Fluffy chicks may be cute, but the realities of farm life are that chickens can sometimes be brutally unkind to each other. Let’s rewind a little, briefly.
Frodo, our young Dark Brahma male, was our bonus ‘mystery chick’ from the hatchery, that arrived with our new chicks earlier this spring.
Frodo, a gift from the hatchery, arrived shortly before Easter
He was raised with everyone else, first in the brooder, and then he moved out into the coop with the flock. He’s been slow to mature, as is typical for Brahma males compared to other standard sized breeds. For Frodo, the only Brahma in our flock, that became a BIG problem.
At 3 weeks, it was obvious Frodo was feathering in much slower than the rest of the flock
Everyone was mostly feathered in by five weeks…but not Frodo.
"it's not my fault!"
All the young birds were moved out to the coop together at 7 weeks. For the first 48 hours everything was fine, until one of our Wyandotte pullets noticed that Frodo’s suit of feathers was a bit raggedy-looking. He was different, not quite like the rest of the flock, and she decided to make something of it. She and some of Frodo’s other flock-mates turned on him, and he took a nasty beating in the coop. Bleeding, reluctantly, Frodo was pulled from the flock, along with a docile young female for company, to prevent further, and more deleterious injuries.
Still not feathered, Frodo moved with the flock to the coop at 7 weeks
The initial intent was just to let Frodo heal for a week or so before returning him to the flock. For a number of reasons (slow healing and re-feathering), he was held back longer than we expected. Not good, as chickens aren’t really gifted with long-term memories. For them, it’s very much out of sight, out of mind.
Frodo was almost healed within 10 days, but then feathers that had grown in, were falling out again as they were being replaced by more mature feathers, and his ‘fluff’ over the saddle area fell out, leaving a large bald spot. This resulted in us jokingly dubbing him “Frodo Finnegan”.
There was a young Brahma named Frodo Finnegan,
His feathers fell out…
…and then they grew again,
Poor old Frodo Finnegan. Begin again!
This poor chap has spent most of his first few months of life with significant bald spots in one place or another. Next time we get a Brahma, we’ll get more than one, so they all look goofy together, and nobody will care.
At 9 weeks, Frodo's fluffy feet looked great...
...his back though, still highly peck-worthy
A couple of weeks ago we decided bald spots or not, that we should just go ahead and get him back in the coop, as the longer we waited, the more difficult the re-introductions would be.
Have I mentioned before that our Golden Laced Wyandottes are not particularly friendly birds?
"next victim...um, I mean...patient please!"
I had made the mistake of going into the run in a short sleeved shirt. I found out the hard way exactly what Frodo was about to be in for on his return to the coop with any pink skin showing. Dr. Wyandotte’s Dermatology Service apparently offers complimentary anesthetic-free mole removal!
I’m serious…this is MY arm! That WAS my mole!
OUCH! What the....?
It’s a simple surgical procedure…peck, pinch, twist, pull, rip…only takes a fraction of a second…and it’s over. I informed ‘Dr. Wyandotte’ that she was still young enough make a VERY tender and tasty meal, and left the coop to clean my wound, and count to ten. (If you’ve ever cut a mole, you know they can bleed like the dickens!)
I have never, ever, had a chicken draw blood on me. For Pete’s sake, they don’t even have teeth! I was miffed, and decided I didn’t have the heart to put Frodo in the pen with that piranha, at least not until he was fully dressed. He was close, maybe another week?
Frodo's saddle feathers, almost there...
Finally Frodo’s saddle feathers broke through their sheaths last weekend, at the same time his old hackle feathers are falling out again and growing in anew, but he was at least ‘covered’. Regardless as to his disheveled appearance, it really was now or never to see if he could reintegrate with the flock. As it had been so long, we weren’t particularly hopeful, but wanted to try.
