When we got the chickens last year they came with a rooster. They were all Jersey Giants. The rooster was never very thrifty, he was an older bird, and never seemed to be able to get the job done and give me little baby chicks. He wasn't here too long before he started getting skinny, and one morning he just wasn't here any more. I let my chickens free range during the day, and I'm not sure if a hawk picked him off or where he went. I never found any traces of him.
Winter came on and with the shortening of the daylight hours the girls' egg production came to a halt. We thought about putting a light in the coop, but the girls decided to molt and would be putting feather production before egg production, so we just let them rest through the winter. I wanted to replace the rooster before then, but we never got around to it, and with the girls not laying it wasn't something I was worried about it.
In talking with my neighbor, and admiring her chickens (mine are all boring black) she told me how she had split a chick order with a friend of hers, and had gotten 10 little Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets. She was pretty sure one of them was turning out to be a rooster. She didn't want another rooster. She had little bantam chickens and one of them was already a rooster. A big rooster would harass the little girls until he might crush or kill one. She asked me if I might be interested in her rooster. Absolutely.
This morning when she went out to feed, she locked up the rooster, and this afternoon she loaded him into a crate and brought him over to me. What a handsome man he is. He settled in to eating pretty quick and within the first 15 minuets of being in with the girls he was trying to get down to business. I'm hoping with loading him into a crate, and driving him over instead of handing him off over the fence line I won't have to worry about him wanting to go back where he came from. I'll keep him locked up with the girls for a week and see what happens.
In other chicken news, the girls all finally decided that they were going to use the condo as a roost again, and all five of them slept in the top where they belonged for the last two days. I would have between 1 and 3 of them go up the ramp and sleep in the top at night. I still had one hold out that wanted to jump in the rabbit hutch for the night. After many many evenings of gathering everyone up and placing them in the top of the condo, we finally got it all right.
Here's the new rooster.
.jpg)
Winter came on and with the shortening of the daylight hours the girls' egg production came to a halt. We thought about putting a light in the coop, but the girls decided to molt and would be putting feather production before egg production, so we just let them rest through the winter. I wanted to replace the rooster before then, but we never got around to it, and with the girls not laying it wasn't something I was worried about it.
In talking with my neighbor, and admiring her chickens (mine are all boring black) she told me how she had split a chick order with a friend of hers, and had gotten 10 little Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets. She was pretty sure one of them was turning out to be a rooster. She didn't want another rooster. She had little bantam chickens and one of them was already a rooster. A big rooster would harass the little girls until he might crush or kill one. She asked me if I might be interested in her rooster. Absolutely.
This morning when she went out to feed, she locked up the rooster, and this afternoon she loaded him into a crate and brought him over to me. What a handsome man he is. He settled in to eating pretty quick and within the first 15 minuets of being in with the girls he was trying to get down to business. I'm hoping with loading him into a crate, and driving him over instead of handing him off over the fence line I won't have to worry about him wanting to go back where he came from. I'll keep him locked up with the girls for a week and see what happens.
In other chicken news, the girls all finally decided that they were going to use the condo as a roost again, and all five of them slept in the top where they belonged for the last two days. I would have between 1 and 3 of them go up the ramp and sleep in the top at night. I still had one hold out that wanted to jump in the rabbit hutch for the night. After many many evenings of gathering everyone up and placing them in the top of the condo, we finally got it all right.
Here's the new rooster.
.jpg)
That is a beautiful rooster!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful rooster! We got one this weekend from Craigslist that looks exactly like it. I have been trying to figure out exactly what kin he is. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteSuch a handsome boy! Glad your girls got a new rooster. Hope he fits in well; sounds like he is already making himself at home!
ReplyDeleteVisiting from Clever Chicks Blog Hop ;)
Tammy
ourneckofthewoods.net
That's my kind of neighbor! He's a beauty. I hope he can convince the stork to bring you some baby chicks. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week!
Cheers,
Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick
http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com