Hi and 
from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard. Thanks for sharing your story. 
from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard. Thanks for sharing your story. 
Not so new to chickens, but it's been awhile...
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Welcome to BYC from California wine country in the Western Sierra Foothills!
I'm old but not done yet, too.
The flock keeps me moving - and laughing!
I have ONE RIR hen in my flock right now; I started with 8 chicks off all different breeds but now have 50 hens and three roosters (plus ducks, geese, and turkeys). My dominant rooster, Carl, and this RIR hen named Rhoda are two of five of those original eight. Rhoda went broody in her third year and hatched a single chick. She's always been a slightly bossy hen and she was a wonderful momma.
Not that I'm trying to persuade you or anything....
I'm old but not done yet, too.
The flock keeps me moving - and laughing!I have ONE RIR hen in my flock right now; I started with 8 chicks off all different breeds but now have 50 hens and three roosters (plus ducks, geese, and turkeys). My dominant rooster, Carl, and this RIR hen named Rhoda are two of five of those original eight. Rhoda went broody in her third year and hatched a single chick. She's always been a slightly bossy hen and she was a wonderful momma.
Not that I'm trying to persuade you or anything....
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- #14
Welcome to BYC from California wine country in the Western Sierra Foothills!
I'm old but not done yet, too.The flock keeps me moving - and laughing!
I have ONE RIR hen in my flock right now; I started with 8 chicks off all different breeds but now have 50 hens and three roosters (plus ducks, geese, and turkeys). My dominant rooster, Carl, and this RIR hen named Rhoda are two of five of those original eight. Rhoda went broody in her third year and hatched a single chick. She's always been a slightly bossy hen and she was a wonderful momma.
Not that I'm trying to persuade you or anything....
Ha! I'm to the point now where I'd rather shovel chicken poop and goof off with them than go on a date! Get a lot more laughs, although sometimes the heartache is worse. Sorry to you guys...
I've only had two roos once in my yard and one became so aggressive to the other that he had to go right away. It was hell trying to get him off the other one who was way bigger than little meanie. It's something I've been wanting to ask someone about multiple roosters. I've been a little stressed about the what if I end up with more than one out of these chicks?!? I'd be hard pressed to choose. I become insanely attached to most any animal. They have to be really bad for me to let them go. Are your 3 roosters in the same coop/yard? I would assume they grew up together. How old are they? Please tell me all about them. Would love to hear it.
I have 10 roosters and since I free range they will split off into groups during the day and settle in nicely at night withou problem. I have had to get rid of many who just wouldnt fit in and yes its hard but I have to think of the flock and what is best. I asctually have a couple now who may need to go or I will be forced to build a bachelor pen for them..
Carl is a three and a half year old EE and was an accidental rooster amongst my original eight "pullet" chicks.
Maximillian - usually just called Max - is a year old Silkie. I hatched him in an incubator last Easter, from eggs shipped by cjexotics. He's a hoot! He is higher in status than Domino, sort of Carl's first lieutenant.
Domino is a Brahma mix; his daddy was a Buff Brahma roo sent to me as one of several chicks and his egg was laid by one of my hens, probably Bernadette, the Cuckoo Marans - who is one of my original eight pullet chicks. Domino's EGG was hatched by a friend's broody hen. (Her hens have hatched several eggs from my flock.) It was obvious Bernard was his daddy. My friend offered the growing cockerel back to me when Bernard died unexpectedly. Domino is probably seven months old.
So, no, they didn't all grow up together, but they have all been introduced as chicks integrated into the flock so, yes, they individually grew up in the flock "together" but not at the same time.
I think that makes sense.
There have been other cockerels and roosters within my flock at various times; I had to rehome eight beloved boys (Alex, George, Charlie, Hitchcock, Nugget, Albert, Cardigan and Joey - two Silver Sebrights, a bantam buff brahma, a Faverolles, a bantam Cochin, two twin bantam Brahma mixes and a Mille Fleur D'Uccle) last Spring due to neighbor issues. Also, I had 12 RIR cockerel chicks which came as "packing peanuts" with a pair of goslings I ordered from Ideal in July 2011. My friend processes chickens so they went to her Freezer Camp when they started to crow. Apparently they were tasty. Another roo hatched by one of my hens went to another family with a flock of hens larger than their rooster could protect.
Hmmm. Some other random roosters... Wilbur went to another flock. Jack became a house rooster because he was not quite right and he recently died.
The agreement I have with the neighbors (very long story told on another thread) is TWO roosters. Jack came inside so he didn't count.. Max is a silkie, so he doesn't count. . Carl and Domino are the Official Two Roosters.
