Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MaryJanet]

OMG this is sooooo frustrating from that aspect of a parent (both children and pets..) I still have facebook, to keep in touch with a couple of "friends", and some other groups of interest, and this was posted today:

"My rooster Looney has turned into an a$$hole. He got his name from when he young and was always on the go. He has been sweet up to this past week. He’s about 19 weeks old. I came here to ask if there is any hope for him?
He first lunged at my 1.5yo about a week ago. She got a couple nasty scratches, she cried but moved on. I chalked it up to him wanting her granola bar she was holding and her not sharing (which she usually does). Second time two days later she was in the coop (which she does on a daily) and was Taking their feed and sprinkling it on the ground. He was in there at the time and scratched just above her eyebrow. She cried for about 30seconds but stayed in there. I didn’t see it actually happen, but saw the scratch after. he then started pecking at her butt which when I looked she has dirt on her shorts and it appeared he was just pecking at the dirt. Again, I let it go. next day, he started pecking away at my dog which I thought ok, he’s just protecting his girls. He came at me when I went to check for eggs from behind. He also pecked at my hand another time as I was trying to pick up feed that got knocked out of the scooper on the ground. All of these were fairly small incidents. However, yesterday, my daughter was out by the coop with me and she touched his tail feathers as she was walking by he lost his

. He came at her with such force, he knocked her over and then jump on top of her attacking her. I shoved him off and whacked him with a stick!
My poor sweet baby had scratches all down her stomach and back, arms and even just above her lip. I was ready to kill him. it’s like a switch went off in his head. He has even become mean to his ladies. They don’t want to be near him. I had been going back and forth about keeping him anyway. I’m looking at rehoming him. Until I find somewhere for him, can I help the situation other then serving him for dinner?
Side note, he hasn’t once gone after my 9yo son. I now go out with a stick because I don’t trust him."

Why would you not supervise a toddler, around your animals? I mean, the alarms went off when she stated that there had been earlier incidents that weren't serious, warnings that this woman ignored, then this 18 M/O child messes with his tail... of course he reacted, he feels threatened, he tried to tell her by the earlier, gentler warnings. This woman's lack of common sense combined with cockerel puberty is a complete recipe for disaster. Any animal can cause catastrophic injury to a small child, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. Children are notoriously rough with animals. I linked to the article @Shadrach wrote - Understanding Your Rooster. I guess I was an over-protective mother.

Yeh, I feel for that rooster. He's having a rough time because someone's letting their toddler into his space.

 

[ManueB]

Me too. He must be somewhere here in New Jersey now like me. I know he was hating the idea but I hoped to welcome him nonetheless.
He must be bereft without his beloved Skeksis for comfort.

Must be a pretty rough time, life sometimes seems to pull all it's bad tricks in a row. @no fly zone hope you're keeping head above (urban) water and give us some news when you feel like it.

I tried a little experiment yesterday. I have a couple volunteer tomato plants growing between the coop and the house, along with some weeds and grass that haven’t been mowed in awhile. I let the chickens into that area yesterday (the run opens to the other side), just to see what would happen. Only three of them came to that side, and within 5 minutes the tomatoes were trampled (they were about 2 feet high). They didn’t eat the tomatoes, but they dug around the bottom and knocked them down. Usually I close the vegetable garden off during growing season and then open it to them in the fall, but thought maybe I could let them in earlier. I try to grow all of our vegetable produce from June-September so we don’t have to buy any, so I think I’ll keep the chickens out for now. I can’t risk losing my family’s food source.

Once I have harvested mostly everything except the winter squash and some greens I can put a small fence around, I will let them back in to that area and let them glean and work on pest control.

We haven't managed to keep my smaller chickens and chicks out of the garden. While they do some good clearing bugs and some of the weeds, they mostly do bad at this time of year. Just yesterday I found out they had eaten all the kale leaves (I was taking a risk leaving them unprotected). I gave up my strawberry patch : it needs weeding everyday and we didn't find a way to keep the chickens out without making it uncomfortable for us to be in. I protected the chards and beets otherwise they would be none left. The other stuff, beans, squashes, zucchinis, tomatoes, corn...seem to be untouched. They haven't understood yet that tomatoes are good to eat and I never give them as treats anymore. All my tomatoes and beans are safely tied to poles so they couldn't trample them if they tried. But I guess next year we'll electrify the netting to keep them out.

