I'm glad you're getting a break from the heat. We are supposed to get a bit of a break tomorrow. Our chance of rain today, tonight and tomorrow is low (20-30%) and even if rain falls, not much is expected. At least we might have one cooler day. That is better than nothing.

Since last Saturday we've been averaging one fire per day---either structure fires or vehicles fires. Today we had two: a semi on fire around 6 am and a grass fire this afternoon. The grass fire was pretty wicked. Not real big---maybe an acre but very hot and very smokey. Two firefighters got so hot they were almost ill and they were drinking water and Gatorade. It was just so hot out there on the fire line that their bodies struggled to endure the heat in all that fire, heat and smoke while wearing all the necessary protective clothing and equipment. This is what we have been both expecting and dreading ever since the rain stopped falling here.

The green grass is so dry that it burns, and it burns both hotter and smokier than dry grass because it has a higher oxygen content. This was across the street from our house, along a fence line between 2 ranches. It isn't a good sign that the green grass is dry enough to burn.

I've been mowing every morning, using the string trimmer along fence lines and anywhere else that the grass is too tall to mow. I'm hoping to get all the tall stuff cut down before the fires get any closer to us than they were today. Today it was so hot out there so early that I stopped working about 9:15 am. It was ridiculous, but I knew I was getting too hot so I stopped early.

Dawn

When I'm kick up dust from the topsoil in my yard, I know Tim is out there somewhere chasing fires. It's like clockwork. If it's dry here, it's burning in the South.

Today was cooler. I got a tremendous amount accomplished, but I still needed to take frequent breaks. The last couple of days were just seriously too hot even with breaks and working in shade.

I think are cool front was just a wind shift line. It was cooler in the shade, I just never seem to be in the shade. HA

Dawn, I am sorry you are already in a fire zone. I don't known how those firefighters do it in all those protective clothes. It must take a tremendous toll on thier bodies. Wild fires are not something we deal with up here to much.

The wind chimes on the northern porch are just singing away tonight. I stayed out till dark because the breeze was so cool.

I will be at the hospital tomorrow, my daughter is having outpatient surgery, so if it is nice out I won't know till evening. I guess I will try to get some stuff done early Saturday. We are cutting corn 14 hrs a day so I am going fifteen different directions. I think I meet myself sometimes. HA

everybody stay cool. I hope the firefighters get a much deserved break.

The temps must have dropped 20 degrees here. It clouded up, thundered, wind blew hard and it sprinkled breifly.

stockergal, It is stunning how quickly we went from flooding at the beginning of July to hayfield fires before the end of July. The forecast offers us virtually no relief for the next week, so today I am going to go outside, in just a minute in fact, and water the yard around the house.

Watching how quickly and how hot the green grass burned yesterday only a few hundred yards from our house was scary. It was, of course, much scarier for the rancher whose property was burning. He had already hayed but still had the big round bales sitting in the field. Luckily the fire started far from the hay bales and was burning away from them. At the adjacent ranch that the fire was burning towards, they'd hayed as well and already had hauled the hay from the area in the path of the fire, so I wasn't worried about their hay so much as I was worried about their equipment shed and barn. Luckily the firefighters stopped the fire.

I observed that the cracks in their clay soil were just as bad as the cracks in ours, so we all could use a good rain. However, once the pattern changes, as it did for us earlier in July, we often go through much of July and August with little to no rain, so I kinda dread the month of August. This quick change from wet and flooded to being so dry that green grass burns kinda reminds me of 2005, which is not a year I want to remember. In the autumn, we were out at grass fires virtually every day from October through December, and then 2006 wasn't much better. I am not at all nostalgic for those good old days and don't want to repeat them in 2015. We need rain and we aren't going to get any for a while.

I've watered the garden a couple of times a week the last 2 or 3 weeks, and am watering the containers daily, but haven't watered the lawn because it is still green. I guess it is time to water the lawn some, though, so it will not be a dry green.

Yesterday was probably our hottest day of the year here. Our Mix-Max thermometer showed 102 as our high temperature when we got home from the fire, but our neighbor said his on his porch (the fire was at his place) showed 108 when he left to go to the fire station. With drier air (our humidity was in the 20s), the heat index was only about 105 or 106, so it certainly could have been worse. The drier air is sort of a blessing in disguise, but it is a two-way street because the same drier air that keeps the heat index a little lower also means the grass catches fire more easily.

