Bottom of the Bucket

Bucket the Buff Orpington Rooster

So the rooster definitely has to go now.  I’m a bit relieved because it’s now  not my decision, but one of preservation. 

We kept the chickens in the coop on Saturday, due in part to Bucket’s bad attitude.  I didn’t want him attacking guests or worse small children.  With them sequestered he really had his way with the girls.  The optimal hen to rooster ratio is no less than 8 hens to 1 rooster; in the 10-12 range is even better.  When chickens mate the rooster jumps on the hen’s back.  The hen is generally not thrilled about this situation so he uses his claws to hang on (and also his weight, pressing her to the ground).  The effect of this on a hen getting too much “affection” is that it starts to pull out her feathers and can actually start to do damage.  We’ve seen patterns for “chicken saddles” made out of old blue jeans for breeding scenarios.  The girls are showing signs of the wear though, since we are down to five hens at this point.  It definitely was escalated by keeping them in a small space for a full day.  Two of them have bald patches on their back, thankfully no broken skin, but unfortunately it’s also chicken nature to peck at wounds on “weaker” chickens until it kills them.  Darwinism at work folks.  Bengt noticed the hens pecking at the one with the worst bald patch when he closed the coop tonight.  Since we had already debated Bucket’s fate and were leaning toward his dismissal it was an easy decision.  It looks like we’ll be having chicken stew this weekend. 

For now we’ve moved Bucket to the brooder box in the garage since it’s more than large enough for him.  We’ve also turned out the coop light to discourage the hens from picking at each other while they recover.  Hopefully their laying doesn’t drop off too much.  Even with new chicks coming in April they won’t be of a good size to tolerate Bucket’s attention for quite awhile and I fear we’d end up with some serious injuries well before then. 

I will certainly document our first slaughter experience.  It really will be a defining moment in our lifestyle decision for me and I’m not willing to take bets on which way I’ll go just yet.