A rooster named Stew.
Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:06 pm
:flight attendend:
I call my bantams Easter eggers because they lay green eggs but I actually bought them because they seem to have a lot of OEG or some similar breed, independent, bright and alert, the green eggs were just a bonus that I wasn't expecting. Yesterday I discovered some of that intelligence at work, but unfortunately in a bad way. There are four roosters, the boss who is about nine months now and his three younger brothers who are four months. The older rooster keeps them on their toes, the rule is, no bothering the hens, other than that, he doesn't really touch them. Even though the boss is really gentle with his ladies, I suddenly noticed a lot of damaged feathers and bleeding combs on the hens. Also some eggs being laid on the floor and some being laid after the hens are roosting for the night, causing eggs to smash down onto the floor.
I discovered why, one of the younger roosters figured out if he watched for a hen going to lay, he could jump into the nest and breed her without the dominant rooster knowing what was happening. Clever in one way but unfortunately for him he is one of those roosters that wants to dominate by being aggressive towards the hens. That is the number one rule I have towards a rooster and his chances of staying or not. I watched him for a while and he was obsessive about breeding the hens, constantly attacking them none stop while they were trying to lay. I suddenly realized why their feathers were being damaged, combs bitten up and why some started laying on the floor. He was even stalking them in a way as to frighten them. I will name him Stew, I caught him and put him in a carrier, I guess I will have to butcher him in the basement since it's too cold outside. I don't want to wait since it's so cold, my main goal is to keep the girls happy and they don't need extra stress. The main reason the dominant rooster was kept besides the fact he is pretty like a Welsummer in colour, was that he is a total gentlemen with the ladies, they chose him so I figured the girls knew best. He was kind to the hens but would clobber any rivals and protected the hens from other roosters, so another bonus, not a wimp.
:big chicken:
I call my bantams Easter eggers because they lay green eggs but I actually bought them because they seem to have a lot of OEG or some similar breed, independent, bright and alert, the green eggs were just a bonus that I wasn't expecting. Yesterday I discovered some of that intelligence at work, but unfortunately in a bad way. There are four roosters, the boss who is about nine months now and his three younger brothers who are four months. The older rooster keeps them on their toes, the rule is, no bothering the hens, other than that, he doesn't really touch them. Even though the boss is really gentle with his ladies, I suddenly noticed a lot of damaged feathers and bleeding combs on the hens. Also some eggs being laid on the floor and some being laid after the hens are roosting for the night, causing eggs to smash down onto the floor.
I discovered why, one of the younger roosters figured out if he watched for a hen going to lay, he could jump into the nest and breed her without the dominant rooster knowing what was happening. Clever in one way but unfortunately for him he is one of those roosters that wants to dominate by being aggressive towards the hens. That is the number one rule I have towards a rooster and his chances of staying or not. I watched him for a while and he was obsessive about breeding the hens, constantly attacking them none stop while they were trying to lay. I suddenly realized why their feathers were being damaged, combs bitten up and why some started laying on the floor. He was even stalking them in a way as to frighten them. I will name him Stew, I caught him and put him in a carrier, I guess I will have to butcher him in the basement since it's too cold outside. I don't want to wait since it's so cold, my main goal is to keep the girls happy and they don't need extra stress. The main reason the dominant rooster was kept besides the fact he is pretty like a Welsummer in colour, was that he is a total gentlemen with the ladies, they chose him so I figured the girls knew best. He was kind to the hens but would clobber any rivals and protected the hens from other roosters, so another bonus, not a wimp.
:big chicken:
