Posted on by Crystal Sands · 2 Comments

On That Giant Chicken Video: Or Why I Need a Brahma Chicken

Because I’m the chicken lady among all of my Facebook friends, any time there’s a chicken story in the news or going viral, it’s shared on my Facebook wall, usually many times. The first time I saw the video of that giant chicken (see below), my first thought was “Oh, I want one.”

Apparently, this is not how many people feel about that giant chicken.

My friends were asking “What IS it?” And others on social media have been terrified that such a big chicken exists in the world. Then, I saw this headline stating that this big chicken was terrifying. I had no idea people could be so scared of a chicken, even a giant chicken like that.

But it turns out people sometimes have a lot of trauma related to chickens. I have to admit, when I was little, my great grandmother had chickens, and the first time she had me help her get eggs, her girls pecked me pretty good. A few weeks later, I came down with chicken pox, so, in my mind, my grandma’s chickens definitely gave me chicken pox. This made me a little scared of chickens.

And chickens are, after all, the closest living relatives to the Tyrannosaurs Rex, and, sometimes, I’m reminded of that. When my girls are going after some corn on the cob I’m sharing, I’m reminded that I never want to pass out in the chicken coop.

Still, people shouldn’t worry about this giant chicken. I can tell by the way this rooster in the video walks that he’s a pretty laid back boy. And that’s the thing. The chicken in the video is a Brahma, and Brahma’s are really cool chickens.

Here’s a little background on the Brahma to help those who are worried about that bird sleep a little better at night:

  • People think the breed originated in the United States from chickens in China in the middle of the 1800s. It was originally a meat bird, so the breed was continually bred for size. That’s how you get such a big bird.
  • Brahmas are great layers, and they lay very large brown eggs.
  • And here’s the most important information: Brahmas are known for having a calm temperament. They are known for being gentle giants.
    I’m sure chicken people can tell by the way that big boy in the video walks that he’s a pretty calm bird. He’s large, beautiful, and not out to hurt anyone.

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There are some other really large breeds of chickens. The Jersey Giant can be even larger than the Brahma, so let’s just let that set in. But Jersey Giants are also known for being really sweet chickens.

It seems important to remember that breeders of chickens over the last few hundred years were, of course, being practical when they bred chickens. The big ones needed to be sweet. You don’t want a giant angry bird attacking you every time you have to collect eggs. It’s just not practical.

So don’t worry about that giant chicken. He’s probably a real sweetheart, and writing this post reminds me: I so want one!

Posted on by Crystal Sands · 2 Comments

On Raising a Sweet Rooster

I’ve been reading chicken blogs, chicken forums, and following chicken Facebook groups for several years, and I’ve read some mixed reviews of keeping roosters. We had chickens a for quite a while before we made the leap and got a rooster for our flock.

We accidentally ended up with two roosters (story below), and so far, both of them are relatively sweet boys. They are mostly grown but still immature, and I keep watching and waiting for major signs of aggression. Based on what I read, I’ve been worried they are going to turn into mean roosters one day, but I’m starting to hope that we have two sweet roosters.

Is that possible? It is possible to raise a sweet rooster?

Rooster
This is our accidental rooster named Rooster. He’s our rooster who really seems to worry about the flock. He frets every time something isn’t right.

And I’m not talking about the roos who live in people’s houses. I expect them to be sweet. They get so much human contact that you just know they’re going to grow up and be sweet. I’m talking about the farm roosters who protect their flocks and live in the barn or the coop and, of course, have human contact but nowhere near the contact a house rooster gets.

And, by the way, if you were unaware that people have pet chickens in their homes, let me tell you: It’s true! There are many people who keep chickens as house pets because chickens are so sweet and smart. The chickens have to wear little chicken diapers, but people do it. If I could, I might try to let my favorite chicken, Poe, move in our house, but my husband thinks this is not a good idea. So there’s that.

Anyway, so far, my experiences tell me it might be possible to raise a sweet rooster, so I did some research. It turns out that there are some strategies to help promote sweetness—or at least good behavior—in a rooster, and I was accidentally doing some of these things, just following my instincts with my flock. I was impressed with myself!

I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m bragging. I’m not. I was just really impressed with myself that this once city girl and academic had some proper gut instincts in relation to our farm animals! I have grown!

But I won’t keep these strategies to myself any longer. Here’s what my research revealed about how to raise a sweet rooster, and, so far, these tips have worked for me.

Handle your rooster as much as you can as early as you can.

We were able to do this a lot with the Rhode Island Red rooster we bought as a baby, but we accidentally got a second rooster in a group of chickens that were supposed to be girls. I was outside last summer cleaning water and filling up food buckets when I heard a big crow come from a direction where there shouldn’t have been a crow. It turned out we had another roo, and since we had the space and enough hens, we decided to keep him. So we started holding and petting him as much as we could from that day forward.

