Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Impending Hatching

Out of the thirty-eight eggs I put in the incubator nearly three weeks ago, only twenty-six were fertile.  Not only was it a bummer, but an even bigger bummer as most of the infertile ones were from my chickens (I got a dozen from one of Paul's coworkers).   And of those that were duds, half were from either my Ameraucana (Easter Egger) or Australorp who lays moster-sized eggs.  I guess they have been pretty successful at avoiding the rooster.

There are also four banty eggs (from the other farm) in there.  Banties are really cute, but they don't seem to last long around here.  Christine's Silkies are an exception, but I wonder how long they will last once I kick them out of the barn again.

The last set of banties I raised, three hens and one rooster, went to our neighbors last year. The hens ended up kicking the bucket earlier this summer (they think from the heat) but the rooster is still around.  Stud Muffin (what they named him) is the only rooster with their Rhode Island Reds and he is quite the pecker-head.  He is actually the reason I gave the banties away.  He was such a prick.  Any time I went into their pen, he'd attack me.  And it wasn't like I didn't give him a good what-for when he did, but he just kept on charging me. 

Our neighbors claim that he still attacks them, even charging their car and waiting until they exit the vehicle to attack them.  They also admit to kicking him like a football across the lawn.  But he still doesn't get it.  I also believe she said that there was an incident involving Stud Muffin and a tennis racket. 

We recently chicken-sitted for the neighbors and I had almost forgotton about Stud Muffin.  That is until I heard the rushing pitter-patter of chicken feet on concrete directly behind me, turned around and saw him about to do that flappy-wimg-spur-thing. 

Touchdown!!

10 comments:

  1. Laughing...Oh God the visuals will stay with me all day. Thanks for the laugh. (City people live such a boring life compared to you...&;)

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  2. I have only had this year with my chickens and one rooster who cant see you from a mile away, so never had to deal with this. The inexperienced person here cringing at the thought of a mean rooster. That said, all I can do it 'read' about these things. So I do. I 'read' in MEN if you have a mean one to stand down to it and then toss it some food so it associates you with good things and not to be aggressive with it. Now I admit, I wouldn't want to play anything other than um alpha chicken (?) with it so I filed this away in my head should I need it. Are you telling me that was hogwash? Really, I don't know! Instinct would tell me to kick and run. Especially if the little pecker got me. What do you think? Ms Goat Wrestler and Rooster Rocketer? hehehee

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  3. Ha! Love it! We've had our share of roos here, some nice, some down right evil. Some understand the football launch, some don't. Those who don't usually end up being the meal at the actual football game. :)

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  4. tami, not sure if "non-boring" is always good. At least city folk don't have chicken poop on their shoes all the time.

    APG, I used to go out of my way to be nice to the roosters if they were going to stay here, but after a while I realized that some are nice, some are bad and some are just frekking jerks. And if there is a jerk, he'll take any advantage to spur you, so I'd suggest the soup pot asap. It's not fun, nor practical to carry a broom with you every time you have to go into the barn.

    MT, nothing better than rooster soup!

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  5. Touch down! OMG, I am still laughing. I had a nasty rooster once - he would lurk, waiting for me to let my guard down. I had to feed the hens with one hand and hold a metal trash can lid as a shield with the other. The day he launched himself, spurs first through the nesting boxes, was his last on the farm. I stuffed his sorry ass in a box (with holes, I'll add), tied it up, wrote "MEAN Rooster" on it and dropped it off at the auction. A week later I got a check for $30!! Turns out he was a heritage rooster. A MEAN heritage rooster. I don't stand for alpha anythings but me.

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  6. I have had two of those gawd awful roosters, no three counting the banty! The one we have now has spurs 3 inches long and he has never ever shown any aggression toward us so I hate to get rid of him. Unfortunately, I think he may not be fertile. I have given up on the girls hatching any eggs. Can they get too old?

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  7. I was talking to a friend today, told her about your post and she laughed and said her mom always put the bantie roosters in the soup pot first! Little man syndrome...

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  8. LOL! I know the feeling, except here we play golf with our evil, psychotic rooster.Our defensive weapon of choice is an old leaf rake that all the tines are broken off on. Red the psychotic rooster has been thwacked many times with it, yet still insists on attacking when we feed, gather eggs, clean the coop, etc.
    We are going to keep him, though. He protects *his girls* with ferocity. I kinda like that. We know when anything that could be a threat enters the yard...day or night. Red immediately gives out an alarm! He has chased off a stray dog before, and word must have spread, because none of the neighborhood dogs will try to get in the yard since that happened!

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  9. OMG! I just could not stop laughing!!! I had to read that one a couple times because it was so good! I don't have any roosters yet (not allowed to have any here in the city) but when I do, I will be sure to arm myself with a tennis racket. Or a good pair of kicking cleats!

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  10. Susan, Thirty bucks for a mean rooster! What a score!

    gld, I would "think" that if the girls are still laying that they would be fertile (at least on their part), but I'm not sure. Rooster shooting blanks, hugh? Why is it the nice ones don't get the job done?

    APG, our neighbor also calls it "little man syndrome"! Probably true!

    Lamb, I guess you have to weigh the mean-ness factor; he's mean to you, but he's also mean to all the other nasties. As long as he's being helpful I suppose it's worth toting around a rooster-weapon.

    Tiny, Cleats! Tenderize the buggers before putting 'em in the soup pot, what a great idea!

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