Puzzle's New Flock

Backyard Poultry

Chicken Rainbow

Here is Puzzle's new, beautiful flock, including Rhode Island Reds, Brown Leghorns, Araucanas, and Buff Orpingtons. You might wonder what happened, they were all so peacefully walking around in the last picture. Well, as soon as we dumped the wood shavings out of Puzzle's carrying box, all the hens ran over and began fighting over them!! I don't know if it was the scratch or wood shavings they were after (chickens do eat wood chips, you know). They were all such beautiful and friendly hens. Their owner is a farmer, and lets them free-range in a movable pen during the summer. We had actually visited his farm and bought seed garlic from him several years back, so it was wonderful to know Puzzle was going to a good home!

Well, Puzzle, What Do You Say?

A New Home

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How Do You Like It, Puzzle?

 The 20-minute drive to our the farm seemed to take forever. All I could do was keep wondering what Puzzle's new life was going to be like. Well, there was no reason to worry! As you can see in the picture, our farmer friend had a wonderful full-size greenhouse and a beautiful flock of 30-some hens. Compared to the snowy, cold day outside, stepping into this greenhouse seemed like the land of luxury! We lugged in the rooster in the cardboard box and opened it up; Puzzle came strutting right out, not phased a bit by the new surroundings. Surveying its new flock, the rooster right away began to announce to them, "I'm the new boss here!"

All Boxed Up

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Into the Moving Van

Well, putting an ornery rooster in a box is much easier said than done. As we found out, it's actually more a delicate balance between coaxing and shoving! Here you can see how we accomplished it: one person shook a cup of scratch in a little window cut in the box side, while the other stood ready to shut the door on the opposite side as soon as Puzzle entered. See the really thick gloves we're wearing? It actually worked pretty well.
At the time it seemed very sad to see Puzzle go! Only one chicken got to witness it: did you spot Pepper in the nest box?

All Boxed Up

Can you guess who's in here? See those air holes we carefully cut all around the bottom? Wait a minute . . . that was supposed to be the top . . . I think somebody wasn't paying attention! During the drive there, the woodchips gradually filtered out of those holes, all over the floor of our van. The rooster's constant scratching for the scratch we'd put in didn't help anything!

"Puzzling" Problem

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Puzzle's Last Day in the Coop

 And now, back to our chicken story. The problems with Puzzle kept increasing; each day he seemed to grow bigger and bossier, as the house appeared to get smaller. And each day the snow kept the hens shut indoors with the giant rooster. The chicken saddles helped immensely with the problem of lost feathers during mating activities. But, interestingly enough, the saddles seemed to make Puzzle feel all the more frustrated and 'cooped up.' I could tell the rooster wanted to be out on the pasture protecting his hens from predators, crowing at the sunrise, and just strutting his stuff. A 4x8 coop wasn't the place to do that. I was finally ready to part with Puzzle, provided we could find a good home for him. And we did! The pieces all fell into place to give him to a friend who lived not 20 minutes away, and had a much larger flock and chicken coop. It was a wonderful answer! Now, just one question: how do you transport a huge bossy rooster that bites?

Winter Chickens

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Afternoon Sunshine

The roost was the lifesaver for many long days spent penned up indoors by the snow. It even got the afternoon sun through the window, and I always liked the peaceful scene of the hens enjoying the winter sunshine. Of course, the view was always through the wire covering the door, and that’s what those funny lines are in this picture. Really, watch out if you enter that house, since Puzzle will be coming at you with a sharp beak in no time!

Puzzle on Patrol

Yes, Puzzle was beginning to get even more aggressive, shut in that little house so much. More aggressive toward us, but more protective and bossy toward the hens. We actually began having to separate the rooster in its own run on the nicer days, since it was just getting to be too much for the hens. They got nervous and more aggressive to each other with that huge rooster around. We loved our Puzzle, and were sad to have to separate it, but something was going to have to be done about the issue.

Official Rooster

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What a Crower!

At about 24 weeks of age now, Puzzle was becoming a full-fledged rooster. It crowed all day long—in the morning, after any loud noise (like a table saw), and whenever it was time for scratch! Puzzle hardly seemed to notice that while crowing, its comb nearly touched the top of the wire runs.

Puzzle Separate From Hens

 The rooster was in fact almost outgrowing the chicken setup we had. As it got older, the Puzzle began to try to mate with the hens. Especially in the morning, it got to the point of harassment because there were so few hens, such a large rooster, and no space for them to get away. Consequently, we started having to put Puzzle in a separate run from the hens for part of the day. It was pretty tricky to capture it without getting pecked, and turned into a bit of a hassle. It was beginning to seem there was more to keeping a rooster than we thought!

Puzzle the Boss

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Puzzle Struts Its Stuff

And last, but not least—Puzzle, king of the flock. You can’t help but notice its proud strut, arching tail, and lofty comb taking shape now. Puzzle continued to keep a watchful eye on each of its eight hens, and a sharp beak to all “intruders”! It usually hopped out the pophole first each morning, clucking to the hens to get on the move for their share of scratch.
The Barred Rock plumage is even more intricate on the rooster than the hens; it also has more white and less black (compare it to Peeper in the background). The neck feathers especially have a mind-boggling pattern. I really think Puzzle was a good name for this rooster!

Puzzle Grows Up

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A Beautiful Rooster

Well, I had better get back to the chickens, since that rooster is growing faster than you can imagine! In this photo, at 10 weeks of age, the white barring is really coming out beautifully. Tail feathers are just starting to grow, and the small comb is still pink.

Protector of the Flock

We were in for a surprise on the morning Puzzle turned 13 weeks old: a squawky er-er-er-er-er! resounded from the henhouse! The rooster was a real crower (up to 6 or 8 times at once, all through the day!). Puzzle also took on the duty of watching over the flock and was always first at the wire to “protect” its hens from intruding fingers with a hard peck!

Watch That Beak!

Here, 15-week-old Puzzle looks proud to be the king of the flock. The bright red comb is almost full size now, and that beak is very sharp—I was cut more than once! Scratch was Puzzle’s favorite treat; I always like the repeated cluck-cluck-cluck the rooster made to call the hens over when we threw some in!

Puzzle

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Mystery Chicken

Meet Puzzle, the Barred Plymouth Rock. It started to look so different from the others, we began to suspect that the hatchery sent a rooster by mistake! Here at six weeks of age, you can see a bigger comb and more white on its feathers. This chicken was really a puzzle for a while. We’ll know for sure when we hear er-er-er-er-er from the chicken house!!