The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[armorfirelady]

LM I will get some pics tomorrow.

Worked days came home to 2ft of snow and had to shovel the girls out. 5 were stranded in old run and the other 3 were in coop. I had a parade as I shoveled my way to the coop they were complaining about the snow after the beautiful day we had yesterday.

Back at work for some OT. They have had the whole county shut down all day till tomorrow.

 

[lalaland]

LM I will get some pics tomorrow.

Worked days came home to 2ft of snow and had to shovel the girls out. 5 were stranded in old run and the other 3 were in coop. I had a parade as I shoveled my way to the coop

they were complaining about the snow after the beautiful day we had yesterday.

Back at work for some OT. They have had the whole county shut down all day till tomorrow.

thats rough! hope it melts soon for you.

 

[Mrs Rebecca]

I am having a problem with my rooster, having a problem with my little girl. She is 10 and I have been letting her help me with my hens. (She is Never alone with any of my chickens.) My rooster does not like her handling my hens. So, I have stopped having her help, but he is still acting as if she is a threat. He does a little dance toward her. I always step in when he does this, but yesterday when free ranging, he seemed to be stalking her. We were working in the garden, and he kept himself positioned about 10 feet from her. If she turned her back toward him, he would advance. When I stepped between them, he backed down. He didn't ever actually touch her, but I am sure that if he had the opportunity, he would have.

I do not want to keep a rooster that is a danger to my kids. I don't have a problem culling, I will do it right now if I need to. However, I am so inexperienced and this rooster does take great care of my hens. He calls them to food, puts them in the coop or under the porch if a hawk is nearby and even fights off the neighbor's poodle. Is it possible to have roosters that don't mind children? Is it possible to improve my rooster's behavior? I feel like I shouldn't even give him another chance, but then I worry that I am over reacting because of inexperience. After seeing his behavior yesterday, I couldn't feel comfortable with them both out in the yard together, at least not unless I am right there watching him.

 

[Sally8]

I'm sorry that this is happening to you. I can't really give any advice, we did have a problem with a roo that didn't like me and we eventually culled him. At that time we had several but now I have 3 little grandchildren that want to gather eggs with me and I will be sure to watch the one we have now. So many on here can give excellent advice and actually correct them through training so, I'll be waiting to hear along with you. sue

 

[Kassaundra]

I am having a problem with my rooster, having a problem with my little girl. She is 10 and I have been letting her help me with my hens. (She is Never alone with any of my chickens.) My rooster does not like her handling my hens. So, I have stopped having her help, but he is still acting as if she is a threat. He does a little dance toward her. I always step in when he does this, but yesterday when free ranging, he seemed to be stalking her. We were working in the garden, and he kept himself positioned about 10 feet from her. If she turned her back toward him, he would advance. When I stepped between them, he backed down. He didn't ever actually touch her, but I am sure that if he had the opportunity, he would have.

I do not want to keep a rooster that is a danger to my kids. I don't have a problem culling, I will do it right now if I need to. However, I am so inexperienced and this rooster does take great care of my hens. He calls them to food, puts them in the coop or under the porch if a hawk is nearby and even fights off the neighbor's poodle. Is it possible to have roosters that don't mind children? Is it possible to improve my rooster's behavior? I feel like I shouldn't even give him another chance, but then I worry that I am over reacting because of inexperience. After seeing his behavior yesterday, I couldn't feel comfortable with them both out in the yard together, at least not unless I am right there watching him.

My personal opinion is a roo cannot be rehabilitated to the point he could be trusted w/ your child. His intentions are obvious from your description, he will attack the first chance he gets. I had an aggressive roo that my husband really liked so I was unable to cull him w/o a big domestic issue, until a dog fixed the problem for me I had to carry a stick in the chicken yard. This roo had been beaten w/ the stick multiple times (thought I had killed him once w/ it) and water boarded regularly, but still could not be trusted w/o a stick in my hands. He didn't attack everytime, he would lull you into complacency then attack when you least expected it. If I were you I would cull.

 

[jime]

Hello everybody:
I was wondering if you can give me your opinions in this matter.
-We had a really crazy winter here I was watering my chickens and ducks in pyrex and anchor bowls and/or bakeware , but i find that they crack really easy some times even by the afternoon they are all crack. Now I was thinking this won't be that go for the animals since they will get some of the glass pieces and could probably crush or cut their insides. (well in my country you kill street dogs with meat and crash glass, evil I know but that is the way people deal in the third world countries) anyways I was getting the idea that my chickens and ducks will have the same fate if they get some of the glass pieces in thinking they are gravel. What do you think here?

