Surviving Minnesota!

[Siggie]

Moring all! @Bogtown Chick I'm jealous! My girls were doing so well giving me almost an egg a day from ALL 10 so I was getting between 8-10 eggs a day until my two Cochins went broodie. Now I am only getting 3-4 a day???? Do all the hens slow their laying efforts when they are breeding? Just wondering because this is so unlike them. I got more eggs through the winter!

ralphie, hows the head? I thought of you this weekend and even laughed a little through the tears when I knocked the top of my head on the door jam of my coop! I have a goose egg, and bruising but didn't break the skin. I had a little dizziness Saturday and Sunday with a dull headache but chose to tough it out. It's pretty tender but I'm back to abnormal today!!

 

[Siggie]

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do about an aggressive rooster? He was originally very sweet but I left for a month in February and since then he's been attacking me. Nothing really serious, but I can't walk, crouch, touch the feeder or waterer, or be near the chicks without getting pecked or kicked. Haha, he just jumps up at me with his feet, which I can easily block with my foot. I've tried using the same boots and coat as I used to, in case my newer ones were confusing him. And I've tried holding and petting him in from of the girls. This wouldn't be a big deal to me, just an annoyance, but my mom frequently takes care of them for me and is really upset about it. I don't really want to cull him as he's won first place several times in shows and I'd like to keep him for future shows and breeding. I got rid of his brother for aggression as didn't want that in my line, but I really am hoping to keep him. He's a year and a half old Lavender Orpington rooster.

a friend of mine used a technique on her rooster where she grabbed him and pinned him to the ground on his back when he challenged her. I don't show my chickens they are strictly for eggs so I would send those nasty ones to the soup pot. Had a nasty one last year, attacked me every time I came into the pasture to feed....he was the first one to go when it was culling time.

 

[holm25]

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do about an aggressive rooster? He was originally very sweet but I left for a month in February and since then he's been attacking me. Nothing really serious, but I can't walk, crouch, touch the feeder or waterer, or be near the chicks without getting pecked or kicked. Haha, he just jumps up at me with his feet, which I can easily block with my foot. I've tried using the same boots and coat as I used to, in case my newer ones were confusing him. And I've tried holding and petting him in from of the girls. This wouldn't be a big deal to me, just an annoyance, but my mom frequently takes care of them for me and is really upset about it. I don't really want to cull him as he's won first place several times in shows and I'd like to keep him for future shows and breeding. I got rid of his brother for aggression as didn't want that in my line, but I really am hoping to keep him. He's a year and a half old Lavender Orpington rooster.

Culling is the best solution. I have never even thought about trying to break a mean rooster. If you have a back up just cull this one and use the other. I dont think it is good breeding practice to use an aggressive rooster. But if you dont have another rooster you may have to get a batch of chicks from him to get a new roo.

 

[MNChickMom]

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do about an aggressive rooster? He was originally very sweet but I left for a month in February and since then he's been attacking me. Nothing really serious, but I can't walk, crouch, touch the feeder or waterer, or be near the chicks without getting pecked or kicked. Haha, he just jumps up at me with his feet, which I can easily block with my foot. I've tried using the same boots and coat as I used to, in case my newer ones were confusing him. And I've tried holding and petting him in from of the girls. This wouldn't be a big deal to me, just an annoyance, but my mom frequently takes care of them for me and is really upset about it. I don't really want to cull him as he's won first place several times in shows and I'd like to keep him for future shows and breeding. I got rid of his brother for aggression as didn't want that in my line, but I really am hoping to keep him. He's a year and a half old Lavender Orpington rooster.

