Taming "Wild" Chickens

[Ursuline Chick]

We have used old milk crates for nesting boxes, nesting material and fake eggs in the boxes to encourage laying in nesting boxes. Sorry you don't want fertilized eggs, cause the rooster could be your best friend to keep your flock in line and get them to roost in your roosting area at night, keeping them safe without all the work and you won't have to have an easter egg hunt every day. Would also allow you to clip wings if necessary.

 

[River Faerie]

Jackie is a superb rooster, but we really don't want the fertilized eggs. We are vegetarians and have hens for animal rights reasons. Fertilized eggs are one step too close to a living animal. We haven't figured out a way to allow mixing that wouldn't also allow births, some of which would be roosters, which I wouldn't mind, but my husband hates crowing (I love it).

Centrarchid, thank you so much! That gives me some ideas. We actually have a ton of lumber from a replaced deck, and several pallets just because someone was giving them away and they seemed like they might be useful later. So, we should be able to build something. Then it's just a question of how to get them to choose it.

Then I Will, thank you for the story! What an interesting bird!

 

[DesertBird]

Jackie is a superb rooster, but we really don't want the fertilized eggs. We are vegetarians and have hens for animal rights reasons. Fertilized eggs are one step too close to a living animal. We haven't figured out a way to allow mixing that wouldn't also allow births, some of which would be roosters, which I wouldn't mind, but my husband hates crowing (I love it).

Centrarchid, thank you so much! That gives me some ideas. We actually have a ton of lumber from a replaced deck, and several pallets just because someone was giving them away and they seemed like they might be useful later. So, we should be able to build something. Then it's just a question of how to get them to choose it.

Then I Will, thank you for the story! What an interesting bird!

If you take the eggs out a day or two they're laid, even if they're fertile, there won't be any embryo growth. I believe the egg has to be at 100 degrees for 3 or 4 days straight to even begin developing a chick. But I get it - I'd feel bad getting an egg with a chick already developing when I crack it open, and I already don't eat many eggs as is.

Just a question with your rooster - is he alone? How does he handle it? I have a few cockerels that are beginning to torment my pullets, and the chicks I bought yesterday to help even out the hen/pullet necessity for the boys (I'm too attached to 'em to rehome 'em. ) are still only 5 days old. I probably won't be introducing them until they're about 5 months, as is.

And your new girls are very pretty! Is your yard fenced in?

 

[River Faerie]

Yes, he's alone. He handles it fine. It's just life to him. He wants to mate, but he never has. So, there's some of the 'don't know what you're missing' going on, too. We don't breed ours, so he was just an accident of day-old-chick purchasing. We only get them now when they're old enough to identify with certainty. We found a reliable breeder, so we can safely purchase adults.

Thank you! My yard is not fenced but on one side. We are in the country, on two acres, and our other hens seem to understand our boundaries. They go to the edges of the wooded portion of our property, but no farther. They may have learned the limits from the dog.