The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[RedRidge]

This pertains to roosters, rams and bulls - not husbands. ;-)

How many do you have...and do they all get along, just naturally?

Well I only have one husband... And trust me he's a keeper ;-)
I have 4 rams, 2-3 bulls (one is young), and depending on the time of year 5-50 cockerels/roos.
I think the trick when you recombine after breeding season is to take them totally away from the girls. I run the bulls with the cows all the time so that's easy, but for rams and roos they get put back in a group away from the girls. The rams are in such a tight space for a week that very little blood gets drawn. After pecking order is reestablished they are usually fine... Or as i said, they go down the road. Same with the cockerels. Throughout the summer and fall and I whittle down almost weekly until I figure out who my keepers/breeders are, I simply make sure I add the cockerels to the cockerel/roo group after dusk. I've never lost one that way. They may scrap for a day or 2 but never anything serious.
Now I will follow that up with... My production roosters were not near as sweet as my HRIR and Rhodebar roos. I suspect part is because of their breeding but the other part is because I have a zero tolerance rule for nasty livestock. If you stick to that rule then in several years you no longer have to cull because you are down to breeding good temperment only.

 

[TeaChick]

Most of us here will quarantine any new birds in a place away from the rest of the flock for the better part of a month before integrating with the flock.

This accomplishes several things. The most important of which is that the new birds have immunities to things in the environment from which they CAME. The existing birds have immunities to the current environment. These may not be the same, so each group has the potential to cause illness in the others.

The typical looks like this:
-2 Weeks totally separate

-Then get 1 bird from existing flock and add to new birds. That way if there is an illness you only lose one of your existing flock and you can see how the new birds do. About 2 weeks like this.

-Then if all goes well, move them to an area in which they can all see each other but not get at each other. Give that another week or so.

-Then remove the division and see how they do together. This is way better done if they have a large area they are running in outside so there's lots of space.


That was the "Reader's Digest" version.

Thank you very much for this advice!!! I will try this from now on with my new flock, but I still don't trust my killer hens! As their egg production is replaced, they will become chicken soup (or something stewed).

this Roo is 9 - 10 mths old I got him from another member along with 7 other chickens last Saturday, I didn't put them together until Monday after Sunday daylight get together went so well.... they have had the normal pecking order stuff butt nothing bad, and this Monday I noticed Big Man ( Cochin ) was being run off the feed, and then a hen went and pecked him a few times and he ran away, then another and another and so on.... I have to stand by the feeder with him so he can eat, I have kept an eye on this and it is not getting better. I have added feeding stations as suggested by other members and still the same. I have 2 Roo's a EE Roo and the Cochin Roo ( Big Man ) and 24 hens, should be plenty of hens to Roosters ratio. Don't know why they waited a week before all this started???

forgot: DH is against fermenting cause he says "why feed our chickens rotten feed ?" lol so still researching...

Yeah, me standing by was the only way that my new chickens were getting any feed too.
I'm not saying that you're going to have the same problem I did, but I would warn you to keep a close eye on him/them. Just what I would do, that's all.
What/Whether chickens think is debatable at best.

I understand his confusion, but fermenting is just growing the good bacteria in their food that's already in their intestines and might need some back up. ;-)

 

[TeaChick]

This pertains to roosters, rams and bulls - not husbands. ;-)

Quoting mlowen
How many do you have...and do they all get along, just naturally?

I'm laughing my butt off at this one!!!

 

[TeaChick]

Well I only have one husband... And trust me he's a keeper ;-)
I have 4 rams, 2-3 bulls (one is young), and depending on the time of year 5-50 cockerels/roos.
I think the trick when you recombine after breeding season is to take them totally away from the girls. I run the bulls with the cows all the time so that's easy, but for rams and roos they get put back in a group away from the girls. The rams are in such a tight space for a week that very little blood gets drawn. After pecking order is reestablished they are usually fine... Or as i said, they go down the road. Same with the cockerels. Throughout the summer and fall and I whittle down almost weekly until I figure out who my keepers/breeders are, I simply make sure I add the cockerels to the cockerel/roo group after dusk. I've never lost one that way. They may scrap for a day or 2 but never anything serious.
Now I will follow that up with... My production roosters were not near as sweet as my HRIR and Rhodebar roos. I suspect part is because of their breeding but the other part is because I have a zero tolerance rule for nasty livestock. If you stick to that rule then in several years you no longer have to cull because you are down to breeding good temperment only.

