New Brahma Group: Blue Partridge x Partridge, Plus Dark

[junebuggena]

The older girls should make it clear to the boys that they are not 'on the market', so to speak. A good rooster will only pay attention to the hens with bright red combs, indicating they are healthy and available for breeding.

 

[speckledhen]

The older girls should make it clear to the boys that they are not 'on the market', so to speak. A good rooster will only pay attention to the hens with bright red combs, indicating they are healthy and available for breeding.

Well, one is 9 year old, one is 8 years old, two are almost 7 years old and one of those last two has severe arthritis in her hock joint and has been looking under the weather a bit, so I really don't want to risk injury to those old gals. Three of them are currently laying so they have healthy looking combs. The EE hen, the oldest of the four, has internal reproductive issues and I'd be afraid to let those big guys in with her. They really deserve a rooster-free life (or, at least, large fowl rooster-free, a bantam wouldn't do damage),so I'll have to figure a way to allow for breeding and put the old gals somewhere during that time. I have no space left in the barn to set up a pen aside from the ones that are already in existence, but we'll see how it all shakes out if I keep big Bruno. I really do want to, but they can't just stay with those five girls on a permanent basis safely, not if stuff like what just happened to Bailey keeps on happening. I wonder if, when the other four are laying and squatting for them, they'll calm down somewhat. The injury may have been caused by two males competing for the one laying pullet.

 

[speckledhen]

Adding close ups of Bash-he's so sweet. I think Bruno may be calming down a tiny bit, too. Uploading a video with him crowing a lot, though with my super slow DSL, it may take until midnight.

Isn't he handsome?

 

[speckledhen]

Brandy laid her first egg today! And Bonnie and Betsy are both sitting in their nests so looks like they're all starting to produce at once. Already Bailey lays daily in her hospital cage. Their eggs are not as round as my hatchery Brahma girls' eggs, more matte brown and with a true egg shape.

The short video of the Brahma Brothers finally uploaded, and though I reference considering selling Bruno, I realllllly do not want to let Bruno go. I am linking it because you hear Bruno crow several times.

 

[Wyatt0224]

I watched the video of the brahma boys and in the very beginning Bruno was looking at you and clucking and picking something off the ground and then dropping it. I read on BYC once that when a rooster does that it's a sign of aggression. In the video though Bruno doesn't seem to do anything wrong though. Is what I read wrong?

 

[speckledhen]

I watched the video of the brahma boys and in the very beginning Bruno was looking at you and clucking and picking something off the ground and then dropping it. I read on BYC once that when a rooster does that it's a sign of aggression. In the video though Bruno doesn't seem to do anything wrong though. Is what I read wrong?

It can be, yes, however, Atlas will do it sometimes, Xander will do it, Hawkeye used to do it, and those boys don't/didn't have an aggressive bone in their bodies so sometimes, IMO, it's just being sociable. Now, I have had roosters do it with accompanying aggression, too, like they are sidling up to you to then attack you, so you have to take other cues in his behavior into consideration as well. Some do it to flirt, still not entirely appropriate, but not aggression.

I think rooster behavior is not always black-and-white, though when a newbie starts that behavior, I watch for other signs of aggression. Bruno is still not trustworthy, so full of bursting hormonal lust and craziness, so I can't say anything one way or another about him doing that yet.

Hector dances around me at times, but now, since he's settled down, I have realized that he's asking for attention. You'd think he was being aggressive if you saw him jump on top of the file cabinet nest box, dance toward me, then lower his head and look up at me, but that boy has turned into a big old baby now. I asked my husband the other day, "What have you done to Hector?" He just begs for petting in the morning now. I just say, "Hector! There's my good Hector!" and either scratch his chest or just put my arms around him and he stands very still for his petting. Silly thing.

 

[Wyatt0224]

Sorry to jump around but I went out to my chicken coop for the first time today. Usually I go out there a couple times a day. Today was my first real tragedy with my birds. About 1-2 weeks ago my dad told me a hawk attacked a little bird right next to the chicken coop/run. Until today I haven't seen any other signs of a hawk. I walk out there today a hawk flew out from the run. It had attacked and killed one of my Black Australorp hens. Now in my flock I have two roosters, a RIR and another Black Australorp. Both of them love my two silkies but my RIR usually never lets the BA be around them. When I went out there I saw my BA standing in the coop door, which is very odd because he's never been up there this late in the day. By now the hawk flies out and then I see the feathers everywhere. To my amazement my RIR rooster is down in the run walking around with the HAWK WHILE EATING MY BA. There's also five other hens walking around in the run with him. What am I to make of this about my RIR rooster? To me it seems that my BA roo was protecting the Silkie girls, which is his job. What was my RIR doing? He was literally walking around on the ground with other hens while the hawk was eating my poor BA girl. Sorry for this but should I get rid of my RIR rooster since it doesn't appear he did anything to stop the hawk?

