Last night I let the Reds out of their isolation cage, but not after some thought first. Mildred was looking really beaten down, and I wanted to give her more recovery time away from Bob. I also figured that the Reds, being half her size, wouldn't be nearly the problem to her that Bob is, even if she ends up low on the pecking order.

So I locked Bob in another part of the barn. I put Mildred in a nesting box, where I thought she'd feel safe and stay (she did). Then I opened the door and let the Reds out into the coop. Getting them out of isolation took no encouragement. They were ready to explore and were delighted with all the old hay and scratch I'd put down for them to pick through. Then I caught Bob and put him in jail. He took it in stride, and made a big show out of trying to empty the feeder I gave him all in one sitting.

The Reds have a totally different personality than the Rosses do. They do a lot of chattering and they busy themselves checking out the four corners of the coop. They're very active, but that could be because they're small and a little young yet. The Rosses are so big that they never messed with any of the perches I put up. One of the Reds fluttered up on one within 15 seconds of my opening the door.

This morning Mildred looked better but not fully recovered. Bob was taking being in jail in stride. He had food and water all to himself, after all. And the Reds just couldn't wait to see what I was brining for them to peck at.

Obviously the Rosses are big and slow because they're not really intended to live long. Even if the two I have were on a production farm, Bob would burn himself out early fertilizing eggs, and Mildred would have a short career as a layer.

I think it would be interesting to try and create a giant breed of red using the Ross to get the size. However, there are some roadblocks:

1) Lack of experience on my part (I'm just getting started on this whole thing),

2) Lack of facilities,

3) Lack of vision - there are some Ross traits I don't want, and I need to know what some other Red traits are before I start something like this,

4) At this point, I'm not willing to risk having any of the Reds crushed to death by Bob's attempts to fertilize their eggs

Maybe in a couple of years. In the meantime I have a couple of things to think about... a private yard for Bob and a smaller roo for the girls? Or is it time to break out the charcoal and grill?