It says that a rooster came to the hen's defense, but that's not a rooster coming to her defense. Looks like another hen to me. Good on that brave hen, and the goat.
Yeah, the charging hen is all puffed up like the mother hen I have with chicks does when she chases off my dogs, stray cats, and other assorted animals that come too close to her chicks. She looks exactly like that, all puffed up, wings to the side to make her look large, head low. But that's not what a rooster looks like. Too small for a rooster, first of all. A rooster is nearly twice the size of an average hen. Secondly, a rooster has characteristic, long, tail feathers that you just cannot miss. I don't see rooster tail feathers on that charging chicken. And a rooster attacks with the long, pointy, spurs on the back of his legs. He doesn't lead with his beak. That was a hen. The charging chicken was probably a top ranking hen in the flock. The top hen in a flock without a rooster will typically take over the role of a rooster, part of which is protection of the flock.
We converted a 14x14 green house into "The poultry Palace" this year. It's on a strong foundation and I don't think coons or fox could break in. Last night my wife and I about got run over by a young black bear on our evening walk.
The Palace is only about 10 feet from my bedroom's window. I switched out the 7 1/2 shot I planned to use to scare off the 2 young great horned owls that have been hanging around for buckshot.... The flock is tearing up the property like a pack of feathered goats, but they are my feathered goats.
We have 3 brown leghorn roosters. Leghorns are not known for becoming lap chickens... they are wary and kind of high strung which makes for good free range birds. I've been sitting owl duty in the evenings the roosters have been hoping up on my knees to share over watch. It only happens just before roost time.
A friend got a low resolution picture posted a few days ago in another chicken thread.... I'll see about getting a better resolution shot up....
We converted a 14x14 green house into "The poultry Palace" this year. It's on a strong foundation and I don't think coons or fox could break in. Last night my wife and I about got run over by a young black bear on our evening walk.
The Palace is only about 10 feet from my bedroom's window. I switched out the 7 1/2 shot I planned to use to scare off the 2 young great horned owls that have been hanging around for buckshot.... The flock is tearing up the property like a pack of feathered goats, but they are my feathered goats.
We have 3 brown leghorn roosters. Leghorns are not known for becoming lap chickens... they are wary and kind of high strung which makes for good free range birds. I've been sitting owl duty in the evenings the roosters have been hoping up on my knees to share over watch. It only happens just before roost time.
A friend got a low resolution picture posted a few days ago in another chicken thread.... I'll see about getting a better resolution shot up....
No problems killing the bear with buckshot for sure!!
The last time that bear ate a lawyer he had the runs for 33 days!
Bear season doesn't open until next Month. I'm pretty much a live and let live law abiding kind of guy but the roosters and I have formed a flock protection coalition.... code of honor type of thing and all.
The bear can eat all the apples it wants out back but my feathered goats are off limits.
Back when I maintained fourteen hens (starting back in the spring of 2010), they literally consumed my front lawn. By the end of the year, I had no front lawn left (just dirt), and I had to reseed in the spring. Gradually, I let my flock decrease, and have maintained a flock of between five and eight hens, and the lawn is able to tolerate their occasional grazing without a problem at that number.
PS, Back then, as a temporary solution, I clipped their flight feathers so they were stuck in the back, half acre, pasture. In other words, so they couldn't fly over the fence and go anywhere they wanted. As the flock shrank, I didn't need to do that, as there weren't enough hens to destroy my front lawn with over grazing.
We built in the middle of 70 acres. The birds are 13 weeks old now and keep expanding their range. Our lawn might survive (30 guinea fowl and 14 chickens) IF they were not so imprinted on the sound of doors opening. They assume that sound means there are kitchen scrapes coming their way... they really really love kitchen scraps. The chickens sprint back while the guineas often fly back in formation.
We built in the middle of 70 acres. The birds are 13 weeks old now and keep expanding their range. Our lawn might survive (30 guinea fowl and 14 chickens) IF they were not so imprinted on the sound of doors opening. They assume that sound means there are kitchen scrapes coming their way... they really really love kitchen scraps. The chickens sprint back while the guineas often fly back in formation.
Yep. Give your chickens kitchen scraps, and they will quickly start to treat you like you're Brad Pitt.
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