Wasn't expecting to see #fox tracks in the #farm but natural as we've seen wild #roosters and #hens. Their claws are super short compared to those of dogs so you could barely the imprints (of the claws) on the sand.
I was cleaning the equine paddock when Raul came by to re-nail a deck facing board that’s Too High for my fear of heights. I gave him and Daniel a wave and went back to scooping poop.
A few minutes later, Bey started crowing. I giggled a bit, because any time a rooster has to run from a threat that turns out to be not so scary, he’s gotta crow nonstop for a couple of minutes to get his courage back up. But Bey just kept going, monotonously, so I went to see what was up.
He was yelling for me, y’all, because Presley and the young hens had wandered far too close to the woods for his comfort! They’d run from the commotion in the fenced garden into the fenced terraced area, but the younger ones were scratching around down at the equine end of things, only fifty feet and one five foot fence from the coyote’s woods. Beyoncé knew! He’s seen coyotes trot out of the woods and eat straying hens several times in his life. So I went and got some grain and bug treats and herded the foolish ones back over toward Bey, waiting nervously at the coop.
(The two oldest hens, Mafia and Mary, didn’t even bother to run from the ladder and the hammering, they’d just retreated under a bush to wait it out 😂) #chickens#roosters
Beyoncé is the most testosterone-poisoned creature I’ve ever had a working relationship with, bless his heart.
Bey has exactly four classifications of Other Creatures in his head: hens to mate with, other roosters to fight, threats to fight or flee from, and … me. I’m very confusing to him. Sometimes I’m a threat, but usually I help him watch out for threats. I’m not a hen, but his hens love me and all run to see me.
Lately, he’s realized that I toss out the grain food, but I only feed the really good mealworms from my hand. So he’s been learning to eat from my hand, and it’s very funny to watch. He has no chill and he’s inclined to peck the other hens in the head before he pecks my gloved hand as hard as possible, but once he realizes that nobody is gonna fight him, he’ll settle down and eat.
He’s got a big attack radius, and I’m usually really careful about not setting him off. If I have to walk between him and his hens, I move really slowly and keep an eye on him. If I want to offer him a treat, I’ll approach with my hand out, then stop and wait for him to invite me in. He’ll pick up and drop a twig a few times to let me know he’s willing to see what I’ve got, and then I go into his space.
But this morning Zelda just wanted to eat some breakfast, and Presley snagged her on the way out of the coop. She’s at least as big as him and he’d missed the neck, so she was just dragging him toward the food, squawking up a storm, while he held onto her back feathers. I went storming over and Presley gave up. Zelda made a break for the food right as two pounds of fury bounced off my calf. Big shout-out to my French terry sweatpants for keeping my skin unscratched! I turned around and poked Bey with the feed scoop until he stopped, then gave him another lil handful of bugs as a peace offering. My bad, little friend.
Roosters have these very hard-wired rules, you see. They look at the sky way more often than hens do. They share food, but only with hens. They’re always down to fuck. And it’s always acceptable to come out of nowhere and wrecking ball another rooster off of the hen he’s trying to mate with. I’d wrecking balled Pres, but Beyoncé is the top rooster. Just like an alpha werewolf in a tropey urban fantasy, Bey then had to beat me to prove he was still the leader. Yeah yeah, you attac, you protec.
I love the way Bey’s brain visibly record-scratches when I switch roles in front of him. When I interrupted Presley’s assault, I’d become a target! But when I turned back around and shoved the feed scoop between my leg and him (it’s a 3 quart scoop, about as big as he is, strongly associated with good food) he went kinda blank and then let me retreat. I got some bugs and offered them to him, and he let me come feed him again. I’m very confusing to him. #chickens#roosters
Ended up needing to trim the rest almost all of Fricassee's primary flight feathers. He still has a good bit left on those feathers (I did not cut all of the way to the coverts), but each time I made a gradual adjustment he still got out.
It took him longer to get out, but he still got out. Each time I'd then trim a couple of more primary flight feathers.
But today he stayed in all day, so hopefully I can call it good for now and give him a lot of corn as an apology.
Clipped Fricassee's wings today. He was very displeased with me. Three primary flight feathers, shortened to about an inch longer than the coverts, outside-in, symmetrical. This is pretty minimalist, but should hopefully help keep him put. If it doesn't then I'll add more feathers.
