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I have a question. I got chicks 2 months ago, and the 3 pullets get along well. I adopted one of Velvet Sparrow's cockerels (Roostroyer the light brahma), and while my two bigger pullets already showed him who the boss is (it's them), the smaller pullet, rusty, besides being sick with a yeast infection, she always runs away from him, wven before showing illness signs. He tends to peck her more unless I intervene and humiliate him as VS showed me (pet him and lower his head as I pet him in front of the pullets, chase him around when he gets too rough, etc), but he seems to bully Rusty. She doesn't stand up to him or try to chest bump, she inmediately yields, yet he seems to have the need to peck her. Why is that? The other two pullets don't bother Rusty at all. Also, as a side question, have you ever treated a chicken with a mouth/crop yeast infection (thrush)? I started using Meditatin along with gentian violet to treat it, it's been four days now and today Rusty had much less problems eating, but how long should I keep using the medistatin? Until the yeast on her tongue is gone completely? Fluffy Bunnies posted:How hard is it to get the drat feathers off? I've watched a few butchering videos, but most of the ones I see just strip the skin off with the feathers whole and quarter the animal out. Are plucking or the boiling method really my only options if I want a whole carcass with skin on? You can try waxing them Chido fucked around with this message at 04:17 on Jun 12, 2011 |
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Jun 12, 2011 04:14
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I don't think they will be an issue once they are fully grown. I let my chickens roam free in the yard when everybody is home, and except for the smallest pullet, they are much bigger than pigeons. Then again we keep an eye on them and our cockerel Roostroyer is a regular light brahma, and while he's about the same age of our pullets (10 weeks or so), he's already much taller and imposing. If your chickens are still young and on the smaller side, don't let them out unsupervised, unless you have a chicken run.
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Jun 12, 2011 05:37
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WrathofKhan posted:
I already isolate her. I don't want her to suffer when I get her back to my mini flock, so I take her outside only when I or my nieces can be around to be the head of the flock, and we keep Roostroyer in his place. Velvet Sparrow has been awesome in explaining chicken behavior to me, specially since we at home are unplanned chicken owners (long story involving a dumbass neighbor and street roaming chickens). Otherwise Rusty stays in a crate in my room, or on my lap/shoulder. By the way, just as a warning, chickens can be spoiled. My sick pullet rusty now won' leave my side, and she jumps on my lap/shoulder at any given opportunity, even when we are all outside and the other chickens are behaving well. I've also seen firs hand chicken envy. My whitish mutt pullet, Megatron, never jumps on my lap unless I'm petting another chicken. I sweat the look she gives me almost says: hey what about me? I didn't know chickens were so fun to watch  .
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Jun 12, 2011 06:52
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My three pullets are mutts and my cockerel is a standard light brahma. He's already the size of a "normal" chicken, and I'm a bit worried about how my girls will handle him when he hits puberty  , but seeing how the two bigger girls chest bump with him and he walks away, I'm not worry that much about them. The smaller one, Rusty, seems to be a bantam mix, and he is very "aggressive" with her, probably because she' been sick with a yeast infection. She is very fast, though, so she gets out of the way when he decides to peck her, although that doesn't happen too often now and the for go happily eating bugs and grass in the backyard.
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Jun 15, 2011 16:36
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Lyz posted:So it looks like in the next couple weeks I'll be culling my current herd of egg-eating shitheads, and bringing home some 6 week old Silver-Laced Wyandottes. My question is, is 6 weeks old enough to put in an outdoors coop, or will I have to rig up something indoors for them with a heat lamp (and cat-proofing)? I think you can't let the chicks outside all day and night until they are completely feathered so they can regulate their temperature.
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Jun 16, 2011 02:45
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I decided to let my possible bantam mix pullet Rusty sleep outsie in the coop again. she has had a yeast infection in her mouth and crop for awhile now, and my light brahma Roostroyer decided to peck her rather hard when eating from their feeder, and at dusk, when they are scrambling to sleep inside the coop. I thought it was because she was looking sick, but she's doing much better now and he doesn't chase her as much. However, I'm a bit concerned. All my chickens are about 2 1/2 months old, is it possible that my rooster will keep pecking at her, bullying her to use another term, even though none of the other two pullets attack her, and rusty always runs away and avoids him? If he doesn't chase her but only pecks at her during feeding time and randomly when she's laying down taking a sun bath, should I worry he might hurt her seriously? Bonus picture: my steamed buns cooling down under a small lemon tree (ignore Rusty's purple stains on her face, it's part of of her treatment). 
