Chickens Like to Keep Things Interesting
June 8th, 2009If you’ve read this blog for any time at all, you know that I am totally in love with my chickens. They are incredibly entertaining and each has a personality of its own. I love watching my chickens and how they interact. And just when I think I have them figured out, I get thrown a curve ball or two.
In the past few weeks I’ve watched something happen within my flock that I never would have believed if I had not seen it with my own eyes. Duke has relinquished his position as alpha rooster of the flock. Bobby Lee has now taken on that role, and I must tell you I am as heartbroken as I am shocked. Duke has always been such a strong rooster and a fierce protector of his flock. He and I have gone rounds more than once, but I learned to deal with him and accepted his “cockiness” because he has always been so good to the flock and he did such a wonderful job of keeping them all in line and safe.
When there is more than one rooster in a flock, it is common for the role of alpha rooster to be passed on to the next in line as time goes on. This can occur because the alpha rooster is too old, ill, or just plain tired of the responsibility.
Duke is not too old. He is just over a year old. And he’s not really ill. He seems to be fairly healthy. Although I do know that he is quite large and has always wheezed while getting across the yard. Perhaps he just felt he no longer had it in him to be an adequate guard of the flock. Or maybe he just grew weary of the responsibility. I guess I’ll never know. What I do know is that he has relinquished his role as alpha rooster to Bobby Lee.
Duke doesn’t really seem too bothered by this event. He still has his favorite girls that hang out with him and he still sleeps on his same spot on the roost. But he now runs from Bobby Lee, who jumps on Duke when he attempts to breed. And Duke is now the last one in the coop at night, and does not go into the run in the evening until Bobby Lee has gone to roost. As much as Duke seems to accept this, I am having a hard time with it. I do not intervene, and I’ve let nature take it’s course, but it still breaks my heart. I hope Bobby Lee will live up to the title of “alpha rooster”. I think he has some big shoes to fill. Duke does have five toes, after all!
A couple of weeks ago we had a particularly nice day and opened all the windows to let the nice weather into the house. We were sitting in the living room when we heard a quite unusual crow. With four roosters now crowing, and two of them being only three months old, we occasionally hear some odd noises coming from the roosters.
“That must be Jethro or Pico” I commented to Bernie. He looked out the window and said “Uh, no. It’s one of your White Faced Black Spanish Hens. I just saw her. She’s crowing like crazy.”
I jumped up and looked out the window, and even though I did see a Black Spanish right outside the window, I also saw Pico. I was convinced Pico was the one that was crowing.
I’ve heard that hens will indeed crow, but it is usually in the absence of a rooster. I have four roosters, so I simply found it impossible to believe I had a hen crowing.
Well, see this girl here?
Yesterday we were outside painting the frame of my new outside sink when we, once again, heard that odd crow. I stepped around the garden shed and looked into the chicken yard just in time to catch that little Black Spanish hen crowing! And she did it several times. This sweet little girl
is crowing, for heaven’s sake! I feel fairly certain this event has something to do with Duke stepping down as alpha rooster and the disruption in the pecking order of the flock. Bernie now tells me he is positive he’s seen one of my Phoenix hens attempting to crow as well. Good grief. This flock has gone insane.
Speaking of the outside sink Bernie and Daddy made for me, we finished painting it. Ignore the fact that my garden shed is NOT painted, and just admire the beauty of this outside sink:
Lordy, I do love that sink.
J.P. commented on the last blog post that a broody Hamburg is rather uncommon, and requested pictures. So, just for J.P. here’s my broody Hamburg:
This happens to be the very same Hamburg that the chicken hawk attacked earlier this year. Fortunately Bernie and I saw it happening and managed to scare the hawk off before he killed her. She’s still growing feathers on her lower back area.
Here’s the broody Phoenix that is in the nest box next to the Hamburg:
You can tell by her chicken saddle, bald head, and the bare marks on her wings that she is one of the roosters’ favorites. Her chicken saddle has a picture of Piglet (from Winnie the Pooh) on it, so Bernie calls her Piglet. She’s a sweet girl and follows Bernie all over the yard, when she’s not broody.
