When we got Gus, the guinea rooster, with the 8 hens that he was raised with we had no problems in the coop. Gus protected the chickens and he would make noises so we knew that there was an animal or something that shouldn’t be there.
We purchased an additional 22 young chickens to add to our coop. When we got the other chickens we were wondering why the chickens seemed to keep losing their feathers. After changing their feed, checking them for mites or fleas and just keeping an eye on them we were stumped until a friend was visiting and happened to catch Gus in the act!
Gus was pecking the feather from the other chickens. He protected his original 8, but must have thought that the others were a threat to his girls. So sadly, we had no choice we had to remove Gus from the pen with all the chickens and free range him.
Free ranging is a good thing, BUT it is not completely safe in our area because there are a lot of wild animals here like wolves, coyote bobcat, eagles, owls, raccoon, skunk and ermin.
Every day you could see him around the pen and he was still trying to get the other chickens through the fence. One night though my parents heard him carrying on. They went out to see if there was anything there, but saw nothing. The next morning we found Gus laying underneath the truck where he had died from the attack of an owl.
Although we miss Gus, may he rest in peace! The good ending to this story is – we learned what we should not do and our chickens are back to normal with ALL their feathers.
#raisingchickens #mountainboyjournals #offgridliving #wildernesssurvival
 |
Trayer Designs