Chicken Seraglio

Having sent Arthur away to a family who are only just starting their flock, Cargill is now the sole patriarch of the yard, strutting and crowing and taking liberties with the hens in a way that suggests that his former restraint was due to the presence of his rival. We had hoped that reducing the rooster population by half would give the poor overburdened hens a rest, but the bald patches on their heads appear to be growing worse rather than better.

The Pirate and I talked seriously about giving Cargill away as well. The response to my advert in craigslist was far better than I'd hoped, and finding a good home for Cargill wouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, I had hopes of raising some tiny araucanas and had gotten more araucana hens specifically for the purpose.

The solution was simple: Cargill gets a bachelor pad. He's to be exiled to the smaller of the chicken yards, where he will be alone until it's time to start a batch of chicks. The hens and the tiny chicks will have the larger yard where they can frolic and scratch, carefree and unburdened by the unreasonable demands of Sultan Cargill. The avian odalisques will carry out their duties in what will become the women's and children's quarters of the chicken yard.

As for Cargill, we're building him his own little sultan's palace:

It'll sit in the smaller chicken yard and be about two feet tall by a foot and a half long and a foot and a half deep. The door will double as the steps down, and the roof will lift off for cleaning. It'll have the same wood-slat floor that allows the droppings to fall through, and it won't be fastened to the ground so that we can move it from place to place.

The only thing the Sultan lacks is a turban. I think it might be a great idea to plant a turban squash plant just outside the chicken yard for him.