I will never have another hen like her, and not sure I want another one either

She has become something of a legend for me.
Good thing you and especially Rosie were there, because her story began by saying something rather unpleasant about human species interactions with chickens.

OMG this is sooooo frustrating from that aspect of a parent (both children and pets..) I still have facebook, to keep in touch with a couple of "friends", and some other groups of interest, and this was posted today:

"My rooster Looney has turned into an a$$hole. He got his name from when he young and was always on the go. He has been sweet up to this past week. He’s about 19 weeks old. I came here to ask if there is any hope for him?
He first lunged at my 1.5yo about a week ago. She got a couple nasty scratches, she cried but moved on. I chalked it up to him wanting her granola bar she was holding and her not sharing (which she usually does). Second time two days later she was in the coop (which she does on a daily) and was Taking their feed and sprinkling it on the ground. He was in there at the time and scratched just above her eyebrow. She cried for about 30seconds but stayed in there. I didn’t see it actually happen, but saw the scratch after. he then started pecking at her butt which when I looked she has dirt on her shorts and it appeared he was just pecking at the dirt. Again, I let it go. next day, he started pecking away at my dog which I thought ok, he’s just protecting his girls. He came at me when I went to check for eggs from behind. He also pecked at my hand another time as I was trying to pick up feed that got knocked out of the scooper on the ground. All of these were fairly small incidents. However, yesterday, my daughter was out by the coop with me and she touched his tail feathers as she was walking by he lost his

. He came at her with such force, he knocked her over and then jump on top of her attacking her. I shoved him off and whacked him with a stick!
My poor sweet baby had scratches all down her stomach and back, arms and even just above her lip. I was ready to kill him. it’s like a switch went off in his head. He has even become mean to his ladies. They don’t want to be near him. I had been going back and forth about keeping him anyway. I’m looking at rehoming him. Until I find somewhere for him, can I help the situation other then serving him for dinner?
Side note, he hasn’t once gone after my 9yo son. I now go out with a stick because I don’t trust him."

Why would you not supervise a toddler, around your animals? I mean, the alarms went off when she stated that there had been earlier incidents that weren't serious, warnings that this woman ignored, then this 18 M/O child messes with his tail... of course he reacted, he feels threatened, he tried to tell her by the earlier, gentler warnings. This woman's lack of common sense combined with cockerel puberty is a complete recipe for disaster. Any animal can cause catastrophic injury to a small child, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. Children are notoriously rough with animals. I linked to the article @Shadrach wrote - Understanding Your Rooster. I guess I was an over-protective mother.

In many ways children, even older, and young teens, will naturally act in ways that frighten most animals : make noise, run around, be unpredictable, try to touch and pet them. It takes a real education for most of them to act otherwise.
We have a couple of friends from the city who come regularly to see us with their now seven year old kid. He's always been quiet, shy, and the think before acting type. Before we had the roos, he used to hang out a lot with the hens and he loves them. I trust the kid completely, but we still don't let him go in the chicken yard now without an adult with him. One reason is that he is partly deaf, and probably because of this, he tends to speak very loudly. But, I also don't trust my smaller rooster completely with any strangers, and while he is too small to hurt anyone I think he could scare a kid. Even one that tries to have a correct behaviour.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

OMG this is sooooo frustrating from that aspect of a parent (both children and pets..) I still have facebook, to keep in touch with a couple of "friends", and some other groups of interest, and this was posted today:

"My rooster Looney has turned into an a$$hole. He got his name from when he young and was always on the go. He has been sweet up to this past week. He’s about 19 weeks old. I came here to ask if there is any hope for him?
He first lunged at my 1.5yo about a week ago. She got a couple nasty scratches, she cried but moved on. I chalked it up to him wanting her granola bar she was holding and her not sharing (which she usually does). Second time two days later she was in the coop (which she does on a daily) and was Taking their feed and sprinkling it on the ground. He was in there at the time and scratched just above her eyebrow. She cried for about 30seconds but stayed in there. I didn’t see it actually happen, but saw the scratch after. he then started pecking at her butt which when I looked she has dirt on her shorts and it appeared he was just pecking at the dirt. Again, I let it go. next day, he started pecking away at my dog which I thought ok, he’s just protecting his girls. He came at me when I went to check for eggs from behind. He also pecked at my hand another time as I was trying to pick up feed that got knocked out of the scooper on the ground. All of these were fairly small incidents. However, yesterday, my daughter was out by the coop with me and she touched his tail feathers as she was walking by he lost his

. He came at her with such force, he knocked her over and then jump on top of her attacking her. I shoved him off and whacked him with a stick!
My poor sweet baby had scratches all down her stomach and back, arms and even just above her lip. I was ready to kill him. it’s like a switch went off in his head. He has even become mean to his ladies. They don’t want to be near him. I had been going back and forth about keeping him anyway. I’m looking at rehoming him. Until I find somewhere for him, can I help the situation other then serving him for dinner?
Side note, he hasn’t once gone after my 9yo son. I now go out with a stick because I don’t trust him."

