Feathered Friend Friday: Rough Roosters

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.      

If you've ever seen a rooster mate with a hen, you know they can be pretty rough if their romantic advances are rejected. At first, when young female chickens are just coming into their sexual maturity, they will instinctively squat if approached by a rooster to allow him easier access to do his thing. (PS - they will also squat if you pat them on the back, which is a great way to tell if they are getting close to laying their first eggs!) But as they get older and have been around the block a time or two, hens usually don't seem so keen on the special attention and try to outrun the roosters if they can. Sometimes roosters have their favorite girls, and that is the case with our head rooster, Cam, who has taken a liking to poor Isis.

She is an Easter Egger and is a little weird anyway, but she always freaks out when Cam gets near her and tries to run away. Maybe he likes the game, I don't know, but he has to get rough with her to have his way. He will bite her neck and hold her down to the ground while he mates with her. If it sounds bad, it definitely is, but at least it only takes a few seconds. But since Cam has an affinity for biting her neck to make her comply, she is becoming quite bare. Her remaining neck feathers have sort of curled up, so she is looking like a hot mess right now.

Isis: "It doesn't look that bad, does it, Jobin?" Jobin: "Uhhh, no comment."

She gives me a perfect green egg every couple days, so Isis holds a special place in my heart. She is pretty flighty and isn't one for cuddling, but there is something so endearing in her eccentricity. I just hope her feathers will grow back soon and Cam will give her a little break!

Do you have any scraggly looking chickens in your flock?

~Tammy