Why {Most} Roosters Are Mean

Ok, now that we've had a few roosters in our flock, I think I'm at least semi- qualified to explain this phenomenon, which gives roosters such a bad reputation.

I'm sure many of my readers can relate-- if not recently in their lives, then perhaps earlier in their childhood they can remember some rooster stories to make us all laugh. Of course, at the time, I'm sure it was no laughing matter!

Our buff orpington rooster, Foghorn, in his younger days.  RIP.

Roosters seem more than happy to perpetuate the myths of their terror-stalking ways.

One thing I've learned is that they ARE territorial.  And if you don't remind them who is the boss, they will happily take that role over for you and be the boss of everything around them, including YOU.

That was the mistake I made.  I let our roosters strike fear into me, and I avoided them.

HUGE MISTAKE.

Here's the best explanation I found on the internet and I hope it helps others realize the best way to make your rooster see things YOUR way.

Go ahead, click on over and read this. It's very interesting, full of good information, and it's a short read too.  What more could you want?

Keeping Your Roosters Sane

So what do you think after reading the above page?  Is this new information for you, or did you already know this? It makes good sense, doesn't it?

I already knew that it's a good thing to handle chicks (and guinea keets) as much as possible the first 2 weeks after hatching, if you want them to be tame. In our case, this is extremely difficult - we both work and we're gone enough that it's hard to be consistent in this endeavor.

Sally with her young chicks in May 2013 (2 months old)

In addition to our time crunch, our buff orpington Sally was diligent in watching over her chicks 6 months ago.  She made absolutely sure that we did NOT touch them in any way!

But I do believe even though we missed this crucial first step, we can still catch up for lost time by consistently reminding our rooster -- with a broom, a boot, or a spray of water from the hose -- that WE are the dominant alpha entities at this house!! The back porch is now off limits to him, and we boot him off every time we see him perched there.  (So far it seems to be working!)

Roo-boy, crowing his supremacy... um, no.
We'll be taking back our living area starting TODAY.

So I don't blame our rooster - he's just being a rooster, after all.  He wants to be King of the flock and everything else around him. It's in his DNA.  He can't help it.

We'll commute his death sentence for now, and give him another week or two of grace, and see if he accepts our alpha-ness. He's young; he still has the potential to learn a new game.

I hope he's smart and decides to play along, and play nice.  After all, he IS a pretty boy.  It's hard to see in the photos, but he's beginning to grow some green feathers in his tail -- gorgeous!

If he doesn't want to be nice, well, there's always chicken and noodles.  A 7-month old rooster would do nicely.

The Angry Rooster

He's even bigger than this now - this is an older pic.

Yesterday morning I donned my riot gear before I let the chickens out of the coop.  Our rooster has been on the attack for several months now, and he's getting worse.

Methinks he's not long for this world... and frankly, I'd be happy with just the five hens.

At any rate, since the hubby was sick yesterday and he is the one who has been dealing with the chickens, the task fell to me to let them out for the day.

I won't lie.  I was nervous.  I had been attacked by the rooster several months ago, and several kicks to him did not deter him one iota.  He had it in for me!

So I prepared for the mass exit from the henhouse by building a wall between me and the hatch door.  I built my wall with a large piece of cardboard, some 2x4s, and some particleboard.  Then, to lengthen my wall a tad, I stacked two 5-gallon buckets next to the cardboard.

For defense, I took the herding stick we use for the guineas, a very long 2x2 piece of wood, maybe 10 - 12 ft long?

One more thing... I decided I needed a shield, like the knights of old.  I found the perfect shield - the removable top from our chick brooder - it's square, has handles on two sides, and a tight wire mesh screen.

My shield was one-half of the top you see here, with a 2nd handle added.

(The top of the brooder has been modified since this photo was taken.)

PERFECT.  I was ready for battle with the roo.

I got myself in position, took a very deep breath, and opened the hatch door.  Before I could get it lifted and latched to the building, I quickly put my wire-mesh shield in front of the opening, to slow down the chickens' exodus from the coop.

I'm not sure what happened in the coop, but I heard claws screeching to a dead-stop on the concrete floor, a very loud raucous clucking from everyone, and feathers a-flapping.... I bent down to peer into the coop, and did not see one chicken in sight!

The sight of the wire-mesh shield in front of their door must have sent them into a panic, and instead of attacking the shield, even the rooster must have flown up onto their roost!

I clipped the hatch door to the building, and began to methodically remove my riot gear from their pen.  As I exited their pen, I decided to watch and see if they would finally come out of the coop?

It was really quite funny....  a few of the hens finally peeked their heads out the door.  They saw the 5-gallon buckets stacked nearby, and tilted their heads, wondering why they were there?

Finally, everyone came out.

Let's just say I had no battles with the rooster all day.  And I was in and out of the coop quite a bit.  Twice I retrieved eggs.  For safety's sake, I took my human shield with me, and propped it in front of their hatch door, just in case the rooster would come running into the coop to attack me .... yes, he always runs into the coop whenever we go inside.

He didn't come into the coop even once yesterday when I was inside.

All of this preparation on my part may sound pretty funny to those who aren't familiar with roosters, but for those who know roosters, then you know how mean they can be when they put their mind to it!

