The wildlife specialist are happy the wolf returned in the Netherlands for a natural balance of wildlife. The wolf causes problems too and many people don’t like it that the wolves live here. Our country is so densely populated and many people like to recreate in the forests. Some wolfs are very daring and even come in peoples back garden.
This is why I have 5, the 4 get along very well, and Goldie is doing an amazing job with his little group of hens, and they are all great with the hens. I can't imagine life without the roosters to manage the ranging and sorting out the nesting.
If we had a livestock guardian dog, it would be sleeping on my bed, like our other 2.Yeah I know, some experiments are also done in the Netherlands with this. I personally don't like livestock guardian dogs, feels like inviting the enemy into my home. I also read in the news a while back someone had a donkey for protecting sheep. But because bystanders complained the donkey was too lonely the farmer decided to get rid of it. To be fair this is kind of the point, if there was a second donkey then they wouldn't stay with the sheep and then the sheep aren't protected. But the donkey does still have social interactions with the sheep, so still less lonely than dog keepers which leave their dog alone for 9 hours a day
It's all hard decisions. I've yet to find a way of avoiding them and that, though it may not seem so in many circumstances, is probably good for the keeper and usually good for the chickens.
For some of us, we inadvertently become part of the group. Many and I include myself, get more attached to one particular individual than another.
None of it is straightforward in my experience.
You may recall I had to kill Dig, son of Henry because of how he treated the hens. Dragging hens off nests and then trying to force them to mate just isn't acceptable in my view; it doesn't matter how nice he is to me and given the size difference and the tolerance of Henry and his hens to my behavior, I would call a cockerel who behaved like that a kind of coward; don't piss of the big chicken. At least with a cockerel that tries to flog you when he thinks he's protecting the hens, mostly, and who shows some respect towards the hens and his father where applicable is likely to prove popular with the hens and intelligent enough to come to some arrangement in time. It's great when one gets both, keeper friendly and liked and wanted by the hens. I can think of lots of instances where the hens adored their rooster, sometimes I just couldn't see the attraction, other times such as Harold and Bluespot I could see exactly why there were such a good couple and Harold was well respected by all, his tribe or not.
If Dig had worked out I wouldn't be in the current situation of having to find and introduce a new male with all the risks that entails. I had tried to plan for Henry's death hoping for a son to take over. That all went badly wrong and I've been doing this chicken thing for over twenty years.View attachment 4192809
I would like to offer a caution; do not let yourself become the groups rooster!
It's easily done with a group that has had males in it. The hens will look to the keeper for all those things they expected from the rooster. You can't do it, none of it really.
There was a conference recently and basically wolf ecologists from other European countries were very suprised. In the Netherlands the wolves seek humans way more than they should even if we are more densly populated. This also causes people to lose trust in wolf ecologists as this wasn't what they predicted.
I thought this too, but got my ass handed to my when discussing it. In predated sheep wolves are the cause for about 85% of the time, while dogs and foxes are the cause 10% of the time.
Yes! I'm from the South and we ate company casserole! I use my late mother-in-law's recipe
