Any other farmers/homesteaders out there

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by AreYouReady?

So D4T, what would be the moral of these stories that humans can take a lesson from?

Speaking from an old female's point of view, I would say although the females can try to get their punches in, it is still a man's world.

What say the males?

Well I don't see many lessons for us in there since the story revolves around women openly attacking every male that dares enter their lives and ends with kicking, screaming, spurring and I am sure some blood was shed.

Neither the problem nor the solution appear to be lesson worthy.

[AreYouReady?]

Originally Posted by Digging4Truth

Well I don't see many lessons for us in there since the story revolves around women openly attacking every male that dares enter their lives and ends with kicking, screaming, spurring and I am sure some blood was shed.

Neither the problem nor the solution appear to be lesson worthy.

But...every rooster she put in the henhouse got killed...right? That is until Foghorn Leghorn's superior cousin got put in there.

Surely you can think of some lesson or maybe "moral of the story" from these crazy hens?

[AreYouReady?]

But anyhow, both my son and I had a real good laugh over your story. Anybody who has ever had chickens would think this to be hilarious.

Chickens have personality!

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by AreYouReady?

But anyhow, both my son and I had a real good laugh over your story. Anybody who has ever had chickens would think this to be hilarious.

Chickens have personality!

They really do. It is amazing how much each chickens' personality differs from the other. And some will run up to you when you're on the swing and want to sit in your lap while others will think they're being tortured if you held them for a few minutes.

Some hens will follow the roo so faithfully everywhere he goes while others constantly have to be forcibly kept with the flock. Some are brilliant and can amaze you with their reasoning skills while others are as dumb as a rock. LOL...

It's just like we humans isn't it?

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by AreYouReady?

But...every rooster she put in the henhouse got killed...right? That is until Foghorn Leghorn's superior cousin got put in there.

Surely you can think of some lesson or maybe "moral of the story" from these crazy hens?

Probably more than we'd want to admit...

The lady said that they would jump the roo's 4 & 5 at a time and they kept killing the roos she put in there. She had quite a few hens. I'm not sure if the the problem was wimpy roos are crazy hens. It was probably a mixture of the two. She may have been putting young roos in there. But she got what she needed to remedy the problem.

[Titus2woman]

They definitely have personalities.

Since we sell hatching eggs from rare breed chickens we have to maintain separate flocks. A good rooster is a flock manager. He will keep the hens together when they are out free ranging (our groups take turns to prevent crossbreeding) and will make sure that the hens return as a group to the coops when their time is up. My roos also break up fights between the hens keeping pecking to a minimum. Each night it is the roos that make sure that all the chickens are roosting before they go in to roost themselves.

Of course I raise heritage breeds that have always lived more natural lives... I also have been culling any mean roos for decades. Some of the chickens that have been bred for confinement operations are very flighty and more than a little nuts.

[Digging4Truth]

Speaking of hens... I've got about 9 hens and last year I lost a few to a racoon that found his way into the hen house.

They stopped laying but I didn't sweat it... I figured it was the stress.

But... it's been months now and I get one egg a day SOME days. But mostly I get nothing on very consistent basis.

The breeds are...

(1) Black Star
(3) RIR
(5) White Plymouth Rock

Any thoughts?

The Plymouth Rocks are just getting laying age. I bought them after the racoon incident. They were supposed to be just about ready to lay but it's been months now.

The Black Star & RIR hens are about 3 years old.

[TJJJ]

Originally Posted by Digging4Truth

Speaking of hens... I've got about 9 hens and last year I lost a few to a racoon that found his way into the hen house.

They stopped laying but I didn't sweat it... I figured it was the stress.

But... it's been months now and I get one egg a day SOME days. But mostly I get nothing on very consistent basis.

The breeds are...

(1) Black Star
(3) RIR
(5) White Plymouth Rock

Any thoughts?

The Plymouth Rocks are just getting laying age. I bought them after the racoon incident. They were supposed to be just about ready to lay but it's been months now.

The Black Star & RIR hens are about 3 years old.

How about you lighting situation? Sometimes shorter days will alter the laying. A

Also Temp. Too cold will make them stop for a while.

Check the protein also.

Improve those and see what happens.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by TJJJ

How about you lighting situation? Sometimes shorter days will alter the laying. A

Also Temp. Too cold will make them stop for a while.

Check the protein also.

Improve those and see what happens.

When that happens around here I feed a really good quality cat food for a few days (or raw meat) and hang a drop light in the coop. I don't like using artificial light all the time but to kick in some laying I'll do it. The only exception is that I will not push them during a molt. Their bodies are so busy replacing all those feathers they just don't have anything left over.

[AreYouReady?]

I remember just as my son was getting ready to go off to college, he had about 6 hens he needed to get rid of. We took about 3 of them to a family with 6 children and a father suffering from cancer.

The father had a rooster that just appeared on their premises one day while he was recuperating from the surgery. He petted and talked to that rooster and the two of them became famously attached. That rooster became the 'watchdog" of the premises, attacking and spurring people while the dog slept. LOL.

Someone gave them 2 hens and the roo and those two hens had 2 rooster offspring. The roo really ruled his small little roost. None of the other chickens were allowed to eat until after the roo ate all he wanted. When he walked away, the rooster offspring could then eat.

So..when we brought them 3 hens, that rooster stretched his neck ...it seemed like 2 feet... to get a better look at what we brought in the cages. He just stopped what he was doing and ran over to the cages to get a better look at what we were letting out. When he saw that they were more hens, he just strutted around and clucked and crowed. It was so funny.