Jocelyne13
Chirping
Hello to all!
I am here to learn all I can about my new flock. I have 14 Orpingtons, two of which are roosters. I have 3 color variations- Isabel, Chocolate, and Lavender Cuckoo. Within the varing colors, I have noticed a distinct personality difference. Anyone else notice this? The Isabels are by far the most laid back, which interestingly has not affected the dominance of my Isabel alpha rooster. He is like a chill surfer dude. My beta rooster is a Lavender Cuckoo, and these in general I find to be confident and assertive. My Chocolates which turned out to be all hens, are generally straight up pushy, but also the most likely to lose their minds if I accidentally scare my flock. Also had a chocolate hen jump on me and flog me with her wings, which I took way calmer than I would have predicted. Lol. I just calmly stood my ground, and brushed her off carefully- and she and no others have since tried this.
I got these as chicks, but I have not been able to work with them as much as I would have liked. They are 11 weeks old currently. The brooder I had my hubby make was good and bad, the bad mostly being awkward to catch and tame chicks when they were younger.
I started with 14, and still have 14....but I did have one Isabel hen get vent gleet and took her to the vet. I treated her and she has recovered, but now she is half to a third or the size of the rest of her flock mates. She doesn’t let her size get in the way though, and can be seen squeezing under and between the others. She is bullied a little, but is not low man in the pecking order. I saw her stare down our former runt chick who is now twice the size of this little Isabel hen. The former runt backed down and quickly moved on. Lol. I suspect though that the size of this hen will be permanently affected, though she may grow a bit more.
My current challenge is understanding and working with my beta rooster, Kowalski (after Clint Eastwoo’s char. in Gran Torino). I know for sure he is the beta because I have witnessed the displays between my two roos, and he turns tail and runs in under 30 seconds. He is not yet mean, but he is a biter. I try to keep an eye out for him, but he is lightening fast and typically gets me when I am cleaning out their feed tub, or when I am picking something off coop floor, or putting in greens into the hanging cage that I have for greens/treats. These “attacks” are never him coming from behind- it is always him coming through the flock typically, and ambushing me head on this way. He also has gotten into the habit of perching on the roost that is beside the coop door when I enter, and then jumps down when I begin putting food out etc. He has (as of today) also begun going into the upper nesting boxes when I am tending to my bullied hen who has been holding up in one of the lower nesting boxes. I give her her own food, and treats here since she has been so frazzled with the change to the new coop- I suspect that the others are feeding off her fear/insecurity and bully her more than I have observed in the past. Anyway, back to Kowalski....when I use a foot to gently usher him away from where I want him, he does not put up a fuss and trots off. He also has not made any advances towards me while he is on the ground, nor has he tried to leap on me (yet) when he is on a roost. As far as I can tell, his body language has not deemed that he wishes to harm me, but nonetheless I am consistently being pecked or bitten. Kowalski is also very food motivated, and has been from the time he was a chick- so I am wondering if he is directing his assaults solely in relation to food. I have been trying to catch him when I can (since he is more aware/wary and so quick), and sit with him to love on him. Our last session resulted in him melting into my arm, while he closed his eyes as I stroked his comb and wattles etc. He did not bite me during this session, but yet I was bitten later in the day. So I will continue to work with him, and try to figure him out. I sense he is super smart, so I am hoping that he figures out that his biting is unnecessary...and that we can be friends!
Sorry for rambling on! Happy to be here and learn from everyone.
I am here to learn all I can about my new flock. I have 14 Orpingtons, two of which are roosters. I have 3 color variations- Isabel, Chocolate, and Lavender Cuckoo. Within the varing colors, I have noticed a distinct personality difference. Anyone else notice this? The Isabels are by far the most laid back, which interestingly has not affected the dominance of my Isabel alpha rooster. He is like a chill surfer dude. My beta rooster is a Lavender Cuckoo, and these in general I find to be confident and assertive. My Chocolates which turned out to be all hens, are generally straight up pushy, but also the most likely to lose their minds if I accidentally scare my flock. Also had a chocolate hen jump on me and flog me with her wings, which I took way calmer than I would have predicted. Lol. I just calmly stood my ground, and brushed her off carefully- and she and no others have since tried this.
I got these as chicks, but I have not been able to work with them as much as I would have liked. They are 11 weeks old currently. The brooder I had my hubby make was good and bad, the bad mostly being awkward to catch and tame chicks when they were younger.
I started with 14, and still have 14....but I did have one Isabel hen get vent gleet and took her to the vet. I treated her and she has recovered, but now she is half to a third or the size of the rest of her flock mates. She doesn’t let her size get in the way though, and can be seen squeezing under and between the others. She is bullied a little, but is not low man in the pecking order. I saw her stare down our former runt chick who is now twice the size of this little Isabel hen. The former runt backed down and quickly moved on. Lol. I suspect though that the size of this hen will be permanently affected, though she may grow a bit more.
My current challenge is understanding and working with my beta rooster, Kowalski (after Clint Eastwoo’s char. in Gran Torino). I know for sure he is the beta because I have witnessed the displays between my two roos, and he turns tail and runs in under 30 seconds. He is not yet mean, but he is a biter. I try to keep an eye out for him, but he is lightening fast and typically gets me when I am cleaning out their feed tub, or when I am picking something off coop floor, or putting in greens into the hanging cage that I have for greens/treats. These “attacks” are never him coming from behind- it is always him coming through the flock typically, and ambushing me head on this way. He also has gotten into the habit of perching on the roost that is beside the coop door when I enter, and then jumps down when I begin putting food out etc. He has (as of today) also begun going into the upper nesting boxes when I am tending to my bullied hen who has been holding up in one of the lower nesting boxes. I give her her own food, and treats here since she has been so frazzled with the change to the new coop- I suspect that the others are feeding off her fear/insecurity and bully her more than I have observed in the past. Anyway, back to Kowalski....when I use a foot to gently usher him away from where I want him, he does not put up a fuss and trots off. He also has not made any advances towards me while he is on the ground, nor has he tried to leap on me (yet) when he is on a roost. As far as I can tell, his body language has not deemed that he wishes to harm me, but nonetheless I am consistently being pecked or bitten. Kowalski is also very food motivated, and has been from the time he was a chick- so I am wondering if he is directing his assaults solely in relation to food. I have been trying to catch him when I can (since he is more aware/wary and so quick), and sit with him to love on him. Our last session resulted in him melting into my arm, while he closed his eyes as I stroked his comb and wattles etc. He did not bite me during this session, but yet I was bitten later in the day. So I will continue to work with him, and try to figure him out. I sense he is super smart, so I am hoping that he figures out that his biting is unnecessary...and that we can be friends!
Sorry for rambling on! Happy to be here and learn from everyone.
Glad you joined. 
