Minnesota!

[The BlanchRanch]

Ralphie. From the sounds of it I am guessing at least 12.

 

[scandiafowl]

I've read threads or heard stories through threads that roosters free ranging with too many hens start to get stressed out.  LOL.  I can imagine.  And I've actually watched Roger with his broodermate Duke (before we culled Duke) take turns keeping an eye on the skies. while Roger took a break and ate.  They worked well together as "brothers".  Just the girls' backs took a beating.

They rarely fought.  Duke a bantam and Rog a standard. They knew their pecking order. Roosters add such a fun dynamic to the flock.

If my roosters are stressed... Too bad. Do they have rooster oxytocin?

 

[scandiafowl]

And I'm over here like... TRUCKS! TOOLS! MAN STUFF! TESTOSTERONE!!!

Lol

Edit to add: not meaning to say trucks and tools are ONLY man stuff. I know many of you ladies on here are testament to that!!

Smart backpedaling

Do you have the sudden urge to go to a bar and get into a brawl, a la Crocodile Dundee?

 

[scandiafowl]

I did not find it much different between the first and second kid at all. Both were a breeze to me....

Spoken like a true male. ;-)

 

[Cluckies]

I did not find it much different between the first and second kid at all. Both were a breeze to me....

Hahaha!

 

[FoxyChicken]

Alright guys, I have a chicken CSI case for you!

I came home from work today and the girls were all lined up at the gate waiting to get let out of the pasture to free range like always, so I opened the gate and went in to collect eggs and do some chores while they all went their separate ways around the house and garage. I didn't do a head count, but it didn't seem like anybody was missing. After I spent a few minutes in the coop I came out and notice a big pile of feathers out in the pasture and my heart just sank! My SLW is molting right now but this was way too many feathers for even that, and it was in an odd spot. It was out in the open, not a place where they normally sit and preen. I got up to the pile expecting the worst, but to my relief, they were grouse feathers! So here's my conundrum... did a grouse just happen to fly in to the chicken pasture and then get picked off by a hawk or eagle? What are the chances a grouse would get eaten and not a chicken? One thing I did notice during my investigation is a microscopic piece of feather on the window of my garden shed. Is it possible that it flew into the window, got knocked out and was eaten by the chickens? Would chickens eat an entire grouse, bones and all? There was seriously nothing left but feathers. I'm just at a loss for what could have happened, and the girls aren't talking! Thankfully though they are all accounted for.

Here is the pile of feathers


And here it is in relation to the garden shed window in question

 

[FoxyChicken]

OH! And another funny thing that happened tonight... my pullets are chasing my dogs! Everybody's been talking about how to teach dogs how to behave around chickens, but what about naughty chickens going after dogs?? That little trouble-making EE pullet pecked one of my dogs in the eyeball tonight! Her eye is all red now. Poor thing. I saw the Buckeye chasing her down the driveway a couple days ago...

 

[scandiafowl]

@FoxyChicken

My first thought was that it looked more like pigeon feathers than chicken feathers. From the photo the feathers seem more uniform in length.
Do you have a chicken that color?

 

[Mistahbue]

Quote:
Thank you for that information about soaking her -- I will do that tomorrow for sure. how long does she need to soak?

Well I learned a thing - I did not know that there is no real thing as a LO!! Thank you for explaining that. I have so much to learn still! So when I got chicks from McMurray they threw in a freebie - a little roo, of course, he's a blue with a darker blue head -- but entirely different color that this girl? So they are a different genetic color line then or just a variance in gene color saturation? Now I have something else to look into but critter coloring fascinates me!

I need to seriously learn chicken color genetics. Use to know cat color genetics and have forgotten it - except that blue eyes = absence of color. And I'm probably backwards on that. LOL

Thanks again about the pointers on my gal. I will soak her tomorrow for sure.

 

[Coffee 1st]

I got Worms....lol..
i had no idea there would be so many...