I hate to give up my daughter's secret in taming roosters but.....We had a Speckled Sussex who also reared and kicked, bit and pecked. She put on a pair of leather gloves and walked out to him. If he didn't get out of her way, she gently but forcefully wacked him on the head with her two fingers, which in the first couple of encounters caused him to attack so she had her trusty broken stick to ward him off and she continued after him until he gave up. This went on for about 3 encounters, then she would pick him up and when he was attempting to peck, he would get a firm gentle reminder to the head with the leather glove. This was about 6 months ago he has not attacked or acted out since then. He was always kind to the hens.....if he would have had any temper towards a hen....he would have become a dinner guest. Now, once every 2 weeks he will go for a walk under one of our arms just to remind him that humans are boss.

 

[destiny_56085]

I haven't been on all weekend... We went down to that HUGE bird/exotic sale in Waverly IA. We rolled in early Saturday afternoon and the grounds were already full. Thank god we had friends save spots for us. Imagine 35 acres of nothing but jam packed trailers full of stuff for sale. Its like a huge animal flea market!!!!!! Sales were awesome and buyers were out in full force. I dang near sold out and brought a loaded truck and horse trailer. Came home with a perfect lil pony for my daughter, 2 more baby guinea pigs, a pair of buff pied guineas, and 28 jars of amish jams. I walked around and it took 3 hours just to get through the front quarter. Came back and was bombarded with people wanting to buy more birds and my mom didn't want to try and answer questions. Hit the other front half Saturday night and got through the back half sunday morning. I met up with so many old friends and saw a lot of cool new things. God thing I'm getting old enough to practice better self control on buying stuff.

 

[jerryse]

Well rain shower just chased me inside .

Looks like off and on today . Still not that dark gloomy stuff .

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I used a bamboo cane to tame the Big Tootsie. Just some fluff tapping. Maybe a double back flip with a cartwheel and hand stand. He still nailed his landing. Gave him a 6.5 for backing down.

Enough to knock some macho off. During the spring too, they are amped up a bit. Territorial-ness and Hormones are on high gears. Not always a bad thing if you free range. Those boys do a lot protecting a flock with their feistiness. So weigh what you want in a rooster with how much you want to punish him for it.

I've heard baths in lavender knock the boys down a step as well. Totally demoralizing. Hahaha.

 

[bantiesrule]

What do you suggest searching to find a video? Whatever I'm typing in is not giving me any results. I think I could build it on my own, maybe with a little help, but I'm not sure what I should do for size unless I have specific instructions. I have smaller Orpington hens and a pretty large rooster. I'm also thinking of trading my barnyard mix hens for some more show quality hens in the near future.

I think I just put in making your own chicken carrier and then followed some other suggestions to different web sites. Here are a few I came up with:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/721563/chicken-carriers-photos-dimensions-ideas
https://www.thriftyfun.com/tf954481html35.tip.
http://projectfreedomranger.blogspot.com/2012/06/transport-crate-build.html

I really like the idea of a plastic tote with holes drilled in (second link). Should keep any mess contained better than slated boards or wire sides. I've never tried it though, might be hard to get chickens out of without them trying to escape, if you try it, let me know how it works.

 

[holm25]

https://stcloud.craigslist.org/grd/6070463048.html

Almost tempting.

 

[EMorical]

I haven't been on all weekend... We went down to that HUGE bird/exotic sale in Waverly IA. We rolled in early Saturday afternoon and the grounds were already full. Thank god we had friends save spots for us. Imagine 35 acres of nothing but jam packed trailers full of stuff for sale. Its like a huge animal flea market!!!!!! Sales were awesome and buyers were out in full force. I dang near sold out and brought a loaded truck and horse trailer. Came home with a perfect lil pony for my daughter, 2 more baby guinea pigs, a pair of buff pied guineas, and 28 jars of amish jams. I walked around and it took 3 hours just to get through the front quarter. Came back and was bombarded with people wanting to buy more birds and my mom didn't want to try and answer questions. Hit the other front half Saturday night and got through the back half sunday morning. I met up with so many old friends and saw a lot of cool new things. God thing I'm getting old enough to practice better self control on buying stuff.

This sounds like my version of heaven. Except it would be held in Ireland