Utah!

[RedIII]

Okay, now for my story of the day.

So when I got home from work, I thought that the chickens might like to enjoy the grass before it snows tonight. I let most of the girls out of the preserve, but left the BR cockerel in with a couple of buddies and the turkeys. I let everyone out of the garage, since they've been in there for a while. The chickens were so happy to be outside and scratching around in the lawn, but the two Icelandic cockerels were the happiest. They were running around with their head up high, crowing, and chasing down all of the girls to do their thing. I could see that it was a good thing I'd left the turkeys inside the preserve, because the white hen has really had a bad attitude lately, especially toward "strangers". She was following them up and down the fence for a few minutes, all puffed up and making her ticked noise.

I really had to monitor the boys to make sure that they didn't over-mate some of the pullets, since the ones that are lower on the pecking order would just squat for them, even if they'd just been serviced. My cockerels have this bad habit of double-ganging the girls, so whenever I caught them trying to do that, I'd shoo them away from the pullet they had. I thought they'd cool down after a minute, but nope - almost an hour later, they were still very, very happy to be around so many girls. So, I let the turkeys out for a minute because I knew they'd kind of help fend off the boys. (I really didn't want any of the girls stressing)

The turkeys just ignored the cockerels. They were happy to stuff their faces with grass and just meander around, and all was going well - until one of the cockerels decided he needed to jump kick the turkey hen. Right in front of the tom. Bad move, Sven. Bet ya won't do that again for a while. The turkeys puffed up and chased him over to the fence, and by the time I broke up the fight, the hen had torn the cockerel a new one. Don't worry, he's okay. He's currently sitting in his bachelor pad in the garage with neosporin slathered on his face. I think he got the message. I've gotta give the other boy props, though. He saw what happened and respectfully backed away from the turkey hen when she got in his face.

Everyone got put away after that, and no more injuries were sustained. The Icelandics really seemed to enjoy being out of the garage for a little while, and the best part is, I saw my alpha cockerel doing his thing with Flekka several times

So the moral of the story is - Do NOT mix twitterpated cockerels with turkeys on PMS.........sorry, hope I don't offend anyone by saying that here..............

 

[sundancenbare]

Is this chick the Wheaten? It startled me for a minute. I thought I saw rusty red on the back and was like, "Whoa! Boy EE!" But if it's a Wheaten, that would explain it. And as for the last picture

Mine have almost completely stopped. Weirdos. The only ones laying are my Dominique and my BO

He is a Rockstar. I got him from Cynthia. He was suppose to be a she

 

[themadchicken]

Cal Ranch on 2700 w and 7800 s still has no chicks! They have everything set up like they are going to get chicks any second. They even have signs up in the window saying what type of feed their chicks eat, its kind of funny. No i wasn't looking for chicks, i stopped looking for something else...really. I just wanted to let every one know in case they were wondering.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Cal Ranch on 2700 w and 7800 s still has no chicks! They have everything set up like they are going to get chicks any second. They even have signs up in the window saying what type of feed their chicks eat, its kind of funny. No i wasn't looking for chicks, i stopped looking for something else...really. I just wanted to let every one know in case they were wondering. 

Ya right...sure Gary.....

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Great story Red, I can just picture the little party in your yard. Like a college toga party, the boys out of line, police showed up, **Sven is in the dui tank with a black eye.... Haha I love the stories you have about your crazy group!

 

[sundancenbare]

Cal Ranch on 2700 w and 7800 s still has no chicks! They have everything set up like they are going to get chicks any second. They even have signs up in the window saying what type of feed their chicks eat, its kind of funny. No i wasn't looking for chicks, i stopped looking for something else...really. I just wanted to let every one know in case they were wondering.

Last year they didn't get chicks until the middle of March

 

[agreger]

Lisa, thank you for the tip with the cayenne pepper. I will definitely try is when my ladies have gone back to normal.

Red, your story was so funny LOL I hope Sven's ego isn't bruised too badly

Blujems and Sundance, your chickens are so cute. I wish I could take a rooster but I don't dare. I am not brave enough

 

[RedIII]

Okay, I don't know how many of you are watching the Easter Hatch-a-long thread, but someone put a link to this on there. Hilarious!

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/grd/3622275117.html

 

[agreger]

That is too funny. LOL

 

[themadchicken]

Just wondering, but what do you all use for grit? The last couple years my flock had no problems finding stones in the yard during the winter. This year they haven't had a lot of places to look due to snow. Plus i have 2 other runs that really don't have much of stones due to over use of those areas. One area will be moved this spring to a spot that has a couple fruit trees and bushes ( this will be the silkie area). The smaller area is attached to my big coop and will never be moved. Two walls on this run is the property fence and there is a vine that i have trained to grow over this run, this is my grow out coop and run. it works really good for chicks during to summer, it keeps them cool during the heat, there is always some kind of bugs falling out of the vine and it gives them berry's in the fall. But after all the chicks going throw this area there isn't much more then dirt. I'm not really into giving the feed stores money for something that can be found in most areas for free.