Beware of the Rooster

Not very often that I get to feed Bo’s chickens and ducks, I had to take care of them several weeks back. He feeds them twice a day, morning and afternoon so it was a busy weekend for me. The last time I feed them was during the winter when he had to go out of town for a funeral in Canada. The winter weather was harsh, I was sick but I certainly felt worse for the chickens and ducks having to stay outside in the cold. This time it’s in the Summer so it wasn’t so bad, I had to take care of them for 3 days. The first feed I got attacked by the rooster, it’s almost comical and I went out to get my camera and thought I would take some photos for Bo to see. When I got back he greeted me by the front gate, if looks could kill!

Then he proceeds to come toward me, I’m shaken in my boots at this time but determine to get some photos.

Then he attacked me, he is one mean fighting rooster. He pecked through my jeans and gave me 4 bruises and took out some skin. At this time I was extremely worried, not sure how I would go in and feed the chickens and ducks.

I kept my distance, and he kept his watchful eyes over me, certainly not in a good way.

I called Bo and he was hysterically laughing, he said that he should have warned me about the rooster. It is a fighting rooster bloodline from Thailand. He told me to bring in a net and he will leave me alone. My only weapon at this point is a fishing net, and sure enough he stayed away from me for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the chickens and ducks are real nice

Even the mean looking ones are nice.

She is nesting, we have some hatched this week.

The rooster is the least of our worry right now, there is something that has been coming into the coop at night and eat the inside organ of the chickens and ducks. It has been killing 1 and sometimes 2 per night, and so far Bo has lost over 10 chickens and ducks and mostly females since they are weaker and couldn’t fight off the predator. The coop is secured, it’s fenced in and has net above so not sure how it got in. At this point, we thought it might be a weasel and have set a trap out for it.

Certainly Early Spring Here

Perhaps it might be 6 more weeks of winter up North, but certainly not in North Carolina. Regardless of the groundhog’s forecasting being right or wrong, it’s still very interesting to watch and I’m rooting for early Spring. It’s a lot warmer during the day here but still very cold at night.

I guess the winter cabbages/vegetables don’t count for an early sign of Spring but it’s pretty and I couldn’t resist taking the pictures.

The ducks are ready for Spring, the water is a bit cold right now and they’ll enjoy swimming in the pond more once the weather gets warmer.

The heating lamp comes in handy during the cold nights, especially for the young ducks that don’t have full feathers to keep them warm.

The hens and ducks start laying eggs again, it was far and few during the winter months. The past few weeks we had enough to give fresh eggs to my dad and sisters. As of right now we have 60+ chickens and ducks.