This past summer we had maybe a dozen or so chicks hatch. I guess it was a year for the male gender, because what we got were a LOT of roosters. Too many roosters!
Things look pretty peaceful here as some of the chickens and guineas enjoy breakfast.
Looks can be deceiving, however. All of a sudden, one rooster decided to enforce the pecking order!
After a short rooster rumble, the red rooster was minus all but one of his tail feathers!
It’s a sad state of affairs to be so low down in the pecking order.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Rooster Rumble? lol! You’re so funny. Poor red guy. Looks like all he has left is one feather to use as a “I surrender!” flag. Gosh. Roos can be so vicious, can’t they?
So far my two roos, the Japanese Silky and the Polish are best buds and have figured out some kind of truce. Sid, the polish, is the ruler of the roost and it seems that Mr. Cotton, the Silky is his side-kick/minion. Hey, if it works for them and no feathers are lost, I’m happy
I loved seeing the pics of your chickens.
~Lisa
What’s worse is they got the last feather, so now he’s a bob-tailed rooster. Looks STRANGE!
Glad your roosters are compatible. I think we just have too many for them to all get along.
Do you chickens free range all the time (except at night)? Mine were penned up in a large area, but penned nonetheless. Even though there were plenty of hens to go around, I had two roos that wouldn’t quit. I eventually had to put one down because they got into it when I wasn’t home.
Yes the chickens free range, and in fact, even at night they have 3 different options. Some of them prefer to roost in the the sheep shed, while others roost in an enclosed area we made between the peafowl pen and The Farmer’s work shed. There’s even a few who actually roost in the chicken house!
So they’re never all forcibly crammed together in one spot. They have options! And all 3 of these places are within patrol of both our farm collie and Maremma LGD.
But sometimes, the roosters are just stinkers.
Oh my! The poor boy. Does he feel embarrassed without his feathers?
That’s funny. I’ve always been under the impression that if chickens freerange all the time, that the roos sort of form their own territories and seldom get into a ruckus. Maybe one just crossed a boundary?