The Crazy Rooster

2006-05-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Blue OEGB Hen---Standard bronze turkey poults---and blue orpington chicks

2006-05-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

2006-05-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

here's PENNY!! and MATTHEW!!!

2006-05-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

2006-04-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

well, I'm back! Did you miss me? It's been a boring winter, but the chicks are piping all over the place again. I'm not running any incubators this year. Going all natual. havent hatched any banties yet but I have about two dozen blue orpington chicks and six standard bronze turkey
poults. I've got about twelve more turkey eggs under hens

NEW ON THE FARM: Well, we bought a miniature horse. Her name is "Penny". she stands 36" at the shoulders and is the sweetest, most well-mannered horse I have ever seen! OK, I haven't been around many horses in my life, but she's still sweet. My grandson is hadicapped and riding penny is good therapy for his hips and leggs. But the real reason we got her is because Matthew really enjoys riding.

COMING SOON: GOATS!!! That's right, the crazy rooster is diversifying. Two young Alpine weathers (neutered males) . I would like to train them to pull a small wagon ,as a team. I think I'll work on training Penny first though. The goats are too small right now.

blue andalusion (sp)

2005-08-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

IMGP1528B
Originally uploaded by flagondry.

a young man apperently from austrailia poasted this on my flickr sight. a show cock from a livestock show there. I wish Icould get lacing like that in my blue orpingtons.
T.C.R.

summertime blues

2005-07-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

It was a busy spring! I must have hatched out well over a hundred chicks. Some will say that isn't mutch. but for the size of my operation and the time I have availible to put into my birds,believe me i've been runnin'!

I've allready made my first culling of my blue oegbs and blue orpington standards. I thought I'd sell the culls so I put flyers out at the feed stores here and got almost no response. Put two signs on the side of the RD. in front of my house and "BAM". sold out in one wk. Guess we know what works now.

Guineas...... only had one breeding pair of adults this spring. guess I'v hatched 35 or 40 . Sold all but the last hatch, two nests totaling about 15 keets. They're up about two and a half wks old.

meat birds......they did even better than expected!! out of twenty-five slaughtered all but seven hens. yea, thats right , they're allmost five months old now. a good three months past they're prime slaughter date. In the past, I've put them in wire floor cages and had them in the freezer no later than ten wks. But they were doing so well I decided to let the last of the hens go for a while. Took them out of thier cages and put them in a"chicken tractor". For those of you who don't know, go to your fav. serch eng. and type in "chicken tractor" . Its a great idea. so much cleaner than granpa's chicken pen.

sex links..... Haven't hatched many so far, but just like in prev.years,folks buy them as fast as i can hatch them.

The chicks I got from Ideal back in feb. are doing great . rhode island red roos , rhode island white pullets,four wht.rock pullets and two wht. rock roos. gonna do red sexlinks next year.
Thinking about putting one of the wht.rk. roos on those cornish crosses.

BBwhite turkeys........ also doing well. got a tom and a hen almost five months old an five a few wks younger. I can almost taste 'em!

well, got to go now.

ps. How do you like my music. It takes a little longer than i would like to load but we're working on that. It should have loaded before you finish reading this. If not please leave a comment or drop me an e--mail

JOHN

2005-05-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

old pictures 134
Originally uploaded by thecrazyrooster.

blue OEGB's two days old

2005-05-12T20:36:00.000-07:00

101_0033
Originally uploaded by thecrazyrooster.

blue OEGB's

2005-05-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

100_0247
Originally uploaded by thecrazyrooster.

these are the same birds in the pic above. About six wks. old.