In over three years and all these roosters, I have only had ONE little bastid rooster who did not settle down after learning who was boss. He also was raping pullets and injuring them enough to kill three shy girls. He chased Charlie (who used to be Carl's second in command before all the
rehoming) down, cornered him in the coop and beat the crap out of him three times in two days. He'd been hatched from one of my eggs at the friend's flock, then came here because he was a young bully. We thought he'd settle down here with all my Roos 'splaining things to him.
That one, we shortened his life with a shovel.
I am a proponent of more than one rooster in a flock if you have plenty of hens for them and lots of yard space. As you can perhaps tell, everybody but immature fowl (and most of my nearly identical ducks) are named.
Maximillian - usually just called Max - is a year old Silkie. I hatched him in an incubator last Easter, from eggs shipped by cjexotics. He's a hoot! He is higher in status than Domino, sort of Carl's first lieutenant.
Domino is a Brahma mix; his daddy was a Buff Brahma roo sent to me as one of several chicks and his egg was laid by one of my hens, probably Bernadette, the Cuckoo Marans - who is one of my original eight pullet chicks. Domino's EGG was hatched by a friend's broody hen. (Her hens have hatched several eggs from my flock.) It was obvious Bernard was his daddy. My friend offered the growing cockerel back to me when Bernard died unexpectedly. Domino is probably seven months old.
So, no, they didn't all grow up together, but they have all been introduced as chicks integrated into the flock so, yes, they individually grew up in the flock "together" but not at the same time.
I think that makes sense.
There have been other cockerels and roosters within my flock at various times; I had to rehome eight beloved boys (Alex, George, Charlie, Hitchcock, Nugget, Albert, Cardigan and Joey - two Silver Sebrights, a bantam buff brahma, a Faverolles, a bantam Cochin, two twin bantam Brahma mixes and a Mille Fleur D'Uccle) last Spring due to neighbor issues. Also, I had 12 RIR cockerel chicks which came as "packing peanuts" with a pair of goslings I ordered from Ideal in July 2011. My friend processes chickens so they went to her Freezer Camp when they started to crow. Apparently they were tasty. Another roo hatched by one of my hens went to another family with a flock of hens larger than their rooster could protect.
Hmmm. Some other random roosters... Wilbur went to another flock. Jack became a house rooster because he was not quite right and he recently died.
The agreement I have with the neighbors (very long story told on another thread) is TWO roosters. Jack came inside so he didn't count.
. Max is a silkie, so he doesn't count. . Carl and Domino are the Official Two Roosters.In over three years and all these roosters, I have only had ONE little bastid rooster who did not settle down after learning who was boss. He also was raping pullets and injuring them enough to kill three shy girls. He chased Charlie (who used to be Carl's second in command before all the
rehoming) down, cornered him in the coop and beat the crap out of him three times in two days. He'd been hatched from one of my eggs at the friend's flock, then came here because he was a young bully. We thought he'd settle down here with all my Roos 'splaining things to him.
That one, we shortened his life with a shovel.
I am a proponent of more than one rooster in a flock if you have plenty of hens for them and lots of yard space. As you can perhaps tell, everybody but immature fowl (and most of my nearly identical ducks) are named.
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- #17
This is probably a long story. Maybe I'm feeling nostalgic:
I'd very much like to have more than one rooster if they'd get along. In fact, when I've had chickens before, circumstances made me bond 1-on-1 with 2 of the roosters. At separate times. Sometimes when I see others that are aggressive, I'm a little shocked. I think mine may have been sissies. Gussie, sometimes (well, yeah, a lot) Fussie Gussie had no idea he was a rooster. He always tried his very best to suck up to anyone and anything.We had a huge deck with a ramp to the backyard near the chicken coop. The kids and I used to sleep out there a lot in the summer. This turned out to be a real hey-day for some of our pets. This also included the horses and often the neighbors' dogs when we slept out in the pasture in the big army tent we kept set for a little while. Unfortunately,our fat old horse was always trying to break in and all the animals that came down with us also wanted in the tent, too. I'm getting off the subject here... One night my daughter, Darci, and I slept on the deck. The coop was still open. We had 3 dogs that would protect us all. I know we had an old rescued barn cat that had had two kittens and they were there. Along comes Gussie and Clara (RIR hen, bosom-buddies. For life.) Clara laid on Darci's sleeping bag and Gussie and my rat terrier got on mine. In the morning, young Gussie was trying to croak out his juvenile crow. But Clara had been busy. She laid her first egg on Darci's sleeping bag. This is the tiniest egg I've ever seen! I mean like one of those malted milk Easter eggs or something. At the time, I worked at a very popular diner in Glenwood Springs, Co.. We had a man named Roger that came in to clean after business hours. We all liked him. He was brutally brunt, funny and SARCASTIC. One of his perks was a free meal before work and most times he'd just tell me to dream something up. This little egg is going somewhere...