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Jun 17, 2011 06:35
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I have question about chicken behavior: I've already said my light brahma cockerel picks on my smallest pullet, Rusty. She's recovering from a nasty yeast infection and doesn't act sick anymore, so I'm letting her get in the coop with the other chickens at night, so they start getting used to each other again. I take her back inside a bit before midnight to giver her another dose of medstatin, and then put her in a crate. I don't quite trust leaving her in the coop all night as Roostroyer might try to chase her and peck at her while locked in the coop early in the morning. My question is about their behavior. Am I overreacting? After a couple of hard pecks and glares, and a bit of slow chasing in the coop (I was watching an ready to push him away from Rusty in case he'd get too rough), they all finally settled down. I went to check them about 20 minutes later, and Rusty was sleeping between Roostroyer and Megatron, my light pullet. Should I worry less that he might get too rough and actually hurt her badly, or should i keep letting them be and just watch them in case it gets serious? They are all about 3 months old, give or take a week in between them, will this behavior settle down as they grow?
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Jun 18, 2011 04:45
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WrathofKhan posted:Chido: What you're describing sounds like normal chicken politics to me, so as long as she's not getting severely beaten up, it might be a good idea to let them sort things out. I'm a bit concerned since Rusty is very small. Besides being some days younger than the others, she is probably some bantam mix. Roostroyer is already the size of a regular chicken (oh god all that fluff!) so I'm a bit worried about him pecking her. I'll just keep an eye until I see that he doesn't do anything beyond some harsh peckin on her back here and there.
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Jun 18, 2011 08:28
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Oh god, are you saying my light brahma is hitting on my cute bantam mutt? I thought he was being "mean" to her because he pecks her when they get ready to sleep in the coop and everybody is stepping on everybody and the bantam wants to get literally under everybody to sleep, so he walks to her and pecks her, making her run away. she also does it when they all get together to eat, but he doesn't go beyond some stink eye looks and a peck or two, making her get away, then she comes back to eat away from him. She's at the bottom of the pecking order, and I didn't know chickens start to get all horny at 3 months old  .Edit: well, I let all my chickens get into the coop, and I can see rusty is afraid of Roostroyer. She chirps and gets vet tense near him, and he went to peck her a few time hard and made her run out of the coop into the run. then he go our of the coop too, looking at her. I grabbed him so Rusty could calm down and get back inside, after a few minutes of holding him tight enough so he couldn't escape and finally calmed down too, I let him back into the coop. He settled down, then as he lied down, he saw Rusty, turned around, and pecked at her again. My other two pullets put hi in place and even peck at him. Rusty is very small and while she has chest bumped with the other pullets, she has never tried it with Roostroyer. He's very nice with the other two, but he pecks at Rusty, and I'm not quite sure it's because he's into her. They did all finally settled down and are sleeping now, but I'm grabbing Rusty in a couple of hours to give her another dose of medication, and put her in a crate in my room. I don't trust leaving her there until dawn while I still see him pecking her around, and my chicken run is small, it was meant only to lock them inside at night. Rusty doesn't really have anywhere to hide in the coop if he decides to chase her . I don't understand why he bullies her, since she never fights back and its clear his above her in my flock. I don't know if him pecking her not only on her back fur now I saw him peck her face when getting ready to sleep is something I should worry about. I don't want to have to relocate Roostroyer, but I guess that if he keeps attacking her while in the coop, I"m gonna have to crate him separately at night. I'm gonna keep watching their interaction this week, hopefully he will get used to her in the coop at night, so I can try and left her outside all night and just get up before dawn to see how they interact. Is there any advice you guys can give me, or am I being overly protective and paranoid? Edit 2:I'm gonna record their interaction tomorrow and put it in youtube, so you guys can tell me if I should worry about their behavior. Chido fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Jun 19, 2011 |
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Jun 19, 2011 02:16
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Sorry, first time having chickens and I still don't know how to read their behavior well This is why I'm not planning on having children, I'm way too overprotective.
