Chicken and egg
We have a relatively large flock of poultry for a small farm. My 150+ laying hens are Black Australorp chickens. I get them as day-old chicks in the mail. We feed them and care for them for 26 weeks before they begin to lay. The hatchery always adds a couple of roosters, intentionally perhaps, or maybe they were mis-sexed. So, I have two magnificent roosters in this new flock.
First let me say that you don’t need roosters to get eggs (a lot of people don’t know this). There are two camps on the desirability of having a rooster. One says they protect the hens and provide fertile eggs. The other says they are noisy and a waste of feed. I’ve always kept a few because I do think they add value and they are handsome. Now one of the new Black Australorp roosters is a mean SOB, who attacks anyone that gets near him, whether it’s an innocent volunteer helping out or the farmers he should know. We’ve tried behavior modification without much luck. Yesterday, as I was putting feed in the feeder, this rooster pecked me. He bit right through two layers of clothing! That did it for me. I have no need for that abuse and he’ll be the first bird to be slaughtered.
I’m reflecting on the difference between this guy and the other roosters as I’m standing at the sink washing eggs. Yes, we hand wash our eggs in pure well water–no icky chemical wash! This time of year, our poultry have the run of the farm. They cultivate and fertilize the fields and beds. I was clearing weeds in my perennial flower garden the other day and watching them follow behind me. This soil was top-dressed with horse manure last fall and as a result has developed a deep, rich soil full of bugs and worms. The bad thing about chickens is that they tend to get stuck in a spot and dig big holes or uproot my plants, which I have to go back and fill in. Anyway, I was watching a rooster–a gorgeous Barred Rock-Phoenix cross that was hatched from a hidden nest a couple years ago. He would spot a worm or bug and call the hens over for the prize rather than eat it himself.
Another example of rooster value is protection. One could argue my SOB rooster was protecting his girls, but clearly we are not a threat. As I said, the flock is ranging all over the farm. It was a beautiful afternoon yesterday as I was planting seeds in our hoop houses. I hear a warning call from a nearby rooster and suddenly the whole flock scrambles for the protection of the house and surrounding bushes. I look up to see what caused all the fuss. High up in the sky a hawk was cruising by. The rooster must have spotted it from quite a distance away.
So, I’ll continue to have few roosters around, but I know one of them that is destined for my stew pot!