Why would you not supervise a toddler, around your animals? I mean, the alarms went off when she stated that there had been earlier incidents that weren't serious, warnings that this woman ignored, then this 18 M/O child messes with his tail... of course he reacted, he feels threatened, he tried to tell her by the earlier, gentler warnings. This woman's lack of common sense combined with cockerel puberty is a complete recipe for disaster. Any animal can cause catastrophic injury to a small child, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. Children are notoriously rough with animals. I linked to the article @Shadrach wrote - Understanding Your Rooster. I guess I was .

It is immensely frustrating when people don't take the time to learn about an animal before they start keeping them.

Must be a pretty rough time, life sometimes seems to pull all it's bad tricks in a row. @no fly zone hope you're keeping head above (urban) water and give us some news when you feel like it.

We haven't managed to keep my smaller chickens and chicks out of the garden. While they do some good clearing bugs and some of the weeds, they mostly do bad at this time of year. Just yesterday I found out they had eaten all the kale leaves (I was taking a risk leaving them unprotected). I gave up my strawberry patch : it needs weeding everyday and we didn't find a way to keep the chickens out without making it uncomfortable for us to be in. I protected the chards and beets otherwise they would be none left. The other stuff, beans, squashes, zucchinis, tomatoes, corn...seem to be untouched. They haven't understood yet that tomatoes are good to eat and I never give them as treats anymore. All my tomatoes and beans are safely tied to poles so they couldn't trample them if they tried. But I guess next year we'll electrify the netting to keep them out.


In many ways children, even older, and young teens, will naturally act in ways that frighten most animals : make noise, run around, be unpredictable, try to touch and pet them. It takes a real education for most of them to act otherwise.
We have a couple of friends from the city who come regularly to see us with their now seven year old kid. He's always been quiet, shy, and the think before acting type. Before we had the roos, he used to hang out a lot with the hens and he loves them. I trust the kid completely, but we still don't let him go in the chicken yard now without an adult with him. One reason is that he is partly deaf, and probably because of this, he tends to speak very loudly. But, I also don't trust my smaller rooster completely with any strangers, and while he is too small to hurt anyone I think he could scare a kid. Even one that tries to have a correct behaviour.

In reply to your section about your garden, I feel your pain! I have some pretty elaborate contraptions to keep them out of my plots. I get more sophisticated every year, this year I'm using a combination of metal frames (like for cloches) that can have their greenhouse covers changed for bird net, and birdnet covers secured with horticultural bungee cord/shock cord that allows me to remove it easily for access. We shall see how that goes! The chickens really hate bird net and most of them won't mess with it too much.

I have trouble with what I refer to as the Hooligan stage - chicks at the stage when their mother weans them and until they get too large to stop getting themselves into trouble. They are like a little gang of destruction wherever they go. They are the bane of my existence and also give me great joy and amusement.

In regards to your comments about the cockerels.... I agree! Children and roosters don't mix in general. I've raised several cockerels, some of them get to hang around longer than others. I've never had any problems with any of them, although there have been a few who I give a side eye to and they back at me. The two I have right now (in addition to the flock rooster) are lovely boys, but we are only just heading for cockerel puberty. I have a serious sex ratio imbalance right now (19 hens and 1 mature rooster, the poor guy) so they will get to hang around for a bit longer than usual to see of they can shape up to lend a hand.

I don't handle my birds except as necessary for treatment or required care. I respect my rooster and he respects me, and we have enough trust in each other that he knows when I need to handle a hen for whatever reason, I mean no harm to her, no matter how much she protests the indignity.

 

[ManueB]

I have trouble with what I refer to as the Hooligan stage - chicks at the stage when their mother weans them and until they get too large to stop getting themselves into trouble. They are like a little gang of destruction wherever they go. They are the bane of my existence and also give me great joy and amusement.

