A Study in Post-Traumatic Stress in Poultry.

Written by Prospector on Dec 22, 2010

Part One

We are now over a week past the chicken funerals, and things have gotten interesting again.

1. The Americauna - The Americauna is grieving the loss of her boyfriend. We put her in with the Chanty Roo that survived the dog attack and she isn't pecking or hurting him, which is good, and she is bonding to him, which is probably bad, but at least she has a BFF again.

2. The Chanty Roo - OK this guy is a survivor and a champ, but I don't know how long to hold out for him. Poor guy is putting out new feathers through his skin and is bumpy all over. He can't walk well and he has a wing that is sitting funny. He is bright and attentive and is eating and drinking though. If his wing and leg heal, I believe he could be incorporated with teh flock again, but if they don't he won't last a day in mixed company. I don't know whether to dispatch him to a happier place or hold out for a recovery.

3. The 3 Chanty hens who weren't hurt - so the three hens who sat up on their roost and didn't get in the path of Bernie have now adopted the Wyandot Roosters as their boyfriends and have started laying again. Dammit. I mean good about the eggs, dammit about the mixed genetics.

4. The Wandot hens - no eggs since they arrived, but they sure eat a lot.

5. New arrivals - An older guy in town was moving and needed to get rid of a trio of hens. So we now have 3 hens that totally don't fit into our program but lay like clockwork daily. Nice big dark shelled eggs too. So we now have a Black Sex link, an ISA Brown, and a Rhode Island Red. Right now these are our most productive hens.

6. New arrival on Order - While cruising Craigslist the other day I came across someone with a Chanty Roo to be rehomed - Yippee! for $10 I can replace the Roo suffering in the basement, or if he survives, I can have two separate breeding roos. Just one problem - the Chanty hens are all in love with the Wyandots now, and the Americauna hen is dating the sickly Chanty Roo. The new Roo will end up being put in with the New trio of girls and in the end I will have 3 or 4 separate lines of Mutt chickens and no true breeding lines to show and sell. The New Roo arrives on Boxing day.