Our new roosters are beginning to cock-a-doodle and Vicki's getting, to put it gently, worried about what the neighbors will say. I say, when the neighbors get rid of their massive Rottweiler and the howling Beagle, they can say something about our roosters. As far as I know, there is not a single, legal thing anybody can do about our having roosters in the back yard. I think she's afraid our psycho neighbor might sic his mastiff on our hen house, or something, and that has a very messy potential, especially if Kenzie sees the beast chowing down on her chickens. Actually, we only have one really loud and very persistent cockerel so far, and I already said he's on the menu in February.
Well, a bargain was cut (unbeknownst to Chicken Girl) and now, in my eldest daughter's eyes, I am a traitor. Here's the deal. Since I only wanted one rooster to propagate the flock, I bargained away all the roosters for permission to mail-order a bunch of new hens (shipped from the hatchery the day they hatch). This is a much more efficient way of raising egg-layers, anyway, since you can order just hens, and not waste food on raising a bunch of roosters. And you can still eat any hens that aren't pulling their weight in the egg-laying assignment. So, I just placed an order for 25 new hens, of various breeds, just to add color to the flock. They should arrive on February 12 or 13. I was told by the hatchery that the post office will call me when they arrive and I'll have to pick them up, but our mail lady knows I'm home, so she may deliver them to me. We'll see. Oh, and the hatchery also includes an extra, 'surprise chicken' with baby chick orders. It's supposed to be "rare or special" breed that we can attempt to identify as it matures. Hopefully, they also send the answer along, just in case we can't figure it out.
Back to the deal. Although Kenzie got to pick exactly which breeds of chicken she wanted (which she did), and she's thrilled about the "surprise" chick, she's not so pleased at the prospect of losing Nugget. She doesn't appreciate the fact that, come meal time, he'll become an integral part of her life. I didn't use these exact words; I think they would fall on unappreciative ears. Kenzie is even less thrilled with the prospect that we'll have way too many hens and will have to cull the flock (more yummy dinners) if we can't sell or give the extra hens away. She's gotten so bad that, tonight, when we had a very tasty slow-cooked, store-bought chicken, Kenzie wouldn't eat it because she said it tasted like a home-grown chicken. I love the fact that she relishes (no pun intended) her role as a backyard chicken farmer, but I think she's been ruined on chicken dinners for years to come.
Today, in the muck of our back yard (we've already had three inches of rain this year, on top of an exceptionally wet December), Kenzie, with the enlisted help of a reluctant Tyler, was measuring for an extended chicken run. We want to add a second run so we can alternate between the two. This should allow us to grow grass in the area the chickens destroy (it's amazing how fast they can defoliate an area) while providing them with fresh grass and bugs, at least periodically throughout the year. At least the areas that get consumed by chickens will be well fertilized.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
((Kenzie)) Growing up, our neighbours raised pigs and goats and they always shared some of the meat with us to go in our freezer. It was odd, at first, as a kid to eat that which we had played with but it was also a real blessing to understand where food came from and what fresh tasted like. It will take her some time, I'm sure.
Aww Poor Kenzie, hopefully once the new ones arrive she'll be more understanding of the whole thing. A surprise one huh? That sounds very interesting! Looking forward to photos.
Ooooh! I hope they send you one of those fuzzy looking chickens that come in exotic colors, blue, green, pink. Shoot, I've even seen a purple one. That would be very cool!
Post a Comment