 

[speckledhen]

Sorry to jump around but I went out to my chicken coop for the first time today. Usually I go out there a couple times a day. Today was my first real tragedy with my birds. About 1-2 weeks ago my dad told me a hawk attacked a little bird right next to the chicken coop/run. Until today I haven't seen any other signs of a hawk. I walk out there today a hawk flew out from the run. It had attacked and killed one of my Black Australorp hens. Now in my flock I have two roosters, a RIR and another Black Australorp. Both of them love my two silkies but my RIR usually never lets the BA be around them. When I went out there I saw my BA standing in the coop door, which is very odd because he's never been up there this late in the day. By now the hawk flies out and then I see the feathers everywhere. To my amazement my RIR rooster is down in the run walking around with the HAWK WHILE EATING MY BA. There's also five other hens walking around in the run with him. What am I to make of this about my RIR rooster? To me it seems that my BA roo was protecting the Silkie girls, which is his job. What was my RIR doing? He was literally walking around on the ground with other hens while the hawk was eating my poor BA girl. Sorry for this but should I get rid of my RIR rooster since it doesn't appear he did anything to stop the hawk?

Oh, crap, I'm so sorry! It appears that the RIR was pretty lax in his duties. Gosh, I remember when a hawk tried to take one of Ladyhawk's ducks and her Blue Orp, Lancelot, was literally jumping in the air to get at the hawk and it had to drop the duck so he saved the duck. That's what you want a rooster to do, but of course, as you've seen, not all roosters are equal. I would not expect a rooster to necessarily attack a coyote while it ate one of the birds, but a hawk, I'd really sort of expect him to do something. Yet, none of us truly knows what's in a rooster's mind, his "logic".

I know that my Isaac was a great rooster, but I saw a different strategy he used than Lancelot always did (which was hit the predator head-on, no matter what it was, his safety not a concern at all). When Isaac's sons, Indy and Ira, were here and just teens, a fox was eyeing my flock from the power line easement fence. Ira and Indy were about 8 ft apart, facing the fox with a couple of their girls staying with them, while Isaac rounded up a group and hoofed it back toward the coops and safety. So, he "threw" the underlings at the predator, so to speak. It was always his strategy to get everyone to safety if he could, including himself. But, I saw him face Finn one day, and flare those hackles, ready to trounce the cat, just like Atlas used to do when he wasn't sure of that new predator in town. So, I don't doubt he would take on a predator if the situation called for it, but that was not his first move.

And if a rooster can get himself and his girls away safely, I don't necessarily want him to engage a predator if he doesn't have to do so. But a hawk on the ground eating a hen is an easy target and you'd think a rooster would thrash him when he was vulnerable. Could be it was too late and the rooster knew it, but I can't say for sure.

 

[Wyatt0224]

Should I consider rehoming get him because of his behavior? What made me the most confused is why he was letting other hens walk around the run while the hawk was still eating. Although it did seem him and the five hens that were in the run were huddled around the gate where I let them out. Sorry for saying all that in your thread, I know you've had some great roosters.

 

[speckledhen]

Should I consider rehoming get him because of his behavior? What made me the most confused is why he was letting other hens walk around the run while the hawk was still eating. Although it did seem him and the five hens that were in the run were huddled around the gate where I let them out. Sorry for saying all that in your thread, I know you've had some great roosters.

Well, that's really up to you. Go with your gut. He may have been confused, but generally, roosters understand that their job is to protect the hens, even at a young age. And a hawk can easily be thrashed by a rooster if he's on the ground and has lost his advantage. But, how old is your RIR guy?

If you recall how I named my Atlas, it was after a black son of Suede, who was only 15 weeks old when he left the safety of his small pen in the big coop to battle an invading Rottweiler alongside six other roosters including Lancelot and Hector, another son of Suede. His same age brother did as well. Naturally, they both lost their lives along with a couple other smaller roosters. They were protecting their same age sister, Zena, who was in the little pen with them, is what we think. But, they could have cowered in their playpen and waited it out. They didn't. They sacrified themselves for the good of the flock.