Maine

[Mainechick168]

Yes, this!!

I swear I get asked on a weekly basis about do they lay eggs with out a rooster, and then is it ok to eat the eggs if there is a rooster?? We sell extra eggs cheap ( just enough to pay for the feed) and a woman my husband words with asked if he could not include the blue eggs for her because she thought they were "weird". I told him to tell her to....well, I won't say it here, but to put it m ore politely, if she doesn't like all of the eggs that she is getting for a super deal, buy them at the grocery store!!

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

My head roo is a dancer, the girls love him He will even get in the nest boxes, in a cozy corner, under a bush, and coo and beep and squat down and tread a little nest and try to get a hen to come lay an egg. He is quite the charmer! He even tries it with me All of the roosters I have raised here with him that I have kept since he came along have learned the behavior from him. It's really neat to watch.


I never had a roo before him that did this, and there have been several that were not raised here that dont demonstrate the behavior either. I think raising them as a family group is important so the young roo's learn some manners and are kept in line by the head roo. I have a roo that I got all grown this spring, he has had a hard time integrating into the flock, he was a backup for breeding and wasn't raised in a flock and he just doesn't know what to do with himself, poor guy. He has started hanging with Bee and following him around like one of the hens, like Bee is his hero. So cute, if he starts nesting too, that just goes to show.

I LOVE roosters, especially my Bee

He has lots of babies this year

Glad to hear that chivalry is not dead.  The only other down side is that we only have 4 acres, mostly wooded, and the coop is in direct line with the bedroom windows.  Not too condusive to a good nights sleep!  However, perhaps when I get to the point of breeding, I'll give you a yell for a mannerly rooster!  It only stands to reason that a lot of behavior is learned.  So have you laid an egg for him yet?

My head roo is a dancer, the girls love him He will even get in the nest boxes, in a cozy corner, under a bush, and coo and beep and squat down and tread a little nest and try to get a hen to come lay an egg. He is quite the charmer! He even tries it with me All of the roosters I have raised here with him that I have kept since he came along have learned the behavior from him. It's really neat to watch.

I never had a roo before him that did this, and there have been several that were not raised here that dont demonstrate the behavior either. I think raising them as a family group is important so the young roo's learn some manners and are kept in line by the head roo. I have a roo that I got all grown this spring, he has had a hard time integrating into the flock, he was a backup for breeding and wasn't raised in a flock and he just doesn't know what to do with himself, poor guy. He has started hanging with Bee and following him around like one of the hens, like Bee is his hero. So cute, if he starts nesting too, that just goes to show.
I LOVE roosters, especially my Bee
He has lots of babies this year

This is interesting to me. I had decided all my rooster's behaviors were embedded in his genetic material. We were so amazed with our very first flock that the lone rooster knew what noises to make for ground predators, aerial predators, food, etc., and that the girls all automatically knew what these meant. It is not at all like a human baby learning a language from it's parents, as they are all babies together (assuming you get a bunch of day-olds) and somehow have this common language in their genes.

Of the 5 roosters we have kept for any period of time, 3 make a nest and call the girls over. With our first rooster, this also amazed me, because he made the nest and kept pushing the leghorn into it. It was our first egg, and I wondered how he knew she was about to lay. That is what has kept me fascinated with these birds. It also had me wondering what other animals had these "flock behaviors" that I knew nothing about previously. Just from brief conversations with our friend who raises cows, they have their own set of interesting behaviors. (Bees, too!)

And while I feel like I have so much to learn and understand about chickens, I am surprised that many people don't realize you can have eggs without a rooster, that roosters don't lay eggs, that different breeds lay different colors, and you can't hatch eggs if you don't have a rooster. And many children don't even know that eggs come from chickens!

Sorry to go on... The coffee is kicking in.
We have sand in our run, but only because that is what we have for soil, pure sand.

LOL! I tried and tried...
For sure their behavior is based on both instinct and learning
Bee didn't learn it from another roo, he was just going on instinct. He was born and raised here and had no competition so it worked well for him so he stuck with it.
But, if their ability to adjust to their environment is in their ability to learn, If the rooster finds he gets more action by grabbing on than more genteel methods, then thats what gets reinforced. Likewise, my hens are used to Bee's methods and dont put up with the grab and go thing, so any of the young roo's learn quickly if they want to pass on their genes they better get nesting
Like the kids Furby's, they are preprogrammed with lots of possibilities but what they become is based on the feedback they get.
I love to sit and watch my chickens,they are so interesting!
The behavior I am trying to figure out is why when I take a roo that is well behaved in my flock, and put him in a pen of his own, with his own girls, do they go all crazy and start attacking everthing in sight. It happens every year with my Mom and I, and then this year with my daughters silkies. How can a roo who has been coddled and petted and handled and always been good be so defensive? Instinct I am sure but I wish I could figure it out and find a way to counter it. God I am such a NERD!

 

[ashandvine]

Ivy, I like the new Avatar. I am not really having issues with my flock except in my head. I realized I couldn't confirm provenance and need to for safety sake. I have some birds hatched out here I can restart with but it is tough. Thank you to those who understand and support me for saying so and thank you to those of you who don't for not saying anything.

