Sparrow-Song
In the Brooder
- Aug 6, 2022
- 9
- 29
- 37
Ok, so, crazy long time since my last post on here considering the amount of chicken drama I’ve had, but gosh it has been CRAZY.
Probably I’m going to be back on here asking for advice about these guys very, very soon, but first I’m just gonna introduce them! I’m very happy that this site exists because I’ve been ranting about how amazing my chickens are to everyone I meet (I even made a google slides for them) and I’m pretty sure it’s driving my friends and family crazy.
Background: We moved to a more rural area after living for a long time in the suburbs, leaving behind our smaller, all-hen flock. (Against my wishes, but I guess the costs of moving chickens so far just didn’t outweigh the benefits…) The house was previously home to a lot of chickens, as the previous owners sold eggs at the local farmer’s market. They had a lot of coops, but most of them had to be torn down because they weren’t in very good shape. We’ve got plans to get new ones but so far they haven’t worked out.
So buckle in, this is a crazy story. Or as crazy as a chicken story can get, I think.
First flock are the chickens who came with the house, a small flock of Rhode Island Red gals and a Jersey Giant rooster (I think.)
Unfortunately they’ve been the ones with the steepest losses to predators and sickness
We had to take a few of the hens out because they were getting bullied and/or getting too much attention from the rooster. When we’d do this, though, the hens didn’t want to go back. So we had a couple very independent ladies for a while. Now we’re down to one, and due to lack of space she’s actually had to go back in with the old flock. But she’s gained a lot of self-esteem!
Her name is Augusta, which is a naming tradition (naming hens after places) that came from the first hen we took out, Georgia, and then Charlotte, the second. Augusta actually didn’t want to leave at first, but she was definitely the rooster’s favorite and she was looking rough. After we separated her, he split his attention a lot better.
When she first got removed, the only coop available was already occupied by Georgia and Charlotte, and Augusta didn’t get along with Charlotte. So for a while, she ate from their coop and slept in trees! I like to refer to her as ‘the true free range chicken’ because for a while she was quite literally able to go wherever she liked—including into our neighbor’s yard to eat fallen plums.
She’s walked into our house a couple times, and she slept in our garage once when her usual coop was occupied but she refused to go back in with her old flock.
I don’t know if I have any really good pictures of her at the moment, but I’ll add one when I can!
The rest of her flock has dwindled to only the head hens, who don’t mind being around the rooster because they won’t let him get away with things. I’m pretty sad to have lost the other gals, not just because it’s hard on the remaining hens. I’ll make a separate post for them at some point!
The rooster’s name is Cornpop, he’s (as far as I can tell) a Jersey Giant. He’s very laid back, but he and his girls weren’t hand-raised and they don’t like humans at all.
He’s very funny though, he likes to sit down like a cat when they do a little ‘loaf’ and his tail feathers are curly. He has the biggest spurs and I’m confident none of our resident hawks are going to do anything with him on duty.
His hens are named Ruby, Starlet, and Octavia (a Black Star)
So that’s flock one!!
And yes, I’m aware this is too few hens for any rooster, especially such a large one, but we have a big hen-to-roo ratio problem right now and not much we can do about it since I don’t want to get rid of any of our current roos. I’m going to be separating Cornpop at night so that will help, but whenever they are ranting they will need him since every one that has been without him has gotten snatched.
Probably I’m going to be back on here asking for advice about these guys very, very soon, but first I’m just gonna introduce them! I’m very happy that this site exists because I’ve been ranting about how amazing my chickens are to everyone I meet (I even made a google slides for them) and I’m pretty sure it’s driving my friends and family crazy.
Background: We moved to a more rural area after living for a long time in the suburbs, leaving behind our smaller, all-hen flock. (Against my wishes, but I guess the costs of moving chickens so far just didn’t outweigh the benefits…) The house was previously home to a lot of chickens, as the previous owners sold eggs at the local farmer’s market. They had a lot of coops, but most of them had to be torn down because they weren’t in very good shape. We’ve got plans to get new ones but so far they haven’t worked out.
So buckle in, this is a crazy story. Or as crazy as a chicken story can get, I think.
First flock are the chickens who came with the house, a small flock of Rhode Island Red gals and a Jersey Giant rooster (I think.)
Unfortunately they’ve been the ones with the steepest losses to predators and sickness
We had to take a few of the hens out because they were getting bullied and/or getting too much attention from the rooster. When we’d do this, though, the hens didn’t want to go back. So we had a couple very independent ladies for a while. Now we’re down to one, and due to lack of space she’s actually had to go back in with the old flock. But she’s gained a lot of self-esteem!
Her name is Augusta, which is a naming tradition (naming hens after places) that came from the first hen we took out, Georgia, and then Charlotte, the second. Augusta actually didn’t want to leave at first, but she was definitely the rooster’s favorite and she was looking rough. After we separated her, he split his attention a lot better.
When she first got removed, the only coop available was already occupied by Georgia and Charlotte, and Augusta didn’t get along with Charlotte. So for a while, she ate from their coop and slept in trees! I like to refer to her as ‘the true free range chicken’ because for a while she was quite literally able to go wherever she liked—including into our neighbor’s yard to eat fallen plums.
She’s walked into our house a couple times, and she slept in our garage once when her usual coop was occupied but she refused to go back in with her old flock.
I don’t know if I have any really good pictures of her at the moment, but I’ll add one when I can!
The rest of her flock has dwindled to only the head hens, who don’t mind being around the rooster because they won’t let him get away with things. I’m pretty sad to have lost the other gals, not just because it’s hard on the remaining hens. I’ll make a separate post for them at some point!
The rooster’s name is Cornpop, he’s (as far as I can tell) a Jersey Giant. He’s very laid back, but he and his girls weren’t hand-raised and they don’t like humans at all.
He’s very funny though, he likes to sit down like a cat when they do a little ‘loaf’ and his tail feathers are curly. He has the biggest spurs and I’m confident none of our resident hawks are going to do anything with him on duty.
His hens are named Ruby, Starlet, and Octavia (a Black Star)
So that’s flock one!!
And yes, I’m aware this is too few hens for any rooster, especially such a large one, but we have a big hen-to-roo ratio problem right now and not much we can do about it since I don’t want to get rid of any of our current roos. I’m going to be separating Cornpop at night so that will help, but whenever they are ranting they will need him since every one that has been without him has gotten snatched.