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Jun 19, 2011 19:54
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Somebody in PI/animal farm asked for a picture of my chickens in a gradient scale, from dark to light. I think my chickens are telepaths but got the message kinda... wrong  
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Jun 20, 2011 01:55
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I've been having a bit of an issue reitroducing my sick pullet rusty to the flock. She is fine now, just a nasty tongue yeast infection I'm still treating, bu it's way better now. I've let her outside the whole day and night for 3 days now, and while during the day I've seen no big issues between her (she's some bantam mix I think, she's small), and my cockerel Roostroyer (Velvet Sparrow's light brahma hatch of this year). He still walks in front of her and gives her the stink eye when they are eating, but it's nowhere near as bad as before. they often hang out together and even lay down in the shade together. At dusk, however, he still scares her a lot and pecks her when they are in the coop (my coop has a run included). He pecks at her and the poor thing looks really scared, but they do settle after 15 minutes or so, with me watching to make sure he doesn't hurt her. Still, I can see the stress is affecting Rusty bit, so what I did tonight was lock the pullets in the coop, and put Roostroyer in a dog crate inside the coop. After the girls were settled an it was darker, I let him out, grabbed him, held hi firmly and pet him as VS taught me to make sure he gets the point I'm still the head roo (and so he would also calm down and stop struggling), and let him in the run. He walked into the coop, and while he clucked and woke everybody up, and Rusty got tense by seeing him there, he didn't go after her, and just settled down and finally all of them slept. Should I continue doing that, or will my new technique backfire? Sorry for the long post, but as I've said before, I've never had chickens before, and I still don't know when not to worry and let them sort things out, and when thing are not working out.
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Jun 22, 2011 05:08
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Velvet Sparrow posted:We also do the 'Chickam' thing every year where we webstream a live video w/sound broadcast of eggs hatching and then of the chicks growing up 24/7 over the following 8 weeks (details on my site at the link above), it's fun. And also the gooniest chicks ever  .
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Jul 1, 2011 01:49
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My sister has been using my camera so much lately that I feel I need to ask for permission to borrow my camera  . Roostroyer is so big and fluffy now!
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Jul 11, 2011 01:05
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He stills pecks her at dusk when getting inside the coop, but it's much better now .
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Jul 11, 2011 01:33
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http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/Australorp-B14.aspx According to that site the australorp is a docile breed, so I'd say go for it, but only if you get a rooster as fat and fluffy as the one in the first picture!
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Jul 11, 2011 16:49
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I just came back from the vet. Rusty's infection has pretty much cleared, only one bacteria was somewhat resistant to the treatment the vet gave me to start treating Rusty while the lab results came back. I was given today the new med, and that's it . Also in the two weeks in between the vet visits Rusty went from about 520grams to 700gm. That's a lot of weight gain ! Edit: a good example of chickens dust bathing 
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Jul 11, 2011 21:12
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I don't know if this is normal or if I should be concerned. Roostroyer my brahma cockerel has been bullying Rusty for weeks, but today he decided to also chase and peck Godzilla, and it wasn't a light chase. They ran around really fast and I had to intervene so he'd leave her alone. He tried to crow this morning, so I know his hormones are going crazy, and he's tried to actually mount Godzilla, my biggest pullet. The chickens are about 17-18 weeks old, Rusty may be 16 weeks, but I'm not sure when the pullets were born exactly. Godzilla has attacked Rosotroyer when he tries to mount her and she really beats the sit out of him, making him run away. On the other hand, Rusty has never shown any aggression and she always runs away from him, while Megatron at the beginning she'd fight him, but now she also runs away from him. I don't know if this is normal behavior for teenage chickens, but should i worry that he is attacking pullets, when he's the only rooster?
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Jul 24, 2011 05:11
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Zeta Taskforce posted:How did you all acquire your chickens? Do you go down to the hardware store and if so, how many breeds were available? I was looking online and there are sources like My three pullets come from the abandoned flock that roams my neighborhood(stupid neighbor is selling his house and he left his chickens here ). My cockerel is from Velvet Sparrow, from this year's chickam . If you live in Los Angeles county come to where I live, I'll help you catch the leftover chickens, some of them are very young still .
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Jul 25, 2011 21:36
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My babies at 18 weeks (more or less). they've gotten so big! Specially Roostroyer  , and half of his body is pure fluff.
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Jul 28, 2011 03:22
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AcetylCoA! posted:Being that fluffy is clearly serious business. You should record him crowing! I'm planning to do it .Also, I don't know if my chickens are old enough to molt already, but Godzilla and Rusty (the big and the small brown ones), have been losing some feathers. Their tail feathers are growing back now, but poor things look funny. Godzilla  Rusty and Megatron  I think Rusty and Megatron have some bantam in them, because thy are very small compared to Roostroyer. Seeing how they all do once they start laying eggs, I might try to get one more standard size hen to add to my flock. I don't want another brahma (even though they are so pretty), because my coop would be too small for two giant birds and 3 medium-to-small ones. I'd like a hen that would be about 6-8 pounds once fully grown, but I have no idea of what breed to look for if I end up getting another one .
Chido fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Jul 28, 2011 |
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Jul 28, 2011 06:09
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Aaaaaannnnd I got Roostroyer "crowing" on video! The beginning is very dark because, for some reason, the image darkens when I zoom in with my camera. He crows a bit at the beginning, and gain at around minute 3:40 or so. You guys can also see how he treats Megatron. He scares he and Rusty away from the food, so I have to spread it a lot. I hope that changes as they mature.
