Beautiful Life of Zig Zag Zoom

Remember back in the summer when I told you all about Rooty the Wimpy rooster. well he is all grown up and no loner a wimp. He looks good though.

Rooty is a pure Araucana Rooster.

Of course, he is the only rooster, there is the crowned prince, Strut. He is a banty rooster and he is a cute one too.

Both roosters are friendly and show no signs of aggression. I hope you like my little chickens!

Well the days of the little chicks are just about gone. I just purchased my last bag of grower feed and starting next week I will put them all on layer bits. The culling of the roosters went great and I learned a lot. We ended up slaughtering five Roosters which gave us an abundance of meat for seven people. I ended up giving away a whole chicken to my brother in law.

The plucking was not bad and I learned that between 142 degrees and 145 degrees was the ideal for scalding. One of them we scalded at 132 degrees and we ended up with a lot of pin feathers to scrap out. The meat was very tasty. It was a little on the tough side but we think that was from the muscles because our roosters are free range and get lots of exercise.

Getting rid of the five roosters have calmed down the flock a lot. There is a lot less fighting and when there is a scrap, it is just minor and not deadly. I have about ten more roosters that I am going to either sell or cull because I am only keeping the hens for eggs. I might keep Rooty (the wimpy rooster) because he is not related to any of the rest but I am not sure.

Well that is all from my chicken raising for now. Have some chicken stories to share? Please drop me a comment or two.

Today was the first of the culling for the season. We slaughtered and dressed five Roosters today. It was the first time I actually did the killing and cleaning. My cousin Kenny came over and taught me how to gut them and dress them. I was trying to bring a little calm to the chicken yard by eliminating some of the more aggressive Roosters.

My sister and her husband are coming for a visit so we are planning a big chicken barbecue tomorrow. We split the chickens in half and are marinating them in a sauce called State Fair dressing. The roosters were just under 16 weeks so they should have a great taste.

One of the parts of today I did not want to do was to kill the hen I told wrote about a few days ago that the dog attack. The first two days after the attack it seemed fine; however, either it was attacked by the rest of the chickens or it ended up with an infection because it could not get up. I separated it for a couple of days to try and save it but it was getting worse. I hate to see any animal suffer so I put it down today.

That’s it for now from the chicken coop. Please feel free to drop me a comment or two!

This has been my first year raising chickens from chicks. As you may know from my previous posts, I had several chicks hatch out this year and now they close to maturity and the roosters are driving me crazy. I had to rescue Rooty my wimpy Aracauna Rooster last weak but now they have found a few other targets to abuse. The roosters will get one of the wimpier roosters and pin them down and just attack till they draw blood.

I decided yesterday to let them all run in the larger pen to see that will alleviate the problems. This has not helped and they are still attacking the weaker ones. Yesterday, I had to rescue Rooty again because they had him pinned under the block I use for the water container. Tonight I separated another wimp into his own cage.

I have decided it was time and Saturday I will be slaughtering at least four roosters for a chicken barbecue on Sunday. I am culling off the wimpier ones except my pet Rooty and I am culling at least one of the more aggressive ones. I am hoping that once the wimpier ones are gone, the other ones will at least fight back so they will settle down some. I will let you all know how it goes.

Anyone else every have the same problems with a group of roosters? Please share your experience.

I am pretty excited because we are heading to a chicken swap in Madrid, NY on Sunday. This should be fun to see what other poultry farmers are raising. I was hoping to take a few of my little rooster but I have yet to determine the sex of the chicks. I have read a bunch but I can not determine for sure the cockerels from the pullets.

The swap is put on by the Northern New York Poultry Fanciers and what I hear from our cousins, it is a fun time. There is also an auction on the 18th of May and I am hoping to know the sex of the roosters by then so I can sell some.

Has anyone every been to a chicken swap? Did you buy or swap anything? Share with us by leaving a comment.

Last week I collected my chicken eggs as usual. Of course this time, they were not for eating, I gave them to my wife’s cousin to hatch out for me. I am excited to get new chicks in a few weeks. I have a rooster who is a Plymouth Rock and the hens are the Araucana breed. I am excited to see what the cross will look like.

I was given all my chickens last year and I got the rooster and my five Plymouth Rock hens from my wife’s cousin and one of the hens was the rooster’s mother so we decided not to mix those for hatching. My two Araucana hens are no relation so that is why we used those to breed for new chicks. I gave my wife’s cousin ten eggs last week and I am hoping for at least five new chicks. He also said he will do another batch from his eggs, all Plymouth Rocks, for me in April so I have more chicks. I am hoping for about 12-15 hens this year when I am all done.

I would like enough to supply my house with a dozen eggs, my wife’s parents with a dozen, and my wife’s brother’s family with a dozen each week and have a couple dozen eggs to sell to offset feed cost. My goal in the future would be to raise enough to have a supplemental income for our farm.

Right now my five Plymouth Rock hens have not laid any eggs for a few weeks and I am not sure why. They went through moult and started to lay but now have quit. The two Araucana hens lay eggs just about everyday and one egg is white and one is bluish green. If the others do not start laying, they may be stew meat in the fall.

I will write more here when the chicks are born and I am hoping to be able to sex them early so I do not have a yard full of roosters. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more news on the baby chicks.