Rooster Psychology . . . by Nathan, 13

If have read older posts, you may remember our first rooster Tricky Chickie.  He was very mean in life, but he was very sweet (-tasting) in death.  He was always cocky and fierce to everyone, and we weren’t prepared for that when we raised him.  (That picture was taken over a year ago when all the chickens escaped and we had to herd them back in.  Tricky was not so willing!)

We also had another rooster, Morgan.  He was never mean to anyone, and we did not have to teach him how to behave.

Now that both of them are gone, a friend gave us an an Ameraucana rooster.  He’s still adjusting to his new coop, and so far everything has gone well between him and us, but he had a rough start with the hens.

He’s the smallest chicken in the coop (except for the bantams), and when we first put him in, they started picking those petty little chicken fights.  However, that was really no surprise; chickens do that all the time.

He's not very socialized. Here he is, cowering behind the food bin. He is such a chicken!

Who are you?

He’s beautiful on the outside, but only time will tell if he’s beautiful inside.  He is still young, and we naturally do not want to go through with him what we went through with Tricky.  No, he has not attacked anyone yet, but we still don’t trust him because of past experiences with roosters, and because we can sense that he is aggressive within.  Sometimes when I walk near him, he seems to be thinking, “You know, I just can’t stand that human… it sure would be fun to attack him… but he’s a little bigger than the roosters I’m accustomed to fighting with.”

Caleb and I are officially the “alpha males,” so we named him “Beta.”  The day may soon come when he flogs one of us—unless we prevent it before he lets loose.  Caleb and I intend to teach him that turning aggressive will never pay!

Here are some of the methods and techniques we are using, based on some ideas that we’ve read about.

• Every time we go into the chicken coop, we crow.  We can’t crow very well yet, but we’re getting better and better at it.  If Beta starts to crow, we will out-drown him with a defiant crow of our own.  (Actually, he has not crowed yet, surprisingly.)

• If he ever attacks us, we shall not run nor show any signs of fear.  We will stand our ground!

• We will not allow him to mate in our presence.  An alpha rooster would never put up with that from the beta rooster.

• We’ll handle the hens frequently.  For example, we’ll pick them up and pet them just to prove a point.

• He won’t be allowed to access the food until we are out of the coop.  We’re at the top of the pecking order!

If all these plans work, Beta should remember his place and not challenge us . . . or else!

Hopefully, with our broody hens and friendly-to-be rooster, we’ll be able to hatch some chicks in the spring!

Memverse . . . by Nathan, 13

Recently, a good friend from our church referred us to a website called Memverse.  It’s designed to help people memorize the Bible more quickly and easily.  If you want to learn how the website works, just click “LEARN” at the top of the page, and the tutorial will tell you everything you need to know about how it works.

You type a certain verse or chapter every day, and as you’re typing, it sticks in your brain.  If you memorize one different chapter every month, you will have the entire Bible memorized in 33 years!  (At least, you will have had every chapter in the Bible memorized at some point in your life – you may not be able to have it all memorized at once!)  Or you may just want to memorize several helpful Proverbs and Psalms, or one or two gospels, or simply learn various verses throughout the Bible.  Either way, Memverse is very convenient and makes Bible memorization easy!

Proverbs 2:3-5   Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 3:3   Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart.

Psalm 119:11   Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 1:1-2   Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Broody Hen #2 …by Nathan, 13

THE CHICKIE TIMES

3/19/2011

Anne is a White Plymouth Rock.  Recently, she started seeming broody.  Whenever we would go in the chicken coop, she would almost always be on the eggs.  Then one day I discovered that her belly was almost bare—she was pulling feathers!  So, we decided to give her some eggs.

Over two or so days, we collected fifteen good eggs, and yesterday, we prepared the chicken tractor for her.  We thought it would be good if she could have an isolated area all to herself to set the eggs, but we were wrong!  Here are some pictures of what we did:

She had a freak-out!  I think she was nervous and confused, being separated from the rest of the flock.  We set her directly on the eggs, and she would jump off, run around and play escape artist on us!  Finally, last night, I got her to sit on the eggs and stay there for awhile, but in the morning, she was on the roost instead!  And, worse yet, I saw that one of the eggs was broken.  (OOPS – not good.)

