Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[thistlewick]

Just read that response after I posted!!

Staying away from their rooster is not normal. Not being able to eat in peace because being called over for food means that you might get forcefully mated is not normal

Okay, so yeah -- that is good to know. The hens that have feather loss DO in fact, steer clear of him and do not 'hang' with him.

The food thing?? I free range all day long and they forage, it is hard to say -- but when I toss treats or bring treats, he kinda tidbits at first, then he realizes that they know and so he eats too. He does not chase anyone away from food, he does not mate while treat time is going on. He mates at the typical morning and evening times that I've noticed.

But during the day in this heat they are largely hanging out in the hedge lol I don't see them.

 

[Shadrach]

01/08.
Three hours. Warm and sticky.
Two dead wild birds at the field, one Magpie and another very small bird I couldn't identify. Neither had any signs of being eaten so it's probably the cat.
Have I mentioned how much I detest cats...
Sylph and Mow won't go far from me when we are out on the field and even return to the extended run if I go too far down the field for any length of time. It looks like I'm going to have to spend a few full days at the field to sort this problem out; not a bad thing as such but not at all convenient at the moment.

Thanks to some recent rain the thin bladed grass is reappearing in patches and the chickens are eating it again. Lots of plants that were seeding have finished and this reduces the forage for the hens.

 

[Shadrach]

Everyone is assuming (naturally, I guess) that Chuck is HUGE.

He is actually smaller than the hens he's causing feather loss on. I picked him because he was small and tidy. He's an Easter Egger, and the size of a regular hen. He is smaller than Blanche, the Buff Orpington who is so slow she can never get away from him and he is smaller than Dorothy the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte who is also so slow she cannot get away from him. And these are the two with the most feather loss.

I just read a article/thread on this forum by another Rooster expert - they said that hens who like their rooster should squat for him when he initiates.

HAH, well, none -- absolutely ZERO of the hens squat for Chuck. He has to chase them down, grabbing them and forcing himself on. NONE of them squat. I didn't think anything of it. Which is interesting because before we introduced him (we had separated all the boys for months before choosing one) ALL of the girls squatted for me and my husband when we just walked by.

Most of the girls run away and he has to surprise them by stalking from behind.

Now he does have cuddlers on the roost at night, 2 others, Easter Eggers, interestingly. (Pudding and Custard, and mostly Custard)

You know what's interesting, and curious about @Shadrach 's hypothesis? Neither of them have feather loss. What is also true about Pudding and Custard is they are fast, small, and wily and *independent* and do not spend all day with the flock at all. They 100% do their own thing all day long.

So that could mean that they don't get 'caught' by Chuck very often, so no feather loss. Whereas poor Blanche and Dorothy, more 'typical' chickens who are not independent and also very big and very slow, are more easily caught, so overmated and thus; feather loss. Chocolate is now showing signs of it and she's the third largest chicken and about the same size as Chuck.

Also with regards to 'squatting' - I have observed a couple of hens squat for Oscar.

Since I have 24 acres (the chickens are left to their own devices and on it, use about a 6 acre circle of it at the very most) it will be also interesting to see what happens.

I have chicks who are 4-5 weeks old and have been brooded on the floor, with everyone, since 1 week old, I let them out. None of the other hens or cockerels coming up care or do anything to them. They are all alive. In fact I've done this in successive waves, so there has been chicks growing up with teens/adults/adolescents all spring and summer long. Everyone's still alive. For most of them, there was no broody to protect them. They did fine with their 'safe' space only they could retreat to -- interesting thing??? They barely use it. They LOVED being with everyone.

Most of the time, when I go out in the heat of the day, everyone who is still young enough to still hang by the hen house, even though their ages range from baby to 10-12 weeks old (this seems the age when they begin to range far), they are cuddled together sunning or dust bathing. All ages together.

I chalk this up to the fact that they have space. They could leave the run area, the door is wide open. They don't. They hang out together against the Big Scary World until they are 'big' enough to go with the grown ups.