To improve his odds of acceptance, every day we’ve had a temporary pen set up alongside the run. The chickens have all been able to see each other, but not make physical contact with Frodo and Sam. We’ve done this for weeks since Frodo has been separated from the flock, in the hopes they didn’t ‘forget’ each other. Everyone seemed fine.
Time to try returning Frodo to the flock
Late on Wednesday night, long after the rest of the flock had roosted for the night, Frodo, and his friend Sam were quietly slipped in the back door of the coop, on to a section of the roost not inhabited by anyone else. There were a couple of brief mumblings from inside the coop, but then everyone quickly settled down, and went back to sleep. So far, so good, so we went back to bed.
Early the next morning, all still seemed quiet. Wanting to be sure that if any skirmishes broke out during daylight, that it would be out where we could see them, and supervise them, we loaded up a colander with fresh garden treats (as a distraction), and opened the coop door. Out they filed, in their usual order, Delawares first, with the little Buff Orpington who is bottom of the pecking order coming out last…well, last except for Frodo and Sam. We scattered the treats around, and everyone was busy scratching and pecking. Sam finally ventured out, but was greeted at the bottom of the ramp by a Wyandotte with a nasty peck to the head. The Wyandotte was quickly shooed to the other side of the run, and everyone seemed to calm back down.
This is Frodo...
However, poor Frodo didn’t even make it half way down the ramp before pandemonium ensued. Our other male, the same age as Frodo, a Partridge Plymouth Rock now named Siegfried (named after a character in the James Herriot books) clapped eyes on Frodo, and…well, by 6:15 AM I’d already broken up two nasty fights between them.
This is Siegfried, and he's NOT willing to share HIS coop!
We expected some initial skirmishes, if for no other reason than when (re)introducing chickens to a flock, the pecking order needs to be reestablished. We knew they’d need to work out a new hierarchy between themselves. Our job is to ensure that things don’t get too out of hand, and be prepared to intervene if necessary. Initially, when challenged by Siegfried, Frodo would rise to defend himself. Who wouldn’t? After two rounds, they seemed to settle down a bit, well, sort of. Siegfried was still mumbling something about interlopers in HIS coop.
Having put Frodo in his place, Siegfried relaxed a little, and then turned his attention toward Sam, who was again being picked on by the head Wyandotte witch pullet. In Sam’s case though, much less drama, it was a quick peck from Siegfried, the real fight with her came later.
Twenty minutes later though, voices were raised, hackles and tails were flared, and Frodo and Siegfried were again toe-to-toe in the tango, but this time Siegfried had clearly had enough. He started to pound the stuffing out of Frodo, and just wouldn’t relent. It was a classic case of ‘Rooster Rage’. Frodo was starting to bleed from his earlobe, and his comb, and had clearly given up. Before we knew it, Frodo was smashed between Siegfried and the side of the run, desperately trying to push himself through the hardware cloth. Anything to find a way out from underneath Siege-fried’s feet. Siegfried wouldn’t accept Frodo’s surrender. I was torn, continue to let them work it out? Or call it a valiant effort, and be done.
I couldn’t stand it anymore, that was it. I decided we had two choices. Pull Siegfried, or pull Frodo out of the coop. I don’t doubt that Frodo could be content to be subordinate to another male. Siegfried just won’t tolerate another male in his midst. We could push it, be persistent, try other methods of re-integration, or try again during a different time of day, but even if miraculously that worked for a while, it doesn’t mean it would last. As both males continue to mature, the fighting is likely to escalate, possibly even to the point of death. It’s simply not worth it.
Siegfried isn't a bad rooster, he's just doing his job
Frodo was pulled out from under Siegfried, cleaned up, and won’t be returning to the main coop, not as long as Siegfried is there. We have to do what’s best for the flock, and for Frodo. Although Frodo is the nicer of the two males, and I admit to briefly being tempted to ‘soup’ Siegfried, to pull Siegfried out would completely upset the coop dynamic. Siegfried is not a ‘bad’ rooster, in fact he’s a good one, and doing exactly what he should do to defend his girls from intruders, and rival males. He respects us, and has not been a problem with people. I can’t punish him, or the flock, for that.
