here he is: the poor little guy. I'm keeping him seperate from my other rooster and hen because I don't know if the two roosters will fight. I really like his coloring though--it's all speckled black and white--I've never seen a chicken like that (although I've never seen many chickens---I'm definitely a city girl :) I'm not naming him because I don't want to grow attached to him...but it's hard because I'm feeding him and when it rained I put a tarp over him so he wouldn't get wet...and I made him a little perch so he can roost on it at night....and last night as a treat I fed him a watermelon rind and he really liked it. And he's a pretty good crow-er. Our other rooster crows during the day--long after the sun is up! This little guy crows right on time--5am--just as the sun is rising. And my kids are early risers anyway so I look at it as my one hour warning before I have to get up.
I kind of wish it was just over and done with--I don't think I'd have any problem cooking him--I've roasted whole chickens lots of time. And I might even be able to pull out his feathers--I could imagine that being hard though--because he'd still really look like a chicken....without their feathers on it's a lot different. It's like a turkey at thanksgiving! And actually this might be really good practice because we want to raise some turkeys for thanksgiving and Christmas....an organic, free range turkey is really expensive to buy in the store!But really it is so easy to say we're just going to kill him--but to actually do it...just thinking about it- I don't think there is ANY way that I could kill a chicken! I'd have to be very hungry. Watching the life drain from a once living animal...wow. The only thing I have ever killed is bugs. Do you think you could kill a chicken? I asked mi amigo George how he kills his chickens and he said he is too scared--he has his friend do it but he says there are two good ways to do it: (this might be gross for the faint of heart so reader beware) 1) slit his neck (just thinking about it gives me the all overs!) or 2) tie his neck to a rope and fling him around in circles (it will break his neck). Or of course there is 3) the "chopping his head off"--but getting a chicken to lay still is pretty impossible! and they really will run around... 4) or lastly (and this one is really gross) is take a knife and open their mouth and push it up through the roof of their mouth and sever their little brain--as gross as it sounds it might be the most humane because they die instantly.
Yikes--I hope you wern't reading this post while you were eating (especially not a chicken sandwich!)
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That is crazy you have family in Snowflake... Small world. Maybe we will meet someday there.... Anyways, if you are going to milk your goats don't let them eat weeds. The milk will taste like whatever they eat. So be careful on that note. I guess by trial and error you can choose what she eats... Right, how hard can milking a goat be?? I bet we will have some great stories the first month we do it... My biggest fear is having a full bucket of milk knocked over by Annie as I am finishing up. Or being kicked.. With our 12 acres we have tons of weeds too. Phoenix is like Roswell. Dry, hot and never humidity... Dust storms are typical here. I could say I hate it but God has given us this land and this home so who am I to complain. He knows best right.... Now about the roosters. If one is sickly the others will kill it. I don't know why, I guess they just know when something isn't right. But our neighbors raises his roosters and chickens all together and they all seem to get along well. Occasionally there will be a mean one that you will have to get rid of. They even have a turkey with all the chickens also. Seems to get along well. Could have started as a pet though... Not sure on that one. I know that I could never get rid of (kill) the chickens. When I was growing up we had fryer chickens. We butchered everyone. It was horrible.. My Grandpa rung there necks and tied them in a tree. One even ran away without it's head. I bet our neighbors got a kick our of that one.. We never did find her. Then we had to put them in boiling water and plucked the feathers. The smell was horrible. Then we did the rest of the cleaning. WE had like 30 chickens in the freezer and none of us could bring ourselves to eat our little buddies. We gave them all away. So no butchering for me... I get too attached to all my critters to do that. We had to put a 35 year old horse down a few months back and it was horrible. Poor Two Bucks... It was sad. But that is the life of a country family. You have to deal with things of this nature. Have you ever heard the radio thing about the little boy who had to put his mama cow down? It brings me to tears. I will try to send it to you. I better get busy with school. You are such a blessing. Thanks for writing. Have a blessed day.
Hey, I found your blog via Susan Dukes and think it's quite intriguing. I hope you don't mind some insight from a former country girl. I was raised with chickens (and various other 4-H animals). First, Rooster meat isn't very good for eating. It's pretty tough and stringy, hence not so tasty. Second, the way we killed our chickens was to pin them down with the handle of a rake over their neck and jump on both sides of the handle. That broke their neck and I hope they didn't feel anything after that. Then we'd chop off their heads. For plucking them, we would dip the carcass into hot water and then cold water a bunch of times. At least that's how I remember it. I was 11 when we moved to the city, so it's kinda been awhile!
This, my dear, is why I don't eat meat! :) I have a friend who raises her own chickens-meat birds and laying birds. I'm sure she'd be happy to share her thoughts with you if you're interested. She's a bank of knowledge just like you. :) I really would like chickens one day for the eggs. (I still have to convince my hubby that they won't be too much trouble.) :) No roosters for me though. I don't want the wake-up call or accidental egg fertilization occurring. :)
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