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Thank you. It certainly is frustrating. Had he no charm when he's not in attack-human mode I wouldn't be so reluctant to let him go.
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I don't know. It's heartbreaking just thinking about it. I can't keep him in the cage too long because it's supposed to house the baby chicks, who are arriving later this week. He is dangerous, but he's been improving with the hens and is a great guardian so I'm still hoping that he can change.
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Yeah, when he's attacking it isn't really that pleasant.
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Well that doesn't really apply to me, lol. I've never killed an animal before. I have relatives and friends of my parents who could do it, but it's still upsetting.
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I usually come up with better names, but the temporary ones became permanent.
Initially the guy that was interested did have the nice big farm with lots of girls... but that didn't work out. I'll try and consider putting up an ad... need to convince myself first.
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Yeah I need to start preparing myself for one part of the chicken-keeping venture that I wanted to get into, and that's eating the chickens I raise. At this point it's proving very difficult.
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Hehe, yeah. Velociraptors are nasty.
I've held him, but not really the head down part. I'll try it out.
7&8 :
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Prairie Orca, I love the names, too! Hope you come to a decision about the roo & that peace is soon restored!
Thanks!
What's making the get-rid-of-Itchy solution really difficult is that I know for certain it will adversely affect Scratchy. For several hours yesterday I could hear the two of them crowing back and forth.
Earlier this morning I checked on Itchy. He did the woo-the-hen trick (picking up some of the shavings and making that funny noise). I opened the cage and stroked him on the neck. At first he was pecking at me, but I "pecked" back and he stopped. He stood there, and looked very calm. I decided to make 24-hour-confinement to just 18. I took Itchy out, which proved tricky because he wanted out so bad but his excitement kept him from getting through the opening of the cage.
I carried him toward the flock, and gently placed him down some fifteen feet away. Itchy lowered his wings and charged at Scratchy, and Scratchy jumped up and they both spurred at each other. Then Scratchy chased Itchy every now and then, pecking at him. I stayed with them for about ten minutes to make sure nothing serious happened. I was pleasantly surprised - Itchy wasn't being so pushy with the hens, he wasn't charging at me, and Scratchy kept him in his place. At one point I chased him when he started having that look on his face, and at other points I chased him when he wasn't letting the hens eat first (he still has bad manners). I hope this improvement is permanent, because I sure enjoyed being out with them for the first time in a long time.
Don't mistake their competing as companionship. I would find it very hard to believe that Scratchy will miss Itchy. It sounds like the latter stresses the former and you would have a happy and calm yard. Roos will crow, even when they are the only boy there. They have something to really crow about if they are the only boy in the flock!
