Texas

[hensfortherapy]

Well it really is hump day and I'm not feeling like getting up. I've developed a nasty cough. Just not feeling it today. Ugh

Sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself. Tea with honey and lemon. Vicks on the bottom of your feet with socks on. Sounds silly, but it helps me.

 

[hensfortherapy]

I have five three boys two girls....if you didn't have the memories of them as babies carrying them around holding them as they slept,the smell of them as tiny little things....we would eat them as teenagers like lions do! I'm allergic to teenagers that's what my problem is.es that's it I'm just allergic....

Teenagers: An adjustment period so Mothers will let go of their babies.

 

[jockeyeba]

Good Morning Fellow Texans!

Moon is shining brightly at 4:43 AM.

Jockeyeba I am sorry for your 'wound'.  I am trying to settle one of my roos down also.  He has little stubs right now for spurs but he attacks when I have my hands full.  DH and I are picking him up and carrying him hoping that will calm him down.  I am also out-crowing him.  He hates it when I do that.  hahahahaha

Brookshire11, today is the day!  I am anxiously awaiting your report on the chicks. 

Ya'll have a great day!

Lisa

Thanks Lisa We tried everything that was mentioned on BYC to straighten him out but nothing has worked He just gets worse all the time

 

[jockeyeba]

Anyone want a very mean little OEGB roo before I really do kill him this is what he did to me again tonight, my leg ached as soon as he hit me & tonight I'm actually lame he got me about an inch below my kneecap & a little to the right

Umm he's got to go!!

Yes he does-this was the last straw Hope you feel better soon

 

[jockeyeba]

well it's time to pack eggs and I am sleepy and want to go back to bed...but I'm pretty sure my customers want their eggs lol.. My silkies are laying like they have lost their minds and I have eggs coming outta my ears! Lol happy HUMP DAY!!

I was getting 1-3 eggs for weeks before & during Christmas I swear the day after the winter solstice I started getting 1-2 DOZEN a day

 

[jockeyeba]

Tin roofs are the best Love ours

Are steel roofs noisy?

When I built the little chicken houses I have now, I used painted plywood for the roofs--I didn't want to lacerate my clumsy self as I serviced the birds.  (By the way, in the Caribbean, roofs are painted plywood to catch rain for the cisterns.  Surprisingly, water is a scarce resource on the Caribbean islands if you don't catch the rain.)

I'm now building a little coop for my group of bantam Cochins that will be housed in one of my parrot aviaries.  I need to make the roof of the little house "parrot proof."  They'll be going in the flight that houses the smaller, less destructive parrots, but no parrot larger than a Budgie is not destructive.  I had thought of just putting an untreated, unpainted piece of ply wood on top and just replacing it as the parrots chewed it up or the weather rotted it, but am now thinking of using a metal roof.  A metal roof would just look a little nicer since most of my property can be seen from the road.  I fear my chicken houses are making my beautiful house and property more suited for a trailer park than my neighborhood.

How much noise will rain and hail make on a tin roof?  If I insulate the roof, will the noise be eliminated?  

I've put sheets of untreated plywood over parts of my parrot aviaries to keep the rain and sun off most of it.  The flights are situated under a canopy of live oak as well.  They rot and the birds chew them up, but they are non toxic, cheap and don't become dangerous flying killing machines in a wind.  I don't anchor the plywood sheets because my aviaries are expensive and I don't want the roof to rip my aviary apart.  My flights have survived a couple of hurricanes and many tropical storms in the Caribbean, so without anything to catch the wind, they are pretty strong.

Thanks for any input.

We always put a sheet of plywood down 1st then the tin. I love the sound of rain on a tin roof. Never had that much hail.........

 

[jockeyeba]

I'm sorry you have a nasty rooster on your hands.  If he weren't nasty, would you want to keep him?