These two broodies are penned in nest boxes because my two brooder pens have the two broodies in them that hatched out the 9 babies a little over a week ago. They’ll be going out of the brooder in about another week, which is just about the time the two newer broodies are due to hatch out their eggs - and then they’ll move into the brooders. This is what I rigged up to close off the nest boxes that have the two broodies in them:
I stapled chicken wire to one side of each box, and then just hooked the other side of it to the opposite nest box wall. It works just fine, and the girls seem to enjoy not being harassed all day by the other hens wanting those nest boxes. Once every day or two, I make sure to remove them from their nests so they can eat and drink. None of my broodies has ever been good about leaving the nest once they start setting.
These chickens like to keep things interesting on the homestead. I think they worry I might get bored with them. They leave little chance for that.
Bee Free,
Penny
Tags: alpha rooster, beta rooster, broody hamburg, hen crowing
June 9th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Thank you! That’s a great idea just to pen them in their original nest, and not making them move too early.
I’ve got to say i’m a little sad about Duke being replaced. He seemed like a good, fierce leader. And, I remember when the hawk attacked your flock, it was Duke that saved them, while the other rooster was hiding… =(
Haha, well you must be a lucky gal, your “rooster” is laying eggs!! One of my old red star hens tries to crow occasionally and her comb is much bigger then the rest of the hens. well again, thankyou very much! I enjoyed reading the different stories and seeing the pictures.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
J.P. - I really sad about Duke too. He really was a great alpha rooster. Just the other day Bernie said it will be interesting to see how Bobby Lee reacts when he is really tested - as Duke was when he attacked the hawk. It will also be interesting to see what happens when the two cockerels I have get bigger and come of age. They’ll be challenging Bobby Lee, no doubt. Like I said - never a dull moment with this flock
Do you have roosters? Has your Red Star been crowing for long?
June 9th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
What a gorgeous fellow! I love their “saddles” as well. I think one of my ladies needs one. She is a bit raggedy right now
Our King Roo was injured in the night, along with two of his ladies, but we are not sure how or who. They are locked in a fence pen at night, so who took bites out of them?!?
June 10th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Oh, I forgot about you little roos from the 1st hatch! Well, maybe Dukes son will take charge again and carry on his fathers tradition, ha.
No roosters here, becuase the mean old thing killed my favorite hen, and injured 3 of the others. She’s been “crowing” ever since he’s left the flock. It’s interesting to watch her take on the role of a rooster: she watches over the other hens and even gives her sister food once in awhile.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Hi Michelle - I wonder what got a hold of your roo and hens? Is the top of the pen covered? Or could something dig under the fence? I know I’ve heard horror stories of owls getting into pens at night and many stories of racoons and/or possums digging under fences to get at chickens. I hope yours are ok now and whatever it was will leave them alone. Oh, and will you be able to take your chickens when you move, or will you just start over with new ones in your new home? I’m very happy for you BTW - the move sounds very exciting!
J.P. I would be devastated if one of my roos actually killed one of the girls! That may just be enough to convince me to put him in the freezer. (And all of you saying “Yea, right” just hush up. It really might convince me darnit!) So I absolutely don’t blame you for getting rid of him, ever how you did it. Anyway, I have heard people say they have a crowing hen or two for a long time, but I always assumed they don’t have a rooster. And I think for the majority of them, that’s true. I know mine didn’t start crowing until this whole Duke resigning thing happened. I’m pretty sure it’s a reaction of some sort to the disruption in the pecking order. It’s kind of cute - just very odd. I hope she keeps laying! Some say their hen stops laying when she starts crowing! That would make me very unhappy. I already have a bunch of slackers in the egg department and don’t need even one more! Four broodies does not help!
June 11th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
It was really sad! And he didnt even care, so he actaully did go in the stew pot.
Yeah, im pretty sure she doesn’t lay anymore, becuase we used to get huge cream colored eggs from her and they were rounder then the other eggs. I don’t gather anymore eggs like this. =(
I bless every hen I have that goes broody! Most people would be nuts if they would have let as many hens as I have set at one time, each one hatching 8-12 babies! haha, what an experience!