hatch update 5/12/05

2005-05-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

WEll, let me see........ there's at least twenty banties in my heated brooder, anywhere from ten days to day olds. most of them are blue oegb's. A few mix-breeds, and the latest addition... six pearl guinies. There's five more guinie eggs pipin'.
Both my baters are full again. There's a dozen standard bronze turkey eggs and probably 15 more guinie eggs in one. The other one has 25 or so red and black sex link eggs in it.
Oh, let me tell you about Ideal poultry! I ordered 6 b.b.white turkeys back in Feb. and within the first two weeks four of them went lame. I thought about it for about a week and then sent them an e-mail. I figured they would ask me a bunch of questions and then tell me it was something I did that caused them to twist their legs like that . Well Missy did ask a few understandable questions, and then , to my suprise, I got a phone call; and they sent me 6 replacements. Is that coustomer service or what! I lost one of them. Just found him dead. Like I told Missy , I exspect some losses. but the other five are healthy and strong. As a matter of fact, I have movie footage of two of them struttin. thats right, at two weeks old!! I've never heard of that and I wouldn't have believed it unless I'd seen it !!
I've got a freezer full of fresh chicken thanks to mcmurry. They did wonderful ! Didn't lose any to "FLIP", and the first one started showing signs of week legs at about seven and a half
wks.
Well, that brings me up to date I think. I'm trying to find a free host site for that turkey movie so I can share it with you. Meantime, I'll put up some updated pics of those little blue chiks . They're amazing!! LATER!

new arrivals 4-11-05

2005-04-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

chicks are hatching out all over the place!!

I've got about a dozen blue OEG bantams one wk old and 18 more due around the 30th.

also eight or ten blue orpingtons two wks old. going to try to post some pics "if i can remember how " been a while. got 20 or so gold sebright eggs before i lost my rooster ;still waiting on them to start hatching.
my little inc. is full! got 52 blue orpington eggs in it. all due out before the end of the month.
i'm currently collecting black and red sexlink eggs , guineas.and bronze standard turkeys.
I received my broilers from McMurry , at six wks they're 3 to 4 lbs . very satisfide with them! also received RIWhites,white rocks , and RIRs from IDEAL all doing well.
The bb whites from IDEAL were a big dissapointment however. they went lame ,all but two. {slipped tendon} wrote an e-mail to coust. service. Missy was very prompt and courteous. They are going to send me six free replacements! I think that's very nice of them! Afer six wks, they could have quite easily said it was something I did,but they didn't.

Well, its getting late. let me see if I can get these pics on here.

here we go again! 2-8-05

2005-02-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's febuary. Got four banties setting and one buff orpington setting. Don't remember them starting this early last year.

Haven't set any eggs yet, afraid we've got another freez comming yet. Got lots planned though, as far as breeding. Managed to raise three blue orp.. pullets. Bought two more blue orp. roosters and two more blue orp. hens. Also got two more black orpington hens, three total now. going to put my blue OEGB rooster on a couple of black OEGB hens as well as his splash daughters.

Somthin intresting planned for my white silky rooster. Going to put him on two white rock hens. Objective; to develop a standard sized white silky. Have looked into this briefly, seems posible to do this within two or three gen. Wouldn't it bee interesting to have a hen with the broodiness of the silky and the egg production and size of the plymouth rock!?

Got a trio of gold sebrights left. going to let nature take it's course there and see what happens. Theese are beutifull birds, hope they do well.

got some slow growing meat birds comming from McMurry{cornish roasters}. thinking about keeping some for breeding or maybe crossing them with white rocks or rohde island whites.

replacement RIR roosters on the way from IDEAL. To put with my barred rocks.I like the sex links. they sell faster than I can hatch them and they are great layers. Going to try gold sex links this year too. IDEAL is also sending six rohde island white pullets. I just throw them in with the barred rocks and the RIR roos and every thing that hatches is a sexlink of some kind.

OH yeah, got my red tom turkey and two hens too. Lots going on here or soon will be!

Well, getting late, seya later. JOHN

The Drama Continues 12-12-04

2004-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

Well, where to begin? Ok, I took a day off from work to help with my grandson who just got out of surgery. The day was going well, Matthew was doing better than we'd expected, it was a beautiful day and I hadn't seen the neighbors dog all morning, so after a good look around the neighborhood, I turned some of my birds out so they could get some grass, bugs, etc. I checked on them often and things were quiet.Until..... My wife goes on the front porch just before dark and I heard her yell, John! That dog just came from the back yard.

