Chicken Chat!
Q: What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked about raising chickens?
• Why do you need so many chickens? — AnnaMarie Seward
• Are the brown eggs dirty? — Bonny Hettmannsperger-Smith
• Do you actually eat the eggs? — Mickey Johnson Vuong
• How many eggs does the rooster lay? — Leslie Thomas
• How long does the rooster need to sit on the eggs before the are fertilized? — Iris Flythe
• Are blue eggs better for you to eat? — Brenda Clark
• They won’t lay eggs without a rooster, right? — Dianne Langan
• Why don’t you let your chickens be house pets? — Mindy R. Green
• Can you potty train them? — Christina Ann
• Do brown eggs taste different than white eggs? — Lise Boucher
• What do you feed them to get colored eggs? — Heather Croft-Bra
• Can you hatch the eggs from the grocery store? — Marg Bliven
• Won’t they just fly away? — Dee Bayliss
• So, the mom breast feeds her chicks, right? — Vickie Miller
• Do you have any rooster eggs? — Kristina Norrad
• Do you put ‘shock’ collars on them to train them to stay in the yard? — Dawn Kimmell
• Do all eggs taste the same even though they are different colors? — Virginia McGregor
• Are your chickens vegans? — Mary Gallagher
• What can you do with duck eggs? — Shelley Latham
• Do the eggs come out hard? — Lydia Hockenberger
• How do they lay an egg without a rooster? — Denise Blessing
• How do you get the eggs? Do you have to pull them out? — Amanda Mauller
• Is that a hen or a chicken? — Sarah Ceccarelli
• Do you feed them different colored water, to get the different colored eggs? — Trina Elizabeth
• How do they nurse the babies? — Jodi Mandelias
• Do chicks grow to be hens? — Louise Adams
• You can pick them up and hold them?! — Claire Zwiefelhofer
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Julie Hikaiti The first time my bantam rooster showed aggression towards me I picked him up and walked around the backyard with him held firmly under my arm. If I put him down and he was aggressive again I would pick him up again and under the arm, he went for even longer. I only had to do this a few times and he stopped. Every few months he would try it on again and I’d pick him up and off we would walk. He soon stopped the aggressive behavior altogether.
Janet Sego Ellis Mom would put them in the roasting pan if they were aggressive way back then.
LaNita Tate Clark I have only had a few really aggressive roosters out of the hundreds of chickens I’ve hatched, but I took the advice given to me a few years ago by a very well-seasoned old chicken farmer. It’s the only thing that has worked and works every time for me.
*Here’s what I was taught to do: Wear gloves and catch the rooster. (Best to catch at roosting time and place in a small cage overnight until morning.) Take him and hold him firmly upside down by his legs held together away from you until he stops flapping his wings. It won’t hurt him other than his ego and won’t take long as he will tire really quickly. Then hold him with his wings closed firmly to the ground without hurting him, but very firmly to let him feel your strength. Make sure you hold him down on his side while still holding his feet together in one hand and your knee against his body holding him down in the middle and your other hand holding his head firmly flat to the ground. When he wriggles just tighten your grip a little. You won’t hurt him, just showing him who is in charge. Take your time and hold him there for several minutes. Loosen your grip enough for him to wriggle a bit, then clutch tightly again. Do this several times. Allow all of your flock and all of your family members to watch closely to humiliate him. lol.
Don’t rush this step, the longer the better!! Next pick him up and hold him firmly against your body so he can’t move and look him in the eyes from a safe distance for a few minutes, continuing to let him feel your strength. Then set him down and watch him sulk as he fluffs up and walks away. He knows now that YOU are at the top of the pecking order. I assume it’s the same feeling he gets when he loses a fight with another rooster. I do it 2 days in a row. Only one rooster in all of these years took 3 times and that was a little bantam Sebright, which seemed to be the most aggressive Roos I have had, but the very best at protecting my flocks from predators. I have done this to older roosters as well as younger ones and it’s the only thing that works for me. You might have to get anyone else who goes around him to follow these steps a time or two as well, although I’ve never had to. The important thing is to take your time while doing this.
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