I figured as much. ;-) Your teasing sounded familiar.

I have a keeper too (and he can cook!!!)

Thank you for this advice! I take it as confirmation that I slowly get rid of my mean hens and probably won't hatch any(more) of their eggs.

 

[Leahs Mom]

My production roosters were not near as sweet as my HRIR and Rhodebar roos. I suspect part is because of their breeding but the other part is because I have a zero tolerance rule for nasty livestock. If you stick to that rule then in several years you no longer have to cull because you are down to breeding good temperment only.

Question for you.
-How do you handle the hens? Do you remove hens/pullets that are "harassers"?
-If yes, how long to you watch to determine if it's their "character" or them just trying to figure out pecking order?
-What are the criteria..how long do you observe before making the decision?

I've also had this question...
It seems that it "might" happen that when the top harasser is gone that another would move into her place. Is that true of false?

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Question for you.
-How do you handle the hens? Do you remove hens/pullets that are "harassers"?
-If yes, how long to you watch to determine if it's their "character" or them just trying to figure out pecking order?
-What are the criteria..how long do you observe before making the decision?

I've also had this question...
It seems that it "might" happen that when the top harasser is gone that another would move into her place. Is that true of false?

Good Questions!!!!

Today I finally separated my "nasty" natured hen. She hasn't always been this way but in the past week she has been very very very very aggressive to one other hen-- picking her feathers-- she is actually mean to all of them but takes it out the worst on one of them. I am not doing any breeding-- we don't have a rooster.... but now that I separated her (I let them try to work this out as long as possible and I don't want it to lead to bloodshed) how long do I keep her out? I have read that some recommend 2-3 days-- others a week before reintegrating her. It is really depressing that it has even come to this but I have no tolerance for nasty-natured animals either and she is either going to straighten up or I am going to have to do something else with her. Does anyone have experience with this and what are your thoughts?

 

[lazy gardener]

Maybe you could discuss it with him over a bottle of BudLight?

ETA ... BAD QUOTING! so I've deleted the name ...

How many do you have...and do they all get along, just naturally?

Now, if they would get along... just naturally... I might consider having one just for fun and one to do all the chores!!! (but only if they were clones.... just kidding!)

 

[TeaChick]

Question for you.
-How do you handle the hens? Do you remove hens/pullets that are "harassers"?
-If yes, how long to you watch to determine if it's their "character" or them just trying to figure out pecking order?
-What are the criteria..how long do you observe before making the decision?

I've also had this question...
It seems that it "might" happen that when the top harasser is gone that another would move into her place. Is that true of false?

This is the part I'm debating about. I know one of the hens has a bad attitude (she always has). If I cull her would I be able to integrate the new chickens or would someone else become the Wicked Witch of the Hen House?



Also, I have one hen that's been trying to sleep on an egg (IDK whether it's hers or not, she normally lays lighter eggs and these are on the darker side) the past two nights, when it's been particularly cold here. These eggs are laid on a pile of blankets on my back porch and then she beds down on the one laid that day.
She's doing this before I close up the hen house.
I put her on the egg in the brooder last night. This morning, she was sitting on it, pretty as you please, and then DH opened the brooder and she just left.
I found her on an egg on the blankets tonight (again, not sure whether this is hers or someone else's), so I put her in the brooder.
I told DH I would put food and water in the brooder for her and she could just stay there. Hopefully, he doesn't open the brooder again tomorrow morning. We'll see (he listens about as well as a chicken).

Ugh! I feel like I've got so much going on and I only have (counting) 11 chickens; how do you all do it who have a hundred and eleven?

 

[TeaChick]

Now, if they would get along... just naturally... I might consider having one just for fun and one to do all the chores!!! (but only if they were clones.... just kidding!)

Not me, this world does not need more than one of my husband; I'd have to get some other man to do all the chores (mine doesn't do that stuff and I don't like the way he does it anyway). lol
Plus, he wouldn't get along with a clone of himself and I wouldn't know where to begin looking for a man who does chores to my standards.

 

[chick rookie]

Maybe you could discuss it with him over a bottle of BudLight?

ETA ... BAD QUOTING! so I've deleted the name ...

that would be great but he dont drink... lol