Chris and I have spent the last two weeks working on the chicken run. It has been all encompassing, as I wanted to finish it before leaving town. My daughters are chicken-sitting and my rooster has become quite deranged recently. I am learning so much about chickens. I had no idea that adolescent roosters can get quite grumpy. It appears I have one rooster with 7 hens, so that’s not a bad ratio.

The reviews are mixed on whether or not it’s good to have a rooster. Many people get rid of them right away, others have the belief that it’s good to have a rooster around because he protects the hens from danger, and also keeps the hens from picking on each other (the pecking order is a real thing.) Here is my rooster, Chicken Nugget

He crows like crazy, which I think is endearing but I don’t think anyone else does. He used to let me pick him up easily but now he kind of rushes at me when I come in. Sometimes I know he wants to take me out, as an intruder, and other times I think it’s because he wants the handfuls of fresh basil, cucumbers, or watermelon that I bring to the chickens in the afternoon from my garden. Regardless, I carry a plastic rake in one hand to shoo him away, and the treats or my bucket of water in the other hand. Lady Gaga seems to work in tandem with him, and will come at me from the other direction while my favorite, Tess, runs in between my feet wanting me to pick her up to hold her.

I follow a bunch of local chicken FB pages and it has been really helpful as I am new chicken owner. Some people say to pick him up and turn him upside down by his feet and walk around the run with him like that for a little bit, and when you set him back down he’ll never mess with you again. I am not quite at that point, yet, but I did take the advice of picking him up and showing him who is the alpha chicken by just walking around holding and petting him and saying what a good chicken he is, in front of his ladies for about 10 minutes. He did NOT like that, but he didn’t peck me so that’s good, and it did improve his attitude. Win win. He stayed clear of me the next several times I was in the run. I don’t know if it’s something I just have to keep doing as he gets testy with me.

I still am quite fond of him, and think he is very valuable to have. That could change if he ever gets ahold of me or hurts any of the hens. I never realized how much I don’t know about so many things, until I start a new venture or hobby. There is so much to learn, and I’ve really enjoyed most of it. And the eggs are so delicious. I like knowing what goes into my food, and I figure when I am 110 years old I will hit a break even point, monetarily, on the coop, the run, the feed, and the chickens. Lol. Not really kidding.

We are getting four eggs a day now and they are beautiful. The white one is from my favorite, Tess, and is quite large as she is the smallest hen. But leghorns are supposed to be very reliable egg layers, and she has been. The bluish-green one is from Lady Gaga. And the two red ones are from Lucy and Red. The other three are not laying eggs yet but soon we should have 6 to 7 eggs a day. It’s great as we’ve also been making a lot of zucchini bread and have not been out of eggs for weeks now.

So that’s about it on all things chicken for today. There’s so much more, and I’ll share in future posts. I have pictures and video of the chicken run assembly that I’m sorting through and will share next week. Have a great weekend!