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Jul 29, 2011 03:52
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I showed Velvet Sparrow the video and she told me the same . Now I have to only worry he doesn't get too rough with the girls...
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Jul 29, 2011 14:23
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I don't know how well chickens would do confined, but when I was reading about chicken coops, many of them have a run that is meant to keep the chickens locked and safe from predators. If you made a chicken coop that looked like a shed, and make the walls that face the train platform out of solid wood instead of some welded cloth, then you might be able to get away with it. Depending on the size of your yard, this design might work out for you, and as you see, the person who built it keeps his chickens locked in there most of the time. http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=66725-wichita-cabin-coop
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Aug 5, 2011 07:17
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Ok, I think everyone's convinced me. If I decide to flout Boston laws, I will cut a hole in my shed wall (being a homeowner has its perks) and fence off a small area. If everyone else has a smaller coop and a larger run, I will do it backwards, but whatever. I have a French last name and the French do everything backwards. Also get some cute bantam brahma chickens! I have a standard light brahma and he is awesome . He now crows like a decent rooster, but for most of the day he's quiet and very docile to humans, my nieces are 8 and 11 and they can carry him with no big fuzz. Also they are very fluffy and good for cold climates .
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Aug 6, 2011 18:02
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My poor rooster is so pathetic. He hit puberty fast, and now he's working so hard to win over the hearts of my still innocent pullets. He's been working his magic dancing his cute dance that makes the girls run away from him, and the other day he went into the coop to make a nest and he clucked at the pullets, calling them to se what he did and hopefully they'll let him get some. When that fails he tries surprise sex, but the girls just scream bloody murder and run away from him. He's truly a child of goons D:.
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Aug 7, 2011 01:38
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Chickens like cheese!  
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Aug 13, 2011 00:59
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Tendai posted:Holy crap, Roostroyer is gigachicken. He's huge! He's only about 6 pounds now, I think he will be twice that once he finishes growing up . Also you can hear my neighbor's cockerel in that video. With all roosters that there are in my neighborhood (it also helps that most of my neighbors seem to be first generation Mexicans or Latinos), I don't worry about somebody complaining about Roo crowing, when there are like other 5-6 roosters crowing at the same time .Edit: I finally saw Roostroyer mounting Megatron. She screamed but he finished his business (my poor baby ), however it seems that she is his favorite. Silly rooster is into blondes, so I think I'm gonna try to get one or two more chickens for him, and make sure one is white or as light colored as possible.
Chido fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Aug 13, 2011 |
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Aug 13, 2011 02:03
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Photo dumping time! My chickens are all almost 5 months old now. I know what Roostroyer is, but my other three pullets are mystery chickens. Rusty and Megatron are a bit more than 2 pounds each, while Godzilla is over 3lbs. Can you guys have a guess of what mix breeds they are? Also none of my pullets have almost any combs or wattles. I don't know if they are going to grow them at all. Godzilla   Megatron   Rusty (in the second picture she is grooming herself, what's that gland above her tail?)   Roostroyer is almost 6 pounds heavy now. Even though he looks massive compared to my pullets, he's just a very tall bird atm. Half of his body volume is fluff. 
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Aug 13, 2011 19:59
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Catkin posted:
Thank you!
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Aug 13, 2011 21:10
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That's the uropygial gland. Birds use it to oil their feathers to keep them well-maintained!
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I bought this container to make a nest box for my pullets, but I bought it this big for Roostroyer. I've seen him going into the lowest part of the coop, scratch and circle around, and make a very cute cluck to call the pullets and show the nest he is making. The tote is big enough to have two of my pullets nest inside easily, and I'm gonna cut a hole on one side big enough for Roo to go and make his nest. I just hope they like it. Would it be ok to use pine shavings as bedding for the nest?
Chido fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Aug 14, 2011 |
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Aug 14, 2011 04:20
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Greycious posted:
I live in El Monte, CA. My town is probably about 30 minutes away from East LA, if not less, and it is surrounded by other cities. In about a 6 block ratio, I have neighbors with horses, a guy kept a cow for a week (it died on its front yard...). At dawn and dusk I hear more than 10 roosters crow in the area, and my neighbors next door, across the street, and 2 houses down the road have chickens. I didn't find any law banning roosters in my street, but I'm not worried, With the amount of poultry that is in here, and has been around for years, I doubt anybody would complain of my 4 chickens.