Anyway regarding Chuck; regarding my flock in general; I could throw a rock and hit 5 people willing to kill a rooster for a meal, so finding someone to take any unwanted roosters off my hands is brainless and easy. I just don't want to do that. I have a contact who re-homes and just keeps bachelor flocks on her property. She and I have already set up an agreement that she will take any spares I don't want.

But I don't want to arbitrarily toss boys who don't need to be tossed. But I will need to get down to 5 boys. Only 4 of the ~13 boys I have right now are sexually mature. I want to see how Batman, Miss Pecky and Cocoa behave.

I will continue to assess the watch the featherless girls, I will assess and watch the new cockerels coming up and see if anyone actually prefers (squats) to them.

I don't know if anyone has bothered to read my thread but I keep it quite updated with my situation and I have an entire bachelor set up already. It's just close (I mean, within 500 ft) to a neighbor and I feel terrible about the crowing at 4am lol

I do read your thread and I hadn't assumed in your case that the rooster was too big for the hens. I've sort of mixed general view/advice in the post, which I know I probably shouldn't.

If the hens don't like him that is the best of all reasons not to keep him.

 

[thistlewick]

I do read your thread and I hadn't assumed in your case that the rooster was too big for the hens. I've sort of mixed general view/advice in the post, which I know I probably shouldn't.

If the hens don't like him that is the best of all reasons not to keep him.

I really was answering all the assumptions, not specifically to you <3

I think SOME hens like him, and some do NOT.

After reading this all this morning and realizing a few things, and discussing with my husband who listens to all my chicken worries, we just don't want to make any rash decisions.

We are going to wait and see how things pan out -- new harems will be formed I am sure.

Only like 5 hens sleep next to Chuck, out of the 14 adults he's 'lived' with all this time. The rest have always roosted at the OPPOSITE end of where he does. LOL

I guess this should have been something I might have noticed, and didn't.

 

[Shadrach]

I had chicken for supper last night, proper chicken, Light Sussex cockerel in fact. My friend having got tired of hearing me moaning about how I couldn't get proper chicken anywhere brought me a breast and thigh given he was passing through Bristol.

 

[kattabelly]

I really need to have a Light Sussex cockerel supper soon, before his dickheadery becomes more than just annoying.

 

[SimpleJenn]

I can pick up my chickens easily when they are roosted. I even could about a month after I broke my shoulder last year. Why not take them of the roost at night and crate them out of sight till the next day? Taking all 4 may be a bit disturbing but if you take one or two out at a time its the easiest way to get the job done.
Btw, the parts you don’t eat are good food for the chickens.

The coop that group sleeps in is nearly impossible to get into, an Ecoflex plastic thing that expects you to use a square shovel to clean it out...I had very little say in that one being purchased.
I also suffer chronic vertigo so bending/stooping too much knocks me over!

We actually crush the bones and put the ashes into a corner of the run for them to bathe and pick through, it's fascinating enrichment for them.

 

[kattabelly]

No gender roles here, if a cockerel wants to wear a pullet on his head instead of being a hat himself then that's fine so long as everyone involved consents

 

[Skyeknight]

So the rooster chick seems to be sick. Today he has been standing like this alone. I can now easily pick him up while he should be flighty and he does call when I pick him up. He does move and does eat, his crop is full. The past 2 nights he did sleep standing up and I thought it was odd. I thought that was just a young rooster being a young rooster, since I haven't had roosters chicks since 2019 and he seems to be the only boy. Since this behaviour is pretty common for a plethora of diseases I don't really know what it could be. At the moment I am thinking impacted crop, but I will have to check in the early morning if it is empty.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

View attachment 4188377
So the rooster chick seems to be sick. Today he has been standing like this alone. I can now easily pick him up while he should be flighty and he does call when I pick him up. He does move and does eat, his crop is full. The past 2 nights he did sleep standing up and I thought it was odd. I thought that was just a young rooster being a young rooster, since I haven't had roosters chicks since 2019 and he seems to be the only boy. Since this behaviour is pretty common for a plethora of diseases I don't really know what it could be. At the moment I am thinking impacted crop, but I will have to check in the early morning if it is empty.

Oh, I’m sorry, he’s so handsome! I hope he’s better soon.