June 11th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
J.P. - I am one that would be nuts if I had that many broodies with that many eggs! I have to clean the waters in the brooder pens every few hours because the mamas clog them up with pine shavings while teaching the babies to scratch all day long! I run myself ragged when there are babies around. Do you put your mama and babies in a brooder pen of some sort? How long do you keep them there? I had to keep my last 2 new mamas separated with their babies for two weeks - they attacked each other unmercifully when I let them out any earlier. I’m hoping to get the two new mamas out with their babies this weekend. Then the next two mamas go in there. And then I’m hoping we are done for this year!
June 12th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Wow. Always so many dynamics going on in that chicken flock of yours. It will be very interesting to me to see how things end up once your baby roos get a bit bigger and try to find their place in all this.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Frugalmom - Pico is Bobby Lee’s son, and Jethro is Duke’s. I suspect Jethro may have an edge as he is very similar to his father in that he is HUGE. But, I guess we’ll see. Pico is quite outgoing and has already started trying to get into action with the older hens - but they are beating the snot out of him right now. The little horn dog.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Oh I have so much to catch up on…….
x
June 13th, 2009 at 5:02 am
Marmitetoasty - it made my day seeing your comment. I’ve been concerned for you and hope you are holding up after the surgery. I’m sending you an email.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Awww they’re cute! And they seem to keep you entertained. The outside sink is a great idea. But I’m thinking I’d use it to bathe my girls before I took their dirty, sweaty little behinds in the house LOL
June 13th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Nicole - I actually asked Bernie for an outdoor solar shower as well, but he’s resisting on that one. How perfect would that be for your girls? I bet they’d love it - and you wouldn’t have to clean the tub near as often
June 13th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
OH - MY- GOD. You have no idea how much wasted water and feed we had from those little mamas!
Well, we paired hens together that liked eachother most(like 2 two big buff sisters, then the 2 little game hens) to save space. Btw, this was when we had LOTS more chickens to tend to. And we let the 2 broodies set,hatch, and raise their babies together for about 3 weeks. Then we’d just open the doors on the cages and let all the babies and mamas run together. We have had some fighting when they 1st got turned out, but we would break them up and each set of hens would be on their own way in a different direction.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:26 am
J.P. - I hear ya! We have gone through just about HALF the bag of 50 pound feed for mama and chicks in 2 weeks! I. AM. NOT. KIDDING. It is so frustrating - The feed gets knocked over at least daily - the prefer to show the babies how to scratch for it anyway. Yesterday I let Broody2 and her chicks into the coop and threw the food around on the floor for them. Broody1 came out and a brawl immediately ensued. Today I plan to sit out there with them until they all learn to get along. Last time they fought like crazy until about week 2 - and then just stopped. But I’ve got to get them out of that brooder so the next two can go in it - new babies are due on Wednesday. So many people have broodies that get along and even work together to raise the babies - but that ain’t happening around here for some reason!
June 15th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Well, the only reason our little hens would help eachother is because, when they 1st started setting we would put them together BEFORE there were chicks running around. A mama hen that has eggs acts very differently then a mama hen with babies. Once she has had babies there is usaully no way the broodies will work together =( unless they get used to eachother like yours did. There was NEVER any friendship among our broody teams. haha
good news though! one of my buff/red star hens has gone broody!
June 16th, 2009 at 7:49 am
J.P. - Yay for your broody buff/red star! How many eggs did you give her to set on? My last (*hopefully*) two broodies are only on 4 eggs between them. They are due to hatch out tomorrow - if my math is correct. I really hope at least 2 of them hatches so they can have at least one baby each and get over this broodiness. Keeping my fingers crossed…..
June 16th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Well i’ll probably buy about a dozen hatchin’ eggs from a friend and set the best looking eggs from the bunch. (anywhere from 4-12 depending on their condition.) Btw, love the new post!
June 25th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Hi, I am new to this site and just started in October of 2008 with 15 Red Star hens and 1Rhode Island rooster named Jake. I unfortunately lost one of my Red Stars on Christmas Day by none other than our former Dachsund. I have since gotten rid of the Dachsund and built another coop and got 25 more babies (Aracaunna, Delaware, White Giants and Barred Rocks and Hamburgs) I have the babies (which are now 3 months old and are staying separate from my big girls and the horrid Jake the rooster, until they are old enough to eat the same food. I have a Red Star which is approximately 1 year old and for the past 2-3 weeks has been laying in the nesting box and barely coming out to eat or drink. she seems well and was one of the roosters favorites but I am not sure what is going on and was wondering is she is trying to go Broody. Please help and I am putting food and water in her nesting box so she will not starve.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi Lisa - thanks for stopping by! Concerning the Red Star that is in the nesting box - does she stay on the nest at night? That’s the first big tip that a hen is broody. Do you know if she is laying at all? That’s sometimes hard to tell, because others will often leave eggs in her nest for her to set on. Broodies will not lay eggs until the broodiness is over.
