Naive chicken Mom

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Lisaevegordon said:
Hi everyone,
My name is Lisa and I recently acquired a chicken. It showed up at my house one day and has never left. I decided since he or she had decided to become a permanent resident that I needed to provide food, water and shelter. I went to Rural King and purchased a chicken house and run as well as grain and water/ food feeders. You would think that my chicken would be somewhat appreciative but nothing could be further from the truth. Every time my chicken sees me or anyone for that matter he or she goes into attack mode. My chicken has drawn blood on me more than once and nothing I do seems to make him or her happy. I’m at my wits end.
I was also under the assumption that my chicken would lay eggs and in spite of my providing a nesting box and nice nesting beds I still have yet to see a single egg. I’m now beginning to question my idea that she was a girl. To be honest I don’t even know what kind of chicken I have and could really really use some advice from anyone who has a clue what I might be dealing with. Is she a broody hen? An angry rooster? What kind of chicken is he or she and is there any way I can get him or her to stop attacking everyone that steps foot on my property? Any information you could provide would be appreciated more than you know.

Thank you!
LisaView attachment 3252622View attachment 3252621View attachment 3252620View attachment 3252618View attachment 3252616View attachment 3252615View attachment 3252613
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It is definitely a rooster. Roosters are definitely moody. He needs some hens, and then he will most likely stop this behavior. But watch out because, if he has spurs he could seriously hurt you.
 
@Lisaevegordon if I were you, I'd do one of two things:
1. Rehome him. Find someone who needs a feisty red rooster in their flock (look on FB or CL or on your state's board here in BYC).
2. Get him some hens. Not chicks, but young hens or pullets near laying age. Only 2 or 3 maybe. Roosters are programmed to work their flock - right now, that's YOU and the dog. He needs a job to calm his feisty a** down. Roosters protect their flock, supervise, call out warnings, lead hens to the best food and nesting sites, and provide discipline. Among other things. He may not stop challenging you altogether, but it should calm him down.
 
Welcome to BYC!

I'd recommend you find a home for your rooster. If you post him on Craigslist, you can usually find some takers. In the Livestock/farm section they allow posting of livestock for rehoming (free) and for sale. Doesn't sound like he's a good fit for you - you're looking for a pet that can use your current coop and produce eggs a few times a week. Being attacked takes all the fun out of chickening. You don't have to (and shouldn't, IMO) put up with that.

You have a very, very small coop. It looks like it's a little small for your rooster, honestly. If you want to use it, I'd consider bantam chickens. Most breeds of chicken have a bantam (half-sized) variety, and they need slightly less space. Minimum recommendations on this site are 4 square feet of coop space per bird (if you have a 2 ft by 2 ft coop, that would be 4 square feet of coop space), 1 foot of a roost bar per bird, and 10 square feet of run space per bird. And they are flock creatures, so they do best with friends. Two bantam chickens would probably do well in your setup, 3 maximum, athough 3 would be a little tight, IMO. Make sure you purchase sexed pullets to avoid getting another rooster. Seabrights or Mile Fleur D'Uccle (spelling?) are some good bantam breeds I think, although there are tons of others. If they make a bantam Faverolles, that would be a perfect bird for you I think, as they are very friendly and laid back, and tolerate confinement well. Also bantam orpingtons are very friendly generally, if you can find the bantam version.

I've never had bantam chickens myself, but judging from the experiences of folks on here, many of them make lovely pets. Their eggs are smaller than standard chickens. They can/will perch on your shoulder and/or lap if desired, and talk to you. If you raise them from chicks and interact positively with them every day, they are much more likely to be friendly, depending on the breed and on the individual chicken.

When you get the chicks, feed them an 18% or 20% starter or starter/grower complete commercial chicken feed (from a farm store or feed store, or online). When they get to be 5 months old or so, they'll switch over to layer feed (which has more calcium in it for egg production). I mention this because it looks like you may be feeding your rooster "scratch"? That's okay for treats (generally best if kept to <10% of diet), but a commercially formulated chicken feed is best for optimal health, and is easiest when you're first starting out. There's lots of info on here about how to feed your chicken for best health and egg production, folks do it all sorts of ways.

There's also some really good articles on here about brooding / raising chicks. Make sure you have your setup prepared before you go and get your chicks. If the feed store doesn't have bantam chickens, they can be ordered online from a hatchery or a breeder.

Best of luck and happy chickening!

ETA: Also, depending on the predators in your area, you might want to put a 2-3 ft hardware cloth apron down around your chicken coop and add carabiners to your latches to foil raccoons. You can search this site for "hardware cloth apron" or "predator protection" on how to do that. There's some great articles and coop builds that show/explain this.
 
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Lisaevegordon said:
Hi everyone,
My name is Lisa
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Hi Lisa, welcome to BYC! :frow

Apologies for how abrupt and overall unhelpful my first post was, that's not my usual level of engagement.

You've been given lot's of great advice and support from other members! :thumbsup

Thank you for trying to give that bird a good life. Adding ladies makes aggression worse not better in my experience.

I'm glad to here that you will still be open to enjoying further chicken adventures, I hope they're amazing! :wee
 
Lisaevegordon said:
Hi everyone,
My name is Lisa and I recently acquired a chicken. It showed up at my house one day and has never left. I decided since he or she had decided to become a permanent resident that I needed to provide food, water and shelter. I went to Rural King and purchased a chicken house and run as well as grain and water/ food feeders. You would think that my chicken would be somewhat appreciative but nothing could be further from the truth. Every time my chicken sees me or anyone for that matter he or she goes into attack mode. My chicken has drawn blood on me more than once and nothing I do seems to make him or her happy. I’m at my wits end.
I was also under the assumption that my chicken would lay eggs and in spite of my providing a nesting box and nice nesting beds I still have yet to see a single egg. I’m now beginning to question my idea that she was a girl. To be honest I don’t even know what kind of chicken I have and could really really use some advice from anyone who has a clue what I might be dealing with. Is she a broody hen? An angry rooster? What kind of chicken is he or she and is there any way I can get him or her to stop attacking everyone that steps foot on my property? Any information you could provide would be appreciated more than you know.

Thank you!
LisaView attachment 3252622View attachment 3252621View attachment 3252620View attachment 3252618View attachment 3252616View attachment 3252615View attachment 3252613
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Welcome to BYC!! That is a cockerel! That’s probably why he’s acting so aggressive. He won’t be happy unless he has some hens, but if you don’t want to expand your flock, I suggest culling him.
 

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