rooster

Blood Has Been Shed This Day!

by Chickens

For once on this farm… this story is not about me. Today I tell the story of CJ, whose battle was brief, but shall live on forever…

(in the form of “I told you so’s)

Preface

Yesterday during lunch farm chores, I heard a very loud, unusual, peeping noise coming from the chicken coop. A chicken was in distress. I went up to the coop to investigate. I noticed one chicken huddled in the corner of the coop. She would not move other than to peck at the hanging waterer by her side. I step closer to get a better look and the rooster went crazy attacking the fence. He was in such a frenzy that he briefly got tangled up in the electric netting fence. I tried to lift the egg hatch to get a better view of inside the coop and the rooster attacked again, almost making it over the fence. It was clear he was in a mood on this day. After a couple more tries and him attacking, I was able to distract him with some treats and get the hen to move in the doorway.

The chicken in the coop was not well. Her whole body was puffed up. Swollen, to the point her neck had all but disappeared. I needed to get to her to look her over. I tried to trick him and trap him, but it was of no use. He is a smart, angry bird. He will not be tricked. I was left with no choice but to wait till CJ is home to help.

Attack of the bird

CJ does not fear the rooster. It is just a chicken after all. What harm can it do really? CJ thinks I exaggerate my fear of this bird. Unlike me, he is brave, he is fearless. This bird is no match for him!

CJ exclaims that he will catch this angry rooster for me so that I may enter the coop and rescue my sick hen. He exits the house with utter confidence. I await his efforts inside the house, where I am safe.

Mere moments go by and CJ reenters the house… limping, bleeding. A battle has ensued, and I fear my brave man did not fare well. He has been injured! He revealed that he would not in fact be catching the rooster for me as it had attacked him violently. The rooster’s beak or spur had pierced his flesh and drawn blood. Entering at the side of his knee and penetrating deeply behind the knee cap. A vicious wound indeed. He declared that the rooster must die. It had to be done. This battle was yet to be over.

He slings his weapon over his shoulder and limps back out the door. Softly groaning with each step. He will be victorious, I pray. I wish him luck and close the door as he limps away.

His shot rings out. I wonder if it is over, but another shot rings out. Fear grips me as I envision this bird, this miniature t-rex attacking him, as his shots go astray. I dare not run to him, less I be attacked as well. But, alas, my brave man comes back to me. The rooster is dead, and my sick hen has been rescued to be nursed back to health. My savior. My hero.

Epilogue

The rooster got CJ pretty good and is causing him quite a bit of discomfort. His knee is swollen, red, and painful. The wound is small but deep. Moving his leg even the slightest is causing him a good deal of pain. We cleaned the wound. Resting his leg makes it stiff and the pain worse, so he is trying to keep moving, though he is still limping a good bit.

CJ has a high tolerance of pain, so when he shows discomfort, I know that he is in pain. Hopefully, it improves, if not, he may need to have it looked at tomorrow.

There have been a many of “I told you so’s” today from me and reminders that I (his tiny little wife) have had to endure these attacks for quite some time. I have also been sure to remind him that “It was just a chicken”. He appreciates it when I remind him of those things.

The story to be learned here is that one should always listen to their wife regarding angry birds (or cows, or donkeys).

The sick hen was brought in and looked over. Her swelling had gone down significantly, and I can see no issues obviously wrong with her. I suspect she is egg bound, which means she is having a hard time passing her egg. I soaked her in warm water with Epsom salt and she did perk up and drink eagerly. She also escaped onto my counter causing a commotion with me screaming “There is a chicken loose on my counter!”. Tank freaked out; the cats freaked out. It was quite the ordeal. CJ had to come limping and save the day again. The only thing I can do at this point is apply some Vaseline to her vent and hope she is able to pass the egg. We got her dried off with the blow dryer and set her up in a crate in the basement. I will be checking on her and my injured husband often.

Never a dull moment on the farm!

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Death on the Farm

by ChickensGetting Started with the Farm

Last week was a hard week. We lost three animals in the same amount of days. So sad.

It all started on Tuesday night, when CJ went to put the egg laying chickens in the coop. We had been letting them free range around the yard for a while now and have had no issues. They loved wandering around the yard and making dust baths under the trees/bushes. They would follow you around if they thought you had treats. Occasionally the rooster would be a

little jerk and come at me, but I made sure to keep Tank near me to keep me safe from his shenanigans. Betsy the chicken, would get separated from the group often because she was not paying attention, or the other chickens would wander away. It was a little funny because she would start to panic. She would just stand there and scream for her friends. We would have to locate her and guide her back to the group.

