"You were good boys and you did a good job." That's what I told Candy and Manny when I sent them on their way. I felt awful inside, but I had to do what I had to do. An experienced neighbor reminded me, "It's not personal."So, our roosters Candy and Manny are gone now. They were good roosters, as good as roosters can be. But a flock of 4 hens with 3 roosters is nothing but trouble. They peck at the hens constantly. Poor Muff-muff's back feathers are completely gone. And they cock-a-doodle-doo all day long. This is simply no way to run a hen house.
Candy was the biggest of all our chickens...he must have weighed at least 15 pounds. Friendly too, except around the little kids. He chased Josie all the time...scared the daylights out of her!
Manny was the smallest but the noisiest. He was Candy's twin but much smaller. All but one of the points on his comb blackened and fell off during the winter...a unicomb.
We still have Peep. He has the most brilliant, iridescent feathers. He is also the bossiest and most protective. Hopefully he'll continue to be watchful of our hens and protect them.
Getting rid of the roos has not been easy, psychologically. Our chickens are like pets to us. There's a guy at the local feed store who offered to buy our roos, but he resells them. Since he couldn't assure me that they would be eaten, I worried that our roosters would be sold for cock-fighting, which is a reality here in the metropolitan area. I didn't want that to happen. Fortunately, I found a neighbor who I know will "appreciate" them.
5 comments:
Thanks for stopping by my blog. As a former minnesotan, I will have to come by and check your blog out from time to time. I love the St. Croix Valley. I used to take weekend bike rides up through Fountain Cty and cross over tot he other side [I'm blyrry on names now]I had a dream of living in Fountain City...If you are going to raise animals, you will go through a process of understanding what needs to be done to keep your barnyard safe. You did the right thing to cull out some roosters. SOmeday you can read my story of Bad Ass.
Katherine, thank you for visiting Hawks Nest Farm blog! I adore your art/writing and absolutely wish you were my next door neighbor here in St. Croix Valley...
I found and read your Bad Ass story!! OOOoohh that was good.
Update: our one remaining rooster (Peep) has gone to the dark side. His new status as lone chief has gone to his head and made him truly evil. WE can't even go in the coop to get the eggs.
In fact he just chased me down outside. I had to beat him off with a stick!!
So there will be another call to a neighbor and "the deed" will be done. I'm not sure I could eat Peep though...not there yet.
So much about this farm adventure that i want to say/write...You are a wonderful inspiring example for me. Thanks again sooo sooo much!
Stop by again...take care!
Paula
(for anyone else reading this here is the link to the Bad Ass story: http://apiferafarm.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-2008-rooster-roundup.html)
Thanks for the link!
Well, too many of them there boys cause trouble in any flock or herd...men, can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em...
It was, and continues to be, a journey for me too- and on eating what you raise, I am more at peace with it. More at peace with that then having to eat anything raised in a livestock yard. We just happened to get at the top of the food chain...but it is a respectful situation for us here. I alwasy say, my job is to keep order and safety in my barnyard. If you make repeated trouble, chaos insues, and you'll have to leave. Eating a rooster is often kinder than letting it go somewhere where it will roam, get half eaten, die a slow death on a road or in a dog's mouth. SOme would say that me justifying killin an animal, I say, come live and walk in my shoes, raise some animals, and we'll talk in a year...You're doing great!
a-man sister! :)
check. order and safety first...
check.
oh geez there's sooooo much to learn! i feel like such a CITIOT! (pronounced city-it.) We made that word up upon our arrival at hawksnest.
I want to share a little barnyard "deed" humor...check out these hilarious felted chickens by Swedish artist Yvonne Bavman. http://www.bavman.se/aktuellt6.html
I took a felting workshop with Yvonne a while back when she visited MN and exhibited at the Swedish Institute. One of her mounted chicken heads is in our kitchen!
Yvonne, like you, is another blessed soul who is lighting the way on our barnyard path!
On another note, how do I go about buying some lavender plants from you? I want to grow a little apifera at hawksnest!!
Hi Paula! Those felted creatures are wonderful! I have a long way to go with my technique! I want to do an entire gallery show with a huge set of animals, but...time, time, time.
On lavender - I would be wrong to tell you that it can grow there. It just won't. It will not winter over, and even if it did, would be small. You could try growing the spanish lavender in a giant pot though...One of the glories of moving to the west, evn though I loved Minnesota as my homeland, was that here I can grow things considered exotic to a midwesterner - like lavender. You could grow Russian Sage though, one of our favorites!Send me your snail mail, I'll surprise you in the coming months with lavender bundles...I love surprises.
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