Ever since our VPR – that’s code for Violent Poutry Reduction, from one of our readers. Cindy, maybe, or Kelly? Feel free to speak up. Google and my memory both failed me.
As I was saying, ever since our VPR in which we lost 7 of our 16 hens in one fell swoop, we’ve been forced to ration our eggs carefully. We haven’t gone back to store-bought, but the 7 daily eggs produced by our 9 remaining hens was just enough for baking and maybe a once-a-week egg breakfast for the family.
That’s why it was such a blessing to learn that our friends were feeling pressed to liquidate most of their flock of laying hens. Yesterday we welcomed about 9 new hens. They are of the very breeds that we know and love – Plymouth Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, and Buff Orpington – along with a couple of White Leghorns, which I was planning to try this year.
We also welcomed one new Barred Rock Rooster. Perry thought he seemed crankier than our friendly Buff Orpington rooster, but we were willing to wait and see.
Since we had newcomers, we planned to keep all the chickens in the coop for a day or two to make sure they understood it was home. Unfortunately we failed to communicate this to all the children, and somebody helpfully let them out very early this morning.
When I noticed an hour later that the flock was loose, I went to feed them and check on the newcomers. I wasn’t too worried about the deviation from our plan. I didn’t really expect them to wander too far if we made sure they knew the best food source was right there by the coop. We did wonder if the new hens would recognize the purpose of our nesting boxes, since their previous facilities might have looked different.
As I hoped, the chickens were all hanging near the waterer and the nearly empty feeder, and we even had a few eggs in the laying boxes. But I did find something unexpected.
This is our Buff Orpington Rooster. I found him hanging out surrounded by all the girls, old and new. See anything unusual? Click through and take a closer look at his head. It looks like he had a rough morning.
But you should see the other guy. He was off in the woods with one loyal hen, watching from a distance as the others ate. We didn’t get a photo until much of the blood had dried, but he’s still looking pretty downtrodden.
For now, they seem to be avoiding each other. Golden Boy stays around the house, while the battered loser is camped out at the bottom of the driveway with any hens who choose to consort with him. I wonder what will happen when it’s time to head to the coop tonight?
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I’m surprised that you took on another rooster. I figure that our rooster, Lightning, would do pretty much the same thing if we brought in another one. Is there a way to get two roosters to live in harmony? Whenever we hatch out eggs and get roosters, once they get old enough, Lightning starts crowing A LOT, morning and night. We sell or give the little roosters away on craigslist and Lightning calms back down.
We have had as many a 4 different grown roosters living in relative harmony. Our chickens are free range on 5 acres so they have never fought much. I guess we will have to lock on up until we get rid of him, just to keep him safe.
So are you going to tell us what the VPR was? Coyotes get them?
My girls said to tell you that you can’t have two roosters around because they will fight. We had two from our very first batch and when they started fighting we quickly “lost” one of them…. the kids took him on a long walk in the woods…. since that time– we have only “employed” one rooster here on our family farm!
~Blessings to you all,
Cynthia
Have you seen this blog? http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com/ I think they have 1 rooster for each type of hen but I think it has to do more with incubation and hatching.
So do you get different eggs (brown, white, orangey yolk, yellowy yolk) from the different breeds of chickens?
We have had 2 roosters living in harmony for quite a long time 2+ years. One of them was definitely more dominant than the other one, but they both spend plenty of quality time with the ladies (we have around 20 ladies). The more dominant one passed on a few weeks ago. Since then we’ve discovered that 4 of the 10 chicks we ordered last fall are roosters! We ordered 10 chicks, got 11 and 1 eventually died. I saw the old less-dominant rooster chasing one of the younguns around the back yard this afternoon but I don’t know how long he’ll last as head honcho. We’ll probably be having coq au vin as soon as I feel up to spending the money on the wine and hubby feels up to plucking them.
We have had (and currently still have) all the kinds of chickens you have, except the Leghorns. Our very favorite and probably the only kind we’ll order many of in the future is the Black Australorp. Excellent layers, docile, friendly. They are so well-rounded and just so much better than all of the other birds we’ve had. We love them. If you get a chance, give them a try! Our next favorite is probably the barred rock, but they’re a distant second.
The Barred Rock rooster has gone to my brother’s house along with 6 hens, so that problem is solved.
Our friends sent over another rooster, but he seems to get along well with Golden Boy. I think they’ll happily share the hens that are left, and that will leave us a backup rooster if anything happens to one.
We just got barred rock babies and 1 r.red. We have 5 cinnamon queens (love um) and 4 silkies (love um- tiny yummy eggs).
Anyhoo, are you all eating fertile eggs? We have no roosters so I’m not used to this scenario. Do you all plan on using them for meat eventually?
Julie,
Yes, eggs taste and look the same whether or not they’re fertile – unless you let the hens sit on them too long. The roosters help protect the hens and keep them together, since the girls tend to flock around the menfolk.
We don’t plan on eating our chickens, though it’s not out of the question. Most or all of ours are considered dual purpose breeds, so we certainly could eat them if we wanted to.
Our hope and plan for now is simply to maintain a generous laying flock, hatching out new chicks now and then to share or replace the layers as they get older.
Hi Kim!
Actually, my husband coined the phrase “Violent Poultry Reduction”, also known as a “VPR”. He came up with it in 2006 when a dog of ours (that we no longer have) killed four of our chickens.
http://www.shepherdsjourney.com/oldblog/2006/06/vpr.html
We’ve had more VPRs since then (for other reasons — more lessons learned!) and he’s FB’d or tweeted about them. Funny how things get around.
Here’s to NO VPRs! : )
~ Ruthanne