Roosters

So I've figured out why Punky Rooster (silkie) was Head Bird around here for so long, in spite of being a bantam amongst full size chickens.

One third the size.  All thirds the attitude.

It all came about because I brought home a new rooster - now don't think I'm super crazy, because he came with a hen, and they are French Black Copper Marans.  Extremely fancy birds and I would have been crazy to pass them up.  I put a small pen in the corner of the coop for new arrivals, so that the old chickens can get used to them without being able to beat them up.  My main concern was Chick Jagger, the Wyandotte rooster, who has supplanted Punky as Lord of the Barnyard by dint of being huge and a jerk.  And I wasn't concerned, because while the bantam hens can get into the introduction pen no matter what I do, Jagger cannot.  Everything would be fine and nobody would get destroyed.

Then I went into the coop to check for afternoon eggs and found Punky jumping on the new rooster's head.  Apparently I can't keep him out of the introduction pen either, and not only does he fight dirty, but this larger rooster was clearly confused why this tiny bird was shoving him into a corner and jumping on his face.

So in conclusion, silkie roosters (or at least my silkie rooster) are devious little bastards, and Marans roosters have excellent calm temperaments.  With luck, Punky is done trying to destroy the poor new guy and there will be peace in the coop again, but I would not count on it.

Things I never expected about chickens

1. Different breeds of chickens don't just have different personalities... they have different voices.  Wyandottes chatter.  Faverolles grumble.  Silkies almost coo.  Easter Eggers glare at me and hiss.  I don't think they like me.
2. Ever hear the phrase, "madder than a wet hen"?  It's true, they do get pretty cranky when they are wet.  Unless they happened to grow up in a brooder full of ducklings.  Then they lie in the mud with their "sisters" when it gets hot.
3. Two roosters do not crow twice as much as one rooster does.  It is more of an exponential equation.  We have three roosters and the crowing basically never stops.
4. You quickly learn to recognize roosters by their crow.  Punky Rooster (silkie) greets the day in a clear, piercing tenor.  Chick Jagger (Wyandotte) is our bass - he almost sounds like he's howling.  Chikki Hendrix still has a derpy cut off crow that we had hoped he would grow out of.  Inexplicably the hens seem to like him best.
5. You also quickly learn to ignore all the dang crowing.  They start about an hour before the coop lights turn on at five, but as long as the windows on the coop-ward side of the house are closed, I don't think anybody even notices.
6. Pecking order makes no sense.  Punky manages to be head rooster despite being literally half the size of the other two (and most of the hens).  Perhaps they remember him feeding them when they were babies.  Perhaps they are in awe of his singing voice.  Perhaps he triples in size when no one is watching.  We will never know.
7. Supposedly, a hen's comb and wattles suddenly grow and turn red (as opposed to pink) right before she starts laying.  Chickens are also jerks, and we have been waiting nearly a month for those "any day now" hens to quit being freeloading slackers.
8. It is somehow always surprising when the layer pellets run out.  Not the scratch corn, because I have yet to come up with a method of keeping my millions of ducklings from breaking open the bags and throwing crazy scratch corn parties.  But there always seem to be tons of layer pellets until suddenly there are none at all.

In summary, chickens are endlessly entertaining, and I think every household should have at least six hens.  The eggs will be the best thing you ever tasted, and you will get bonus free chicken TV, all for the low low price of every bug they can reach and those magically disappearing layer pellets.

The three pound king of the barnyard.

The 4Farthings chick raising method

So I've got some more chicks.  For some reason.

No but seriously, these are to live in the duck houses and keep the bedding turned, so it doesn't become a packed block glued together with poop.  The white/tan ones are Salmon Faverolles (they're French!), the black/white chipmunk looking ones are Silver Laced Wyandottes (they're American!), and the black/brown/gray ones with the poofy cheeks are Easter Eggers (my husband talked me into them!).  They are very cute and, for the next couple of weeks, very fragile.  Here is my method, honed over many batches of chicks and ducklings, for keeping them alive until they are feathered out and ready for the coop.  This method works equally well for every species and breed I've tried it on.

This is the last batch for this brooder.  They are not easy on it!

1. If you are getting your peeps from the feed store, they don't require any special treatment when you first get them - that was taken care of by the feed store.  However if you got them in the mail, you will want to introduce them to water SLOWLY.  Let them have the water for five minutes, then take it away for fifteen minutes.  Do this three times, then let them have it full time.  This is particularly important for ducks.  The reason for this is because birds that have been shipped often arrive a little dehydrated.  Being thirsty, they can drink too much water, too quickly, and shock their little systems.  I have never heard of chicks dieing this way, but ducklings, particularly Muscovies, can and will kill themselves this way if you give them water full time right off the bat.  Better safe than sorry!
2. They need to live inside at first.  I keep my peeps in our insulated shed, which we affectionately call the Man Shed.  It is mostly my husband's workshop, but the deal is he can do anything he wants in there as long as I can also use it for brooding poultry.  Any draft free space will do though - tiny baby birds CANNOT regulate their body temperature, and without a mama to keep them cozy, they chill and die easily.  So inside it is!
3. Within the Man Shed, they are contained by a brooder.  Mine is made out of cardboard boxes.  I opened up one side of a bunch of medium moving boxes, taped them end to end, and made a ring.  Then I laid a piece of plastic sheeting in the bottom, and put a layer of pine shavings in the bottom as bedding.  A word to bedding: I have tried old hay, all kinds of straw, dry grass clippings, old leaves, and pine shavings.  USE PINE SHAVINGS, particularly for ducklings.  They are just better because they are just more adsorbent.  Dry baby birds are healthy baby birds!
4. They have a heat lamp.  I use the red kind around the clock, no switching between a white one in the day and a red one at night because I am lazy.  I do NOT use a thermometer.  The first day, I adjust the lamp height until the baby birds are a) not huddled under the lamp and b) not getting as far from the lamp as possible.  After a batch or two in your brooder in your location you will know exactly what height this is.  After that I raise the lamp about four to six inches every four to five days.  This is significantly faster heat decrease than the books tell you to do!  But I find that the birds feather out faster and are just as healthy this way, compared to starting them at 95*F and lowering the temperature five degrees per week until you hit room temperature.  If I did it that way the dang chicks would be in the brooder for six weeks!  I don't have time or energy for that, and by then they can escape from the brooder.  No thank you!  Just keep an eye on them.  They will let you know if they are too cold by huddling under the lamp.
5. When they are about three weeks old I can usually turn off the heat lamp.  Because my brooding space is insulated, over the next week the temperature will slowly drop.  Once the temperature in the Man Shed is about the same as the temperature in my house (judged by the very scientific "feels about right to me" method), I move them to the coop WITH a heat lamp.  This is purely for insurance, because my coop is drafty.  If they do well, I turn off the lamp after about a week - sooner if the weather is good.
6. A note for integrating new birds into an existing flock - if you are not careful, the older birds will harass the new birds.  Do not just dump them in together and hope for the best!  I have a piece of fence that I can put inside my coop, making an area for the new ones with their own food and water.  This way the older birds can get to know the new additions while the younger birds can get away from the pecking.  For ducks, a day or two is plenty, but for chickens, you're better off giving them a full week.

Of course there are as many specific methods for raising baby birds as there are people raising baby birds, and if your peeps are active and growing, you are doing just fine.

However, I do have a warning for you all: HEAT LAMPS START FIRES.  You need to make absolutely certain that your heat lamp is SECURE, because if it falls into the bedding, and you do not correct it post haste, it can and will burn the building it's in to the ground.  Of course there is no reason to be afraid of heat lamps, either - but you must be CAREFUL.

Happy spring!