Apr 06 2008
Rooster Went to The Cookpot
We have had a few problems with our rooster getting mean and attacking. I learned to deal with him but when I was down with my back, Karen had to take care of the chickens and the rooster attacked her and did a number on her leg.
We already had all the eggs that we needed for the season fertilized so there was no real need to have a rooster anymore. We did our first cull. I took him to our cousin Kenny’s house and he showed me how to do a clean kill and pluck the feathers. I though it would be much worse but it did not bother me. I made Karen stand there with us so we can start doing our own when needed.
I thought the rooster would be hard to catch but I did it pretty quickly. The problem was, he stirred up the hens and one of the hens fell between an opening in the walls and got stuck. I thought she was dead or broke her neck and I tried to get her out but she fell too far. I ended up going to the outside of the barn and breaking through the wall. By time I did this, she flew up half way and I went back in and rescued her. I still thought she might be hurt but as soon as I lifted her out she flew off with the rest of her flock. Silly hen!
All the baby chicks but one is doing good. That poor little thing was attacked by the rest and pecked hard. I am not sure if she is going to make it but we are all crossing our fingers. They are growing fast and since I do not have electrical power in the barn, Kenny is still keeping them until they can come home without need for additional heat.
This week we are building a room inside the coop to keep the new chicks when they come home away from the older hens. This will be just fenced in so they can get use to each other before mixing them.
We have another batch of eggs scheduled to hatch next week so I will have more pictures to share. I will also be putting up some updated chick pictures as soon as I get time.
That is the update from the old homestead right now. Stay tuned for some cool pictures and video links of the chickens.
