Size Matters!!

[mikki717]

Poor Slash.

He is my first Roo... my first chicken. In a flock of 20 hens (all laying by the way... woop woop!) and 3 Roosters, Slash is the little guy. The other 2 roos are EE's, and as of Tuesday, they outgrew and out hormoned him. Don't get me wrong... Slash has plenty of "pep" but apparently size matters.

Wednesday morning, he was out of the chicken pen. Thinking he just grew his wing feathers back, we just returned him to the coop. He took one look at the other two "big boys" and literally crawled around the 2x4's supporting the chicken wire and hid in the hen house. Something was up, but I was ready to leave for work and had to leave things as they were. (No blood or feathers... just a stange acting roo.)

Wednesday evening, I went to the hen house, and Slash was gone again! I looked everywhere, but no Slash.

Thursday again no Slash, but since there was no sign of feathers or carnage, I thought he had taken himself to greener pastures. I thought I could hear him, but the grass and weeds next door are pretty tall, and Slash is pretty short and spooked.

Friday morning still gone, but after I went to work, DH heard a pathetic crowing. He searched everywhere, and finally spotted him stuck between the recycled window in the hen house and the 2x12 we use to keep in the deep litter. DH and son had to almost break the window to get him out, but they did it. Out of the frying pan into the fire! Poor little guy was trying to escape 2 bullies, and landed in trouble for 48 hours! At least he had a view.

So now he has a pathetic temporary pen with one RIR hen to keep him company. This is my friendliest hen, and poor girl will never come near me again after I lured her over, grabbed her up and tossed her into some tenement with a sex starved maniac who gets mad that he can't finish the job! He is trying to get his groove on, but keeps falling off!

So now I need to find a couple of bantam hens to keep him company, and turn what I was going to have as a bachelor pad into a Bantam love nest. (I just don't want to start with chicks again this year.)

 

[pgpoultry]

Poor Slash!
I'm afraid that size does matter in the chicken world and the biggest guy usually is king pin.
I have 2 boys currently fighting over alpha male slot and they do the mating dance around each other and try to mount each other.

Hope Slash is happy with some little girls,

Good Luck,
Sandie

 

[mikki717]

Well, I spent part of the weekend looking for a couple of bantam hens, but no dice. The other half was spent making a better run for Slash. I didn't want to spend any more money for another coop, so I used things around the property. No laughing! At least I am getting DH to clean up the junk in the yard!

Sunday was pretty hot to work in the sun, so at 2:00 we took an AC break. We weren't in the house 10 minutes when the neighbor called frantically that the dog had one of our chickens. It had to be Slash, he was the only one of the flock not in lock down.

Once again, he escaped certain death. Being a banty, he was able to get free of the dog, minus a few leg feathes, and escape through a hole in the fence to hide in a thick patch of bamboo. Two hours later, after searching through bamboo and black berry bushes (ouch) he came out.

He now has a 10x15 foot triangular swing set type run. Not too bad for one bantam rooster! The house wasn't coming together though, and I placed a temporary perch house made out of a rubbermaid tub with a branch screwed into it. A doorway cut into the corner gave him access. He was all alone though.

Monday, I went out to check the flock, and once again the dog, German Shepherd, was trying to get into poor slash's pen. Needless to say, Slash was not a happy camper!

So now Monday was spent putting up an 8 foot fence. (A 4 footer was already up but the dogs just plowed it over.)

To be continued... (Oh don't worry, Slash is fine now, but there is more to this story, and morning comes early around here...)

 

[Tiss]

Oh. poor little Slash.

 

[bturbo87]

wish you were on the other coast, im downsizing my flock and have a few bantams going