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Cockerooooodeldoo

In the Brooder
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Hi Everybody, I am in the process of buying my dream home!! and it comes with CHICKENS!!! and a Rooster!! Myself and husband live in North West France. Its currently 1.30am I can't sleep! I've been watching some chicken videos on another forum, and came across this and thought YAY! lol. Anyway about the chickens, there is 1 Cock and 6 Hens. They have a pretty huge run inside and out. I haven't been inside it yet as we haven't got the keys. that will be happening in May. So I can not say exactly how there home is. The previous owners are very old and moving into a village community so can not take their chickens with them. I know roughly things they need. But I'm more concerned in learning how to interact with them. They said the Cock is friendly and not very old. He has HUGE feet (the first thing my daughter and I noticed) so he is from this day forth named Big Foot! any hooo what I'm after asking is, which may sound stupid so sorry. but how do we interact with them? make friends with them? I am going to assume they are like most animals and know their handlers. and we are going to be new to them. More so the Cock, My husband got attacked by one when he was a small child so has a fear of all animals with feathers. So it will be on me to look after them. So I am asking myself.. Can I just walk into there pen and clean, change water, feed etc.. without being attacked. How do you let them run loose on your property and then get them back in the run when you want/need to? Will the cock be super territorial and not want me in his home? When there is a cock in there, can you still easily collect the eggs?
The outside part of their pen in currently just on dirt (the garden) Do i need to get some woodchip down? i heard its good for them health wise? The inside of there pen, I am assuming is also just the ground, do they need shavings? sand? for health, enrichment etc... Anyway I think my first post is probably long enough for the minute, and I have a very early start so need to try and get some sleep. Thanks for reading, I look forward to learning. ;-)
 
Cockerooooodeldoo said:
Can I just walk into there pen and clean, change water, feed etc.. without being attacked.
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Usually if a rooster is human aggressive it will happen long before he turns three. If he isn’t going after the previous owners, he’s very unlikely to go after you.
Cockerooooodeldoo said:
How do you let them run loose on your property and then get them back in the run when you want/need to?
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Because they are used to their home already they will coop themselves at dusk. Just lock them up, put up any leftover feed to avoid rodents and go to bed!
Cockerooooodeldoo said:
When there is a cock in there, can you still easily collect the eggs?
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Yes, in my experience. Roosters might get a bit tetchy if you grab a hen but they don’t usually care about people collecting eggs unless they are human aggressive and then it has nothing to do with the eggs and everything to do with the human
Cockerooooodeldoo said:
Do i need to get some woodchip down?
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no they will be plenty happy to dig in the dirt!

Welcome to BYC!
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.

I believe I read somewhere that chickens can remember 100 faces (including other chickens). My advice for when you all get started with this little flock is to just go slowly but purposefully about your business around them without talking to or looking directly at them. Just stay quiet and stick to a rigid routine. They will quickly realize you are no threat and are reliable

Then start gradually just sitting in a chair in their pen and read a book or whatever. This will allow them to come around and explore you.

After that you can start feeding them treats directly from your hand. Never feed more than a small handful a day. Once they readily take treats from you, you can sit on the ground and encourage them to setting into your lap.

Egg collection should not be an issue.

I like to keep a thick layer of wood chips in my run to cold compost the poop load. They chickens still easily dig out their dust bathing holes.

I like thick wood shavings or hemp bedding in the coop to cushion landings off the roosts.
 
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:frow Hi, welcome to the flock! We're glad you joined. Please ask any questions freely and don't worry about sounding silly or stupid. We were all "newbies" with chickens once too, and had to learn everything from the ground up. Much better to ask and do things right than blunder into a costly mistake or one that might hurt your birds!
 
Welcome to BYC, glad to have you!
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You are quite right in thinking that chickens are like most other animals in that they do recognise familiar faces.
As prey animals, they are likely to be wary of new faces.

If you free range, things might be easier. It gives you a more neutral space to move around, making you seem less threatening in their eyes. While they are out would be a good time to do all the necessary chores.

Around the same time, I would also start throwing food scraps and such on the ground. If possible, make it a point of offering them to the rooster. They should quickly get the idea that you’re the new food provider. Depending on their individual temperaments, you might get them to become quite friendly in a relatively short amount of time.
As long as you don’t act threatening (which even from reading your post, I’m sure that you’ll be just fine), then the rooster is unlikely to attack you.
Egg collection is unlikely to be a problem. A few roosters do take offence to the removal of eggs, but the vast majority don’t. If you’ve got any communication with the previous owners, that would be something worth asking.

As BlindLemonChicken said, no need to worry much about the free ranging thing. Most are really good about returning home at night, especially since their space isn’t changing. Roosters are quite helpful here; they gather everyone together, and take them to roost. Since this group is established, I’d expect the same.

Observation is your best friend! While getting the chores done and walking around appearing neutral, is the best time to get some info on your group! Very quickly you will discover how the group/flock operates, which of the hens is the roosters’ favourite, and all the other fun stuff. This should help you connect with them, as well as help you with how to act around them.

If you’re interested, come join us on the Europe thread!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peeps-in-europe.1288348/

Good luck, I think we’d all love to see pictures of the chickens once you move in!
 

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