Yep, one of my ladies must be a dude. I went online and found how to check the gender with at least some certainty. The saddle feathers and the feathers around the lower neck are apparently the best way, plus there were many other signs all of which were not 100%. But putting all of them together and checking my chickens, it turns out that 2 of them are actually roosters. So when I thought they were bullying and picking at the smaller hens, they were actually just mounting them.
Gigantor and his friend were big not because I was doing something right, but because they were growing to be men. I guess Big Momma is still big momma.
Now they are grown up enough to crow, and boy are they getting good at it real quick. This morning the crowing was clear and strong, at 5:10 in the morning before the sun was up even.
My neighbors and their neighbors are going to kill me if it goes on like this. So the first thing I did was to look up details about the no-crow collar, which is a wide velcro band apparently which hinders the cock (hah) to take deep and quick breaths which are needed for loud crowing. As result, the crowing gets muffled a bit, and does not travel as far.
Urgency dictated that I made one myself, so I went out and looked for a velcro band with hook on one side and loops on the other so that it can loop around itself, but no luck. Checked the home center, 100 yen shop and the big department store, but they all had different size hook pads and separate loop pads to be sewn together into the band I needed. No-one sold hook and loop 2-in-1 already attached together. Damn.
Bought a long, wide set and came home and started sewing. Without a sewing machine this was a real challenge. The material is kind of plastic so it is hard for the needle to penetrate it. My fingers were hurting and on top of that, every time the string touched the hook side of the band, it got stuck and had to be untangled and after a couple of times became really thin.
Despite all this I did manufacture 2 bands, 5 cm wide, and went to put it on the cocks.
Catching the very suspicious cocks was impossible, no matter what strategy I used. So I waited until morning and just before opening the coop door, when I had better and closer access to the birds roosting inside the coop. I used this time to pet them sometimes, without them running away.
So, I took out one of the cocks and held it in my arm until it calmed down, after a few minutes I put on the collar, but it seemed I had put it on too tight because when I put him down he just remained there instead of struggling to get the collar off which I thought he would do. Plus he lowered his head and almost laid it on the ground. I quickly took the collar off and he seemed to recover. I guess he was not getting enough blood/air and was getting light-headed.
Looked more online and it seemed that even with the real deal collar, some people had accidentally killed their cocks. Some not even right away, but cocks that seemed fine for an hour or so had died overnight due to the collar. I decided to give up on the collar cause I did not want to suffocate the bird, plus it only muffles the sound anyway so crowing would not stop altogether.
Too bad. While I did not plan on having roosters in the flock, accidentally having one would surely be beneficial. A blessing of sorts.
Next I started thinking about killing them for the meat, but the more I looked up ways of killing chickens the more I realized I would not be doing it. They are after all my pets now. Rooster or not.
As a last resort, I sent a mail to the guy who I got them from, explaining the situation.
Unexpectedly I got a reply apologizing that he had not been able to confirm their gender properly and set up a time to pick them up. Wow.
Unfortunately he did not have any females at the moment to replace them with.
I know, I know, probably he will pick them up and see how nicely I have been feeding them and then slaughter and eat them. But I'd rather he do it than I. And I rather not think too much about it. What other option is there? Letting them loose in the woods is probably just as bad. Besides if I am lucky, the guy will keep them alive. He is a breeder so he needs roosters I guess.
Our neighborhood is not the quietest but I don't want to be the one causing the loudest of the noises.
Let me rant a bit. Probably all this is normal but I am not used to it and having my own house yet...
First we have the train that passes from early morning till late night, and those of us who are bordering to the tracks get tiny earthquakes every time. Especially the freight trains that pass by once in a while are loud and extra shaky. Then we have the neighbor's cats which are super loud and meow for long periods of time when they want to go in or out. It really gets on one's nerves. Especially when the neighbor is not home the meowing gets extra loud and lasts extra long. The same neighbor is a heavy smoker and I guess their fan or smoking room vent is on our side of their house because at least once a day we get to enjoy the yucky smell of second hand smoke that fills up our bathroom. Then we have all the crows and various birds calling early morning and all day. Then we have the big dog that the other neighbor keeps outside all the time who sounds like a wolf when it gets cold, or barks at every passer-by who is not familiar. (Us included at first but now it knows we are regulars, I guess I do smell special) Also there is this neighbor (well not directly next door but a couple of hundred meters away in the same street) who rocks to "Eye of the tiger" real real real extremely loud in the middle of the day, which I actually find pretty cool because it serves as a background theme to me working in the garden in weekends. Then we have the water heater that is for some mysterious reason installed on the north side of our building so even if its pipes are inside thick thermo-isolating tube it freezes up early in the morning until 9-10 A.M. on winter's coldest frost days. I have to take showers at night before going to bed now. To be honest it only lasted for a week. Now it is back to normal.
Hmm, I guess it is not that bad.
Anyway, the roosters are due pickup on Thursday morning. So we will enjoy 2 more mornings of crowing.
I plan to go to my next door neighbors and give them a bit of apology and maybe a couple of eggs and let them know it will be over on Thursday, please have patience 2 more days. Then they will know we are not idiots at least.
I worry a bit about the handover though. I am supposed to meet the guy at the station at 10 A.M. I usually open the coop door at 6 A.M. So if I want to have a chance at catching and putting the cocks in a box, I need to delay the coop opening an hour or so, and then keep the cocks in the box for 3 hours straight. Not very humane.
Alternatively I can put the cocks in a real large box with water and food in it. Kind of like a cage. Yeah, that is much better. Will go and hunt for huge boxes today.
In other news, I did have time to install water catching mechanism on the left side of the coop's roof as well. I used a regular hose. Now both sides' water is collected and led down to the front. Next I need to lead the pipe and the hose together and into a container. Maybe next week, maybe the week after that.
This weekend I got two different construction companies coming to give me an estimate for making walls on the backyard slope. I already have one estimate, but since it is kind of expensive and big job, I want to be sure I get a good price.
Sad to only have 4 chickens in a 7 chicken coop. Will keep an eye out for more chicks....
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