Keeping Chickens Free Range

[OKVet]

Well, The 5 week olds are doing fine in the hutch. Put a small pet carrier inside so they can huddle when they are cold. Horse blanket, nearby, in case.
The RIR rooster got me, again. Attacked me when I was putting chicks in carrier, transport to a bigger pen.

******************Your Vote Needed**************
Do I grab him after he's roosted tonight, slit his throat, wait till AM to make him ready for soup?

OR

Do I Slit his throat, take him down the Road a bit, let the coyotes have him?

I will Likely smack him one, for the one suture I have, Just CAUSE.......

I had to Drive into town, 1 suture, antibiotics, etc..Had to round up the babies since they were being picked on, while he's still being ornery..

Are RIR always so mean? I UNDERstand the Pullets's were calling for help...
This is the 2nd one.......

Life is too short to have an ornery rooster!

 

[lazy gardener]

Never met a nice RIR. I'd turn him into soup. I'd confine him tonight, and do the deed first thing in the morning. YOU don't want to kill him and wait 8+ hours to process him. That will ruin the meat.

 

[lazy gardener]

Never met a nice RIR. I'd turn him into soup. I'd confine him tonight, and do the deed first thing in the morning. YOU don't want to kill him and wait 8+ hours to process him. That will ruin the meat.

 

[OKVet]

Never met a nice RIR. I'd turn him into soup. I'd confine him tonight, and do the deed first thing in the morning. YOU don't want to kill him and wait 8+ hours to process him. That will ruin the meat.

I agree. I sure do like my RIR hens though, they are among my favorites. Its too bad the roosters are not as nice as the hens. I am sure there are exceptions though. I have some very well behaved roos.

 

[SmColorInDaPan]

Thank You, all. End of the day, I lost my patience. Slit his throat last night, threw him off the Road, for the coyotes to get. Just TOO ****** off to bother....

Good thing: I Found hen treats on Sale, while in town. Girls don't know what to do with them...LOL Ground up the hen treats, the 5-6 week old chicks were ALL over them! LOL. Picked up more feed, forgotten, put off, last trip.
I HOPE my Hound Dog can keep watch out for the 14 hens, I'll have by August, September.

 

[maryann momhen]

I have one I call the demon Crowley, a b.r. hen 3 yr old. She won't let any of the one yr olds have any peace, she's biting the feathers out of my Australorp. So I'm going to try to confine her for some time, maybe a week?. Anyway today I just kicked her.. not hard , I just made her fly. With my foot. Sometimes I just pick her up and hold her tight,,, and sometimes I just throw her

 

[SmColorInDaPan]

Mind you, my 2 laying hens are RIR, more than a year old, One has always laid bigger than the other.
But HOLY SMOKES! Makes ME hurt, looking at that Big one!!

Her Tribute to the GONE Roo?

 

[SmColorInDaPan]

My older chicks, 2.5 pos old, are Now free range, staying away from the Adult hens; to be expected. Adults going after any chicks, keep the old broom and myself at the ready. Too adult RIR, Eight Brown Pullets as TSC calls them, and 4 Leghorns pullets. I'll bring home two Easter Egger, Austrop cross 15 most old Roosters on Monday, have a 3 hen hutch on the ready.
Any ideas how/if the roos will take to one batch each, leave each other to their own, etc? WILL keep them penned for at least a month, as advised.
Considering having a 'hot bath' for one, based on responses here..

 

[Han00]

Watching this thread

 

[FLChickens]

Awwww, our senior roo on the farm (once a coyote got Dumpling ) was Red. Beautiful, large RIR, and perfectly behaved. He kept the junior Roos in their place but never even thought to challenge me, my husband, or any visitor we had, including children.

My first flock I had a little jap bantam roo I raised (silly me) as a pet, and he did decide he was going to attack me, but I was very fond of him so we had a little "reeducation" and it worked splendidly. He was only a pound anyway, and tiny.

Since then I have had many Roos - brahma, RIR, BR, BO, Marans, silkie, and various mixed-breeds. Every single one of them has been well-behaved toward people and never a problem. I always free-ranged, with plenty of space for the birds to sort themselves into little flocks, with a roo in each general area and girls staying near him.

I simply trained them by walking at them as if I was going to walk through/over them, from the time I could identify cockerels. If they crowed or mounted a hen when I was close, I'd chase them away. I fed the girls tidbits but ran Roos away. Never any trouble from any of them, including the reds. They made very nice roosters, in fact, though one barred Rock and a few mixed breeds were my favorites. It's certainly possible to have nice RIR Roos though.