Saturday, February 7, 2009

Saying no, or maybe not!

Last week a woman contacted me with an offer, it seems she stumbled onto an old ad of mine when I was looking for some bantam hens. I thought I had deleted all my ads when I was given Gracie. I had wanted to buy two or three bantam hens as company for Chico and also to have some chicks in spring. A man gave me Gracie and so I stopped looking. The woman is moving to the city and has a young bantam rooster/hen pair, they are her pets and she wants them to go to a home that will keep them as pets so she will give them to me. It is hard to say no to another bantam hen but my problems are 1) I worry about another rooster with Chico, I don't think two older rooster will ever get along and I don't want Chico to get hurt, and 2) my hens were very slow to accept Gracie, she still lives in a protective cage as she is smaller. Her cage has a low gate that only she can crawl under, she can come out to perch, get treats and run around but if she is bullied she knows that she can duck under the gate and no one can get her. While in the cage she still has full access to food and water. I don't want to have to start all over with a new hen now that the flock is finally meshing together, especially with one bantam hen coming into a flock of larger hens, if they get the chance they will kill her. I think I have to say no for the good of my own flock but then I would hate for the little hen and rooster to go somewhere and get killed, plus I saw a picture of the rooster and he is pretty. I love bantams but I thought if I were to get more, I would get two or three so that one is not always picked on like Gracie was. I'm so confused, it is hard to say no to the little hen as she is only a year old. I'll have to think more on this...hmmmmm.

5 comments:

John Going Gently said...

say yes...I always do!!!!

bubble said...

hi, i am a little confused today and need you chicken expertise!
My black silkie has started making very loud noises and when we put the black and the white one together, my black one has a comb and the white doesn't and there are other different things about them... i have searched the net and it is indicating that "she" is a "he". Do you know of any tell tale signs?
Kind regards Amy :)
P.S... i got my first egg today!! not from a silkie though (i dont think!)

nobody-but-us-chickens said...

John: I wanted to, I just don't have the proper space for them now.

Amy: I left my comment on your blog Amy, it can be hard to tell at first, I would almost have to see how he acts but you will know soon if the girls start laying, then he is at the age to start crowing etc.

bubble said...

Hi!
Thanks for that, tomorrow i will get some pics of them and post them. He/she does stand back to let the others eat, and i can't describe the noise... it is not a normal rooster noise but then he/she is only 4 months old...i think i am just going to have to wait! Knowing my luck it was her that laid the egg and none of them are a boy!!
Thanks Amy x

nobody-but-us-chickens said...

Amy: If you have time, try to go to Youtube and look up videos of chickens or silkie chickens. There are lots of people who love chickens and put up their birds, see if you can find a bird making the same sound or look at young roosters and compare. If you find one, list the video and I can check it out as well.