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What a fiasco this morning! Cookie decided to take her babies out of the coop for the first time today and instead of taking them out the chicken door and down the ramp, she decided to take them out the big side door that drops about 4 feet straight to the ground. Not only that, but there's about a 1 foot lip at the door to the run so the babies couldn't follow her in to it. I heard all kinds of peeping out my window and ran out to see what the problem was. Cookie, was in the run calling them and both babies were outside peeping and running around. I managed to catch the one pretty easy but the other one really gave me a run for my money! I ended up chasing it the whole way around the outside of the coop and halfway along the house before I managed to get it lol. Both are happily in the run with Cookie now, eating breakfast.I'm going to have to keep that side door shut from now on and do something to the run door so they can climb on and out. I'm just glad that none of the flock decided to attack them. Zeus was following the one but I think he was watching over it lol
 
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dheltzel said:
I really feel for you. I've been getting requests to take roosters all summer, it's quite a dilemma for families that have grown attached to their birds. Everyone would like to find a place where their pet can live out his life on a farm and not get killed just because he's the wrong gender and can't produce eggs.

That doesn't happen much and I feel obligated to tell anyone dropping off a rooster to me that he will be dead and eaten within a few days. Sometimes I think I should run a "rescue service" where I tell people I find good homes for them, then take them out back and dispatch them humanely. It would just be a little "white lie" and make some people very grateful. But the "adult" in me says that this is a harsh reality that people (even some kids) should not be shielded from. We take on a responsibility with any pet and anyone who has ever had their beloved pet put to sleep knows that taking that responsibility involves bad outcomes (for us, as the ones left behind) as well. I know the circumstances here are different, but a humane death is ok, IMO. Every chicken dies someday, this is just early and painless, and not all the alternative deaths are painless.

You could try selling them on Craigslist. If you list them for free, you pretty much assure then a trip to the freezer. I have sold a few roosters as breeders, but honestly it's a long shot.
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Thanks...I guess in my heart I know...but I am still hopeful that one of them will make it. I do have a friend whose mother will make Sunday supper....blah:eek:
Hearing of this and without judgement is helpful. Thank you! My ears are open if anyone has ideas.
 
GM all:

A followup on the windows 10 thing.....(this may also happen if you update older versions of windows) there is this process named safedisc...(used to stop pirating software), it's been disabled in windows 10 and will affect any applications you run that need you to put the CD in the drive to run the app....
 
dheltzel said:
Quote: This is Reality, I also make sure that I am clear as to what will happen with the Rooster, even one's that I use for breeding will end up in the Freezer within a year or 2 if they are really lucky..
I also inform that I free range most of the year, which also means that most do not make it long, if they do manage to survive the predators, I will put them down rather quickly if injured...hate to put it this way, but an injured rooster out there is just gonna attract problems to the rest of the flock.
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What a terrible morning! I'm not sure what happened last night other than a thunderstorm, but my animals were a mess this morning. A bunny and several chickens were out... One of the foster bantams was out of the tractor (the hen, so easier to catch), and two of the foster bantam Roos are missing. There were some white feathers in the tractor so I fear the worst for that one, but I didn't see any black feathers so I'm hoping he's still out there hiding out. They've been here long enough to know we are home, so if he's still alive he'll be back. I am sorry @speney I do still have a pair of bantams here - the hen and the dark roo with the gold neck feathers. I'm considering putting them in a bigger wire crate in my main run to keep them safer. It wouldn't be much room for them to live for the next month, but they'd be better protected from predators.

In other news... @SilkieSensation I think 3 of the 4 Easter egg eggers you gave me are boys, lol. I have to see if my most recent pictures show their combs well enough or I'll just take new ones. From early on, the lightest one looked a little different - smaller with buggier eyes, haha. I just assumed she was younger than the others. Now she's the only one without a real comb starting. I can't keep any more Roos, so if anyone wants them for breeding, I'll let them go cheap... Or they will just end up in our freezer when they are big enough. Trouble is, I promised two of them to my sister! So now I need to find two Easter egger pullets for her by Halloween. Silkie, if you have dome and would be willing to swap back, I'll drive out to you.

Not really chicken related, but I finally tended to my tomato garden yesterday. I canned 6 pints of salsa and 4 quarts of diced/puréed tomatoes, I have about 4 or 5 quarts left to process but I needed to wash some jars last night. Sad thing is there were nearly as many rotten tomatoes on the ground as were in my basket simply because I had not been able to get out there to pick them. I would have made more salsa, but my pepper plants were slacking so I'll need to supplement from the store when the next batch of tomatoes are ripe.
 

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