Of all of our chickens Their chattering busyness I miss our roosters
It's somewhat ironic, and sad, that my last post before I fell off the edge of the Earth was about our Swedish Flower Chickens; my favorite birds of our 25-bird mixed flock, that included twenty-three chickens and two Muscovy duck hens.
As some may recall, after a heavy snow last winter, I lost one of my Barred Rock hens to being crushed by the snow, when she was weighed down beneath the bird netting that covered their enclosure, having roosted atop one of the rabbit cages.
Initially I thought I'd lost her sister as well, until I realized that she was still breathing, and cut the netting away to free her. She recovered fully, and seemed none the worse for wear. Our third Barred Rock had roosted elsewhere that night.
In any case, since I had already lost one of our Svart Hona roosters to the bird netting, when he garotted himself while (I'm guessing) being chased by one of our older and larger roosters, I made the fateful decision to remove the bird netting entirely, to prevent a reoccurrence.
I made another fateful decision, when I placed the dead Barred Rock hen at the edge of the woods, figuring that at least that way someone would get a meal, and she wouldn't have died in vain.
In retrospect, that might not have been the best course of action.
Initially everything seemed okay, and after Marek was hospitalized, and I was traveling between home and Cookeville, and then between home and Chattanooga to spend time with him, and for a while we lost no more birds.
I was gone most of the time, and stressed far more than usual, but I still made certain that everyone was fed and watered, though we had known for a while that we needed to improve the main enclosure for our flock.
First, the Muscovy ducks started flying out of the enclosure. More closely related to geese than to Mallard-type ducks, with claws on their feet, Muscovies are excellent flyers, and I was concerned that Lolo was going to kill one of them if they landed near him.
So every morning, I went outside before letting Lolo out, and led the ducks back into their enclosure before releasing him. And then, just to be contrary, they taught one of the Barred Rock girls how to escape the enclosure as well. Damn.
And still, for several weeks, no one went missing. Despite all the predators in our woods, not to mention Lolo and other neighborhood dogs, none breeched the enclosure for a good amount of time.
But the ducks, first one and then the other, both disappeared. Not even a stray feather to mark their passing.
And then the attacks began in earnest.
First the Svart Hona rooster that was in one of the smaller coops turned up dead, but I thought it likely that the five Delaware hens in with him may have killed him themselves, as they are a larger breed, and there had been scuffles before. He didn't seem to have a mark on him, but he was dead all the same, and the girls were uninjured.
A short while later, the Swedish Flower rooster went missing, which surprised me, as the coop they were in seemed quite stout, and he had proven more than once that he could take care of himself. There was no sign of him, not even many feathers as a sign of a struggle - he was just gone.
Which was particularly sad, as he was absolutely gorgeous, and they were the breed I most wanted to breed long term.
Then one of the hens from the mixed flock went missing, then another, with no blood or evidence of a body - just a rosette of feathers on the ground, where each bird had been taken.
After talking with a neighbor, we came to the conclusion that we were dealing with a mama fox teaching her kits how to hunt, which is why she got the roosters out of the way first, as they are able fighters when protecting their hens.
But I ultimately came to the conclusion that, in the coops at least, we were more likely dealing with a raccoon, as the predator had gotten inside the coop, grabbed the chicken, and escaped with the chicken in tow. I think a fox is less likely to be able to climb back out of those coops than a raccoon.
Then one night, a friend stayed with me to help me get ready for Marek's (we thought) imminent return, and as she was enjoying a cigarette on the back porch before dinner, I spotted one of the Barred rock hens . . . right as Lolo caught up to her. We heard the crunch as he bit down on her back. Damn and double damn.
I took her body from him, as the last thing I want is for him to develop a taste for live chickens, but the damage was done. And there was no point in punishing him, because all he had done - like when he killed my breeding rabbit - was excelled at being a dog. I was upset, but I wasn't going to take it out on him.
But the following morning was the hardest for me. We awakened to the realization that there was no rooster crowing. The evening before, both Rutger, our original Blue-laced Red Wyandotte rooster, and his son, a cross with our Silver-laced red Wyandotte hens, had been busy doing their thing. Now there was silence.
We went outside to check it out, to find some fairly freaked out hens, and no roosters. Once again, there were rosettes of feathers, but no roos. And I still miss hearing our boys in the morning.
And so it went, for the next few months, until we had lost all the chickens in the large enclosure, all five Swedish Flower hens, and two of the five Delaware hens. In the space of about four months, we had gone from a flock of twenty-five to a flock of three.
I sold the coop that the Swedish Flower hens were in, when the last one disappeared, and once we were down to three birds, I called the people who had bought the other coop, and offered them the matching coop with our three remaining hens.
They were thrilled to get them, and I was thrilled that they would escape the fate of their sisters, and get the chance to survive long term. And they were sweet enough to bring us three dozen farm fresh eggs from their own girls.
Meanwhile, Marek has been home now for a few months, and we both really miss our chickens. I bought several cattle panels, over a year ago, to build much larger coops with, which will be far more predator-proof.
If you've ever seen a greenhouse made with cattle panels, you know the general idea. Each cattle panel is 50" x 16', so you bow them into a half-hoop shape, and my plan is to have each coop be eight feet wide by approximately twelve feet long, which should be ample for a dozen or so full sized chickens.
The bottom two feet will be reinforced with 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth, to keep raccoons, opossums and the like from reaching in to grab a chick or hen, the rest will be reinforced with chicken wire, and covered with a heavy duty waterproof tarp.
With wood reinforcing, and a full-sized door on each end, they should be amply strong enough to keep out all small to medium sized predators, including foxes, bobcats, raccoons, opossums, and even feral dogs and coyotes.
And should we be visited by large predators, aka a cougar or a bear, hey, we tried.
My goal with all of our animals is to give them as good a life as we possibly can, to feed them high quality feed, make them as comfortable and happy as possible, make their habitat warm and dry and give them a lot of room, and make it possible for them to really enjoy their lives, for the time that they are with us.
I hope to have at least one large coop ready in the next month or so, so we can get at least a few hens to lay for us over the winter, and start breeding in earnest come spring. We definitely want Swedish Flower Chickens again, and Delawares, and likely either Dominiques or Barred Rocks, perhaps both, as our starting breeds.
My goal was certainly not to feed mama fox and her kits, though I love them as well, but we have more than enough small critters on our place for them to eat well without needing to prey on my chickens and other small animals.
Meanwhile, our first hard freezes will begin Tuesday night, when we are expecting two nights in the mid-20s, followed by a night near freezing, which may dip below freezing; then we'll have another week or so without freezes, when I can hopefully get all our remaining tropical plants repotted and ready to be inside for the coming winter.
In the meantime, I am still unable to upload any photos to Hive, so I am reusing the one from my previous post about the Swedish Flower Chickens, and will hopefully figure out what the glitch is.
Life is wonderful, and getting better, better, and better.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
I love you all.
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