Roosters and Hens

My how time flies!  I realize it has been a while since I posted anything about the chickens, but had no idea how long until I looked back and found the last chicken post was in June! In my defense, I have posted a few updates to our Windy Acres Natural Farm Facebook page, but those were short with little detail.  So it is time for a more in-depth report.

The last chicken entry was this one  Chicken Introductions where we introduced the chicks we purchased in April to the old hens.  It was pretty dramatic for a few weeks, but the social issues have pretty much been worked out and peace and order have been restored to the flock.

The chicks we bought are Rhode Island Reds.  We got "straight run" chicks.  Straight Run means the chicks are not sexed, i.e. you don't know if they are male or female.  As it turned out, of the 8 chickens, we had 4 of each.  It took several months before we could tell the difference.  But, when it became obvious that we had 4 roosters, we had to figure out what to do with them.  With our small flock of 7 hens, it would be stretching it to keep even one rooster, much less 4.  My rooster dilemma became the source for many jokes among our friends, several of whom offered to lend me guns or otherwise help eliminate the problem. 

Finally, someone told me about an auction that is held each Saturday morning not far from us where folks sell, chickens, ducks and rabbits.  I took 3 of the roosters to that and ended up with $12 for all three of them.  Of course, I had to pay the auctioneer, so my net was about $10 or so.  Not hardly enough to pay for my gas.  :-(

The rooster we kept grew into a handsome fellow and I named him Pretty Boy and here he is.

It is not obvious in this picture, but his legs are a lot longer than those of the chickens and he towered above them.  He was also somewhat intimidating.  I've heard stories of mean roosters who "flog" people, that is fly up and strike at you with their spurs (long toenails that grow from toes on the back of their legs).

As you notice, I am speaking of him in the past tense.  That's because the guy I bought him from called the other day to ask if any of the chicks he had sold me were roosters.  If so, he wanted to buy one of them back because coyotes had gotten into his flock and killed both his prize roosters.  I was relieved to have a humane way to get rid of him.

The hens don't seem to miss him much.  In fact, the younger hens seem to associate more with the older hens now that he is gone, which I view as a good outcome!