I woke up yesterday and was scrolling through Facebook when I saw a friend's post with a beautiful Easter Egger/Black Sex Link mix rooster looking for a home. I had been thinking about "renting" someones rooster next spring to try to hatch my own chicks. I also recently learned that roosters actually do help protect the hens in case there's danger. We have a lot of coyotes and I had red that roosters actually tend to sacrifice themselves by putting themselves in between the hens and the predator. How heroic. The reason why I didn't really want a rooster for a long time was because they scared me. I was traumatized by one as a kid at my friends house and I just didn't want to deal with the aggression. However, starting with a younger rooster is promising. Also, I was told his father was very mellow. My chickens are now 21 weeks old, this rooster was almost 9 weeks. I was so excited to meet my rooster that I wasn't even thinking about the age difference as a big deal. Even though I did a little research and listened to the advice my friend gave me, I still think I should have done a little more research. Skip to the bottom for the full story on what went down.
Birds are weird. I knew that there was a process involved in introducing a new bird to the flock. Introducing more hens is different than introducing a rooster. I must have read 20 blogs, forums, and watched 10 videos of people introducing new birds to their existing flock. I must say, everyone does their own thing depending on the variables surrounding each farm's situation. I did read that I probably shouldn't let my rooster hang out with my hens until he's at least 14 weeks old and big enough to defend himself. At this age he will be better at establishing dominance and have a better idea of how to protect the girls. A lot of websites said to keep them quarantined from eachother for weeks to make sure that no diseases are spread. However, knowing the person who had him and reading that only 10% of bird flue cases are backyard flocks, I took my chances. Of course, I notice him sneezing a bit. This could be because of the fact that he was in a box for an hour in the car, the fact that it was really cold, or the fact that he was anxious. As a precaution, I put 5 drops of HomeoPet Feline Nose Relief (It's what I had) into the small mason jar I had containing his water.
I have 9 Barred Rocks, 3 Isa Browns, and one White Brahma. In doing my research I learned about the "pecking order" that chickens establish within each flock. I didn't know it had a name, but I did know that my alpha female was Daisy, my Brahma, second to Pastrana Chicken, Barred Rock. Both of them run the coop and have first dibs on food. They're the definition of #bosslady.
What went down:
9am I got to meet the rooster. I put him into a wire dog crate with some hay, a box, food, and water. Shortly thereafter, I opened the coop doors and let my hens out early. They were very curious and the rooster seemed uneasy. It also decided to be the first cold day of the summer at only 50 degrees F. They were so cool to watch.
11am I thought I would try to hold and pet the little rooster. I learned that the little chicken claws are actually more painful than the full size ones. I talked to him while I held him. The hens gathered around me and kept pecking at my ankles causing me to cut our meet and greet short. I put him back in the crate.
2pm I pretty much did the same thing that I did at 11am, but I gave him a couple of meal worms after I gave my hens some treats. Then I let him walk around the perch in the coop because the hens weren't around.
5:30pm I squatted next to the crate, opened the gate, and welcomed the hens to check him out. The poor rooster freaked out because two hens entered and he bolted out of the crate flapping his wings. He was practically attacked by 2 of my Isa Browns who were more aggressive than I have ever seen. Thankfully I was able to corner him and grab him relatively quickly and bring him back to the crate. It pained me because the poor bird just wants to be free. Ok, I thought to myself, what have I gotten myself into? It was at this time that I felt a lump on the front of his chest that I hadn't ever noticed on my other chicks. I looked it up and I think that I just felt his crop. Really hoping that's what it was.
6:30pm Let's try introductions again. I opened the crate just a little and let one of my friendly Barred Rocks enter. The rooster again, became uneasy and started bolting around the small area in the crate. The Barred Rock was more focused on eating the starter food than the rooster himself. I removed the food, closed the door to the crate with the two of them in it and observed. They stared eachother down for a bit, and the rooster got nervous and retreated to his box as an attempt to hide. This actually trapped him giving him no way to escape. The Barred Rock wanted to check out the box and of course, she pecked him. He freaked out, then she freaked out, then I removed her and decided to give him a break.
7pm The sun was no longer hitting his crate and it was getting windy so I moved him in the crate, into the coop, with the rooster in it. This is big because he was now in the hen's house. All the hens surrounded him, my Brahma paced on the side of the crate aggressively. The Isa Browns tried pecking him from the outside of the crate. The Barred Rocks really seemed to be the most civil about the entire ordeal. Except for Gerty. I swear she was trying to eat me today. She was once the favorite. I waited for the hens to settle down and I cracked open the gate on his crate to pet him and hold him and talk to him. I didn't hold him long as he was pretty wrestless, but when I set him down in his crate, I gently pet him and for the first time, it seemed like he trusted me. I put my finger under his beak and lifted his head which seemed to mesmerize him. I continued petting him on his wing and his neck while talking to him.
8pm All the hens were in the coop, on their perch, waiting for me as usual. The rooster was actually ontop of his box in the crate looking pretty comfortable. Someone said to try putting him on the perch while it was dark as the chickens would be less aggressive. However, I just didn't feel great about doing that especially after the scary moments during the afternoon.
9pm I'm typing this post and just hoping that I don't have to keep him in the crate long, but coming to the realization that he might need to be separated from the hens for a few weeks in that crate so he can get bigger. I'm actually wondering if after 11am tomorrow, when the hens are done laying, I just let him hang out in the coop during the day.
Side note, I came inside that afternoon digging through the cabinet for lunch and came across "Shake n Bake" and the name for the rooster just came to me. Ricky Bobby.
No comments:
Post a Comment