I hope your daughter's surgery goes well.

I'm headed outside now to see if I can get some work done before it gets too hot. That's the constant theme of our lives in the summer---just trying to beat the heat.

Dawn

It has cooled immensely here. Last night was 82. It sprinkled about an hour ago and there was some vague rumbling, but no rain (which I'm sure would help our dry upper layer of soil.) I am a tiny bit relieved because the humidity would have been worse than yesterday morning. You know, "the weather you can wear."

Stockergal, sending you and your family good wishes for today's procedure.

So glad there was no severe damage from the fires and that you place was unscathed, Dawn. Very thankful for firefighters who face so many dangers, not the least being heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Do they have any idea what started the fire?

We weren't expected to get much rain and it's now showering buckets of water.

I cannot imagine being a firefighter. I get heat exhaustion when working in ten minute increments with 15-20 minute breaks in between. Amazingly, I still get a lot of done, but I cannot do much else. Just one task. But thinking about the firefighters in their hot suits outside unable to cool off frequently. Too much.

Stockergal, I hope everything is going well for your daughter.

As far as I know, there was no clear reason that a fire started in that field---it started a long way from a roadway, there was no electric fencing near the ignition point and no one was doing any work nearby. Arson? I don't think so because it is a pretty visible location readily seen by passing motorists. Sometimes you just never know what started a fire.

Bon, rain is good and I'm glad you got done.

Both the firefighters knew they were too hot and came straight to us for Fire Rehab. Once we had them cooled down, well-hydrated and rested, they went back to the fire ground....but not until their color was normal and their pulses were normal too. Between the temperature and the 60-80 lbs of personal protective equipment they wear, it is a wonder they don't become overheated more often than they do.

Today's weather was cooler. By the time we came inside for the day, it was only 91 degrees but the heat index was 101. Apparently that was our cool day. Over in the Middle East they are having a big heat wave. I read on weather.com about a place that had a dewpoint of 90 and a heat index of 163. I cannot even imagine that.

Only 1 fire call today so far and it was minor.

I am not ready to switch my focus from the home and garden to the VFD so I hope things calm down a little. Just a couple of inches of rain would make a huge difference, but it's just not happening.

We had a strong skunk odor outdoors a little after noon, so I went outside looking for a rabid skunk. The smell was strongest near my garden but I never found the skunk. I did find a 6' long rat snake in the chicken coop. It's always something.

Dawn

Dawn, did anyone look around for a piece of glass in that open field. My daughter and s-i-l are firefighters and they have reported fires starting that way. I remember the fire season of 05 too not only because it was so dry, but because they did have an arsonist in their area who kept them hopping until he was finally caught.

Our pre-dawn temps were wonderful yesterday--69--and today--67. Yesterday's high was only 82 as it was cloudy almost all day. We got a lot of weeding and weedeating done in the garden.

Dorothy, They looked for anything and everything and found nothing, especially the firefighter who owned the land that burned. He particularly wanted to know how his field randomly exploded into flame. Sometimes you never find a cause because even if it was set, often the fire destroys the evidence.

We have an arsonist setting fires here now and it has been going on for over a month...maybe two....but mostly setting structures on fire as far as we know. We've had two fire calls so far today. We really needed for the whole summer to stay rainy so that this wouldn't happen but, as it turned out, the rain completely stopped falling here about 3 weeks ago and we've gone from flood to fire remarkably quickly.

I'll never forget 2005-2006. We had an arsonist that year and fought roughly 180 grass fires and wild fires in 2006.....and I don't remember how many in 2005 but it was a lot. Jesse and I were down at the Red River fighting wildfire almost daily in Oct-Dec 2005, an experience he describes by saying "We rode the river together in '05". That's the year he taught me everything I know about wildfire. lol. I don't know about riding the river, but we rode the fire trucks up and down and all around the river bottomlands while everyone else was at work all day and then the others came and helped us at night and on their days off. I DO NOT want another 2005 ever for as long as I live. Or, in fact, another 2006. It is just a blur of constant fire activity, not enough sleep, and precious little gardening.

Our fields are now the color of dry, dormant bermuda grass and aren't bouncing back from being mowed. A little rain would help, but it isn't in our forecast.

