Introducing Sheldon

As you are all aware we own 4 chickens. Our lives as chicken farmers has not gone smoothly so far. Out of the 1st 4 chickens 3 were roosters, including my beloved Cornelius. The removal of these 3 put poor Pius into shock and bringing in 3 new upstarts did not help. By the time the daylight started to fade for the year we had 3 hens who had not quite reached the age of laying and one who was too terrified to do much. So we sat back and resigned ourselves to no eggs til spring.

We have however been checking the nest boxes regularly. You never know right? Over this last week a couple of them have been starting to look like they may start soon. Their combs and wattles have become a bright red and if you go to pick them up they squat down in a position which says they are preparing for the rooster.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 9 to let the girls out. I'd had a late night and really just wanted to stay in my warm bed but the livestock comes first. Clad in my dressing gown and wellies I gathered the kitchen scraps and corn ration and headed out into the still snowy outdoors. It was cold and wet and really not shaping up to be a great day. I scattered corn in the run, tipped out the scraps and cleaned and refilled their water hanger then let them out. Hilarius was clucking like a good un just as she does every morning. Shall I check the nest boxes I thought to myself. Yeah why not. There are 4 boxes. Nope, nope, nope, squeal! Our first egg. As quick as I could I locked up the run, ran inside, shed my wellies and woke up Spadger. As far as I was concerned I didn't care if he was grumpy 'cause I woke him up. He had to hold the first egg while it was still warm. Yup they had only just laid it. So without further ado I give you Sheldon.

Complete with piece of straw and a feather. It is small and perfectly formed. So perfectly formed in fact that we felt they have laid a few previously that have been failures, no shell etc, that they have eaten so we've not found them. Usually the first few are a bit hit and miss as they get the hang of the whole shell thing. We resolved to check again after we got back from shopping and the farm. Lo and behold in the actual coop hidden in sawdust there was another egg. Smaller than Sheldon and still very fresh. I tested it by dropping it in a jug of water. How far from horizontal on the bottom it lays tells you how fresh it is. There is an air pocket in the round end. The older the egg the more air. As long as your egg is still in contact with the bottom of the jug it should be ok but I'd crack it into something other than your baking or pan just to check. If it floats get rid! Anyhoo, Eggbert laid horizontal so I think he was either yesterday or today. Sheldon is still the first though as we found him first.

The 2 hens most likely to be responsible are Hilarius and Linus as they squat and the others still run.

Oh frabjous day!

New Chickens

In a terrible turn of bad luck it seems out of the four chickens we originally bought we got 3 roosters. Yeah that's right, two of the remaining 3 were roos.

You caught the past tense huh? This mornning was an early one for us here. Gregory met his maker. It feels odd to be so blase about it but it's just part of life I guess. I took a bit more of an active role in it this time and held Gregory while Spadger did the deed. I'm not squeamish but I expected to get a little upset by it all and was quite surprised that I didn't. I'm not sure if it was that I never really took to Gregory or just that I feel quite pragmatic about where my food comes from. Again I was in charge of plucking and it went much easier this time. Instead of hanging him I just laid him on my lap on a couple of towels. Being able to change the angles I was plucking at made it so much easier. I managed to get away with only one tiny bit of bruising on a wing.

Boniface is still with us for the moment. We're not up to processing two birds in one day so he will be dealt wih next weekend. That leaves only Pius from the original batch. How unlucky are we?

So what's with the title I hear you all cry. Well we decided to go and get replacement chickens today. The lady we buy them off had some that were not ready to lay yet but which were much older than the age we bought the first lot at. In fact they are the age we first started having our suspicions about Cornelius. They are fairly certain to be hens this time. Fingers crossed. I have no problem with the slaughter and preparation of my own chickens but I'd rather not have to do it too often. I will introduce them properly later on in the week with pics.

It's been a touchy subect of late for me. When I told all my colleagues that we had a rooster and were going to have to get rid of him this news was met with outrage. There was much "I don't know how you can", "I couldn't" and my personal favourite "you're cruel". For their information the dictionary definition of cruel is:
adjective, -er, -est.
1.
willfully or knowingly causing pain or distress to others.
2.
enjoying the pain or distress of others: the cruel spectators of the gladiatorial contests.
3.
causing or marked by great pain or distress: a cruel remark; a cruel affliction.
4.
rigid; stern; strict; unrelentingly severe.

Now I'll admit that the roosters may have been distressed. They may even have been in pain. But I get the feeling it is the second meaning that people are trying to apply to me. At no point during the processing of either bird have I enjoyed any possible pain or distress. We have tried to make it as quick and painless as possible. Being called cruel by people who eat meat really offends me. Were the statement made by a vegetarian it would be a totally different matter as their beliefs are different. Heck, I've been vegetarian so I get it. My beliefs just changed. But for someone who eats meat to say it really does anger me. They wouldn't call a farmer, butcher or supermarket cashier cruel but they are all closer to the death of their meal than they are. It seems to be the fact that I am so close up the chain that bothers people, the fact that I have know my food while it was alive. That I have seen it scratching around, fed it from my hand and seen it's personality for myself.

Suffice to say it came to a bit of a head this week and almost decended into a full blown argument. I'd just had enough. Ah well.