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| Clove posing for the picture....he is beautiful and he knows it! |
Clove went to live with a friend of mine but she could not keep him, so, he is back. He has been for some time. Poor guy. We actually had some other offers and places lined up for him to go, but in the end we feel bad giving him away because our neighbors have become so attached to him. Almost every day, Clove books it over to the neighbors house once we are gone. He stands at their back door and crows until they come out and feed him treats. Yes, they are spoiling Clove rotten and they think he is HILARIOUS. The other day I went over to their house with Clove in my arms with hopes they would just keep him. I put him down and our neighbor said to him, "Clove, you want a biscuit?" and proceeded to feed him. Oh, dear.....
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| looking for bugs |
Well, Clove (a Partridge Rock) is proving to be a trouble-maker and he is super smart. He has some aggressive tendencies which we have NEVER experienced before with any of our Dominiques. He is rough on the hens, not nice to Coriander (his "BFF"), and is mean to the babies. He will occassionally come running at me and BJ to attack, and we have to stand up to him and put our foot out in front of us so that he stops. A few times he has actually pecked at my shoe or spurred me out of aggression. My response is usually to pick him up immediately, carry him around for a while, pet him excessively and scold him, push his head down, etc. I make sure all the other chickens get to see him getting held so that he is throughouly embarrassed.
Had we not named him and grown attached, he surely would be going into "freezer camp" by now. I think the best I could do at this point would be to give him away, or perhaps enter him in the state fair with the intention to sell him.
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| Clove and Coriander.....always together :) |
Poor Rosemary is scared to death of Clove, and Reggie is nearly always protecting her from him and Cori both. They have a tendency to try to gang rape Rosemary and she just freaks out. Thankfully, since Reggie is the dominant roo, he chases them off so that Rosemary can forage in peace. Reggie is a very sweet, respectful rooster. He does NOT like being held, but he would never try to hurt us and does a fantastic job of protecting the flock and keeping everyone in line. I even spied him over in front of the little pullets pen already courting them with his "I found food" noises. It was so cute.
So, readers, what are your tips for dealing with troublesome or aggressive roosters?
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