Our KBDI is not outrageously high for summer---it is kind of in the right range, but it is very high considering we spent May, June and part of July flooded. Parts of SE OK are much worse off---areas that are well NE of my county and well south of yours.

If I wasn't watering the garden at least twice weekly, and very deeply each time, it would look just like the dry fields. I hate to say it, but I'm ready for autumn or winter to hurry up and get here and wet us down and cool us down. I don't want to wish my life away by hoping for time to fly, but I'm still hoping August flies by and the cool down and autumn rains arrive soon. The summer rains have forsaken our area and we are starting to really pay a price for that.

Predation is becoming a bigger issue. We have had snake, skunk and bobcat problems this week, and the problems are worsening. I guess everyone is hot and dry and cranky.....and hungry.

Dawn

I feel for you Dawn. I am hoping it doesn't rain so we can finish up and you are hoping for rain and we live in the same state. Crazy world. Cool weather is gone. I mowed today and my pasture is starting to show signs of heat stress. I would like a little Autumn cool down, but then comes winter and I hate winter. Hope your grass fires stay at a minimum.

I hate to hear about the fires and especially an arsonist. We had one when my husband was on the fire dept. and I was auxiliary. It was scary until they got him.

Another fire last evening, a rat snake in the chicken coop eating eggs, the biggest copperhead I've ever seen sitting a couple of feet away from me in the driveway at dusk, and the disappearance of our last remaining Polish crested hen. I think a Bobcat got her because I found a lot of her feathers. She was born in 2010 and her lifelong companion, our old rooster Adolph, had died of natural causes earlier in the week. Except for that, it was a perfect evening that topped off a perfect week......and now I am counting the days until September. August can be a cruel month, and it is just beginning.

I was looking at the KBDI map on the Mesonet and it looks like SE OK is in trouble, with KBDI numbers in the 400s-600s. For perspective, in a normal year, you don't reach the 600s until latest autumn or earliest winter----if you ever reach the 600s at all.

They could see drought conditions return soon in parts of SE OK if the rain keeps missing them.

So sorry you lost your hen, Dawn. Why don't those darned rat snakes stick to rats??? Morbid curiosity and fear of snakes compels me to ask: how big was that copperhead? They and timber rattlers scare me to no end.

lol @ the name, Adolph.

Poor Adolph. I get giggles among this forum. :D

Dawn, you can smell copperheads??? I had no idea snakes had a smell. Learn something new every day. Sorry about the chicken loss.

Dawn, Sorry about Adolph and your hen. Does she have a name? I love to read about them--they do have their own personalities don't they? I'm new to chickens and I love mine so much. I made the mistake of naming my girls after my grandmothers and great grandmothers. I haven't been brave enough to let them out of their pen which is very fortified. (my dogs may be their biggest enemy). I'm anxious for them to go inside at dusk so I can close them up. Their inside area is even more fortified. At some point, I need to let them 'free range', but I'm so scared! They are 18 weeks old and I haven't gotten an egg yet. I'm a helicopter hen owner.

Again, sorry about your sucky August and the loss of your favorite hen and rooster.

Thanks. I try not to name them, Hazel, because then it hurts less when they die. We just called her Miss Featherhead and she normally protected the flock even better than Adolph did because she screamed every time she saw anything out of place...and I mean it could have been a stick that was in a different spot today than it was yesterday and she'd raise cain about it. She was the sole survivor of a bunch of crested Polish chicks we bought around 2009 or so.....whatever year that I had the cougar troubles and we lost all our poultry----she was from the batch of chicks we bought the next year to replace them, so I think it was 2009. I was surprised she lived as long as she did because their poor vision, with all those feathers hanging in their face, usually means they are the first ones the predators get.

The only named one we have left is little P I S S A N T rooster, so named because he will spur you every chance he gets. He is very annoying and possibly is the smallest rooster you'll ever see. He is a Mille Fleur d'uccle, and must have been the runt of the bunch. He is so small that Adolph tolerated sharing a coop with him because it was impossible for Adolph to view him as competition for the hens. The rooster in the other coop didn't mess with the small rooster either because Adolph wouldn't allow it. Now that Adolph is gone, Mr. P. thinks he rules the roost, but the big rooster from the other coop truly rules. He just chooses to ignore Mr. P., likely because he also doesn't consider him a threat. They say you cannot keep multiple roosters per flock, but we always have. The head rooster will keep the younger ones in line, although if we have a rooster who wants to do nothing but fight the head rooster, we'll get rid of it. We have poultry for the eggs, for the excellent pest control they do, and for the manure for the compost pile, but I'd have them just for fun even if they weren't such great garden helpers and egg producers.

