How Many Eggs Did You Get Today?

[KentuckyMom]

It was so odd to wake up this morning to the sun and not to Scout letting us know the day had started and he had begun herding the ladies toward their nests. RIP Scout.

Blooie, What happened to Scout? So many people followed his journey and courageous fight to live.(greatly aided by you ) Sorry to read that he's gone.

 

[karenerwin]

13 today from 15 hens

 

[AthenaT]

5 today from 8 layers...Alpha hen is being hard to break her broody mood....2 littles not yet ready to lay till July

 

[Blooie]

Thanks, all. He will sure be missed. What makes it hardest is that we had to cull him. He'd been nailing a couple of the girls with vicious attacks, yanking out their feathers and refusing to let them up. This wasn't breeding behavior - he would have them on their backs on the ground and literally be ripping belly and chest feathers out of them. They tried to defend, but he was absolutely frantic. He got a two or three day timeout, and when we let him back out under supervision the attacks totally stopped. It has been a couple of months, I think.

But for the past couple of days he picked up right where he left off. Then yesterday while feeding them, I spotted a bit of plastic bag in the run that must have been mixed in with the last batch of leaves we'd tossed in and the chickens had uncovered it. I bent down to pick it up. I didn't even see him coming! The next thing I felt was those huge, deformed feet clubbing me on my extended hand. I don't know if he would have bitten too - my immediate reaction was to nail him under his chin with my other hand and send him flying. He drew blood in one spot on my hand, and the rest of it is bruised pretty good. It's even more painful today than it was yesterday. Those feet were pretty effective as clubs. I don't even want to think what he could have done if he'd have had normal claws. Aside from his unreasonable obsession with those couple of poor hens, we've never had any issue with him before. We could work around the coop or wander through the flock when they were all outside and never even wondered about him. There had to be something about that piece of plastic that threw him into a panic. It could well have been a one-time over reaction on his part. But I don't know that for sure, and I don't know what little thing might have set him off the next time.

So I know there are folks who give a rooster chance after chance. And others will spend time working with (and sometimes successfully) rehabilitating a favorite roo. I don't have the luxury of that kind of time. I have way too much on my plate to even try. Maybe if it was just Ken and me here I would have felt differently. I have grandkids I cherish who are my chicken sitters when we are gone, and I will not take chances with their safety. And even if they were never hurt, the last thing I want is for them to suddenly be afraid to go out and spend time with the chickens. Ken and I talked it over for a long time and decided that even if we could have stopped the attacks on the girls through training, and were able to trust him with us, there was no guarantee that he would respect the kids the same way if they entered the coop, the run, or the yard. Then too, our little 3 year old granddaughter has been in a wheelchair since she was 9 months old and with the warmer weather she enjoys time outside. I'm her day care provider as well, so she's here a lot. She'd never be able to get away, especially if he saw her seated posture and the unfamiliar chair as a threat to his flock. I have to trust every single bird here 100%. Scout killed that trust yesterday.

Yes, my heart is broken. I have lots of chickens and I like having them. But anyone who knows the saga of Scout knows that I had a special place in my heart for him and I always will. I am sorry that we had to do what we did. But I will not apologize for putting Evan, Katie and little Kendra first, even if it meant that yesterday had to happen. So Scout's story is at an end. Agatha is sitting on eggs fertilized by him so his legacy lives on. But I will cull any cockerels out of this clutch because I can do without that part of that legacy. In a perfect world, there'll be a little pullet with Aggie's beauty and Scout's spunk. And I'm so grateful for all he taught me.

 

[I Love Layers]

Thanks, all. He will sure be missed. What makes it hardest is that we had to cull him. He'd been nailing a couple of the girls with vicious attacks, yanking out their feathers and refusing to let them up. This wasn't breeding behavior - he would have them on their backs on the ground and literally be ripping belly and chest feathers out of them. They tried to defend, but he was absolutely frantic. He got a two or three day timeout, and when we let him back out under supervision the attacks totally stopped. It has been a couple of months, I think.

But for the past couple of days he picked up right where he left off. Then yesterday while feeding them, I spotted a bit of plastic bag in the run that must have been mixed in with the last batch of leaves we'd tossed in and the chickens had uncovered it. I bent down to pick it up. I didn't even see him coming! The next thing I felt was those huge, deformed feet clubbing me on my extended hand. I don't know if he would have bitten too - my immediate reaction was to nail him under his chin with my other hand and send him flying. He drew blood in one spot on my hand, and the rest of it is bruised pretty good. It's even more painful today than it was yesterday. Those feet were pretty effective as clubs. I don't even want to think what he could have done if he'd have had normal claws. Aside from his unreasonable obsession with those couple of poor hens, we've never had any issue with him before. We could work around the coop or wander through the flock when they were all outside and never even wondered about him. There had to be something about that piece of plastic that threw him into a panic. It could well have been a one-time over reaction on his part. But I don't know that for sure, and I don't know what little thing might have set him off the next time.

So I know there are folks who give a rooster chance after chance. And others will spend time working with (and sometimes successfully) rehabilitating a favorite roo. I don't have the luxury of that kind of time. I have way too much on my plate to even try. Maybe if it was just Ken and me here I would have felt differently. I have grandkids I cherish who are my chicken sitters when we are gone, and I will not take chances with their safety. And even if they were never hurt, the last thing I want is for them to suddenly be afraid to go out and spend time with the chickens. Ken and I talked it over for a long time and decided that even if we could have stopped the attacks on the girls through training, and were able to trust him with us, there was no guarantee that he would respect the kids the same way if they entered the coop, the run, or the yard. Then too, our little 3 year old granddaughter has been in a wheelchair since she was 9 months old and with the warmer weather she enjoys time outside. I'm her day care provider as well, so she's here a lot. She'd never be able to get away, especially if he saw her seated posture and the unfamiliar chair as a threat to his flock. I have to trust every single bird here 100%. Scout killed that trust yesterday.

Yes, my heart is broken. I have lots of chickens and I like having them. But anyone who knows the saga of Scout knows that I had a special place in my heart for him and I always will. I am sorry that we had to do what we did. But I will not apologize for putting Evan, Katie and little Kendra first, even if it meant that yesterday had to happen. So Scout's story is at an end. Agatha is sitting on eggs fertilized by him so his legacy lives on. But I will cull any cockerels out of this clutch because I can do without that part of that legacy. In a perfect world, there'll be a little pullet with Aggie's beauty and Scout's spunk. And I'm so grateful for all he taught me.

I would've done the same thing. I sympathize with you. But you made the best choice, he had his chances, and it just didn't work out.

 

[WVDoug]

9/13/26

PLUS......one tiny!

Expecting 16 more in the next few days too!

 

[Honey B]

2/2

 

[KentuckyMom]

@Blooie
Without a doubt you made the right decision. You couldn't take the chance of anything ever happening to your grandkids. As hard as the decision may have been, you made the right one. If he was willing to go after you, he could really hurt the children. Maybe something in him just wasn't right and was beginning to manifest itself through aggression towards the hens and you.

 

[TJordan]

That is always a hard call to make... My rooster is facing the culling squad as well for the same thing but he attacked me AND my kids... My oldest is 7 youngest just turned 5.... Drew blood on my baby. Layer his little knee open with those evil nails... I'm just waiting for my chicks to grow so I can replace him... Until then my own kids can't go out there... You did the right thing... Once again. Sorry that happened...

 

[Blooie]

As the line in my favorite movie goes, "That's what my mind says....I wish somebody'd explain it to my heart."