The chickens always put themselves to bed at dusk and CJ goes out to close the coop once it is dark. However, that night, he could only find 5 chickens. One was missing. We all grabbed our flashlights and went out as a family to search for whom I was sure was Betsy the lost chicken. There was no sign of her though. We did see a fox run off into the woods. We were worried but could find no sign of her. We locked up the coop and just hoped she was sheltering down in the woods safely somewhere.

CJ saw no sign of her the next morning either. It was only later when I went looking for her again that we discovered the truth. Betsy had been murdered! On my walk, down by where we had seen the fox, I noticed a large swath of feathers. There had been a struggle here and Betsy had fought hard. Walking further down below Cow Cow’s pasture I noticed several more areas of feathers, in sections, quite far apart. One location was but a single feather and a small pool of blood. Oh… poor Betsy! She had wandered off by herself, with no protection, and had lost her life. She had put up one heck of a fight, but she was not strong enough to fight off her predator. It was a sad day.

We assumed it was the fox we saw. However, later that day I was making my rounds and noticed a HUGE vulture hanging out on our fence post. With my chickens very near. Mr. Rooster Gooster (that is his name) was being a lazy bum and not even paying attention! I ran up screaming to scare away the vulture. I will add here…. Those are big birds when they are on down on your level. Holy moly. His wingspan was just as long if not longer than Tank! Thankfully, he flew away. I would have had some serious issues if he had come after me! After saving my chickens lives, I stood there making sure I had all my girls accounted for. Rooster Gooster had been standing by me (with no issues) the whole time. Suddenly, he decides that he is jealous that I came in and did his job for him. He huffed up as big as he could, flapping his wings, and came straight for me! I kicked at him to back off, but he was truly offended this time and proceeded to try and kill me. I ran.

That mini velociraptor was hot on my tail. I ran faster. Tank could not see that I was in danger, and with my brain in full flight mode I forgot about him being outside. I remembered about halfway to the house and screamed for him. He cam running but was too far behind. I ran even faster. I was getting a side stitch. Evidently roosters do not get side stitches as he was never more than two feet behind me. I was close to the back door of the house but then realization hit! I will never get the screen door and the regular door open in time. He is going to catch me while I am trying to get the screen door open and I will die. I spot one of Tank’s toy balls on the ground and swoop down during my run to grab it and throw it at him. Rooster Gooster don’t care; Rooster Gooster ain’t scared of no ball. He never falters. Yep. I am going to die via chicken. Thankfully, right as I reach the screen door, Tank catches up and saves the day. He stands between me and Rooster Gooster daring him to come near his mama. That will teach you, stinking rooster!

 

We decided to put the chickens in the pasture with jasper and added the electric poultry net back up as well. I do feel bad that they do not get to wander now. I may go out and put some wire up on the gates so they can free range in the pasture with Jasper there to scare away any predators. On a good note, that darn rooster will not be able to come after me again!

Poultry on Pasture
They are now double-protected with the poultry netting and the donkey!

That same night, Lil CJ came down to tell me that he thought his guinea pig (named Rat) was not feeling well. I went up to check and it was obvious something was wrong with him. A quick google search of his symptoms made it clear he had an upper respiratory infection. We carried him into the bathroom, and I gave Alayna permission to take the longest, hottest shower ever while I sat with him in the steam hoping it would help him breath a little easier. It was almost 8pm so there was no option of a vet. I tried to look up anything I could to help him, but the only thing that could help him were antibiotics. We made him as comfortable as we could and let him sleep in the bathroom where it was still warm and steamy. Unfortunately, he did not make it through the night.

The next day I dug a small hole next to two doggie graves from the previous property owner and Lil CJ and I buried Rat the guinea pig. We lined his grave with bricks, just like the others and placed a small piece of split wood on top for added protection. It was very sad.

 

The Day after that, CJ announced that we had lost the 1st meat bird from the brooder. We are not sure what happened. You always expect to lose some of the meat birds, but these were doing so well I had hoped all 100 would make it out to the pasture. It was so close too! We had planned to move them out the following week! Poor little thing. All the others were happy and healthy, so I am thankful we only lost one bird.

 

That is the hard part of owning so many animals. You always do your best to take care of them, but death is a part of life. We must learn to deal with it as best we can and keep moving forward.

RIP Betsy, Rat, and meat bird who had no name because I cannot name 100 birds.