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Aug 18, 2011 07:25
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I'm worried about my pullets. Roostroyer has been trying to mate with them, and he's a very tall cockerel, and 6 lbs of weight. The two pullets he harrasses the most are a bit more than 2 lbs (bantam mixes after all, I really hoped they'd grow more ), and they aren't interested in mating yet, so there's a lot of rough surprise sex and chasing. I know he'll calm down eventually, but I think I'm gonna have to get one or two more standard size hens for him to give the smaller pullets a break. Why is it that males of any species turn into assholes once they reach puberty?
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Aug 20, 2011 15:54
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I was told in backyardchickens.com that my pullets look like game fowl or a gamefowl mix. I found out that this breed doesn't get too big, so I'd like to get a hen that weighs about 6-7 pounds for Roostroyer, but I only found roosters in petfinder . I'm gonna ask at my feed store if they also get grown hens every now and then, or older chicks that don't need a brooder anymore. Can you guys suggest me any common breed I can easily find that is a bit over 6 pounds? I have no idea what breed to buy .
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Aug 21, 2011 09:04
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I'm gonna ask the guys at the feed store if they can get me an orpington, that chicken is so pretty!
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Aug 21, 2011 15:16
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I've been reading a lot about game fowl lately, specially since my pullets might be part american game, and oh god they are so beautiful! Also they look like the kind of chickens I grew up watching at my grandparents' house and town in Mexico (cock fighting is legal there, so that kind of bird is pretty common). My pullets are really sweet and cute, if game hens were bigger than 4plbs, I'd get 2 more. Why is chicken keeping so addictive?
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Aug 21, 2011 23:51
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Amethyste posted:
I beg to differ, Roostroyer likes his girls blond and petite, that's why that white fatass keeps having surprise sex (literally surprise sex, he's just standing next to her, suddenly goes nom on her back of the neck, mounts her, and the deal is done in 5 seconds) with Megatron. He's also mounted Rusty, but not nearly as often as Megatron, and he's tried to do the same with Godzilla a few times, but she fights him and chases him around really angry when he does. Edit: I should have included this in my previous post, sorry for the double post!
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Aug 21, 2011 23:54
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Kerfuffle posted:Chido are you getting eggs from your hens? Not yet, but my four chickens are about 5 months old this week, so I guess it can be any time now. Also, sometimes I think I'd like to let one of my pullets sit on her eggs if she gets broody and the eggs are fertile... but the dad would be a possible 12 pound really docile brahma rooster, the mom a most likely 3-4 pound game hen... the embryo might be too big for the eggshell and they wouldn't hatch, I think. But can you imagine the combination? It'd be awesome!
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Aug 22, 2011 00:46
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DrPain posted:Sup chicken thread, been a great read but I've got some questions that I think haven't been addressed: I'd say to always keep the wateter full of water and available for your chickens if you can, and if it's big enough, put a frozen bottle of water inside so it keeps the water cool for the chickens. About scratch, birds will always eat it, what I do to minimize the loss is to just spread a bit of scratch in the morning so my chickens can eat most of it, and I often move the feeder around so the birds don't get used to it.
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Aug 22, 2011 22:27
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 19:56 |
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I went to the feed store to buy some food and ask if they also sell grown up chickens, and they told me yes. As I was talking with the store owner about the kind of breeds I was looking for, a lady came into the store to drop her tree hens. Apperently you can "donate" your chickens to the store if you don't want them or can't keep them anymore, and they'll sell them to whoever wants them. One of the chickens is a barred playmouth rock, a breed my brother-in-law was interested in, and he bought it on the spot. The hen is a bit over a year old, it feels a bit underweight, but she has no nasal discharge, her feathers look in pretty decent condition, no raised scales on her legs, no mites on her legs or under her wings. Her eyes are shiny and clear and he breath smells ok. I wasn't quite ready to get the hen right now, as I've read that I should isolate her, but my BiL decided to let her out in the yard. My other chickens are already in their fenced area, so they can see each other without being able to reach each other. Only their heads fit through the wire, and Godzilla already tried to pick a fight with the newcomer... and she ended up bitten in the face and a bit of blood, but it was just a scratch. Now the four chickens keep their distance from the hen, and she is hanging out in a shaded area next to the wire. I'll keep them separate like this and put the hen inside a dog crate at night so they can all sleep in the coop but without fighting. She is really docile and pretty! Btw, we named her Spaghetti because of her stripes , now I just hope I don't mess up their introduction any further, I wish I could have isolated her inside the house for some days, but what is done is done, I'll keep an eye on all the chickens just to make sure they'll be ok.
Chido fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Aug 24, 2011 |
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Aug 23, 2011 23:11
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