You may remember that tomorrow is the day for our hen June to begin hatching the second clutch of eggs. She has stayed devoutly on the nest and all appeared to be going well. In the MUSIC MAN there was a song, "Trouble, trouble, trouble right here in River City". Well, I guess we could say trouble in our "lake city" hen house.
The rowdy roosters have been misbehaving. We barely have enough hens to go around for these four big guys. Not only have they injured some of the hens, it seems they have been running June off the nest at this crucial time. They somehow manage to pry her off the nest, have their way with her and then try to prevent her from returning to the nest. I became aware of her plight last night and intervened on her behalf but it might be too little too late.
June has been setting on nests for over 44 days and if this time does not go well, I will have to prevent her from trying again for quite a while. Oh how sad it will be if she doesn't get any chicks this time.
Meanwhile to regain control of my flock I must either get quite a few more hens or get rid of a couple of my roosters. They are beautiful boys but very badly behaved.
How can I decide who must go?
Rooster Chicklet,
Rooster Bonnie,
Rooster King Kong,
or
Rooster Jack Bauer, Jr.?
Men!
ReplyDeletecube -- Ain't it the truth!
ReplyDeleteHmm typical men always spoiling. Good to know that life imitates the hen house!! LOL
ReplyDeleteJune must be quite the babe! I'm kind of partial to Jack Bauer, Jr., because of his name, so not him. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are going to a lot of work there. sandie
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how to take this. Laugh or commiserate? Lol. What a dilemma!
ReplyDeleteBrown English Muffin -- You are so right. These poor girls do all the work around here and the boys just strut around barely ruffling their feather.
ReplyDeleteLynn -- June is pretty cute, but so are the other girls that are available. I'm partial to all of my roosters. Am hoping to find more hens.
Chatty Crone -- Sandie, poor June is doing all the work.
gigihawaii -- I feel exactly the same.
ReplyDeleteToo many cocks spoil the broth...or something like that, right?
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that you have not one, but four roosters. Seems like one would be more than enough! But I'm not gonna say who it is.
Kerry -- We had one rooster, Chicklet. Then Mr. Gibson, my broody hen descended from Elenore hen, hatched several chicks and two were roosters, Bonnie and Clyde. (I thought Bonnie was a hen...oops.) Clyde was killed protecting the flock so I was left with Bonnie. Then Mr. Gibson hatched another clutch of hens and we had a rooster King Kong and a rooster Jack Bauer, Jr. I get attached to them and know I should take them to the poultry swap meet but can't bear to let them go. Sorry if that was TMI. Basically the first sentence of your comment summed it up. lol
ReplyDeleteMy husband says that the roosters don't have to go at all. May be add a couple of hens instead of getting rid of your roosters. My husband says that hens usually go on surrounding the roosters and feels bad that we don't live close enough to adopt yours. He had done a very close study of hens and roosters. He loves roosters and the names you have given are adorable.
ReplyDeleteomg Munir, you're encouraging her! haha! I love it:
ReplyDelete..."And kids, that's how Granny Annie ended up with the world's largest Chicken Farm and Poultry Retirement Center..."
I don't envy you, your predicament, Annie. I have no clue what the best choices are...wish I could help.
ReplyDeleteIt is always sex. LIfe could be so much simpler without that survival drive that exists in all of us! Well, it may depend on how much room you have whether to add or subtract. I know about birds, but never knew this about chickens and should have known.
ReplyDeleteMen!
ReplyDeleteOh, I didn't see that someone else made that comment...can't cluck with them, can't cluck without them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kerry above....I think you are going to end up with one big chicken farm.
ReplyDeleteI hope the chicks hatch.
4 cocks under one roof is way too many.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your roosters are bullies. Is rooster soup the same as chicken soup??? I've never heard of a poultry swap meet...probably cause I'm a city girl. :)
ReplyDeleteMunir -- Everything I can read about free range chickens states that too many roosters should not be a problem. I think your husband is right though about adding to the hens. I know I cannot get rid of my beautiful boy.
ReplyDeleteKerry -- There you have the "rest of the story". Actually there is a rooster retirement barn in Kansas and we took Boss Hog there when he became too mean and was attacking the grandchildren.
Talon -- You could help if you wanted to make a hope for a couple of roosters:)
Tabor -- Yes, everything seem to be about sex. I'm learning more every day about raising chickens and have been at this 12 years. I don't even need roosters to get eggs from the hens but I like the eggs fertilized in case we want chicks but I will probably give up on that now.
Riot Kitty -- Yep, Cube made that comment the first thing. lol
Jeanie -- I just came in from checking on June. She is on the nest but no activity yet.
Cliff -- That is for sure. Or as Kerry said, "Too many cocks spoil the broth....."
Pat MacKenzie -- They are all "chickens" only the boy chickens are roosters and the girl chickens are hens. Supposedly young roosters make the best chicken stew. I won't be finding that out. Could not harm my guys. I was a city girl too and believe me I never saw the day coming that I would be caring for all these critters in the country.
Poor June, well that would explain what's going on with the eggs- n if they'd hatch, you'd get free new hens in a few weeks which would be ideal...
ReplyDeleteI'm also partial to Jack Jr because of his pretty, celebrity daddy. I'm crossing fingers for chicks!
Snaggle Tooth -- It will take a little longer than a few weeks for the chicks to become part of the harem but eventually that would work...unless they are all BOYS! June is holding tight to the clutch of eggs right now and maybe something good will happen.
ReplyDelete