Sadly now, Frodo is alone.
Frodo
We left Sam in the coop, as this is her best chance to rejoin the flock permanently. She was attacked by Siegfried once late yesterday morning. He held her down, and everyone seemed to have fun pecking her. We broke up the fight, and proceeded to spend five hours yesterday afternoon in the run with Sam, defending her from Siegfried, who was entirely over-reacting to her presence. With some positive reinforcement in the form of treats, and communal feeding, the other girls accepted Sam fine. Then there was some negative reinforcement directed at Siegfried, via a hose soaking, twice. It wasn’t to hurt him, just to divert his attention, and maybe dampen his pride a little. He finally gave in, and realized Sam really wasn’t a threat to his fiefdom. It took a while though, and during that five hour stint in the run, it seemed I either had Sam in my lap, or more than once, she flew up onto my head as she escaped from Siegfried.
This morning though things seemed to have calmed down a lot. While there are ‘adjustments’ going on in the hierarchy over the next few days, we’ll continue to keep a close eye on her.
It’s plan B for Frodo though. We’ll take him out to free range with the older hens in the orchard. Now, Ginger, the head orchard hen, has an attitude almost as big as any rooster. We’re hoping in wide open space, introduced slowly over the coming days, that she’ll accept Frodo as a new room-mate.
Maybe Ginger and the girls in the orchard will be kinder to Frodo
He’s a fabulous, docile bird, and completely trusts us, so we’ll start by holding him during initial introductions, until we know how Ginger will react. If we can convince these hens to accept him, it will be the best for Frodo. He’ll have a few girls of his own, out in the orchard, with lots of room to roam. What we don’t want is to have to isolate one or the other male, alone, for the rest of his days. That’s really no life for a rooster. If it comes to that, the only fair thing will be to find one of the males a better home. Let’s hope Ginger thinks Frodo’s cute…we certainly think he is.
Be nice to him ladies...
It sounds like your wyandottes are just as mean as mine. I hope Frodo lucks out with Ginger!
Since we didn’t have any luck with the broody hen, we’re going to hand raise chicks. Our older hens that weren’t hand raised are so much MEANER than our hand raised hens. One of my poor Ameracaunas has no neck feathers now! Our meanies, however, are going to end up in a soup pot soon.
I had read that the Wyandottes were supposed to be nice chickens. However, everyone I’ve since spoken to that has owned them, found them to be rather unpleasant birds. I certainly won’t go out of my way to get any more.
I think it’s a definite advantage to hand raise them, in so far as having nicer chickens down the road. All ours have been hand raised, although some, like Frodo, got doted on more than others, and you can tell who got more attention. The Wyandottes though, I dread to think how ours would have turned out if we’d had a chicken raise them! I think soup for your meanies might be right idea! 😛
Very nice hat! Thanks for the great post…
Why thank you. The advantage of this feather hat is the bird gets to keep the feathers 😛
What an attack Clare – I hope your arm is healing well now. I think you need battle armour in there or else a roast chicken dinner.
Your update on Frodo has been so interesting to read and full of suspense. I really feel for poor Frodo – that was simply awful behaviour from Siegfried but as you say he was only protecting “his girls”. It must have been so hard to watch.
I laughed when I saw who you named him after…… we have all of those programmes in 3 boxed sets of dvds and we will probably be watching one of them tonight. They don’t make tv programmes like that these days! Frodo reminds me of James Herriot.
I hope Frodo enjoys being out in the orchard – if Ginger is an Orphington then there’s probably more hope of her accepting him. I think I would prefer the orchard anyday!
My mole has pretty much healed, although it’s a slightly different shape than it used be! Next time I’ll see a real dermatologist!