Your hens should start laying any time now. They usually start laying between 4 and 6 months of age, and it can vary a bit depending on what breed you have. If you'd still feeding then hen scratch or starter, you could switch to the layer formula once they start laying and that will help them produce eggs with good shells. I generally don't feed the layer rations because our free-ranging hens get high enough protein from eating bugs and such.

Poultry that is used to being in a coop normally will return to the coop around sunset every evening and, if they don't, your rooster usually will call out to them, in effect calling them to come home. If you're worried that they won't come back easily from free ranging, get them used to a "treat" when they come into the coop. It doesn't have to be anything fancy---mine get a cucumber, melon or handful of lettuce at sunset inside their coop or fenced chicken run in the summer. You don't even have to do it every day----once they know there is even a chance they'll get something yummy at sunset, they'll run for the coop when they see you walking toward it.

If free-ranging seems too hazardous, you could build them a lightweight chicken tractor. Most years we do not lose more than 1 or 2 hens to predators, and that's from a flock that runs about 2-3 dozen most of the time. This year is worse, likely because of the flooding that pushed predators up out of the nearby river bottom land in May and June. Usually the predators don't bother the chickens until fall or winter, unless it is a dry summer and food is scarce.

We have had to teach our dogs to leave the chickens alone, and if you have retrievers, it isn't easy because their instinct is to go retrieve the birds, dead or alive. It took 4 or 5 years for our now-old dog, Jet, to learn the chickens were not for his amusement. He killed several during the first couple of years of his life but after that he'd just stalk them and follow them around the yard. Our two puppies are not chicken-friendly yet and bark and go crazy when a chicken gets too close to the dog run, but I imagine with time and maturity, they will learn to peacefully co-exist with them. The other day a little banty hen panicked (I was right there and never saw whatever scared her) and flew right over the fence and into the dog run. I told the dogs to "go home" and they ran for the back door to come inside, which allowed me to open the gate and let her out. I was surprised. I figured they'd kill her before I could reach her, and maybe they would have if I wasn't there. It takes patience to teach dogs that chickens are their family, not prey, but it can be done. Jet was the only dog from his litter of 4 puppies that ever killed a chicken and the other dogs just barked at them or ignored them, so some dogs are more prone to be hunters, I guess, than others.

I love my chickens and we haven't bought any new ones in ages and ages. I usually let a broody hen or two hatch out a few eggs each spring or summer and that gives us new poultry to replace whatever we've lost in the previous year. We are essentially in a clearing with acres of woodland on three sides and the woodland is full of wild animals, so it is a wonder that our poultry can free-range at all. Next spring I'm going to get a bunch of new ones. I think we need some new blood as the same flock has been breeding its own replacement chickens since 2009, so it is time to bring some new genetics into the mix.

Thanks for talking about your chickens, Dawn. I love reading about them.

I'm hoping for some eggs soon! The sex links should be laying anytime now.

I went to Atwoods and picked out different looking pullets for a variety. Ida is a black sex link. She has always been bossy and the girl who takes care of the others---makes sure they go upstairs when it gets dark, etc. For awhile I thought maybe she was actually a rooster. But she enjoys being held and I love her a lot. The red sex link is Marjorie. She is slightly older by a couple of days, I think. Her tag was a different color and she was a little bigger as a chick. She is also the more submissive. She is beautiful...and she needs to give me an egg soon! Peggy has feathered legs and I think she is a black cochin. She has become the largest of the girls. She is friendly and doesn't mind being held. She is an ornamental bird (from what I've read) and won't be a great egg layer. Stella is a smaller blonde bird. I'm not sure what she is. She is fast and flighty and doesn't like being caught--although I make her walk with me sometimes. One of my chicks died at a few days old. Back when the first storm came through in March, we were without power and the chicks were without their lamp. Anyway...she was little and cute.

My plan is to add 6 hens every other year. We have a small family and that should keep the eggs somewhat consistent. We will allow the older hens who have stopped laying to just live out their lives--because we have room to do that. Maybe I'll get brave and get a rooster and let them all free range during the day.

