dubnugs
Hatching
Hi all -
I'll try to keep this short, but I'll answer as much as I can now. I'm sorry if it gets too long....
I bought four RIR day-old chicks last April. I learned everything I know about chickens right here on BYC, including coop ideas, mama heating pad, fermenting feed, and roll-out nest boxes. Thanks to all of your great ideas, I thought I was home free until they started laying and the hormones started raging. I refer to them by their leg band colors, which are White, Black, Green, and Olive.
After they got a few months old I noticed that Olive seemed weird, because I would see her trying to fly up into the hardware cloth of their run. It's an old swing/play structure, so the run tapers up to the top. She did it often enough that her wing tips got flailed and ratty looking. I ignored it, thinking that she was just strange or maybe trying to get a flying bug or something. They have plenty of space; a 12 by 12 foot run connected to the 12 by 8 foot "coop" under the play structure. They have a roost bar that they only use to nap during the day, and a four-rung ladder that they sleep on at night. White sleeps at the top, Olive at the bottom, and the others in between. They usually double up on a rung. Yes, the lower ones get pooped on by the upper ones. They have a roost bar....
Fast forward a few months. They started laying later than I had hoped, but we did have a hot summer here in NW Florida. Olive started first, and went right to work producing six eggs a week. Green and White were next, followed slowly by Black (the largest of the four). Soon after Black started laying, I was outside on a Saturday and heard a big commotion in the run. Olive was doing the fly up and scrub her wings thing, but this time I saw Green actively chasing her. When I looked closely, both of them had blood on them. Olive was bleeding from her comb, and Green was bleeding from her right wattle under her ear.
I quickly used some hardware cloth to make a jail for green and threw her in. She spent a week in jail, with me having to feed her separately and fetch her eggs at night. Their water comes from a rain barrel, and I made it multi-ported, so it wasn't a problem. I let Green out of jail on the next Friday night, and all seemed well. By Saturday afternoon, Green was after Olive again, and this time she pinned her down with firm intent. I pinned Green down for a minute, and put her back in jail. Olive acted starved, like she had been denied food and water all day.
Green spent two more weeks in jail, and quit laying during the first week. The days are getting shorter, and it's very shady in the jail under the play structure, so that is reasonable considering the stress of jail and all. After more reading on BYC, I decided that the run doesn't have any hiding places, so I went out this morning and built a play structure in the run. It includes plenty of places for a chicken to "disappear" for a moment. I let Green out, and she bee-lined for Olive, jumped on her back, and went for her neck. I shooed her off (I was still putting the last screws in the structure). A minute later, she did it again. I grabbed her by the neck and squeezed while I rolled her onto her back. I held her neck until her eyes lost focus (a few seconds), then put her down on their new leaf pile. She got up a few seconds later and acted a little more restrained.
Now, a few hours later, Olive is sitting on the roost bar, and Green is in the best place in the run for her to guard the entire place. I need to fix this quickly. Things were pretty peaceful while Green was in jail, but jail is a real pain for me, and she's not laying any more while in the slammer.
Yes, they could all see each other during the jail stint. Hard panels are possible, but I'd like to know that they will work before I make the effort. It is an effort.
My options, as I see them:
1. Let them fight it out. That probably means that Olive will starve to death and I will be perpetually mad at Green.
2. Make jail permanent, with a nest box that I can get to and a trap door for me to get in if I need to.
3. Eat Green. I have absolutely no problem doing this, but I bought her for the eggs, not the meat.
4. Eat Olive. Hardly seems fair, but she is still producing six a week, and I bought her for the eggs too.
None of these are great choices, but right now I'm leaning toward eating Green.
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post.
Regards,
- Dub
I'll try to keep this short, but I'll answer as much as I can now. I'm sorry if it gets too long....
I bought four RIR day-old chicks last April. I learned everything I know about chickens right here on BYC, including coop ideas, mama heating pad, fermenting feed, and roll-out nest boxes. Thanks to all of your great ideas, I thought I was home free until they started laying and the hormones started raging. I refer to them by their leg band colors, which are White, Black, Green, and Olive.
After they got a few months old I noticed that Olive seemed weird, because I would see her trying to fly up into the hardware cloth of their run. It's an old swing/play structure, so the run tapers up to the top. She did it often enough that her wing tips got flailed and ratty looking. I ignored it, thinking that she was just strange or maybe trying to get a flying bug or something. They have plenty of space; a 12 by 12 foot run connected to the 12 by 8 foot "coop" under the play structure. They have a roost bar that they only use to nap during the day, and a four-rung ladder that they sleep on at night. White sleeps at the top, Olive at the bottom, and the others in between. They usually double up on a rung. Yes, the lower ones get pooped on by the upper ones. They have a roost bar....
Fast forward a few months. They started laying later than I had hoped, but we did have a hot summer here in NW Florida. Olive started first, and went right to work producing six eggs a week. Green and White were next, followed slowly by Black (the largest of the four). Soon after Black started laying, I was outside on a Saturday and heard a big commotion in the run. Olive was doing the fly up and scrub her wings thing, but this time I saw Green actively chasing her. When I looked closely, both of them had blood on them. Olive was bleeding from her comb, and Green was bleeding from her right wattle under her ear.
I quickly used some hardware cloth to make a jail for green and threw her in. She spent a week in jail, with me having to feed her separately and fetch her eggs at night. Their water comes from a rain barrel, and I made it multi-ported, so it wasn't a problem. I let Green out of jail on the next Friday night, and all seemed well. By Saturday afternoon, Green was after Olive again, and this time she pinned her down with firm intent. I pinned Green down for a minute, and put her back in jail. Olive acted starved, like she had been denied food and water all day.
Green spent two more weeks in jail, and quit laying during the first week. The days are getting shorter, and it's very shady in the jail under the play structure, so that is reasonable considering the stress of jail and all. After more reading on BYC, I decided that the run doesn't have any hiding places, so I went out this morning and built a play structure in the run. It includes plenty of places for a chicken to "disappear" for a moment. I let Green out, and she bee-lined for Olive, jumped on her back, and went for her neck. I shooed her off (I was still putting the last screws in the structure). A minute later, she did it again. I grabbed her by the neck and squeezed while I rolled her onto her back. I held her neck until her eyes lost focus (a few seconds), then put her down on their new leaf pile. She got up a few seconds later and acted a little more restrained.
Now, a few hours later, Olive is sitting on the roost bar, and Green is in the best place in the run for her to guard the entire place. I need to fix this quickly. Things were pretty peaceful while Green was in jail, but jail is a real pain for me, and she's not laying any more while in the slammer.
Yes, they could all see each other during the jail stint. Hard panels are possible, but I'd like to know that they will work before I make the effort. It is an effort.
My options, as I see them:
1. Let them fight it out. That probably means that Olive will starve to death and I will be perpetually mad at Green.
2. Make jail permanent, with a nest box that I can get to and a trap door for me to get in if I need to.
3. Eat Green. I have absolutely no problem doing this, but I bought her for the eggs, not the meat.
4. Eat Olive. Hardly seems fair, but she is still producing six a week, and I bought her for the eggs too.
None of these are great choices, but right now I'm leaning toward eating Green.
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post.
Regards,
- Dub