Coq au Vin kept attacking my shoe while I held Fricassee and was trying to "help." I think trying to help Fricassee rather than me, however, but with about the same degree of effectiveness.
So here my goal is to keep him contained, but not remove his ability to manuever within the run area. He's a big bird (I have doubts on his "bantam" status, I need to weigh him) and the dominant rooster in that group, so I'm not too worried about him.
The other four #roosters are all fully flighted and I'm not going to change that unless something goes sideways. Coq au Vin, Gumbo, and Chili stay put, Napoleon needs to be able to escape and so I don't want to limit his lift or only barely so.
Need to find a good solution to let Napoleon get height above the others. They harass him too much and it stresses him out when he's out together with them.
But he likes high places and the other three are between ambivalent about high places to "I'm not sure they could get up there even if they wanted to," so I'm hoping I can get this to work with some high bars.
Need to figure out how to get the #roosters to stay put.
Two of them in particular keep migrating to the other run. They don't have line of sight with the run, but they know where it is and they track there and they WILL NOT BE CONTAINED.
The electric wire is not even a nuisance to them. They mostly just ignore it or use it as an excuse to move faster onto the side of the fence that lets them migrate over to where the hens are.
Also I should take a dremel to their spurs this weekend >_>
Presley is getting his full adult plumage and he’s such a stunner. Just like I hoped, that one white feather from when I got him has blossomed into two or three, and his hackles are beautifully orange.
This was taken moments before short king Beyoncé lunged at him and he ran away in a panic. Game does not approve of new, younger, larger game! #chickens#roosters#cockerels
In #Singapore, very loud #roosters, strategically dispersed across the island and stationed on trees outside apartment windows, are tasked with a single mission — To ensure that locals get up bright and early every morning so they can lead #productive lives.
Me, idly: "I think I prefer the chickenality of #roosters to #hens overall. I've got some great hens, but roosters have a lot to commend them. "
Universe: "Oh you said you like roosters…"
So in our batch of 8 #chickens we had 4 roosters ¯_(ツ)_/¯
They are all sweet animals (I won't tolerate a mean rooster, the closest is Gumbo, and he's 1. all of 3 pounds 2. not actually bad about it, just fiercely protective of his hens 3. predator-proofing ).
Back atcha'! #Chickens & #roosters painted on salvaged sash windows. Artist: Mary DeWitt. Mary's work and paintings of women incarcerated in Pennsylvania, sentenced to life without parole, is incredible.
Recently, my partner @Kaylee's friend bought me a custom made shark plushie, which is unicorn-themed with a small #rooster plushie on its fin! (Since Kaylee's a #shark 🦈, I'm a #unicorn 🦄 and #roosters are amazing! 🐓)
Since then, my #cat Tommy has been fascinated by it. 😂 He's probably quite confused!
Not only am I a sucker for friends’ old hens, I’m also a sucker for a free roo. We, he was $10 - around here, people charge a small rehoming fee for roosters they’re hoping will remain pets and not get stewed. But he’s got a fierce topknot and a pheasant tail, and he’s very friendly and tame. He’s just started crowing. We named him Presley, for the pompadour, and set up a small crate for him to sleep in until he finds his place in the flock.
And today “he” laid an egg when he was in the crate for a few hours. We’ve got an intersex chicken! A henster, if you will. Or even - a cocken! #chickens#roosters#cocken#henster
It looks like 2 of the bantams are #roosters. The houdan (Coq au Vin) is not really acting… at all rooster like and is kind of derpy. I'm not overly worried about him.
The Begian d'uccle is another matter. He's getting a bit aggressive toward one of the hens (who outweighs him by a factor of 8, but that aside). Need to spend some time with him and see if that persists or if he will settle out a bit over time.
Gumbo/Bawkley for his part doesn't seem to mind either of them.
Seeking to help #rehome these 2 young & healthy #roosters because I don't want them to be euthanized if it's avoidable. The owners can't keep roos where they live. If you're in #VictoriaBC#Saanich#Metchosin#Sooke or anywhere on South #VancouverIsland / #vanisle & can adopt one or both - please let me know asap & boost if you're in these areas to help find new homes for these wonderful #chickens