The girls have generated enough in egg sales to help save a decent down payment towards a new truck. I did some calculating, and looking ahead, figured out the optimal number of eggs needed for weekly delivery to the local restaurant I supply.
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| extra large |
Over the winter I ordered additional chicks. This year's crop arrived in April. I raised them up to pullet size, and moved them outside - from the brooder next door to the big girls. The very first night they were slaughtered - I mean bits and pieces strewn about - by a junior raccoon. Bad, bad junior raccoon was trapped and relocated immediately, because he would never stop coming back to the coop.
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| Yep - relocate all coons (a sibling of the slaughterer) |
Started over with another batch in July. They made it safely to adulthood, but unfortunately I was blessed with not one, but two roosters. *sigh* Roosters can be a pain in the ass, and I would have no problem dispatching one if he ever came at me aggressively. Thank goodness, these two were reasonable as well as handsome. All was not well however. After a few tense days of chest bumping, feather pulling and comb-biting, our first man-chicken was beheaded overnight by #1 hen Beulah Montelle, who apparently couldn't tolerate competition.
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| later dude... |
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| Beulah Montelle leads the charge |
Rooster #2 exhibits better coping skills, and has safely slid into the leadership role. He has a rather unique crow, earning him the name Tarzan. He does a good job of protecting the hens, already having alerted me with a predator call, in time for me to run off a Cooper's Hawk.
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Hoping these 12 days of holiday posts can help to balance out what has been a very overwhelming year, personally and globally.
♫♪♬ On the first day of Christmas... ♫♪♬
That is a lot of chicken drama! Hope there is no more and everything stays peaceful at the farmette. Good commercial.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mug shot, lol. Troublesome raccoons but awflly cute.
ReplyDeleteOh, it's so good to hear from you! Glad to hear that your chickens are doing OK... we've had similar trials and tribulations with ours, and while ours don't provide enough eggs for resale, they do keep us in plenty of quiches and omelettes.
ReplyDeleteI hope your new truck comes soon! Tell those girls to keep at it!
wow, don't mess with Beulah!
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing how the egg selling is leading to a new truck.
Seems like its been a year for chicken drama -- although ours hasn't been as, ahem, gruesome as yours. Your rooster is beautiful. We have two -- one who is beautiful and kind; one who is a tad aggressive but also very protective of the hens.
ReplyDeleteTarzan is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteGHM - Let there be peace on earth!
ReplyDeleteWendy - I always fall for raccoon cuteness and am repaid with trouble lol.
jenj - It's sad, but chickens do seem fairly expendable. I've stopped naming them in an effort to not get too attached.
TeresaA - The nest egg consists of three years of egg sales + horse-sitting pay.
Annette - The chicks were just torn to pieces. Apparently the coon stopped killing for food and just shredded the poor little things.
Karen - Pretty is as pretty does. I swore I wouldn't have a rooster so he better earn his keep.
oh my your chickens are beautiful! Please regale us with more chicken stories :)
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