We raised twelve chicks last year and, for the first time in six years, wound up with a rooster. He was a late bloomer so it took us a while to notice and now we have this gorgeous Red rooster (either New Hampshire or Rhode Island - we had ordered a mix).
He was crowing at four in the morning, nowhere near dawn, so we brought him in the house. Our animal control officer is great but she has to follow the law and I didn't want the noise to become a problem with the neighbors. I train dogs and had trained our hens to come when called so I thought I'd give clicker training the rooster (John Thomas) a shot. He lived in a crate in the living room with limited roaming rights for a couple of months and I thought I had been pretty successful so I moved him to the basement then I put him outside in his own mini-tractor which was designed for three birds. It's been warm and he has a nice cozy house to himself with lots of bedding.
The first morning, he didn't crow and I thought, this is great! The second morning, he crowed for about fifteen minutes at seven in the morning. OK, but not really good enough, so I brought him back inside. When I went to get him, he was shaking like a leaf and clearly traumatized. I put him in his cage in the basement which is kennel designed for a large dog and he calmed down immediately then started eating as if he hadn't for days.
I felt so bad for him. Clearly we've made him into a house bird. He's been handled so much at this point and is having a hard time with outdoor stresses. In particular, we've had a coyote population running around recently and they probably scared him to death.
So, now we have a house rooster. The main problem with free roaming, obviously, is the mess.
Does anyone know anything about diaper design?
He was crowing at four in the morning, nowhere near dawn, so we brought him in the house. Our animal control officer is great but she has to follow the law and I didn't want the noise to become a problem with the neighbors. I train dogs and had trained our hens to come when called so I thought I'd give clicker training the rooster (John Thomas) a shot. He lived in a crate in the living room with limited roaming rights for a couple of months and I thought I had been pretty successful so I moved him to the basement then I put him outside in his own mini-tractor which was designed for three birds. It's been warm and he has a nice cozy house to himself with lots of bedding.
The first morning, he didn't crow and I thought, this is great! The second morning, he crowed for about fifteen minutes at seven in the morning. OK, but not really good enough, so I brought him back inside. When I went to get him, he was shaking like a leaf and clearly traumatized. I put him in his cage in the basement which is kennel designed for a large dog and he calmed down immediately then started eating as if he hadn't for days.
I felt so bad for him. Clearly we've made him into a house bird. He's been handled so much at this point and is having a hard time with outdoor stresses. In particular, we've had a coyote population running around recently and they probably scared him to death.
So, now we have a house rooster. The main problem with free roaming, obviously, is the mess.
Does anyone know anything about diaper design?