Exactly ! My only confort is that the gang of destruction looks kind of nice in garden pictures .

**************
For chard lovers, growers and bakers , I thought yesterday that some of you could be interested in this very typical dessert we have in Nice, Torta de bléa , sweet chard pie. I translated the recipe at the beginning of this post.

 

[MrsNorthie]

It takes a real education for most of them to act otherwise.

I definitely blame the mom, he gave her several warnings, that she just chose to ignore. It is sad for the child and the cockerel.

It is immensely frustrating when people don't take the time to learn about an animal before they start keeping them.

We did a lot of research before getting chickens, but it seems like parenting 101, if an animal gives warnings, like running away from, or nipping and running away from the child, closer supervision or complete separation until the child learns and grows. There is a lot of misinformation about cockerels/roosters, I am grateful for our Resident Roosterologist.

 

[MrsNorthie]

My only confort is that the gang of destruction looks kind of nice in garden pictures .

Your garden is beautiful and enhanced by your gang of destruction.

 

[TropicalChickies]

OMG this is sooooo frustrating from that aspect of a parent (both children and pets..) I still have facebook, to keep in touch with a couple of "friends", and some other groups of interest, and this was posted today:

"My rooster Looney has turned into an a$$hole. He got his name from when he young and was always on the go. He has been sweet up to this past week. He’s about 19 weeks old. I came here to ask if there is any hope for him?
He first lunged at my 1.5yo about a week ago. She got a couple nasty scratches, she cried but moved on. I chalked it up to him wanting her granola bar she was holding and her not sharing (which she usually does). Second time two days later she was in the coop (which she does on a daily) and was Taking their feed and sprinkling it on the ground. He was in there at the time and scratched just above her eyebrow. She cried for about 30seconds but stayed in there. I didn’t see it actually happen, but saw the scratch after. he then started pecking at her butt which when I looked she has dirt on her shorts and it appeared he was just pecking at the dirt. Again, I let it go. next day, he started pecking away at my dog which I thought ok, he’s just protecting his girls. He came at me when I went to check for eggs from behind. He also pecked at my hand another time as I was trying to pick up feed that got knocked out of the scooper on the ground. All of these were fairly small incidents. However, yesterday, my daughter was out by the coop with me and she touched his tail feathers as she was walking by he lost his

. He came at her with such force, he knocked her over and then jump on top of her attacking her. I shoved him off and whacked him with a stick!
My poor sweet baby had scratches all down her stomach and back, arms and even just above her lip. I was ready to kill him. it’s like a switch went off in his head. He has even become mean to his ladies. They don’t want to be near him. I had been going back and forth about keeping him anyway. I’m looking at rehoming him. Until I find somewhere for him, can I help the situation other then serving him for dinner?
Side note, he hasn’t once gone after my 9yo son. I now go out with a stick because I don’t trust him."

Why would you not supervise a toddler, around your animals? I mean, the alarms went off when she stated that there had been earlier incidents that weren't serious, warnings that this woman ignored, then this 18 M/O child messes with his tail... of course he reacted, he feels threatened, he tried to tell her by the earlier, gentler warnings. This woman's lack of common sense combined with cockerel puberty is a complete recipe for disaster. Any animal can cause catastrophic injury to a small child, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. Children are notoriously rough with animals. I linked to the article @Shadrach wrote - Understanding Your Rooster. I guess I was an over-protective mother.

The Washington DC "City Paper" -- similar to the Village Voice -- used to run a column called the "Darwin Awards." Basically, it gave a weekly rundown of incidents in which people who were injured, maimed, or died doing incredibly stupid things (thus removing themselves from the evolutionary gene pool -- the Darwin reference).

I hereby nominate this nitwit for a Darwin Award.

 

[bruceha2000]

Sadly it seems most people who earn a Darwin Award have already passed on their "stupid" genes.

 

[Shadrach]

A constant theme here on BYC unfortunately. "I won't keep anything that may harm my little darlings." The anything that is harming the little brats are the parents for letting a child of that age anywhere near a rooster.

Sometimes people post pictures of the injury. Usually one needs a magnifying glass to picke the injury out. I just cannot be dealing with that sort of nonsense. When I was a kid I covered in bashes and bangs, gravel rash anf dirt. Wtf is wrong with people?

 

[Shadrach]

If you read this @no fly zone I just want you to know you're welcome on this thread with, or without chickens.