*Warning-butchering details*
**But not too many. If you ever knew what chicken were really like, you would never eat them or their eggs again**
I spent my precious weekend time dealing with our rooster problem. They don't fight or crow too much, but there are a lot of them and I'm tired of feeding them all (the price of chicken food per pound of chicken meat is not very economical). Plus, the hens are going through a molt and not laying very well.
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| New feathers-picture from a month ago |
The hen above is the one that was attacked by the eagle last spring. She had a deep cut along her back and her feathers just now grew back. She is looking so sleek and pretty now. We aren't planning on butchering our hens...yet. But if they keep eating and not laying eggs, I may change my mind.
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| Alice- the lump on her chest is her swollen crop |
Alice was a sweet, friendly hen. She suffered from chronic sour crop and didn't grow very well. We eliminated her from the flock and found her crop had a giant ball of grass she couldn't pass. She was stunted in growth from her inability to get nutrients from her food. Her heart was about the size of an almond and she had no developing eggs.
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| Biter |
We had a lot of roosters hatch our from our experiment. The one above was a jerk (Kenny was his dad). I accidentally picked him up thinking he was a different chicken and he bit me. Not a peck, a BITE. We butchered him at the perfect age. I'm not supposed to be happy about killing, but his meat was so niiiice.
Killing Rocky was the worst. He was my
favorite because he would follow us around the property and eat berries
with us. He was so friendly and never ran away, but would submit to
pets and wattle massage. I heard E say, "Is that Rainbow?" and M reply,
"No. Shhhh!" Then she started to cry and ran in the house, although seconds before that she was helping me pluck. I know we can't keep them all, but Rocky was my darling! He came to us because he was aggressive at his old house.
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| Joe |
Joe came to us last year with his brother (who was eaten by a predator). We got him as a meat bird, but kept him around. He made some cute chickies this year! But he is old and we can't keep all our roosters.
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| Rainbow Sun and Kenny- getting ready to fight! |
Rainbow Sun is the black rooster. We are keeping him because he will breed true with the australorp hens next spring. Kenny. He was our first rooster and he was MEAN. He jumped on the kids. He had long spurs. He once broke my skin through my jeans by jumping on me and hitting me with his spurs. No one is sad to see him go. Well, maybe a little sad. He was a very protective rooster and very good at spotting trouble (until his eye got poked and he became blind in one eye). M had a hard time catching him, even with a net! The boys like to sneak up on him and scare him
Joe and Kenny bring light to the "tough as shoe leather" saying. I had to put them back in the pot for a few more hours. I have never seen such tough meat. It was like a rock! I can imagine Grandad having a good laugh and saying, "I told you so!" He always warned us to take the roosters while they were young and not let them run around too much.
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| Rodney |
Remember
these chickies? Rodney, Kenny's son and the only purebred buff orpington male, is the biggest rooster in the flock. He is even bigger than Kenny was and his full rooster feathers and comb haven't even grown in all the way. (Teyla ended up being a rooster too, so we changed his name to John. John Sheppard. Because we like Stargate Atlantis). We are keeping Rodney and Rainbow and maybe John (as long as we keep a good hen to rooster ratio).
Well, that's about it for now. I still have a huge mess to clean up in the kitchen and I'm a little tired of being in there. But dishes don't wash themselves!