I have far too many cockerels at the moment, and two have started going after me and others on occasion.  They are both very good breeding/exhibition-quality birds, and I was intending to use them in a breeding program and show them.  I was mentally preparing to send them to freezer camp, but that would leave me with no rooster to protect my girls, and they are good protectors.  (The other two cockerels are just plain ugly birds and not the color I want to breed.)  I'm an expert at avoiding processing birds until I absolutely  have to.  My latest excuse, by far, is my best--I just had cervical spinal fusion surgery December 30th and I don't want to risk any blood or gore getting on my neck brace!

I've been in touch with some internet chicken breeder friends who work with this breed (Ameraucanas) and one has given me some really good advice.  She told me my problem (besides the too heavy testosterone load for the number of pullets) was partly because they were juveniles with no mature rooster to teach them manners.  She also said it was not too late and they still could be trained.

I had been doing things like walking towards them if they so much as looked at me funny and chasing them if they actually rushed me, but they are pretty fast and I'm pretty old, so I never did catch them to pick them up and let them know that they really were not as big and tough as I am.  It wasn't working.

She advised me to take a light stick (I use a 5 foot long bamboo garden stake) and just poke them a little to make them move away from me.  She didn't recommend hitting them, kicking them or hurting them in any way, just poke them and make them move out of my way fast.  You know what?  It's working.  If one gets a little uppity, I grab a little bamboo pole (that I have lying all around my yard) and just chase him around and make him run and jump to get away from me.  It is quite funny, because as this cockerel is running for his life, the pullets are underfoot hoping for a goodie.


The other thing she said was to not allow them to breed a hen in your presence.  Top roosters never allow a lesser rooster to breed a hen.  They run up and knock the offending rooster off the hen.

The little stick is not to hurt them, it is to be your feet as if you were a rooster.  Alpha roosters use their feet to knock the lesser roosters off the hens or out of their way.

When I started this program, I had to carry a bamboo pole every time I went anywhere near where the free ranging Ameraucanas hang out.  Now I don't.  Once in awhile, one particular cockerel needs to be reminded he is the lesser bird, but I am not fearful of being rushed by any of them when my back as turned as I had been.  For any "Dr. Who" fans, these cockerels are like Weeping Angels, the scariest monsters in the universe.

I keep these birds in my front yard, and I often am out walking in the yard and working in it.  I just can't have nasty roosters.

The lady who gave me advice reminded me that this was juvenile behavior and might very well go away as they got older.  She finds she gets this kind of bad behavior when she has too many juvenile cockerels she is growing out.  An older rooster won't allow this kind of behavior to happen.

So, if you really would like to keep this rooster, think about the above.  If you don't want him, don't give him to someone else.  Slaughter him yourself and enjoy using him.  You raised him, you know what went into him and why should some stranger get some really wonderful tasting chicken--nothing like the mush you buy in the grocery store!--for free.  Slaughtering isn't all that hard.  After processing your own birds, you will have a new appreciation for any meat you eat.

Good luck with your decision.

He's 3 years old & getting worse-I've tried all the suggestions & tricks-nothing has helped. He's a tiny OEGB, he'd make 2 bites lol We slaughter our excess roos all the time but never did him because he's so tiny

 

[jockeyeba]

Hi! I'm in Cleburne. Looks like I've got a few neighbors on here!

from Selma

 

[jockeyeba]

Quote:
Look like he hit you with the spur and it swelling everytime. Next week I plan to come to S.A to see Mellisa, it he still there, I can swing by to pick him up. I have a friend who wants some chicken to raise and if he loses interest, he also eats his so this one will fit either way. BTW, which one is this, the Grey or the Redquill? Are these bantam?

He's the red OEGB, he has 2" spurs & knows how to use them I'm going to Melissa's next Sunday or Monday PM me if you really want him :/

 

[jockeyeba]

Well it really is hump day and I'm not feeling like getting up. I've developed a nasty cough. Just not feeling it today. Ugh

Sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself. Tea with honey and lemon. Vicks on the bottom of your feet with socks on. Sounds silly, but it helps me.

X2