<dh@.> wrote in message news:8ci523t11ns39kn6u74uefke3qaeh5oiso@4ax.com...
>>hm, about 6-7 months now, i think.
>
> It's probably too late then.
this is my thinking - my efforts so far have not been successful. all i seem
to be doing is disrupting them.
>>they came from a poultry farm - it's not clear to me if the babies are
>>kept
>>with mothers or all brought up artificially.
>
> I've never heard of a commercial chicken house with perches.
> All the broiler houses and egg producing houses I've heard of
> have had no perches in them.
i was going to visit the farm when i get my next lot, & have a look then. my
newbies are coming on friday but are being delivered, so i don't get to find
out this time.
>
>>they do all other normal
>>chicken things except roost, but they really are a little eccentric, it
>>seems to me. one has a game of jumping on my feet (literally) while i'm
>>trying to walk around.
>
> It would be interesting to see what that's about. If it's a young
> cock (I've always called them stags), he may be trying to attack
> you.
no, this particular flock is comprised of three little hens. they are not at
all aggressive either towards each other or us. in fact, they're excessively
friendly - it's got something to do with that, i'm quite sure. they find
humans very nice and interesting & crowd about us when we go in. (and then
jump on our feet & generally remain underfoot). they're really exceedingly
endearing & comical. :-)
We bought some day old broilers and raised them up to
> eat, keeping a few to raise more from. They get so huge and
> awkward that they can't fight at all the way chickens are supposed
> to, but can only jump up and down in a pitiful, comical attempt. See
> how these birds each have both feet off the ground:
>
> http://www.thaiphotoblogs.com/media/cockfight1.jpg
that won't load for me but i've seen footage of cockfighting. :-(
>>i'll see how i go with persuading them (unless or until one or the other
>>of
>>us gets tired of it) but really it was a throwaway comment. perhaps the
>>construction & layout of both houses they've been in is to blame.
>>kylie
>
> Also their breeding. The roosting instinct is bred out of commercially
> raised chickens, probably deliberately. If not, there would be thousands
> of birds trying to fly up onto window sills and feed troughs, and whatever
> else they could see when it begins to get dark every day.
in this case, not sure. the breeder supplies pullets to people as backyard
chooks for laying, so i don't genuinely imagine he interferes with anything
they could reasonably expect to get when they reach their new homes. these 3
of mine are isa browns, the 4 coming on friday are black crossbreds.
anyway - funny story about my three nutty little pullets: we're currently
suffering an invasion of birds (must look up what they are, as i don't know)
which are pulling up my yard & have become an absolute plague in the past
few days. our resident magpies tried to fight them off but have given up
now. during the magpie fights, the little chooks would rush over to look
(evidently it was better than television ;-). this morning, some of the
birds found their way into the little chooks' pen (due to it not being
complete yet & hence small gaps in their roofing-netting). my dear, peaceful
little babies all rushed over to attack them! it was amazing. at any rate, i
expect the invading birds will probably stay away from the chooks' pens now.
interestingly, in their old pen, parrots & sometimes bower birds would pop
in for a visit & some free food & the pullets didn't object whatsoever. boy,
they don't approve of these new ones, though.
kylie
