What Does His Behavior Mean?

[ClareScifi]

I just re-read your earlier post and see that pretty Honeygirl's daddy was a Light Brahma. Could you post a photo of him for me? Thanks

 

[stormylady]

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No honey girl doesn't have any gold on her well maybe just a tiny bit but it is mostly in the lacing and Andi was the mom Honeycomb my LB was her Daddy, she has the yellow legs on so on.

 

[stormylady]

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Sure I can he has passed away but he is still near and dear to my heart!

This is a picture was taken when he was young.
Honey girl got his yellow legs a few feathers on her feet and legs, a cross between his comb and hers, and both of their coloring and her moms beautiful Aqua colored eggs.

 

[ClareScifi]

What a gorgeous rooster! What did he die of?

What did you say the honey-colored chick's name who has the blue-gray on it? So adorable! I love that color combination-- just like my boy Pect's!

 

[ClareScifi]

The one in the middle of this picture is the one whose name I would love to know?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/20212_sexing_chickens_043.jpg

 

[stormylady]

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I think he died of cocci It took like 13 of my bird a very sad time, here.
The old and Blue chicken is Maisey she has also passed of the same thing .
gold and blue sorry! LOL

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, no. Were they pretty old when they died of cocci? Had you given them medicated chick starter when they were little? I'm so sorry. What a nightmare. I do worry about the same. And I still have the Marek's fear with the Bantie. It could strike at any time. We have to just enjoy every precious moment with them. I still can't believe Easter died while I was on vacation. She was only 17 months old! Her comb went dark from time to time and would recover its color. But the odd thing was her feather picking. I had thought she was just broody but now I suspect she either got mites that killed her from under the house, or she had fatty liver disease from eating too much scratch (feather-picking is a symptom of that disease. Most likely the latter, though you think it would have gotten Esther, too, but it could at any time I guess. Easter's toenails were a bit longer than Esther's, and long toenails are also a symptom of fatty liver disease. It is haunting not knowing what she died of. By the time I got home from vacation it was too late to perform an autopsy.

I worry that my 9 week olds are too fat. I give them free-choice food but I fear they are chow hounds. No rice nor starchy treats for them, that's for sure. I can't decide whether to buy any scratch for super cold nights or not. There does seem to be chunks of corn in their grower food.

 

[stormylady]

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No they were only almost 3 yrs old, yes they were on medicated chick starter when they were babies but then I put them on Unmedicated layer feed. My chicks were vac. for Mereks and New castle Disease but it was rainy and gross I think we had the cocci virus on the property way before we ever had the chickens, and I had no idea until almost too late I could have lost all of them. I keep Corid V on hand all the time now.
In the winter time when they are not laying so much I feed meatbird for the extra protein and mix scratch in with it. I give mine yogurt alot of yogurt some nearly everyday, they get cooked oatmeal sometimes and basically if we can eat it they can too. I don't give them raw onions or raw garlic, it effects the taste of the eggs to me. But the Bulk of their diet is chicken feed. sometime I boil and chop up eggs for them too. And I alway give scrambled eggs to the chicks they seem to feather out faster that way too for some reason. Im going to have to look up fatty liver disease in chickens?? The vaccines that they get don't protect them through their whole live just through their most vuneralby weeks when they are very young. It is so hard losing them, and it always seems to be the favorites for some reason, I had a Raccoon take 8 one time it was hard so I know how you feel losing yours.

 

[ClareScifi]

I didn't see any medicated grower feed when I was buying mine? I had no idea they could get cocci after having had the medicated chick starter. Do you feed yours medicated layer feed all the time?

I had worried about Esther eating the medicated chick starter with the chicks, but now maybe I'm glad she did. I had no idea they could get cocci at that old of an age. I had thought it was a young chick's disease, only.

I have never heard of meatbird. Thanks for the tip. My hens loved scrambled eggs but I haven't tried it on the chicks yet. I need to get them some yogurt. They didn't seem impressed the few times I tried giving it to them, although Esther and Easter loved it.

I guess it's time to start putting apple cider vinegar in the chicks' drinking water? I think someone told me 8 weeks was a safe age to start it, to try to help and prevent worms.

I'd like to make them some warm oatmeal and grow them some fresh oat greens.

Maybe I should start mixing warm water in with their layer mash now that it's getting cold? Esther and Easter loved warm water mixed in with their food last winter.

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, boy, the Biggest Rooster chick almost killed my Boy today. I am not going to put them together ever again. That other rooster is just too big. He pecked him and then got his neck and tried to twist it off. My Poor Boy! I rescued him just in time. He was shell-shocked.

The good news is that he gets along with the hen chicks great! And I let his StepMama out of the run and she didn't get too upset when he was in the run with the hens. She basically minded her own business. I let my boy play with the 3 hen chicks at the same time. He chased them some, like a little boy chasing little girls around a playground. They got used to it. He wasn't mean to them, just had fun running after them, like a game.

So I think I'll give the 2 other roosters away to the farm around Christmas when they are big enough to hold their own with the leghorn rooster at the farm. I hate to give them up and I hate for them to be separated from their hatch mates, but I have only a few hens, anyway, not enough for 3 roosters.

I think my baby will be just fine with the hens, and he doesn't need the stress of being low man on the totem pole due to his late introduction and much smaller size. The other 2 roosters get along because they were raised together since they were hatched, but it's too late to try to introduce my boy into the mix. At least my other two rooster boys will have each other as friends at the farm. I do worry about them getting frostbite there, since it's colder than here. Maybe I shouldn't try to move them until they start to crow. That should be late winter. And I'll just keep separating them from the hens for a few hours a day and letting my Boy play with the girls. I think the roosters are about big enough to let out to free-range.

If they are free-ranging, I don't think they'll mind my boy being in with the girls. I think they got extra mad at him because they watched his chasing escapades through a glass window. They pecked at each other through the window, and my boy had the advantage, being where they wanted to be. If they were diverted and occupied free-ranging, I think it will go much better.

How big does a rooster chick need to be to be safe from cats? Would 10 weeks old be big enough, do you think?