Frodo definitely has a much more Herriot disposition. Siegfried was a nice chap in the Herriot stories (and I loved Robert Hardy in that role), but always wound just a little tighter than he needed to be…so for that bird, the name fits rather well I think 😛
Frodo is out in the orchard now in the temporary pen, with the girls out loose. So far so good…we’ll see how things progress.
Oh my, what a kerfuffle! Chickens are flat-out mean if one of them doesn’t fit in for whatever reason. As a kid, I had a giant mutant mixed in with an order of 2 dozen mail-delivered winter chicks. It was pecked to death. I didn’t know enough to prevent it. Btw, I love the names Frodo and Sam!
The problem is, that behavior can be hard to prevent. With Frodo we pulled him out, but as the odd one out, it’s been impossible to put him back. If we didn’t have another small flock in the orchard, I’m not sure what we’d do with him. Probably find Siegfried a home 😉
Frodo sort of named himself early on. As a chick he looked ridiculous with hairy feet, and somehow, he just needed a hobbit name befitting of his fuzzy toes. When he got pulled from the flock, his pen-mate just had to be called Sam. Really, what else could we have called her? 😛
I had no idea that life in chickendom could be full of so much drama! Once the weather cools down a tad (we’re in triple digits this week), my husband and I will start planning our first chicken coop. I’m following your fowl posts religiously now to keep on the cutting edge of the wild and wacky foibles of fowl-keeping 🙂
I’m hoping this is as wild and wacky as things get around here for a while. We hit triple digits yesterday. Five hours in the run, and high temp yesterday afternoon was 102F! I thought Sam and I were going to melt! Can’t wait to see the plans for your new coop 🙂
Oh, I hope the girls in the orchard are nice to Frodo, bless his heart. Have those hens ever been around a rooster?
No Jackie, the orchard gals have never been around a rooster. Ginger has been Queen of her domain since she arrived here, so we’re going to take it slowly, and carefully. We really want to do whatever we can to make this work out for him. He’s still a youngster, and not really set in his ways yet, so I’m hoping that will help, and he’s not very aggressive either. Crossing my fingers!
What Drama! Well, I sure hope we’ll have a happy ending. Pretty scary, those chicken.
What a wonderful and interesting post!! Poor Frodo!! ‘Sigfried Soup’ made me laugh. I hope the ginger girls accept him well, and that Sig is ok with Sam back in the flock. Do keep us posted! And OUCH quite a mole removal technique.
I’m not planning on posting any ‘Siegfried Soup’ recipes, but don’t tell him that 😛 Frodo met our orchard gals yesterday for the first time. Not a bad first meeting, so we’re hopeful.
Oh my goodness!! When I saw the headline I braced for the worst, being quite hooked on Frodo as I am. So glad you are being lifeguards in the pool for him. Chickens just drive me nuts with the pecking order!! Maybe Sig could have some medicinal marijuana for anger management??! I hope that Ginger can be nice to Frodo, he’s so lovely. Will be staying tuned for developments! Great photos and movie!
I sure was rooting for Frodo the whole time I read your post. He sure does sound like a sweet rooster and I hope the other hens will accept him. It almost feels like I’ve been reading a book about the life of an outcast rooster. Keep us posted on how he does.
I’m hoping, if all goes well in the orchard this week, to post an update on homeless Frodo next Friday 😉
Oh my, Clare, I had no idea that raising chickens could involve such high drama! Your discussion of ‘souping’ Sigfried made me think of Barbara Kingsolver’s daughter Lily and her dilemma about whether to just sell eggs or to also slaughter chickens and sell meat. Faced with the reality that she could raise money for the horse she wanted much faster if she sold meat as well as eggs, Lily’s compromise was, “Well, okay, but we’ll only kill the mean ones.”
