Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Rooster Choos'n

The chicken yard has been in quite an uproar since the "good" rooster was injured and put into the recovery pen.  There's nobody to keep the seven juvenile (and extremely horny) roosters in line.  They were really running the younger hens and two timid older hens ragged.  Most of the older hens won't put up with their shenanigans and give them a good what-for.  Hehe.  I said "Shenanigans".

Since I cleaned out the kidding pen in anticipation of Nettie's due date in three weeks, I've been having to hand deliver almost all of the nineteen juvenile chickens from the kidding pen to the chicken roosts each and every night.  It's getting pretty old.  That, and the fact that two of the roosters will try to peck my eyes out when I grab them doesn't make for a pleasant evening.  There are four multi-colored roosters and three Barred Rock looking roosters.  The colorful ones are the meanest.  Of course the flashiest of them is the pecker-head that will manage to give me a bite hard enough to draw blood.  He's the first rooster going into the stock pot.

In order to weed out which two roosters I was going to keep, I figured that I would let two of them run with the flock for a day or so to see how they treated the hens.  The others would have to be penned up.  So I finally got around to making a rooster bachelor pen.  Cleaned out the junk that had accumulated in the dog kennel / chicken tractor, put a little hut in there (bottom part of a junk find doghouse, flipped over) a cinder block and a perch, food and water bowls.  All was ready for the roosters.  Now I just had one more night of rooster wrangling to get them into their new abode.

When I went into the kidding pen to gather the birds, there were only four roosters in there and it didn't include the soup-pot rooster.  I managed to get them without
 them drawing blood much incident then went looking for the other three roosters.  The rogue three and several of the younger hens were already in the chicken coop......what good chickens!  Except one of those "good chickens" was the pecker-headed rooster.  I yanked him out and threw him placed him in the pen with the other four roosters.
And this morning has been relatively calm.   Of course there are still two roosters chasing hens around the yard, but it's not a chicken-gang-bang anymore.  The roosters in the bachelor pen seem pretty ticked.  I'd say I feel sorry for them, but I'd be lying.

13 comments:

  1. Ok, that all sounds like a pain in the @$$! I was hoping for a sick-and-beat-up rooster update, but really, the mental images I got from reading this were way better! Pecker Headed Shenanigans... Hahahaha!!!

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    1. Trust me; pecker-head is a relatively mild word around here.

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  2. Dang, what an ordeal! I'm glad I only have two roosters and the fella that took my older Barred Rock hens has already said he wants one!

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    1. Excess roosters are the bane of any chicken-keeping establishment! If I weren't soooooo lazy, they'd be in the pot already, but we've got somebody that wants them so I'm fine with that.

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  3. I hear chicken noodles in your future. lol

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    1. Having oodles of trouble posting a comment. Hope this goes through correctly.

      I just love the way you write! chicken "shenanigans", pecker-head rooster (can we say that on a G-rated blog?), rooster bachelor pen, rooster wrangling, chicken gang bang . . . you make me laugh with every post. Keep it up!

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    2. SFG, Noodles, and dumplings, and soup, and enchiladas.....

      Mama Pea, that's as "G" rated as I get here! You guys should hear me cussing when I get bit!

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  4. Remember be sure to keep l rooster for every 8-10 hens to be assured of fertile eggs.

    My rooster is getting so old but he is still up to 'shenanigans' now and then but he is so gentle I hate to try any more roosters.I love being able to walk into the yard or chicken house and don't even have to watch him!

    I need more rooster power but think I will try to find a rooster like these new black sex links. They are the tamest hens we have ever had.

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    1. We've got 24 (or is it 26) hens, so figure we'll keep 2 or 3 new ones and hopefully the older one will make it.

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  5. LOL, You said "SHENANIGANIS! Sounds more like "HEnanagains!
    I have always though that I will not have an aggresive animal on the place! Sounds like Chicken stock will be part of one of your days in the not to distant future!?
    By the way, check out the comments over at e-i-e-i-omg, I left one for you!

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  6. I despise aggressive animals, and they usually end up meeting THEIR end soon enough. Mean? Maybe. But that's just how it has to be around here, especially with Rhiannon around now.

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  7. Freezer camp for the pecker head! Hopefully everything will go better now and I hope your injured boy is will get well. You know you're a homesteader when you send a get well wish to a rooster. lol

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  8. I'm tired just reading about these poultry adventures!

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