The Hopeful Homestead

"FLY?" Tape

08:39, Saturday, June 21, 2008 .. Posted in From Day to Day .. 2 comments .. Link

Just when I think I've had a dull weekend with nothing to blog about... My foolish rooster out does himself AGAIN. You can read about his earlier antics both here and here. His name is Pola Negri. A white crested, black polish rooster. I've wanted a pair of these since I first read Maple Hill Farm as a little girl. It helped that my own daughter wanted a "Bedhead Chicken" to call her own. SO, despite a warning I read online that they weren't "the brightest breed" we ordered. And I love them, for entertainment value if nothing else. And yes, if you're wondering, he's still limping along to impress the ladies, from time to time. So here's the latest installment of "My rooster's SO dumb...." How dumb is he?????

We have flies in our coop. Not a lot, now that we've found a good mix of material to use as litter, but we put up fly tape while we were trying to get them back under control. We put the tape along the wall by the people door, away from any roosts or nest boxes, out of the way of the chickens. Or so we thought. As it turns out , we have birds who really like to be UP high when they roost. We have 3 roosts built just the way Barnyard in your Backyard says to, and yet, every night there are 4-5 chickens who go one step further and roost on the TOP of the open window. 2 of these are our barred rock roosters, Speckle and Spike. EVIDENTLY, Pola Negri felt he should join them tonight, and I suspect it didn't go well.

Oh, he was up there, all right, but at first glance in the dim light from my lantern, it seemed he'd had a few tailfeathers dislodged in a scuffle. Closer inspection revealed that the dumb bird had SOMEHOW gotten tangeled in the fly tape, and had it wrapped around his backside, and over one wing. (SIGH) So, I grabbed the fly tape (ewww, gross!!!) in one hand, and the rooster with the other... wresteled him to the ground and got him quieted down enough I was finally able to get him UNSTUCK. When these people say their flytape is STRONG they are not messing around.... LOL!!!! I picked a rooster up by the stuff tonight, for gosh's sake!!! Now if I could only find the TACK it was held up with! If he's limping tomorrow, I guess I'll know why. So, he is now fly tape free, but still a bit, shall we say, tacky? -around the edges. So, if you're looking for a SMART bird- don't get these, but if you want cheap entertainment on a Saturday night? He's your man!!!