Rooster Chat

[TheTwoRoos]

Time to break out the net cover for the run.

We have hawks, owls and eagles where we live. The hawks are probably the most brazen. I've gone outside and had them fly out of trees not 50 feet from my runs. I'm sure it was just sitting there waiting for a chance to catch itself a nice chicken dinner. Any Hawk that tries that trick will find itself tangled up in netting upon which revelation, I will call the Missouri Dept of Conservation and tell them to come get their hawk before I turn my roosters and hens loose on it.

I've got some Welsummer hens that could be on MAV-TV as cage fighters. They are all attitude.

We do have it covered up,ours free range.

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Hawks should only go after smaller birds like pullets or their regular prey like rats and small rabbits. Big ol fluffy LF hens and roos are usually too big for them to bother with unless their regular prey is difficult/sparse. Eagles, larger hawks and owls will be a concern though. I have hogwire on top of my run and have found hawks perching on it. The young hawks are reckless but they learn eventually. I've seen video of chickens mauling a hawk that was caught in netting. If you can prevent that from happening, you need to try before it gets injured. Not only is it illegal but it's torturing a wild animal. But a hawk that gets caught and freed without injury is a hawk that will probably never try that again! LOL So far we've existed in peace minus the young adolescent hawk I had to "train" to not roost on the coop (I'd just stand on a haybale at eye level with him and stare back until he left). Owls are more problematic but if the birds go in early enough and out late enough from a protected space, owls shouldn't be an issue. Best of luck!

 

[the poppster]

Amelia, You stand on a payable and stare at the hawk, till he or she leaves? Must be pretty confident birds....to allow you to get that close. I find a BB gun will usually dissuade most brash young hawks to look elsewhere for their next meal. I have a lot of sparkling, flapping, and "suspicious" yard "decorations" that are specifically aimed at birds of prey....and the fact that they don't like "strange" things that appear to move around the yard....some like the white feed sacks full of leaves, that lay around under this bench or that evergreen... looking similar enough to my border collie....even the bald eagles stick with fish, rather than trying for a nice tasty young pullet....I lost one hen to an owl a few weeks ago....she liked to show off her flight talent....and looked like she was caught outside the fenced run area....it was only a matter of time...the B.C. almost caught her a couple times.

 

[microchick]

There is no way I would ever try to free a hawk that was trapped in my coop netting. That is just asking to get the and torn up by it. Have you ever got a look at their talons?

Unfortunately, the laws protecting birds of prey are quite clear on the subject of who is protected and it isn't the poultry or the owner of the poultry.

Best to keep chooks safely under cover if there is a winged predator problem around you. I look at it as being on the same line of logic as if we lived on a busy street and had a 2 year old child. You wouldn't let that child outside without supervision to play in the traffic would you? Of course not. You would have a fenced in yard for it to play in. No, chickens are not children but you get the general idea.

Yes, I would love to be able to free range my birds, but with problem predators like Hawks, Eagles, Owls, Fox, Coyotes, Raccoons and yes, even Cougar, the only way I could safely let our flock out was if I could find little AR's for them to carry slung around their necks.

 

[AbbeAbbe]

Hi, I'm jumping in to say I am looking for some white rooster feathers. Do any of you (white) rooster owners have boys who are molting?
I'm an artist, working on a project. The vision involves a white rooster I can be contacted off site at abbe (at) tyrantsintherapy(dot)com. Thanks.

 

[the poppster]

I've got a white rock roo and a couple of white hens...I pay attention to the feather count when I feed and water my flock today, and let you know if they can donate to the project...Roger, my white rock roo is a big boy....but he's not impressive in the feather department....he's got plenty of feathers...but he's pretty much a plain white roo....no gorgeous, extravagant long flowing tail feathers on this boy....he's just a working class stiff, like the rest of us up here in the western end of nowhere....he has a nice ruff and his feathers on his back are quite impressive.....but with little or no contrast it's hard to see how really beautiful he really is. I'll let you know what I find....I could try to pick him up....he isn't fond of being handled....he usually sheds a few feathers during the altercation....and I get a few scratches, if I forgot my gloves....we'll see...

 

[AbbeAbbe]

Hey Popster,

Thank you for the great report!

I would be grateful to have any feathers Roger cares to share.

I'm in southern California. There have got to be dozens of white roosters in the area, but believe it or not, I've had no luck finding them.

I don't want to go online and just buy rooster feathers -- I'd rather have them from a source where I know they are real, from a real animal ;-) Roger sounds like an excellent candidate.

You sound pretty down to earth so I hope you don't laugh at me, but the vision I had was of a spirit guide, in the form of a young native American man's body, who identified himself as White Rooster. He was very powerful, beautiful and capable of shape shifting.

Tell Roger his feathers are going to amplify his rooster-ly powers! Thank you

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Has anyone ever successfully integrated a full grown rooster in with other roosters?

 

[dekel18042]

Has anyone ever successfully integrated a full grown rooster in with other roosters?

If you consider integrating a large fowl rooster into a flock containing adult bantam roosters, yes I have. It can be done. At least with certain roosters it can be done. Some may be more resistant than others.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I have never but I did just give away 3 cockerels to a women and she had two roos,unsure of age but they fought but maybe for only 40 seconds.But I have heard o it happening,just takes a ton of quarantine,and time.