Hi there from the moist, but beautiful, Pacific NW!
We never dreamed we would be chicken folk lol, but we inadvertently adopted a coop and 4 hens from some good friends who had to suddenly move out of country for work about a year ago. We were thinking we could just pass them along if it didn't work out...but smh, now they're family!
3 feisty silver-laced Wyandotte (sp?) and 1 very sweet barred Plymouth Rock (who climbs up the deck stairs to hop up and snuzzle in my lap for my morning coffee.)
I figure we're probably doing stuff wrong; these birds are terribly spoiled! They don't have a run, we let them just roam (who am I kidding, they have a "run", it's just called "the entire back yard"), they have a constant supply of 'treats': cottage cheese, grapes, bananas mushed with Grapenuts, daily dried bugs and mealworms! Yes, very fat and spoiled lol.
Lately, we're talking/gathering advice about introducing some more hens to the mix (do we really need a little "intro coop" for new chickadees? I know the roos can get mean, but the ladies?) And maybe a rooster! I hear a good little rooster can protect and keep our so-entitled ladies in line... Any thoughts on standard vs. bantam roosters? Is it true- all the attitude, half the size?
We never dreamed we would be chicken folk lol, but we inadvertently adopted a coop and 4 hens from some good friends who had to suddenly move out of country for work about a year ago. We were thinking we could just pass them along if it didn't work out...but smh, now they're family!
3 feisty silver-laced Wyandotte (sp?) and 1 very sweet barred Plymouth Rock (who climbs up the deck stairs to hop up and snuzzle in my lap for my morning coffee.)
I figure we're probably doing stuff wrong; these birds are terribly spoiled! They don't have a run, we let them just roam (who am I kidding, they have a "run", it's just called "the entire back yard"), they have a constant supply of 'treats': cottage cheese, grapes, bananas mushed with Grapenuts, daily dried bugs and mealworms! Yes, very fat and spoiled lol.
Lately, we're talking/gathering advice about introducing some more hens to the mix (do we really need a little "intro coop" for new chickadees? I know the roos can get mean, but the ladies?) And maybe a rooster! I hear a good little rooster can protect and keep our so-entitled ladies in line... Any thoughts on standard vs. bantam roosters? Is it true- all the attitude, half the size?
If you want standard sized hens,get a standard rooster.Don't get more than one rooster,they will fight.
Until they've established the new pecking order the girls can be pretty mean.
