The question is very valid in light of many cities now have new laws allowing the raising of hens for eggs, but those eggs are less tasty and nutritious than fertilized eggs. I do not see the harm in having one quiet rooster live a nice long spoiled life impregnating hens. As soon as Houston gets this law passed I will have a few backyard hens of my own and wanted to know about roosters surgically being de-crowed so I can have fertile eggs to EAT or sell. Seeing that most roosters are killed anyway and many people kill the rooster babies just to avoid dealing with them... I don't see how in the world making a wonderful life in my backyard for a spoiled silenced rooster is a bad thing since it saves his life. Better than you eating him! Frankly I'd not need a rooster at all but I feel like I should be prepared in case there comes a time we are impoverished for one reason or another and our backyard "farm" supplements our food resources. Hens would eventually die off and stop laying. We need a perpetual stock that we can raise and barter with if it comes to that. Call it prepping and treat me with hatred for it, but my granny lived through the great depression and taught me how she managed to get her family through it. I honor her advice to me to "not put all my eggs in one basket". This post was edited by chelseacraft on Thu, Mar 28, 13 at 20:51

Is the dog still around where your roo can see him? Being attacked by a dog is pretty darned terrifying for a chicken, and if he is still worried about the dog, it can stress him out quite a bit. How is he acting now? Does he seem normal, healthy & perky? Has he lost any weight (feel his breastbone or keel)? Open his mouth and look in his mouth & throat for signs of injury, growths, fungus, etc. Listen to his breathing for sounds of rasping or gurgling, and check his eyes & nares (nostrils) for watery discharge. There's nothing saying he can't have something ailing him besides the dog attack, so make sure he isn't just plain sick. If he isn't sick, and cannot see or hear the dog anymore, perhaps he just needs time to recover mentally as well as physically. Strange as it seems, it may help to stroke his ego a bit. Talk to him and tell him what a pretty boy he is, and give him lots of affection to reinforce how safe he is. When you take the chickens goodies, offer him the first bites from your hand for HIM to pass out--that shows that you respect his place as head of the flock and are deferring to him to pass out goodies and call his girls. At our house we call this 'tithing the roo', and it goes a long way towards building & maintaining the flock dynamic, even though it seems a bit weird! More on how roos work & think is here on my chicken info site: http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickRoosters.htm Velvet ~:>

"If someone REALLY wants in, there isn't a lot you can do to keep them OUT. Kim" *** That's the truth. Our little Lane used to be so anonymous, folks who'd spent their lives in this city didn't realize it was here. Then, some homes changed hands -- one new owner bringing in every jack-leg contractor around; And the son of the woman at the end of the Lane tried to kill his mother, began doing drugs and (we're pretty sure) dealing. Now, I think our little Lane is far too well-known to the wrong people. A neighbor had his Garmin device stolen, out of his pickup, parked on the street. It would be impossible to make this house inaccessible, and our three Dalmatians certainly wouldn't bite. I know things are very different for many of you, but we long ago decided not to worry about it over much. If I wanted to keep out evil-doers, I'd likely go for Mermaid. My concern would be that mentioned above: Lack of access for repair. Jeri

My husband made a raised table for me. It's about three feet high (a 4 x 4 post) and the table top is about 2 x 3. My crows get dried dog food every morning and if I have meat scraps for dinner they get those late in the day. They like fish scraps, chicken hearts, peanuts, cooked spaghetti (sans the sauce), leftover fruit .. just about any scraps I have they enjoy. Be careful with chips and crackers as I have read that salt is very bad for birds ... can't place the article right now, but google it maybe. When I go out to fill my tray feeders with black oil sunflower seeds for the birds and squirrels I call for the crows and they show up and start making a lot of noise. I know many people dislike them, but they are so fascinating to watch and really are beautiful birds. I love my crows. This year I have a pair nesting in my back yard and I can watch them from inside my living room and not disturb them. They are very sweet together and make all sorts of lovely little noises to each other. I enjoy having them in my yard. The funniest thing I've seen them doing lately is following squirrels around and digging up the peanut they just buried. The squirrels are clueless. lol They had me laughing out loud watching them last week. I kept giving the squirrels peanuts just to keep the game going. Cheap entertainment for me. :)