The idea, of course, is to humanize them as much as you can, and the handling is how you do it. If your rooster is not a fan, use bribes. Treats are a good way to get your rooster to hang out with you a bit.

Don’t let your rooster mate in front of you.

You want to be kind about this, and you don’t want to kick or hurt your rooster, but, apparently, it shows your rooster that you are the boss if you don’t let him mate in front of you. I was doing this before I read about this as a strategy just because chicken mating is pretty aggressive, and I didn’t like one of my sweet girls getting jumped. So I just take my foot and scoot the rooster right off when he jumps on a hen in front of me. Not everyone agrees with this strategy, but, in my research, it came up time and time again.

If he gets aggressive, hold him or give him a time out.

If your rooster does get aggressive, it’s best if you can just pick him up and hold him firmly until. he settles down. I have also read about the method of picking him up by his feet and carrying him around a bit upside down, but I also read this can be dangerous if he happens to have something in his mouth when you do this. So I would recommend just holding if you can. Time out in another area also seems to work well.

Never, ever hit or kick your rooster, unless you are defending yourself or your kiddos.

Over and over again, the most important I read is to never hit or kick your rooster. You don’t want to hurt him—ever. He’s going to have instincts you will want to work with, and unless you just have to fight back to defend yourself, never hit him.

Of course, reading this list, you may be wondering if roosters are worth it. There are a lot of people who keep chickens who never want to mess with the trouble of a roo. They can crow quite loudly. And, in addition to being aggressive toward people, roosters can be aggressive to your hens, and this just makes them not worth it to many people. I do understand.

However, roosters will provide protection for your flock and can be raised to be kinder. And, if you want to raise your own baby chickens, you’re going to need a rooster.

And, so far, our experiences with roosters are pretty positive. The two we have, Runkle and Rooster, are at least pretty sweet. We can hold them, though they gripe about it a bit. And Rooster is a great guard rooster. He worries about the girls, gets stressed if something is out of sorts, and is the last one into the coop every night. He’s a good boy!

If you have rooster tips or experiences, please share below. I’m still learning, but so far, I’m a fan of roosters. Our roosters are pretty good boys, but I’ve read that even a mean rooster can be rehabilitated if you’re willing to work with him.

Of course, the best plan seems to be to try to raise a sweet rooster from the beginning.

Posted on by Crystal Sands · 5 Comments

On Chickens: Are They the Gateway Farm Animal?

I’m just going to go ahead and answer the question of my title right away: The answer is yes. It’s my belief that chickens are, indeed, the gateway farm animal. Right now, all we have on our little backyard farm is chickens, but I’ve got goat fever in a big way. Goats are next.

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But it’s my chickens’ fault that I have a need to add to our farm animals, to add to my reasons that I will never, ever sleep late again as long as I live or have to shovel snow out of the chicken run and put down leaves saved from the fall so that the girls who are afraid of touching the snow will have a place to put their cute little feet. I know it’s going to snow again tomorrow, but those babies can’t stay cooped up all day!

But I enjoy every minute of it deep down. Our chickens have been amazing little animals that we let into our lives, and I’m so thankful for them.

Our chickens have been great layers and great friends. They give us breakfast, as well as loads of entertainment and joy. I even enjoy cleaning out their coop. I know it’s going to make their little days to have all that fresh straw to play in, and I lost my sense of smell, so I can’t even smell their poop. I was meant to be a farmer of some kind, right?

I’m not alone in my love for chickens. Backyard chickens are wildly popular in the United States as more Americans work to be more self sufficient and raise their own food. A recent study for the U.S. Department of Agriculture documented the popularity and attitudes toward keeping chickens and estimated a 400% growth in backyard coops in the next five years.

So, since it’s quite evident that chickens are awesome, it’s easy to see how one thing can lead to another, and the next thing you know, you’re thinking, “I wonder how tough it would be to raise goats, milk them, make goat cheese.” It’s well known among the chicken community that keeping backyard chickens leads to more and more and more chickens for many, but it also leads to ideas about different animals.

Before we got our backyard flock, I watched this video and thought surely this was an exaggeration. Nearly two years into raising chickens, I realize this video is exactly right. This woman knows the danger of keeping backyard chickens—you’re going to love them WAY too much.

Now, I want to go to goat school. I love goat milk. And we really need some bees one day. And maybe a pig. I think my husband is a little worried about me, but I’m thinking this is all a good thing. Well, maybe. I definitely have way more pictures of my chickens than my kids on my phone.

So what do you think? Are backyard chickens the gateway farm animal?