We figured the best option was to move her back to the other coop and put her in the nest box in which the others usually don’t lay.  I marked all of her eggs with an “A,” lest the other chickens would crowd her out and lay more eggs in her nest box.  If you look closely, you may be able to see that in the picture below.  Now she can set the eggs in a place she’s used to, with the flock, and she’s fine now.

And to top it all off, the chicks are due to hatch on Elisabeth's birthday!

10 Best Pictures of 2010 . . . by Nathan, 12

To say goodbye to 2010, I thought I’d show you some of the best (in my opinion) pictures from last year.  I don’t believe any of these are already on the blog; I tried to pick new ones.  So here they are:

Caleb took this one at our old house.

We just had to get a picture of this one, after how long it took to build.

I actually don't remember this, but that's what's nice about cameras - they can bring back memories.

We took this one specifically for the blog. Hope you like it!

Genesis 1:14-19

We can never eat an apple without this little one wanting a bite!

Isn't he so cute?

Mom took this great picture while Dad was pulling us around in the trailer.

We're having a delicious homemade Italian dinner tonight!

This giant snow heap was at least ten feet long. We never did make it to the other side!

Well, there ya go – great memories from January to December!

Story of Tricky Chickie II…by Nathan, 12

My Diary

Entry 1:  I hatched out of the incubator today.  It’s a strange world; it has giant pink walls, and a skylight, but all I see out the skylight is darkness, except for when someone comes down to take my picture.  Then I get really cold.  I see several other eggs that haven’t hatched yet.

Entry 2:  Today some lady took me out of my incubator and put me in a big cardboard box in the laundry room.  I finally have graduated to regular grain and water.

Entry 3:  I was moved outside today, and into a kennel with three Golden Comets.  I prefer to sleep on top of my small shelter, but some kid usually comes out at night and puts me inside it.

Entry 4:  I don’t know why my homes keep changing, but today the Comets and I were moved into a better one with three bantams.  It has three roosts and a door, so we can go inside or outside whenever we want.  When the neighbors come over, wild humans chase us around and put us on their shoulders.  I like to play a prank on them by flying off, so they have to look around and find me before they put me back.  Mwaa hwa harr.

Entry 5:  I was moved yet one more time today – and into a coop with a gang of bullies.  One guy, the biggest of them all, jumped on me and started pecking at me.  He held me down, for no other reason than to vex me and deprive me from my oxygen.  I’m a rooster too, but I wasn’t big enough to fight back.  Then someone to whom I am forever grateful jabbed him off with a stick.  Then I was moved back to my old coop with some banties.

Entry 6:  Today the banties and I were moved back into the coop with the bullies, but they weren’t nearly so mean this time, maybe because I am bigger.

Entry 7:  The big mean Barred Rock disappeared today.  I don’t know where he went, but anyway, I’m not missing him.

Entry 8:  I crowed for the first time today.  Morgan, the new alpha male, was surprised and irritated!

Entry 9:  Today, I decided to play a prank on that kid that comes out to feed me by chasing him back to the house and flogging him.  Mwaa hwa harr.  But then he kicked me and sent me back!  Ouch!  I hadn’t expected that!

Entry 10:  Today I was given away to a family from my owner’s church.  I hope I like them!  I’m the only rooster here, so that will be nice.  I can be the alpha male!

Latest Chicken Activities . . . by Nathan, 12

THE CHICKIE TIMES

10/18/2010

Shy hen’s first crow: Little Tricky, the first chick hatched from the incubator, was always so shy that whenever you would approach “her”, “she” would flap “her” wings and run away quickly!

You probably noticed that the words “she” and “her” are in quotation marks, and the reason why is that he fooled us – just like his daddy!  Although his comb is quite small for a rooster, it is red for a hen.  We just assumed that it was a hen, just like we did before Tricky started crowing, remember?