-I want to keep my chickens / ducks plastic free so I was thinking on ceramic just those plane ceramic plates before you paint them or even put them in the oven to cure, if they crack or break will the pieces will be more like gravel or rock for the chickens or will still do the same as glass ?

-My other option is to make wood plates (really just some kind of low box and coat it with some kind of epoxy or resin (will this be really bad for the chickens?

Your opinion will be pretty much appreciated.
I know there is not much winter left but even in summer the animals can break the plates.

 

[misbhaven]

you can always buy stainless steel bowls to use for water, you can get them just about anywhere even the dollar store.

 

[ki4got]

I am having a problem with my rooster, having a problem with my little girl. She is 10 and I have been letting her help me with my hens. (She is Never alone with any of my chickens.) My rooster does not like her handling my hens. So, I have stopped having her help, but he is still acting as if she is a threat. He does a little dance toward her. I always step in when he does this, but yesterday when free ranging, he seemed to be stalking her. We were working in the garden, and he kept himself positioned about 10 feet from her. If she turned her back toward him, he would advance. When I stepped between them, he backed down. He didn't ever actually touch her, but I am sure that if he had the opportunity, he would have.

I do not want to keep a rooster that is a danger to my kids. I don't have a problem culling, I will do it right now if I need to. However, I am so inexperienced and this rooster does take great care of my hens. He calls them to food, puts them in the coop or under the porch if a hawk is nearby and even fights off the neighbor's poodle. Is it possible to have roosters that don't mind children? Is it possible to improve my rooster's behavior? I feel like I shouldn't even give him another chance, but then I worry that I am over reacting because of inexperience. After seeing his behavior yesterday, I couldn't feel comfortable with them both out in the yard together, at least not unless I am right there watching him.

personally, I don't tolerate any signs of aggression... and yes it is possible to have friendly roos who accept everyone and still protect their girls...

I have 3 dorking roos, 2 blue laced red Wyandottes, 1 bantam blrw and an EE roo all free ranging with the girls (11 dorking, 2 EE, 1 buff orp) oh, and one 2 week old chick with one of the dorking girls (she had 5 but learned the hard way that they don't swim very well when the ice on the pond got thin) - and everyone gets along just fine. my standard poodle is also the flock guardian (during nice warm days)

here are 3 of my Dorking boys and some of their girls, hanging out at the silver laced cochin pen.


and momma with her one blrw baby.

 

[gatorshark75]

Hello everybody:
I was wondering if you can give me your opinions in this matter.
-We had a really crazy winter here I was watering my chickens and ducks in pyrex and anchor bowls and/or bakeware , but i find that they crack really easy some times even by the afternoon they are all crack. Now I was thinking this won't be that go for the animals since they will get some of the glass pieces and could probably crush or cut their insides. (well in my country you kill street dogs with meat and crash glass, evil I know but that is the way people deal in the third world countries) anyways I was getting the idea that my chickens and ducks will have the same fate if they get some of the glass pieces in thinking they are gravel. What do you think here?

-I want to keep my chickens / ducks plastic free so I was thinking on ceramic just those plane ceramic plates before you paint them or even put them in the oven to cure, if they crack or break will the pieces will be more like gravel or rock for the chickens or will still do the same as glass ?

-My other option is to make wood plates (really just some kind of low box and coat it with some kind of epoxy or resin (will this be really bad for the chickens?

Your opinion will be pretty much appreciated.
I know there is not much winter left but even in summer the animals can break the plates.

whats wrong with plastic or use metal pans like the kind you cook in if its good enough to cook in it should be good enough for a chicken to drink water out of right

 

[gatorshark75]

personally, I don't tolerate any signs of aggression... and yes it is possible to have friendly roos who accept everyone and still protect their girls...

I have 3 dorking roos, 2 blue laced red Wyandottes, 1 bantam blrw and an EE roo all free ranging with the girls (11 dorking, 2 EE, 1 buff orp) oh, and one 2 week old chick with one of the dorking girls (she had 5 but learned the hard way that they don't swim very well when the ice on the pond got thin) - and everyone gets along just fine. my standard poodle is also the flock guardian (during nice warm days)

here are 3 of my Dorking boys and some of their girls, hanging out at the silver laced cochin pen.


and momma with her one blrw baby.

i found its hard to take the aggression out of a rooster if you are having problems with him you might have to cull him all of my roosters are vey docile if they aren't they get a new name its dinner it has taken a while to get good roos but i got them and im hangin on to their bloodlines for sure they are gentle and do their job and watch my hens and protect them