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- May 21, 2017
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That's a very nice picture! Your roosters are so pretty!
Thanks!
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That's a very nice picture! Your roosters are so pretty!
Someone dropped off a Brahma rooster 2 months or so ago and he was super sweet...now that my hens are laying he has become aggressive toward adults but doesn't bother the boys or other children, he doesn't attack the chicks either (unlike the hens). The crazy thing has attacked me several times and one time I actually had to pick up a stick and smack him a few times to get him to stop. I'm not sure what happened and I don't want to get rid of him because the boys love him...they pick him up and carry him all over the place or just hold him like a baby. Any suggestions before I lose control and make soup out of this beast?
Do they all just stay in the coop all the time? How does this work?
Hi, welcome to BYC!
My roosters and my hens both have 144 sq foot coops. My hens free range my whole property. My stags have pasture the size of some peoples' back yard, so that is their free ranging and they have access to it all day. So no, they don't stay in the coop all the time. In fact since inside my coop, the two are separated by only chicken wire... I actually lock the boys out of their side so they can't stand in there and crow at the hens while they are trying to lay. My heavier boys either can't or haven't figured out how to make it over my 4 foot fence. The boy that did got his wing clipped and then the other which did end up working. But because I desire to make sure my girls aren't bred by the wrong boy and prevent unwanted mating, I went ahead and electrified the top and bottom of the fence. This also should prevent the smaller boys (grow out future dinners) from coming through the holes in the stock yard fencing. Will get to test my result soon.
That sounds like a wonderful setup. Do you also have breeding and brooding areas?
Things seem so fluid... like which breed to pursue! It is the back half of a pole barn that seemed like a dingy (dinjee) and dreary area, now fully usable. It's nice to change the association to something fun instead of scary and gross.
I am considering setting up a brood house but right now my hens brood in my coop. I do have another tractor set up that I use for integrating chicks that were raised in the house which I have considered using as a breeding pen since it's fully functional.
In my coops I have lower roost for new flock members who aren't ready for the roost time antics yet. They work their way to the higher roost when they are ready.