Hazel, Did you know that sometimes a chicken will sort of take on male behavior and act very much like a rooster? I don't know if it is a physical thing (transgender poultry?) or if it is a survival mechanism that might occur if there isn't a rooster who's doing a good job of protecting the flock or what. It is interesting to see it happen. It is not real common but we might see it once every 4 or 5 years.

I love my chickens and they are great gardening companions.

We let all our poultry live out their lives even after they have stopped laying eggs or roostering. What I have learned is that the younger male roosters have been very respectful of the old one and won't try to fight him or kill him or drive him away. They give him wide berth and let him live out his last few months in peace and contentment. It makes me proud, because often the rising male kills the elderly male animal to get it out of the way, and that seems unnecessarily cruel. Adolph's son is really just beginning to learn what sort of power he has. It took him a while to learn that if he called all the chickens, they would come to him and follow him. Once he discovered that, he spent a whole day toying with them. He'd walk 50 yards away and call them just to see if they would come to him. They did. I had a talk with him and told him to stop abusing his power and to stop making them follow him all over the place just because he could. Being an obedient rooster, he straightened right up and stopped the power trip. Now he only calls if he spots danger....a hawk in the sky, a bobcat creeping around on the edge of the woods....or a squirrel in the chicken run. Whatever.

It is hard to lose chicks but it happens. Often the weak ones probably would have been weak and sickly if they'd survived.

I can't hardly go into TSC, Orschlein's or Atwood's during chick season because I want to buy and bring home every chicken in the store. In the fall and winter, I leave the garden gates open so they can free-range in there and it makes them immensely happy. I've even left the gate open for them a lot this year once I had harvested all the low-hanging tomatoes, so they've been feasting on caterpillars, grasshoppers and other pests in there, usually late in the day.

Dawn

We don't keep a lot of chickens, but I like having the fresh eggs and just watching the chickens also. Ours are pretty wild and we don't normally try to pick any of them up. In the last year we lost one to a hawk, then one in the episode with the dogs a couple of weeks ago. Both of those hens came from eggs that Al incubated. We have 2 hens that lay green eggs, one that lays blue, and the rest are brown with one of them having a pinkish look although it is really brown. This is our first time to have a rooster at this house, and I really don't like having it because I think it is too loud. A family a few houses down on the next street has a rooster also, and they answer each other all day. Al wanted some additional hens so I said that would probably be OK except "No more than 3". Then I gave in a little and said, "Well maybe 4 because that would give us 12 hens". He found what he wanted and told our grown son, and of course he wanted some. With the 5 he wanted, and the 4 I agreed to, Al upped the total to 12.....then the guy gave him an extra. You can see how much control I have over this issue, can't you?

Before the dog episode, we got 7-9 eggs most days from our 9 hens, but they have not been consistent since that time and I think only one day did all 8 lay (which would include one injured hen). Our new ones are easter eggers, marans, and barnsvelders. Five are almost 5 months old and three are younger. Our flock is not accepting them well, so I don't know how all of this is going to work out.......and yes, this is too many chickens. We were already supplying two other families with eggs and now we will have more. I think this was the first day in a long time that I have actually used more eggs than the hens produced.

Now this part is my fault.....I have heard George talk about his ducks, until I just had to have some. We got 6 from him and it appears that 2 are drakes. So when those 4 ducks start laying I will have even more eggs. I found it hard to believe how fast those birds grew. They are huge. I really shouldn't have any of this stuff where I live, but I guess I am just a farmer at heart. LOL

There's worse things to be addicted to than poultry. : )

Sometimes it takes a long time for a flock to accept new birds, but usually they eventually integrate into a new group. Since we have two chicken coops (one used to be the guinea coop when we had guineas), I usually move all the older chickens to the smaller coop (because it was Adolph's preferred place to live) and put new chickens in the bigger coop. They are apart at night or when cooped up on rainy days and such, but free-range together during the day. Early on, the new ones flock a bit separately from the older chickens during the day, but after a while they flock together all day and still go into separate coops at night. At some point, you start seeing birds going into either coop at night and mixing together like they do during the day. That's when I know they've successfully integrated into a more cohesive group. Much depends on whether you get new roosters with the new chicks. If a rooster grows up with the hens, he's their leader and he'll always keep them a bit more separate from the flock belonging to the older rooster.