This morning, when Morgan stood on the chicken tractor and crowed, (like every morning,) we heard a different crow that we’d never heard before; it sounded a bit like a flute.  I thought at first that it was one of the neighbor girls, who was on her way to the bus.  Then I saw the shyest young chicken in the flock, which we all were calling a hen, lift his head high and croak his second or third crow!

Good buddies: Our second chicken hatched from the incubator, Cereal, is not nearly as shy as Little Tricky, and I believe it is because we bought for him another tiny peep when they were both recently hatched.  That first night Cereal picked on Buddy, but the next morning they seemed fine.

The two grew up together, and they hang out together more than anyone.  Perhaps if we had bought Little Tricky a “buddy” too, he would not be so shy.

By the way, Buddy got his name because he was such a good buddy to Cereal.  Here’s the cutest little picture of them where they enjoy sleeping for the night – it was taken when I went out to close them up at about 9:00.  I put them in there together, and they look they’re actually posing!

Mr. Cereal…by Nathan, 12

I've got a chick on my shoulder!!

You may remember or even have voted on the poll (click view results) to decide what our chick’s name would be:  Morgan (Nathan), Moonlight (Caleb), Cereal (Elisabeth), Tiger (Hannah), or Jo (Joseph).  We have a winner!  It is officially named Cereal – congratulations Elisabeth!

I just want to thank everyone for their votes.  Every name submitted got at least one vote.  We also got a vote for Murphy, but the comment got deleted.

I should also note that we’ve seen this chick fight with the bantams, so it won’t be surprising if its a rooster, in which case there will be trouble.  Then we’ll name the other chick that’s in there Cereal.

The poll was fun!

Funny Fiasco!…by Nathan, 12

THE CHICKIE TIMES

8/13/2010

This post was originally planned to be entitled, “Moving Day” because we moved two set of chickens together. However, as I went in to take pictures, the wooden, chicken-wire door blew open (because of course it doesn’t have a latch on the inside) and all the chickens made a mad dash for the gate.

Yeah.. alright, this was not supposed to happen:

Hardly funny.

If you’ve read the post “Our ‘Roo’ “, then I told you that our rooster, Tricky Chickie (see link to hear to story) was aggressive.  When I tried to heard him back into the run, what I mean shows.

Here we go again.

Dad and Hannah and Caleb came out and helped put them back.  It sure was an adventure!  Hopefully it won’t happen again.

Written by Nathan Wright, chicken raiser from OH

God, Man, and Science…by Nathan, 12

Whom do we trust, God or scientists? In short, the answer is God, but why?

Well, for one thing, God has always existed, so He knows everything. Scientists have not always existed, so they do not know everything. That’s why they do research, How do they know their beliefs are true? Some might say, “Well, we just know” which really doesn’t answer the question. Some might say, “Alright, alright, I guess I’ll admit for you that I don’t know 100 percent, but how do you know either, huh?” You should humbly answer like this: “You don’t have anyone or anything for a witness, but Christians have this awesome book, the Bible or Scriptures, written by the Creator Himself.

For another thing, God is perfect, with no flaws whatsoever and never has made or will make a single mistake or injustice. All the time, scientists’ experiments blow up, a rock climber fall and breaks a bone, or a professor coughs in the middle of a sentence. Nothing but God is good.

And, for the last point, people important and not important say goofy things, like a painting coming from an artist that happened by chance. Or like when scientists try to duplicate something of nature they say evolved.

Genesis 1-11 explains it all. “Who, what, when, where, why?” do you ask? Read Genesis 1-11, the real history!

Penguin’s Diligence Pays Off!…by Nathan, 12

Three on the 1st, one on the 2nd. How exciting!!

Ironically, she didn't have any of her own eggs under her. (By the way, we did wonder what a Barred Rock-Silver-laced Wyandotte-Cochin cross cross would look like!) 8) We're not quite sure who their biological mothers are; the yellow ones probably Leghorns and the black ones probably NH Reds.