Just A Chicken Post

It has been awhile since I did a chicken post. I lost so many hens this summer due to the heat. Then I had that one fall into the pool and drown. So I guess I have just been sad about my chickens. If not for the wedding coming up I would be planning on getting a whole new flock of laying hens. I have to put it off because I don't think I could do both. Chicks and Wedding.

My whole experiment with roosters has been quite interesting. I have two now, a black one and a white one. The White one was the dominate rooster but there must have been a rooster fight so now the black one is the boss. They are both kind roosters and only a little pompous. The white one only threatens to take on Sasha and hasn't pecked her yet, but I know this spring, there will be some problems. I have until spring I think to decide which one I will keep.

I had all of the silkies in one pen and the big hens in the other one. My oldest silkie was in there with the roosters. Well, having two young roosters and one old hen, ( the other silkie hens must have been off limits because they left them alone.) I don't know if roosters would kill a hen but I was afraid that they would kill her. Because they are smaller than my big hens I put them in the big coop. The big hens just do this look and raise their neck feathers when the guys get a bit frisky and they run for their lives.

Before my oldest daughter got married, she was the chicken wrangler. I didn't have much to do with them. Then she got married and I started taking care of her chickens. She had these 3 old hens that I called the Witches of Eastwick. They were the meanest old biddies you ever saw. When I got my first batch of chickens they taught them such bad habits. Like pecking the fire out of someone if they didn't move fast enough. Only one is left out of that original bunch. But they always slept on the best perch and wouldn't allow the other hens to get anywhere near them to sleep at night so they have hogged up the perches for years.

The other night I wanted to see what the sleeping arrangements were since the roosters had been moved. I took my flashlight and went down to the coop and I just laughed at what I saw. Scrunched over against the wall was the old hen and on the top perch was the black and the white roosters. They have no patience for pecking order. They just muscle themselves in and make themselves at home. I could see them holding the remote for the TV if there was one. I notice that they keep all of the pecking and fighting down to a minimum in the big coop.

  I can tell my life is too busy when I haven't spent enough time just hanging out with the chickens. I need to try and make some time to just sit and watch them. They always help my mind to rest. I do enjoy holding the roosters though. They make such thankful sounds. Little peeps like when they were chicks.

I hope you have a nice Wednesday. I hope your week is nice.

Thanks for stopping by today,
~Kim~