I think a lot of little farms have the same attitude. Really mean chickens can very much upset the dynamic on the farm. With roosters, the biggest problem is when they’re not well socialized to humans. Children and pets can be seriously hurt by a rooster defending his flock if he turns that aggression toward people, or the family dog. I would only soup Siegfried if he became a dangerous rooster toward people, not toward other roosters. We’ve tried hard to socialize both of the boys. Siegfried is very respectful of us, and won’t even come out of the coop most mornings until we step away from the door (especially the morning after he was ‘soaked’) 😛 He respects our presence when we’re in the coop, and that’s just how it should be.
Frodo and Sam. ha! Hobbit chickens. I love LOTR, I have an Elvish tatto on my back. What use was that info to you? None! Just to let you know that I’m a major geek, and I’m really pulling for your outcasts lol.
I did pull off one of my own moles when I was a kid, and it bled FOREVER. Feel your pain. Ouch!
I think we should both leave mole removal to the experts 😛
I loved the egg-inside-an-egg article you posted on your last blog post. That’s not something you see everyday!!! 😀
Frodo might like life with Ginger. I hope Ginger likes him! What’s not to like…he has feathers and is very handsome. We are all rooting for Frodo! Look forward to the updates.
I hope the orchard girls will accept Frodo! Surely they will like a male presence in their lives. Frodo is a lovely bird. The pecking order is a sad reality of life, for many species.
Frodo is very lucky to have landed at your farm. Poor guy.
I think my sister’s chickens would nip at her freckles, but I don’t recall hearing that they drew blood. Chickens can be pretty freaky and blood-thirsty. Hence the de-beaking in factory farming.
I really don’t have the space, but I keep toying with the idea of keeping chickens. I just love Gold Laced Wyandottes, visually, but knowing that they’re meanies makes it easier for me to not keep them. (Remind me that I said this as I trawl the “farm and garden” section of craigslist.)
I don’t think all Golden Laced Wyandottes are meanies. If you decide you really want that breed, don’t buy them from a hatchery. Buy them from a breeder who actually makes the effort to breed for both beauty, and personality. Sometimes I think people get so wrapped up in selecting birds for appearance, they forget to select them for their disposition. I’m sure there are some nicer ones out there somewhere 🙂
I’m sad to hear that the Wyandottes are not such friendly birds as you had hoped — and sad for me, too, as I think they are just gorgeous, and even now I’m still tempted. But I have a few moles on my arms… so maybe not!
Poor Frodo. He is turning out to be gorgeous; isn’t he? If he needs comforting, you can tell him there’s a lady over on the East Coast who would gladly take him if given the chance. 😉
Like I suggested to Lisa, if you’re tempted, see if someone locally is passionate about the breed. Meet their (parent) birds before buying. Don’t buy from them if you don’t like the disposition of their birds. Then when you get chicks, handle them as much as you possibly can. If I had known the Wyandottes were more ‘aggressive’ in nature, I would have made the effort, like I did with the two boys, to give them extra attention. Maybe then I wouldn’t have ended up with a mole-removing wild child! 😛
What an exciting tale. It had suspense, drama and danger! Frodo is a beautiful bird. My grandmother had chickens. I remember them trying to peck my toes. We can’t have chickens in town, but I have a bit of a rooster theme in my kitchen. Thanks for the tip about the bug – I am going to look up the post right now.
Your post read like a good drama, Clare! Hope all goes well in the coops and range … I had no idea that chicken life could be so stressful! Frodo is dashing … Ginger’s a lucky gal 🙂
Hi Clare,
Really informative post for those of us unfamiliar with the finer points of raising chickens, especially. I learned a lot at the Garden Conservancy seminar, but learn the most from conversations with friends who are raising these birds. (I remember when parents brought home little chicks for Easter, which the disappeared at some point!)
You clearly have incredible patience and a deeply caring spirit.
Poor Frodo 🙁 I guess teenagers are just teenagers, weather chickens or humans.
Great narrative, you kept us all riveted with the tale of Frodo’s woes! Hopefully he’ll find his tribe in the range.
Yikes, what a brutal match! Glad that wasn’t on pay-per-view! I can just hear in the background, “And in this corner…” Hoping for a happy ending over there!