Monthly Archives: October 2011

I’d love to have a rooster but our hens don’t really need one. I’m an early riser so the crowing wouldn’t bother me. But then again, there are my neighbors to consider. There’s an ordinance in our community that allows us to have up to 20 hens but no roosters. So a rooster is out of the question.

The reason I’d like to have a rooster is not that my hens need to lay fertile eggs. Fertile eggs are no more nutritious than unfertile eggs. Besides the little blood spots in fertile eggs gives me the shivers. I don’t particularly want to see my beautiful ladies jumped on either. In fact, some rather “rough” roosters can be quite damaging to hens. There are “saddles” made for hens to protect their backs from particularly aggressive roosters with particularly passionate mating behavior. You don’t believe me? See the saddles at “Hensavers“. They come in colorful designs and according to promotional material, the hens love colors and the fit!

There are good things to say about roosters. A rooster can be protective of hens. They will often stand their ground when a predator goes after a flock. My sweet Australian labradoodles will run up to the hens, frightening them and causing the girls to squawk and run. That makes the pups get even more excited and they give chase. They think it’s a game! A rooster wouldn’t put up with those shenanigans for a second. He’d stand up to them, puff out his breast, and send them packing.

Roosters actually look for food for hens, then call them to come get it. If a rooster finds a really nice stash of bugs or other tasty treat, it will often call his harem to come enjoy the feast. Now that is what I call a good provider.

Some roosters know how to “keep the peace”.

I’d like to have a good rooster because they “keep the peace” among a flock of hens. We’ve had our share of “cranky” behaviour over the past 2 1/2 years from hens with no authority figure. I’m tired of pecking orders, aggressive hens, and just plain “unsavory actions” in the chicken coop. I think that a rooster would help to alleviate that. I’m not sure why roosters are so good at keeping the peace. We know that roosters can be fighting birds among themselves.

Some roosters can become aggressive and territorial.

Besides the crowing that can occur any time of night or day, there is another downside of having a rooster around. They can be mean. When I was a youngster, my father had chickens that he raised in cages up off the ground. He would have two or three in a cage where they were kept until they grew to fryer age. One cute little Rhode Island Red was constantly being picked on by its fellow “inmates”. My father let the “cute little thing” free-range. That “cute little thing” grew, and grew, and grew. Pretty soon, he thought he owned the place and would attack both kids and adults when we came in the chicken house to do our chores. He would chase us, peck our legs, fly at us with spurs extended. My father, who was as protective of his children as the rooster was protective of his territory, won the fight with the rooster. The “cute little thing” made a delicious meal that was enjoyed by all.

I’ve talked to the hens. Yes, they would enjoy the occasional company of a fine, handsome, gentleman. But then again………………….

If you have a picture of a handsome rooster that I could add to this blog, please email it to me. I’ll try to fit it in!

I’ve been going a bit crazy lately. As you know I have two websites, this one, and Central Coast Gardening. Keep in mind, I’m not technically gifted. In fact, I’m barely functional. While I was updating the two websites, I ran into all kinds of technical problems and my poor hens have suffered from neglect. They’ve missed my company and their egg production is down from 2-3 eggs per day to 0-1.

Now I don’t expect an egg every day from my hens. “Take it easy,” I tell them. “Pace yourselves.” I want them to lay less and lay longer. I won’t have the heart to put them down or make them into soup when they finish their laying career, so the longer they lay, the better. A bunch of old “layless” hens doesn’t excite me but I love these girls. They are pets.

Well, while I’ve been throughly involved in updating my websites, Poppy and Tulip have been throughly involved in shedding their feathers. This process, called moulting (or molting) is also known as sloughing, or shedding. Birds do it, dogs do it, reptiles do it and my hens do it. It takes a month or two for them to moult and regrow their beautiful new covering. Until then, I’ll have to make do with fewer eggs.

Tulip Has an "Ugly" Moult

Until their feather are regrown, the hens will be getting  a serving of tuna and sunflower seeds each day which are supposed to have nutritional ingredients that will help them regrow feathers. Poor girls. Setting on eggs and moulting are the two events in a healthy hens life that interrupt their egg-laying process. They’ll just have to endure it and I will just have to buy eggs at the farmers market.

Corner Behind Henhouse Shows Moulted Feathers