Washingtonians

[Ogress]

Why is it that some chickens are totally afraid of people and others raised with them are fine? I have an OE cockeral from CL that is just totally crazy, I mean not a single screw in this guys head is fully tightened, and they seem to get looser every day. He just flew full force into a wall! And this is after the fiasco that I posted last night. I think he's a marans/Americauna cross. I also have Americauna pullets and Marans pullets from CL, and they are just fine. They don't go out of their way to greet me yet, but they don't go scattering without paying attention to their surroundings. They seem like normal chickens to me and I think they will be great hens. Is the idiocy a trait in males of some breeds or is this guys brain just so small that it will rattle around in a gnats navel?

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Man, I wish I was forty again. Or even fifty. Heck, I'll even take fifty-five.

(Not done with the Tower of Solitude)

 

[herbandteas]

Sounds like he is a spastic bird or he is blind?

 

[Ogress]

Quote:
He sees me coming, so he can't be blind. I guess some chickens, like some people, aren't given a full deck to play with.

 

[KMHunter]

Quote:
He sees me coming, so he can't be blind. I guess some chickens, like some people, aren't given a full deck to play with.

My EE cockerel was like that. He was not very bright. My OE pullet from CL is a little flighty, but not to the point of hurting herself. The rest are just fine with me walking by or even picking them up.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
He sees me coming, so he can't be blind. I guess some chickens, like some people, aren't given a full deck to play with.

When I tried raising La Fleche, they were ALL like that. I gave them a lot of attention & treated them just like I did all of my other chicks. I hatched/raised them with my cochins, who from day one are always friendly and run towards my hands when I'd go to give them fresh water & food. And even from day one, the La Fleche would screech, bounce around, flap & have panic attacks when I would try to interact with them. As they got bigger, it got worse. They'd fly up & smash in the walls, my face, the ceiling, knock down their roosts, shriek, poop themselves, etc

It got so bad, I had to move them into a different pen (one without the window) because I thought they were going to break it when they'd bounce off of it.

The other thing is that they were so traumatized by me cleaning out their pens, the hens would not lay for a few days after I did it.

The last straw with them was when the rooster started attacking me, BAD. He would see me coming, sound the alarm--so all of the hens were flipping out, flapping & flinging all over--I'd wait for a second until they shot out the pop door in the run. Then I'd go in to fix the roost they knocked out and in would come the roo--wings dropped, side-steppin' at me and then he'd attack! Wings, spurs, claws, beak. Man--I booted that stupid thing so hard I'm surprised he did not die. Unfortunately, not only did he not die, he seemed even more ticked and would attack again and again. For as tough as he thought he was, he was pretty tender as Coq au vin after two days in the fridge and 12 hours in the crock pot.

The hens, I sold to some old lady who wanted them to range around her barnyard. Whatever. They laid HUGE white eggs and flew like ravens...so they might have done okay. Except for being completely stupid.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote:
My two crows are the same way and I think they may be related to yer's. Ya walk in and they are like ya just let go of a balloon and all the air is coming out.

 

[Ogress]

Quote:

This one has never attacked, but he's young yet, probably good eating age, and I'm not attached to this one like I was the Barnies! I should, some day, learn how to butcher a chicken. I guess I've turned squeemish, though I think I could handle it if it were killed and plucked.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
My two crows are the same way and I think they may be related to yer's. Ya walk in and they are like ya just let go of a balloon and all the air is coming out.

 

[Ogress]

Quote:
My two crows are the same way and I think they may be related to yer's. Ya walk in and they are like ya just let go of a balloon and all the air is coming out.

The balloon is a perfect description! Luckily I just have the one like that, but he's the biggest in his coop.