Just another Day on the Farm

Be it Gander, Tom, Rooster, or Drake, there is nothing quite as alarming as when your big boys turn on you and attack, what was a nice trip outside to the garden, or a pen cleaning or even a feeding can turn into a nightmare, when your O so pretty boy, suddenly seems to turn into a freaken bird ninja, launching itself into the air, wings suddenly seem huge, those pecks or bites are painful, the war cry’s are enough to curdle your blood and worse yet, are those three inch spurs on those big rooster legs that can leave you bruised for weeks afterwards.

One year I decided to raise four different kind of old fashioned heritage turkeys, I wanted to see what breed I really like, and it turned out to be the royal palm, a truly lovely smaller breed of turkeys, adore them.. but I also raised large blacks, Greys, and Bronze, all were raised in the same caring manner, while most were typical birds on the farm, the two big Large Black toms shows signs of being disrespectful towards us from a young age, and it just grew worse with age.. Truly I don’t know why I didn’t butcher them out early, but I was very determined to give a fair shake to my plan of dress out weights/growth rates on all four breeds.. 

For the first time in years, we had to pen these two toms, as they were far to dangrous to have in the yard, and for the last few weeks of their lives, feeding them was a trial, you would walk into the pen with a wide sheet of plywood, which they attacked, while you changed their water and did their feed, pen cleaning required two peaple, one to hold them off and one to clean.. I was pissed enough to call them Hitler and Stalin (which I know is so! not PC) but its a reflection on just how much I grew to dislike these two toms, the females were fine with no issues both in flock and in working with us. I honestly don’t know if it was a one off, but If someone offered me free pullets, I would have to think long and hard about it.

So lets stop for a moment and think about what most of us want in a good male of the birds, we want them to be correctly formed and big for their breed(as they are providing 50% of the genes to the next gen), we want them to be pretty(Barnyard Eye Candy), and we want  them to court the ladies(Proper dancing, and getting the ladies ready and willing), all good things, but ideally we also want flock protector and good daddy traits as well.

Its the last two that we dance that fine line with, in order to be a great flock protector, we need a rooster, who will call the alarm, and leap in the air time and again taking on that raven or hawk, while the hens and the chicks run for cover.

I know that I am not on the only blogger who has written about the pride they have had in the big old boy who laid down his life to save his girls, if you are going to go down fighting, is there a greater calling then saving the hens and chicks?

Given that I run a mixed flock of at least four different breeds of birds. plus at least a dozen different breeds in that mixed flock, I also personally count good daddy behaviour as a big plus, and exteme example would be losing a nest or two of ducklings to the chickens on spring, the hens had figured out they could take the peeping hatching ducklings and eat them and that the regular smaller laying duck hens could not stop them.. I quickly put a end to that by moving and or putting cages around sitting ducks, because once the ducklings are out and about, the hens no longer bother them.

When we got our Moscovies, the first hen nested up in her box and there was no way to cover her and she was NOT moving.. I sighed and figured I would have to keep a close eye and lock the hens out for one night (they have a outside bird house in their pen) but it was not needed, as soon as a hen got a little to interested in that peeping, the momma moscovie gave a help cry and Mr. Big came and settled himself down on the floor, and protected her and the hatching little ones from the hens and if the little ones are getting chased a bit, they all run up to either their mother or Mr. Big to put a stop to it.

But when that line gets crossed and that males see’s US as a issue, we have a big problem! and one that to be honest typically ends up with said rooster or gander or tom ending up in the cooking pot.  That is my top recommendation, remove them from the flock, remove them from the breeding pool.

Having said that, lets dig a little deeper before we put them on the chopping block.. they might be workable with if a few things have happened..

1) They attacked a stranger who you brought to the show the flock to, this might be frustrating and certainly attacking small children is NOT ok, but defending from a stranger is in my books a acceptable thing.

2) You changed your routine in a major way, example, you typically where brown coat, black boots and come from the left at a slow walk/whistle when you feed, its pouring rain, and you are moving fast in a bright red slicker and purple rain boots with white flowers, and in your hurry, you forget to whistle.. if you get a flying Ninja who thinks your boots are the devil.. let it pass!

3) Have a nice boy who turns into a dragon when the chicks, ducklings or goslings arrive for the first couple days to couple weeks, worth with it, good strong parent skills are something to breed into your small farm flock, and if that means having to deal with a over protective male who is grumpy for a few weeks a year but good the rest, its worth the hassle, or at least it is to me..

4)They had a run in with preditor, if your hen house is having attacks from fox’s, wild birds, or even the dog next door, or even being bugged by your own hound, then expect the boys to be on edge and cut them some slack, they know when a hen or chick has been taken, and they tend to step up on being on their toes.

5) You have to many boy’s and not enough girls, on average you should have at least three to five girls for each boy and if you have a large number of boys, they are not only going to fight among themselves but sure as shoot someone or two will take a run at you as well.. its like they are all puffed up and just can’t quite help themselves.  If you have one of these, but you like the line and the birds, consider moving him to a small pen and flock of his own and see if he settles right down.

Those are for me at least, the only five reason’s I will cut a boy some slack, have you got any I should consider? Have you had a run in with one of the Big Boys? Tell me about it, what did you do in the end?

The best advice I can give is this, Gentle and steady treatment “should” give you a steady flock to deal with, Don’t keep a bird that fights you, it just going to ruin your day and make you enjoy the rest of the flock less..Cull, so both you and the rest of the flock enjoy each other.