Even my husband was amazed at how well the rooster can launch his attacks and hit you mid-air!  He curls his body into a U-shape, and both his beak and his claws are hitting you at the same time.  It would be stunning to get video and then play it in slo-mo.

If he continues to behave, then he gets a free pass and gets to live.  Time will tell.

If he decides to attack again, he may become "Angry Rooster Soup".    Jes' sayin.

Don't forget to enter January's country giveaway here.  You've got until January 27th to enter.  :-)

Adieu to My Sweet Barred Rock Rooster

Happier Days in June with his barred rock "sisters"
Rooster on left, lighter color feathers

My barred rock rooster passed away early yesterday morning.  

I woke up at 5 a.m. and checked on him - he seemed fine.

When I woke at 8 a.m., he was gone.

I was home on Friday, and spent time with him.

He seemed happy when I sat and talked to him . 

I would get a few clucks in return. 

He fought a valiant fight, but whatever was ailing him

prevailed and finally took him on Saturday morning.

He was the most laid back of all 3 roosters

and I'm sad that he didn't make it.

This will always be the downside to farm life.

On a lighter note, the flock is better balanced now

One rooster, five hens.

Farewell My Red Roo

The time finally came.  Red Roo had become over-the-top aggressive, so we needed to eliminate him from the chicken flock equation.

Upon my return from work late Thursday night, I checked on the birds like I always do. Within about 60 seconds of my entering the coop, Red Roo had hopped down off the nesting boxes to attack our barred rock rooster, who was quietly laying on the floor in front of the boxes.  When our buff orpington roo saw the commotion, he decided that Red Roo needed help and joined the fray.

Red Roo, shortly before his departure on Thursday

With nothing more than a mini-flashlight in my hand, I tried to beat Red Roo away.  He didn't seem to mind being beat with a small flashlight.  He probably thought, "is that all you got?"

Wouldn't that have made a great video?  I'm sure it would have been absolutely hysterical to watch me helplessly fend off a mad rooster.

Red Roo before his demise --

that's our buff rooster you hear crowing

When I finally managed to get both roosters off the poor barred rock boy, I still had to keep swinging my free arm to keep them away, while I attempted to pick up the barred rock who lay limp and lifeless on the floor of the coop.

I gently placed the barred rock on the separate side of the coop with the guineas, while I went to find our large dog crate - yes, the very same dog crate which had just been used for the injured hawk last weekend! I had already washed it and hubby had put it away in the garage.

Barred rock boy safe in his dog crate.
Don't let his small wattle fool you - we've watched him crow!

While I got him situated in the dog crate, the Red Roo decided to go at it some more and began attacking various hens, with the buff rooster helping him out again. I jumped to the other side of the coop again, yelling and flinging my flashlight at him.  Oh yes, I was so effective, I'm sure.

I think I even saw Red Roo roll his eyes and smirk at me.

I texted hubby, who was still at work, and told him the Red Roo's days had come to an end... yeah, who's smirking now, Red Roo?!

He was a major disruption in the flock and he had to go. This really did make me sad - but honestly, the hens (and us) got along fine with the other two roosters.

Hubby dispatched the Red Roo this morning.  

We were both sad, but even sadder that we didn't have the time to scald & pluck & cut him up to serve as dinner.  

I mean, really, that would have been ideal, and respectful of his existence.  But with our work times bearing down upon us, we didn't have time to do all that - with our newbie chicken status, it would have taken us longer than the average farmer.   

Psssst: Hubby HAS done this before, it's just been a long time. 

I'm the real newbie here!

The barred rock has been sitting quietly in the dog crate on our indoor back porch since last night.  I don't see any visible injuries - perhaps he has brain damage.  I say that half-jokingly, but then, you really never know, do you? 

I had noticed earlier in the week that he seemed quieter than usual, laying around a bit more.  When I checked on the birds Monday night, their waterer was cocked at an odd angle, and all the water had spilled out onto the floor.

That was my first clue (DUH) that there was tension in the flock.

When I put him back into the coop tomorrow, I think we'll keep him with the guineas and let him free-range.  No sense tempting the fates.  There are only 6 hens with the buff orpington rooster - the "books" all say there should be just one rooster to every 10 hens.

When we realized we had 3 roosters,
we knew we had a bomb just waiting to explode.

Reminder to self:

Buying all pullets does NOT guarantee you won't get any roosters. 

It does guarantee you'll pay more for your chickens.

Next on our to-do list:  Why is one guinea hen limping??!!

Help. Our birds have overtaken our lives.

P.S.  Next time we have an errant rooster, we will put him in the dog crate to await Saturday or Sunday when we can properly butcher him.   :-)

Three Roosters

Anyone want one?

They are now approaching 13 weeks old. 

We are beginning to hear some half-hearted

"cock-a-doodle-do's", kinda like a teenaged boy

going through puberty with a wavering voice.

Three roosters in a lot of 8 chickens is, well, um, not a good thing.  

The "books" recommend ONE rooster to every 10 hens.

So far, no fights, but I'm sure it's just around the corner that these three will start asserting their dominance over the hens.  So glad I didn't buy straight run - I actually bought all pullets and ONE panfry special, so I would have at least ONE rooster.

You see how that worked out.  Not so well.