Starting with a few sexed chicks is the best idea. After 6 weeks, the novelty will have worn off, and by then the chicks will be coop-ready pullets that can easily find new homes if needed.
that's how I ended up with my indoor rooster. A neighbor kid raised him as a housepet for several years, then left for college.
Of course you can go out and travel. I've gone on week-long road trips with a turkey, a rooster, and a box of four chicks (not all at the same time). Birds make far...
So, don't keep your chickens in a solitary indoor prison. Give them stuff to do. Take them with you when you go places. Even when my turkey hen lost the use of both legs, I still hauled her outside multiple times a day so that she could poop and touch grass. My turkey is living outside again...
Humans are his flock. I have a house serama right now. He's 100% happier indoors with me, than outside getting his butt kicked by other roosters every few minutes.
None of my roosters are aggressive. That's genetic, and has nothing to do with living indoors.
If there is something stiff in her crop, it is probably hardened food. She needs water, not oil. Do not fast her. Chickens should have access to water 24/7 regardless of condition.
I came across this cattle panel chicken run on TikTok, and am interested in building something similar. I have built cattle panel hoop coops, but this type of lean-to is new to me. Has anyone tried this? Any structural issues?
Is that unusual? If predators are not an issue, I think roosters can easily live to their teens. My rooster has trouble grooming himself, because his beak is misshapen from an old injury. He looks scruffy right now:
This photo is from last year, right after new feathers grew in. The hen behind...
He is asil, but came from a hatchery, so he only looks the part. I also have some junior roos that stay away from the main flock.
I have a poultry barn divided into several sections, and during the day they have a few acres of woodland with access to hundreds more acres of undeveloped public...
There's a lot of that too. Perhaps due to size and breed differences, one always ends up pinning another down by the neck. I can't remember if I've seen the new hen on the bottom being pecked, but I've definitely seen her on top.
Typically by the time I arrive one hen has the other pinned to the ground pecking at it. I've seen the rooster politely tap the aggressor on the shoulder, but that's about it. He probably should have intervened before it got to that point. well, he's a busy guy with 35 other hens/roosters to...
She's battling the hens and won't stop despite getting beaten. I have a mature rooster, but he does not have hands, so he can't do much to intervene.
Out in the yard it's fine; when they fight, my turkey bites the aggressor by the tail and pulls her away. I have to lock her in the turkey coop...
Y'know, I've thought about doing something like that with my birds -- start with a lot and let Darwin sort them out -- but then I thought, why not simply hunt wild turkeys and grouse? Any "feral" chickens I breed will not come close to millions of years of natural selection.
And then I...
I started with similar goals as you (breed gamefowl to be self-sufficient chickens), but I found that pugnacious birds tend to be predator magnets -- they attract attention and are oblivious to danger. How do you do it?