shawnadawn
In the Brooder
- May 1, 2017
- 6
- 1
- 14
A little history.. I started with 12 chickens I believe around March of last year. First time raising chickens and never grew up around any. BOY, what a wild ride it's been. Anway, so far we've lost only one hen and I really don't know to what. It was summer and I just found her dead in the coop. I cried but got over it realizing it happens. She was a black sex link named RiRi. I still have one remaining sex link.
Anyway, I had the bright idea that I wanted a rooster.. ONE rooster to protect my girls. They don't free range but have a very roomy fenced in area.. Well, our friend brought over TWO roosters.. a buffy orpington I named Henry and a white crested polish I named Tweak. Long story short my girls would NOT accept Tweak as their own. They plucked his beautiful crest until he bled.. He spent weeks in my basement healing.. and back outside with the look but don't touch method for another few weeks.. guess what? plucked him bloody again..
Ok fine, he went in the basement AGAIN. Meanwhile, Henry is aggressive and plucking my girls bald when he mates them. I really didn't like that because I love my girls and it just didn't sit right.
We finally agreed to let these two roosters free range.. we live out in the country next to a busy road but they've stayed away.. They have a nice little sheltered area from an old abandoned barn that blew over during a bad storm we had..
ok.. to the real problem I face today..
Something was scaring my roosters out of the barn.. I found Tweak one night in the corn field.. I grabbed my boyfriend and we put him back in the barn thinking he was dazed and the wind blew him away.. i don't know what we were thinking but the next day he was gone.. we still kick ourselves.. days past and we realized something had to have ate him. So sad. But NOW our other rooster WILL NOT roost at night in that barn. Absolutely not. Which, I dont blame him. He chooses to roost on our scaffolding on the side of the house..
I should wrap this up.. he had some pretty BAD frostbite from the wind chills dipping into that -20's. I finally couldn't take it because I was worried about his feet because he actually let me pick him up WITHOUT A FIGHT. He's now in our basement.. I really want to make sure he's eating and drinking.
Now, after that novel.. I need a game plan.. i dont want a rooster in my basement for weeks again. I don't want him suffering but would never dream of culling one of our chickens..
I should use neosporin on his frostbite and electrolytes in his water? We have discussed setting traps for whatever is out there.. Perhaps getting their food out of the barn for a few days will deter the predators? He even had a HEATED roost we put out there for him.. My boyfriend refuses to let me spend money on a coop for this rooster! Any more ideas? I'm also worried about the temperature change from our basement to the chilly wisconsin air when we put him back outside
Anyway, I had the bright idea that I wanted a rooster.. ONE rooster to protect my girls. They don't free range but have a very roomy fenced in area.. Well, our friend brought over TWO roosters.. a buffy orpington I named Henry and a white crested polish I named Tweak. Long story short my girls would NOT accept Tweak as their own. They plucked his beautiful crest until he bled.. He spent weeks in my basement healing.. and back outside with the look but don't touch method for another few weeks.. guess what? plucked him bloody again..
Ok fine, he went in the basement AGAIN. Meanwhile, Henry is aggressive and plucking my girls bald when he mates them. I really didn't like that because I love my girls and it just didn't sit right.
We finally agreed to let these two roosters free range.. we live out in the country next to a busy road but they've stayed away.. They have a nice little sheltered area from an old abandoned barn that blew over during a bad storm we had..
ok.. to the real problem I face today..
Something was scaring my roosters out of the barn.. I found Tweak one night in the corn field.. I grabbed my boyfriend and we put him back in the barn thinking he was dazed and the wind blew him away.. i don't know what we were thinking but the next day he was gone.. we still kick ourselves.. days past and we realized something had to have ate him. So sad. But NOW our other rooster WILL NOT roost at night in that barn. Absolutely not. Which, I dont blame him. He chooses to roost on our scaffolding on the side of the house..
I should wrap this up.. he had some pretty BAD frostbite from the wind chills dipping into that -20's. I finally couldn't take it because I was worried about his feet because he actually let me pick him up WITHOUT A FIGHT. He's now in our basement.. I really want to make sure he's eating and drinking.
Now, after that novel.. I need a game plan.. i dont want a rooster in my basement for weeks again. I don't want him suffering but would never dream of culling one of our chickens..
I should use neosporin on his frostbite and electrolytes in his water? We have discussed setting traps for whatever is out there.. Perhaps getting their food out of the barn for a few days will deter the predators? He even had a HEATED roost we put out there for him.. My boyfriend refuses to let me spend money on a coop for this rooster! Any more ideas? I'm also worried about the temperature change from our basement to the chilly wisconsin air when we put him back outside
Best of luck!