Lazy geese do not get these issues so they stay. If they did get these issues I would give up on birds for a while. I can't kill geese. They live 30 years, both parents care for their babies, mommas help their babies out of the eggs, they are social and smart... too much like good people or dogs/cats/parrots etc for me to go gacking. Calliope is sitting her nest

On the comment about cocks. I have had a few here that were outside their breeds as far as temperament-- a nasty lav Am, and I mean nasty, but then I have had some that were so good to their gals and good to us. I had one that nearly got made into soup but I taught him a lesson by pecking the heck out of him every time I could and chasing him any other time so he got the picture that -I- was boss. He used to chase the kids. I had them do the same thing. No more issues. My son can pick up a squacking hen and he will stand right up like he wants to do something but he doesn't. All the rest have been great. I like how they tidbit and protect and shuffle for attention. They have my respect because I know they would die for their flock.

 

[lazy gardener]

Seeking advice yet again... My girls are at POL, and I need to get their nest boxes made. I'm going to build (2) external attached boxes. The boxes will have to have an opening below one of the perches. Due to small s.f. available in the loft area of my coop, the opening to the boxes will be quite close to the floor level. How big should I make the nest box openings? What have you all found to be the most effective size? In this situation, how much ventilation if any would you put in the external walls of the boxes? I'll be using plywood for the structure. Should I put some sort of plastic liner in each box, maybe a dollar store dish pan to help with cleanliness?

On an aside, something knocked down a section of my electronet fencing last night. Took a post completely out of the ground. No other damage, no foot prints, no noise. Hope who ever did it got quite a little buzz! I was concerned about the power of this fence, because I can grab it and barely get a tingle, so figured it wasn't working well for what ever reason. Then, I tried taking my shoe off and planting my toe on the ground. HELLLO FENCE!!! It works just fine as long as the feet are bare. I have yet to see a raccoon wearing crocks!!!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Seeking advice yet again... My girls are at POL, and I need to get their nest boxes made. I'm going to build (2) external attached boxes. The boxes will have to have an opening below one of the perches. Due to small s.f. available in the loft area of my coop, the opening to the boxes will be quite close to the floor level. How big should I make the nest box openings? What have you all found to be the most effective size? In this situation, how much ventilation if any would you put in the external walls of the boxes? I'll be using plywood for the structure. Should I put some sort of plastic liner in each box, maybe a dollar store dish pan to help with cleanliness?

Depends on what size biddy bottoms you have. I have from banties all the way up to brahmas/giants and turkeys (although the turkeys lay under the boxes). I have a variety of nestbox holes. The small biddies prefer the 12x12 I have (with about a 4 inch lip) and the fat bottomed biddies prefer the really large entry ways. Some prefer a "curtain" some don't. I would not put ventilation on an external box - in the winter your eggs will more than likely freeze/crack if there's ventilation. You can use a plastic tray if you want. I use shavings followed by a layer of hay. Change it when I do a coop clean. If your boxes are going to be under your roosts that area is going to accumulate a lot of poop. Your biddies will walk in it into the next boxes. I would suggest putting a poo board under the roost and above the nest boxes, if possible, to keep the shavings in front of the boxes clean. Hope that's helpful.






Your poop board doesn't have to be a traditional poop board, either. I have used a table to protect the food/serve as poo board:


I've also used a sloped roof similar to what the roosts have on top of something to protect it like a little awning. It's screwed into 2x4s and then screwed into the wall. I can get a picture if you need.

 

[MEMama3]

I remade the nest box curtains today. Since I had some leftover fabric, I made a quick balance for the front window too.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Pictures?

 

[lazy gardener]

I've considered that I'd need a poop board, at least to protect the nest entrance. Might as well go full length to protect food/water as well. I have some left over glass board that could be cut to the right length and installed at an angle. The poo would roll right down the hill and be pretty much self cleaning. Currently, I'm not putting feed and water in the loft area unless the girls are shut in for an extended length of time, but of course that will change as winter approaches. Thanks for your input. I'm leaning toward smaller LF birds (RIR is the biggest bird I have) b/c I think the feed conversion is better, and I prefer a more compact looking bird, and have a small coop... approx. 4 x 8 loft, 8 x 8 lower level. Is a 12 x 12 - 14 big enough for a broody? Thanks for your pics. Nice set up.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My RIRs usually pick the lower 2 foot wide nests, but sometimes they do go in the one above, which I think is 16 inches. They also can't fly high so they could possibly cram themselves in the smaller top nest if they could get in there.

I had to laugh at your idea that the glass will "self clean" - hooooo boy I want to see a picture of the glass in a month.

I don't know how my biddies do it but the poop all down the walls and on the windows. I am glad I never painted the inside of my coop, because they did it for me.

I have had broodies in all of my nest boxes. They don't really move around much. Once they hatch though the nests are no place to raise a chick, in my opinion. I move them out to a protected cage. The most used one is a 2 foot by almost 3 foot cage we made.

I always keep the food in the coop (cuts down on other birds/squirrels/chipmunks/rats/etc from eating it and from it getting soiled from rain/damp) but I only keep water in the coop if it will freeze outside.

 

[yankeehill]

Does anyone know where I can get some Gold Laced Wyandotte chicks, close to Bangor/Dover Foxcroft?