Broodies will also often make a cooing sound in the nest box, and puff up and “growl” when you look in on her or try to move her.
If she’s been on that nest box for 2 - 3 weeks and even sleeps in it, I’d say you have yourself a broody for sure.
If you want or don’t mind more chicks, put a few eggs under her! Once she hatches and raises them, she’ll be fine - until she goes broody again. If you don’t want her to hatch out any, then you will need to try to break her of being broody - and I will warn you, it is usually very difficult! I’ve only broken one and it’s a LONG story about how it came about, but the bottom line is that I was able to simply remove her from the nest every hour or two and make sure NO eggs were left in nests for her to set on for any amount of time. I also removed her from the nest each night (make sure it’s dark) and put her on a roost. It took about a week of doing that every single day, and she finally gave up on being broody. It was a lot of work.
Another method that I’ve heard many people have had great success with is putting the broody in a cage with a wire bottom and NO bedding material whatsoever. You’ll have to feed/water her in there, or let her out occasionally - making sure she doesn’t climb into a nest box when she’s done! Breaking her broodiness this way may take some time too, but, by all accounts, it does work.
Best of luck to you! I’d love to hear how things go and what you decide!
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:05 am
Thanks basicliving. I do beleive that my Red Star is broody. She has been in the nesting box for 3rd week now. I have been removing eggs from under and she makes a little fuss at me but does not growl at me. She is such a sweet girl. I have been feeding her and giving her water and I am afraid that she is gonna melt away to nothing. My chickens aren’t very big anyways and my feed guy says they are small chickens anyways. I do not believe she is laying eggs herself but lays on other chickens eggs. I just got 25 babies in March and unfortunately I lost 1 and now have 24. They seem happy and healthy. They are separated from the adults until they are all eating the adult food. I truly LOVE all of my babies and my adults. I don’t on the other hand love my Rhode Island Red rooster which is named Jake. He is a awful thing. He is mean to me and everyone else and to my girls. I am going to get rid of him if I can find him a home that won’t KILL him. He is a jerk but don’t want to see him die because he is so mean. Back to my Broody girl. I believe that we are gonna knock out one of the4 dividers in the nesting box and put rat wire to block the other out so they wont eat her food and give her some room to move around and lay on some eggs. This is all so new to me I am scared for her and the others especially the mean “Jake”. I think it is great to be able to communicate with other people who know more than me. Thanks
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:54 am
Hi Lisa - I wouldn’t say I know more than you - we just have different experiences at some things. I think you’re smart to give that poor girl a few eggs! You can do it before you get the separator made - just be sure to mark the eggs you want her to set on so you can lift her each evening and remove the new ones the others lay for her in there. My first broody almost starved herself to death when she first went broody. I didn’t want to give her eggs, but after 3 weeks, I decided I better. She sat for a total of about 6 weeks before hatching out the babies - and she dwindled away to almost nothing during that time. I would DEFINITELY give your girls some eggs to set on as quickly as possible so she can hatch them out and start getting back to normal!
Best of luck - please let me know how it goes!
July 9th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I love your blog, great pictures and stories. I got this far and had to tell you that I LOVE the outdoor sink, very nice! I’ve been planning one for the summer kitchen but haven’t gotten that far yet. Your photo is motivating.
Ron
July 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Hi Ron - thank you so much for stopping by. Wow, to hear you say you love my blog means a lot to me, because you’re blog is totally awesome! A summer kitchen would be heavenly. One day, I hope to have one. Maybe we’ll wait until you do it and put the pictures up so I have some idea how to go about it
I completely love my outdoor sink. I use it all the time, and even when I don’t have to use it, I stop and stare at it. It’s really nice to wash up potatoes we dig up before bringing them in the house - and everything else from the garden. I also use it to wash my hands after cleaning the coop. Can you tell I love my outdoor sink?