I went to the pens to check my birds, luckily they had already gone to the roost and the dog couldn't fit in the door to the coops. I was relieved but wanted this to stop so I went out front to see where the dog was. Sure enough, she was playing with the kids next door. Then I did something I'm not too proud of. I knew the dog wouldn't let me get my hands on him, so I went over to the kids and asked if they would put my belt around the dogs neck for me. Well, that must have been the most fun they'd had all day.

Before long, they had her and it wasn't until I took her and started to leave that they wanted to know what I was going to do with her. "I'm going to find her a new home". I said. Their mood changed instantly and I felt terrible. But I was determined. We all went to my house and I tied her up on my porch and made the call. I was sitting on the porch swing waiting on the truck from the Humane Society and the kids were all hugging the dog and saying goodbye.

Just then the dog's owner comes walking down the driveway. She immediately blames the kids saying her love of playing with them attracts the dog to my house, to which I replied, the kids play next door, not in my back yard and the only thing attracting her there was fresh chicken.There was a long silence, even the kids didn't make a sound then she says I've come for my dog. I told her"I've called the sheriff and they are sending someone to pick up the dog." Well she said, "I'm taking her home now". I could tell she was trying to read my body language but she didn't move towards the dog. Neither did I, for what seemed like and eternity.

Then I looked at the dog and the little kids and that's when I caved. "Take her", I said." But if I catch her again, she's gone!"

I sat there for a while and thought.. could I be wrong? My animals are being killed, she's not succeeding in keeping her dog put up, she has yet to say Im sorry or offer to pay for my birds. IF my dog got out and went to her house and killed her dog, she's be ready to sue me and put my dog to sleep. But these are "just chickens" and somehow less important. That's her attitude.Anyway, the drama continues.

"LUCKY" 11-27-04

2004-11-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

I took some time off work. A four day weekend. Don't get many of those. Thursday morning I let some of my birds out to graze. We were going to my parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Before we left I put them up , except for one blue rooster . I couldn't get him to go back in his pen . I looked around and I didn't see that black dog anywhere, so we left. We pulled in the driveway a couple of hours later........... She's laying next to the driveway chewing on my blue rooster! I WAS FURIOUS !! I bailed out of the car, grabbed the Carcus, intent on doing something with it I was sure to regret later. I went to my neighbor's house ,but nobody was home. I went back home,still pretty steamed up and called the sheriff's dept.." Somebody needs to come get this dog", I told the dispatcher . She wanted to send a deputy out. "No "I said; "I don't need a deputy, I just want a dog catcher before I kill this dog myself!"" Well," she said" I'll tell you now that's illegal."
I backed out. I told her to just forget it. I felt helpless. It seemed like the system was against me.
Eventually, I cooled down and late Friday afternoon I turned them out again. I know, I know, but it had rained pretty hard the last couple days and their pens were looking like pig pens.They needed to get out of that soup they were walking around in. I watched over them for a while then went inside to play with my grandson. It wasn't in long before I heard a familiar scream. My wife took the baby and I hit the back door with my .22 rifle ! "Don't do it John!" I heard somewhere behind me, but I looked down the hill to see the same black dog trying hard to get a better grip on a frantic banty rooster! "Don't do it John! Come inside and call the sheriff again." My wife was yelling behind me. I drew down on the animal, but I couldn't get a clean shot! Just then she got a grip on the bird and started away from me and into the woods. I fired a shot just in front of her and she dropped her hysterical victim . The little rooster scrambled away but was quickly caught again. I jumped down from the porch and ran parallel to the dog.I had one more chance to shoot before she got too close to some houses. I put one about three inches above her head, she dropped him! He scurried away into a ditch and the dog ran off. I slid down into the ditch just in time to see a desperate little banty rooster run into a trash pile. I thought, well. He's going to climb in a hole and die now,and decided I wasn't going to look too hard for him since I probably wasn't going to find him anyway. But after just a few minutes there he was! Very gently I pulled him out by his tail and to my surprise, he still had some fight left in him! We went back to the yard and I looked him over good. He had a bald spot on his chest, a couple scratches and all his tail feathers were gone. It was then that I realized this same little rooster had an encounter with my German Shepard back in the spring.
Well I checked on the little rooster Saturday afternoon and he seems fine. I think he's earned his new name! "LUCKY"
It's time to wrap this little story up now. So,I'll finish by saying I did talk to a deputy Friday evening and he told me that all I had to do was get a leash on the dog and call the dispatcher at the sheriff's office. They would be happy to send someone to pick the dog up. Boy! I should have made that call months ago!

