Chicken Care by Dink

[woodyz]

Well our one rooster we have left may not make it. He is the only one left ready to breed because he killed all of the others. Yesterday he got after one of the 4 year old twins and I threw a plastic 5 gallon bucket at him. The edge of the bucket hit him hard enough to knock the wind out of him and knock feathers off one shoulder. I had to carry him to the coop.

This morning when I went to check on him he had a king snake about 5 foot long cornered. He was doing alright with the snake, but the two younger roosters were after him from the other side. After I caught the snake I tried to catch the rooster with the intent of locking him away from the others until he was better. But he wasn't having any of it and I wasn't going to knock him out again.

I think them two younger roosters will do him in now. The only reason he hasn't done them in is because he could never get just one alone. They won't be ready to start fertilizing eggs for 3 to six more months.

But we were not intending to hatch any more chickens out this season anyway. He is their daddy but they are out of a white hen and are not colored or full blood like him.

[Deleted]

WOODYZ...I have some nice scars on my legs from a roo attack when I was 11 years old. George looked a lot like yours only with clean legs. It didn't take many fights and his aim was dead on. I STRONGLY suggest you get rid of that roo, one way or the other. If he is trying to flog people,ESPECIALLY children, it won't be long before someone gets seriously hurt. They are small enough he could easily puncture the abdomen, chest, throat or even the face of a child. Not worth taking the chance IMO. And he will bury those spurs deep in leg muscles even through jeans...my step mother had to get 22 stitches in her leg after a roo attack in the hen house (and she had on heacy blue jeans).

If you are not going to breed any more this year, you will not be loosing anything except the danger to your little ones, yourself and everone else. The young roos are out of him, so even though they are not as brightly colored, they will throw colored chicks. If you are worried about a pure breed roo, you can find them at swap meets, and some hatcheries will still have chicks available until mid August, you can always order a few and mix it up. Replace him now and they will be ready for next year.

Looks like he has 1" spurs or better...that can do some nasty damage very easily. My opinion of the best fix, since you cannot stop a roo once he starts flogging...removal of head and feathers, 24 marinate in Mortons TenderQuick, and a long, all day go in the slow cooker to make him tneder, and turn him into a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup or chicken & dumplins.

Good luck and I hope no one gets hurt.

[woodyz]

Your right of course, I have an inch long gash on the back of my leg from him.

Don't care about the full breed thing, just like his coloring. We have one hen and the two roosters out of him, but they are not as pretty as him.

All of the other hens but one are red.

[woodyz]

Last time I wrote a bout chickens we were about to lose our black and white Rooster. He was after one of the Grand Kids and my son throw a bucket at him and hit him too hard. Then we kept one of his sons who is just now coming of age and he was out to get the Black and White.



This is him today, he had a rough couple of weeks, but he got off with just a little limp. He has started crowing again and is mounting hens, so I think he will be ok.

When we thought we would lose him we decided to pen his son and a hen and hatch some Cockerels. Here is a pic of the White Rooster.



One hen is white speckled and the other gray speckled. I will try for some pics of them. The laid their first eggs yesterday so this weekend we will start keeping their eggs for the incubator.

[Deleted]

You were right, the younger one is definitely not as pretty marked as the older one. BUT if he out of the older rooster, then he has the potnetial to throw brightly colored chicks!! There is simply no telling what kind of markings young roos form him and the spotted hens might look like! Glad the ole boy managed to pull through! That kind of survival instinct is definitely something to breed for in replacement hens!! Not to mention the good looks...just hope the attitude dosn't pass along!

Can't wait to see what the young look like out of the younger roo. Pics will be expected!! ;D

[woodyz]

We lucked out on the baby duck colors they have some unique coloring. It is also weird how the black base colors are all males and the chocolate base are all hens.

Have to see how the ones she is hatching now color out.

[woodyz]

Here is the gray hen, we have her penned with the brown and white rooster. But we decided to day to get a weeks worth of eggs from the white then swap the roosters out. See what we get from each.

You can look in this post at the first pick of the black and white and then at the second pic you can see he is thinner and his colors don't shine as bright. But he is going to be OK.

[Deleted]

She is PRETTY!!! What is she...a silver laced Brahma?

I love coloring like that on chickens! Have you ever seen the golden campines? Very pretty birds as well.

[thywar]

I have zero knowledge about chickens.. (well okay, a lot of things) but that is a great looking bird

[woodyz]

There a Cockerel mix, who knows at this point.