I was worried Adolph's son would stay in the big coop with his hens after his dad died, and he did go into the big coop at night the first couple of days even though he was shepherding the entire flock around together at night. After a couple of nights, though, he moved into the little coop and sleeps at night in the same roosting spot where Adolph once did. Now one of the banty roosters is king of the hill in the big coop and quite delighted with his new role.

We tried ducks and can't keep them alive here. Just too many predators.

Dawn

Fresh eggs are worth all the problems you have with chickens. My sister has chickens and I trade steaks for eggs, good trade right!!HA I love eggs, in the winter I could live on scambled eggs, in the sometime I always have hard boiled eggs in the fridge. When you bake with fresh eggs even a box cake taste like it was made from scratch.

Take care of those chickens ladies!!!!

Yes they are! I love having fresh eggs, and I love all my poultry...even the little P I S S A N T rooster who tries to spur me every single time he sees me. He's done it for 5 years. But, if I call him by name (horrible name that it is), he gleefully comes running to me to see if I have some delightful treat like a big fat caterpillar. You'd think he'd know not to spur the person who brings him caterpillars.

That is why I don't have chickens. When I was a little girl a friend had a large rooster that would stalk me and spur me every time we were there. I have a four inch scar on my leg that is a reminder. I know you can have hens and no rooster and have eggs but I have this crazy fear of chickens. I know that is silly and irrational but what can you do?? I even call my sister when I go over and she puts them up or meets me at the truck with the eggs. Maybe I need therapy??? HA HA

Our rooster is from an EasterEgger flock and he is quite nice. I hate mean roosters.

P...ant rooster stands all of about 10-12" tall, as he is a Mille Fleur, so he has a really scrappy attitude and a chip on his shoulder. Adolph's son ignores him just the way Adolph did. It is kind of funny. Usually a big rooster won't allow competition, but Mr. P. thrives because he's so small the big roosters don't consider him competition. I think spurring me is the only way he can release his aggression. He likes to be the last one to go into the coop (likely a survival mechanism that allows him to fly under the radar as far as the big rooster is concerned) and doesn't like it when I am trying to herd him towards the coop and make him go inside at a timing of my choice instead of his.

A fear of roosters is not irrational. A mean one can really hurt you, as you know all too well. I don't really care for the roosters, and if all a person wants is eggs, there is no need for a rooster. In a city situation, I might not bother with one at all. Out here, though, they are necessary for the flock's safety. I can tell exactly when a hawk flies overhead, even when I am indoors, because I hear the rooster calling the flock to come to a safe place. It was the rooster, perched on the porch railing and screaming right outside the front door, that alerted me to the bobcat near the porch a few weeks ago.

I used to feed my grandparents chickens back when I was a young child, and my grandmother, always a very thrifty person out of necessity, would only give them a little hen scratch every morning, which they aggressively fought over. Feeding them was terrifying....they'd run right at you when they saw you coming with the feed bucket and they'd literally fly right up into your face trying to get to the feed first. I have a lot of unpleasant memories of scattering that scratch and fleeing from the flock as fast as I could. I was only about 4 or 5 years old at the time because I remember them selling the ranch and moving to town when I was maybe 6 years old. If I had let those memories take over my brain, we'd never have bought a single chicken. Instead, I successfully suppressed them until after we had poultry and I could see that they weren't going to be aggressive that way, except for an occasionally rowdy rooster.

Adolph was a Welsummer, and his son is a Welsummer. Other roosters we have are either Mille Fleurs or some combination of Mille Fleurs, Ameracaunas and black Japanese banties. It always is the Welsummer who heads up the flock because it is such a big rooster that the smaller ones never challenge it. Once Adolph's son moved to the small coop with Adolph's flock after Adolph died, the next largest rooster in the big coop took over the flock of hens in the big coop. He is a cross between a Welsummer and a mille fleur so is only about half the size of Adolph's son and likely will steer clear of him. They've always gotten along and haven't fought, but the smaller mille fleur/Japanese black banty roosters like to challenge him since he isn't as big as the Welsummers. One hazard of letting your own broody hens hatch their own chicks is that you end up with far too many roosters. We tend to tolerate having surplus roosters as long as they tolerate one another and don't engage in vicious fighting. The ones that want to fight all the time don't last long, and that sort of teaches the other young roosters by example that nothing good comes of fighting.