DAWGS

2004-11-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

I'm almost at my wits end over my dog problem! Everybody around here just lets their dogs run loose . That's OK if you own a little dustmop with legs that wouldn't bite a biscuit, but bulldogs , labs , ect...?! I turn some of my birds out on the weekends to free range and I have to stand guard the whole time their out or risk loosing one or Moore of them. My yard is not fenced in but most of the time my birds will not leave the backyard. The neighbors dogs will make a quick run through the yard , grab what they can and take it elsewhere to finish it off. They move so quick till it's really hard to catch them in the act . I have talked to most of the offending pet owners. I even gave one lady my electric fence charger. But so far no results. I hate to hurt anyone's pets , but I'm really getting pissed.
I've turned one of my empty pens into a trap in hopes of capturing the culprit , but so far no luck. I guess I'm lucky they only strike when the birds are out . They don't want a chicken dinner bad enough to break into the pens. One of my neighbors has a black lab female and a fenced in yard but can't seem to keep her in it. Her dog got one of my gold sebright roosters Saturday before last. Some nieborhood kids came and told me and I retrieved the bird. I asked the kids witch dog brought him to their yard , they all pointed to the lab. So, I took the bird home and put it down. Hard to do but had to be done. Then got a gun out of the cabinet and started after the dog. I could have picked up a 12 ga. , a .22 ,or a .308 but I grabbed the b.b. gun. The woman who owns the dog came to my house a little while later. She accused me of killing two of her dogs and kept telling me she didn't want her other dog shot. I promised her that I hadn't shot any of her dogs with anything bigger than my b.b. gun......YET ! She naturally didn't believe me but I really don't care what she thinks at this point ! I gave her my old fence charger & even offered to come over on the weekend and help her hook it up. Almost two weeks later, I've seen the dog out three times and she still doesn't have the fence charger hooked up. I just don't understand how someone can bee so irresponsible with their large breed dogs and not think there will be consequences.

Some Pictures

2004-11-14T17:02:00.000-08:00

Old English Game Bantam Rooster (lemon blue)

Blue Orpington rooster

Old English Game Bantam pullet ( black, from blue mating)

Pearl Guineas

Bronze and burbon red cross Turkey's

Blue Orpington Pullet

intro

2004-11-13T19:15:00.000-08:00

This is a page about poultry. It will be a combination,record keeping, story telling, personal observation and possibly some insane babbling. I will be posting pics as soon as I figure out how.

Where to start? OK, Two years ago my youngest son brought home three baby chicks . I found out later , a partridge cochin bantam, a buff brahma bantam, and a barred rock standard size . Like all his pets he soon lost interest and guess who had to step in. I soon found myself making little improvements in the cage I had them in, feeding them out of my hand, and generally enjoying these little birds much moore than I thought possible. Soon after that I built them a twelve by twelve pen.

I told my foreman at work about these cute little birds and found out he had been raising chickens and turkeys for years. He had answers to most of my questions as well as some stories of his own. By the way his name is Archie. Well, it wasn't long before I talked Archie out of some birds; it wasn't hard. He gave me some old English game bantam hens. They were blacks and red Pyle. Over the course of the next year, Archie gave me several birds , including some white silkies, two standard size cross breed hens,a pair of bronze turkeys , a trio of broad breasted turkeys, and what I think is a lemon blue old Eng. Game bantam roo. with a blue splash hen.

Somewhere amongst this I bought about twenty day old pullets from my local feedstore, ten barred rocks and ten black sex links. I was having a ball! It seemed as though they changed every day. Before that summer ended I ordered 25 more day olds from McMurry hatchery ,as well as "STOREY'S GUIDE TO RAISING POULTRY" . I've found this book to be a very important tool. That still wasn't enough! I ordered 25 more day olds from Ideal poultry. I may have been a little out of control but I was enjoying my new hobbie and learning so much.