no desire to be afraid of an animal I was caring for and they would get me every chance they got. But sure enough, the lesser aggressive one began to lay and she was fine, a couple weeks later, the horrible one began to lay ...although she calmed down, it took her about a month or two after laying began to become friendly again. Now ALL my road island reds love me.they are mean lite boogers to everything else but they LOVE people! I didn't do anything to train them, I just would shoo them away and lock them out of the pen area when I needed to work. I feared a training session may make them worse or afraid of me in the long run and if folks were right about them mellow in out once they started to lay eggs I didn't want that to happen. But I didn't have full time kids around, just a visiting grandson that I could monitor...good luck, I know how tough a decision it is when you really enjoy them as pets.

Thank you! That makes me hopeful for my little grouch! I love all my chickens, including the rooster we will need to cull. It's definitely the hard part about raising them. I just remind myself to look forward and of the goals we set in place when we started. Regardless who may go to the freezer, we still know they were loved while they were here....as much as they let us anyway! lol

 

[Greenthumb83]

Not to interrupt the rooster talk...

But I thought I would share the latest pictures of our covered porch build. We finished the roof yesterday (well, except it doesn't have shingles, just tar paper) and I got a little more hardware cloth up. Since it appears as though we aren't going to have any more rain soon, we're hoping that today we'll finish putting hardware cloth up and get all of the nooks and crannies filled in so that it's predator proof and ready for use!

EDIT: And... So much for that.

Started hearing thunder right after posting this, and now a steady rain has set in... Oh, well...


Anyway, here's where we stopped yesterday:



I'm only pausing to post now because it became evident we weren't going to have enough hardware cloth to finish, so mom had to run in and get more. Works for me, because I already have a blister from snipping hardware cloth today!

That is looking really nice pip!

 

[Crafty chick]

Love the porch pipd. I could see you sitting out there with them watching it rain.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo

Love it! Now I have porch envy.....

And...it's supposed to storm tomorrow with heavy rains. Maybe it will go north east instead of south east?