I fixed an over easy egg, a tiny pile of Hash browns (with peppers and onions), a few mini bacon strips and little toast points. All served on a bread plate with little parsley and orange for garnish. Oh, and a shot glass of o.j.. He already had a regular sized coffee since he helps himself. When the waitress served him he looked at it with no expression whatsoever and said, "Crystal, you know I like TWO eggs." We had such a fun time with it and all due to our chicken friends.
I hope you all liked this.
I'd very much like to have more than one rooster if they'd get along. In fact, when I've had chickens before, circumstances made me bond 1-on-1 with 2 of the roosters. At separate times. Sometimes when I see others that are aggressive, I'm a little shocked. I think mine may have been sissies. Gussie, sometimes (well, yeah, a lot) Fussie Gussie had no idea he was a rooster. He always tried his very best to suck up to anyone and anything.We had a huge deck with a ramp to the backyard near the chicken coop. The kids and I used to sleep out there a lot in the summer. This turned out to be a real hey-day for some of our pets. This also included the horses and often the neighbors' dogs when we slept out in the pasture in the big army tent we kept set for a little while. Unfortunately,our fat old horse was always trying to break in and all the animals that came down with us also wanted in the tent, too. I'm getting off the subject here... One night my daughter, Darci, and I slept on the deck. The coop was still open. We had 3 dogs that would protect us all. I know we had an old rescued barn cat that had had two kittens and they were there. Along comes Gussie and Clara (RIR hen, bosom-buddies. For life.) Clara laid on Darci's sleeping bag and Gussie and my rat terrier got on mine. In the morning, young Gussie was trying to croak out his juvenile crow. But Clara had been busy. She laid her first egg on Darci's sleeping bag. This is the tiniest egg I've ever seen! I mean like one of those malted milk Easter eggs or something. At the time, I worked at a very popular diner in Glenwood Springs, Co.. We had a man named Roger that came in to clean after business hours. We all liked him. He was brutally brunt, funny and SARCASTIC. One of his perks was a free meal before work and most times he'd just tell me to dream something up. This little egg is going somewhere...
I fixed an over easy egg, a tiny pile of Hash browns (with peppers and onions), a few mini bacon strips and little toast points. All served on a bread plate with little parsley and orange for garnish. Oh, and a shot glass of o.j.. He already had a regular sized coffee since he helps himself. When the waitress served him he looked at it with no expression whatsoever and said, "Crystal, you know I like TWO eggs." We had such a fun time with it and all due to our chicken friends.
I hope you all liked this.
Lovely story.. I just love my animals and good to see I am not the only one who has slept out with them lol. I remember growing up on my grandmas farm I loved to see the hens with their babies and I really hope to get a broody or two this spring so my kids can see that reltionship too. Her chickens were food, the hens were dispatched after they started slowing down and only one rooster made his home on the farm. It was so peaceful and we knew that the birds lived a beautiful life before giving theirs so we had food. We were very poor and relyed on those eggs and the meat. It was like second nature to my grandma to cook up a delicious filling meal with little ingeredients and she did it all in a way that looked effortless. I really wishI knew her secret....
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- #19
We grew up very poor as well and my uncle had a small dairy farm. He also raised animals for food and most of the guys in the family hunted. I take some pride in my own cooking as well and I do find it quite effortless. My Grandfather loved to cook "strange" things that they now call gourmet. Keep in mind that the first 24 years of my life were spent in Mass.. Lobster was poorman's food and we ate a lot of it. I never did get tired of it. And, as skinny as I am, I've always had a huge appetite. One that can actually be embarrasing. I took an interest in food and preparation very early in life from my Grandfather and Aunt and have only gotten better with it. My Mom was a great cook but not as adventurous. Your Grandmas' secret was that she loved it and knew what compliments what. I often wonder if people are good cooks because they like it; or if they like it because they're good at it. You really have to learn not to be crushed by the failures you'll definitely have so you can experiment. I used to be devastated when I was young when I made something practically inedible. Now, although it's mostly good, I just kind of chuckle about it. I still create some mysterious messes occasionally. Do you still eat chicken? Do you eat your own? I eat a lot of it, but can't eat anything I've ever pet. I guess I could if I was hungry enough, but I hope that doesn't happen!
Lovely stories everyone. Nice to meet you chart-glad you joined BYC
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