More chicken coop chronicles
I finally decided to execute Cecil, the Rhode Island red rooster aka Zarqawi, when I saw him raping one of the white Leghorn hens, Bettie. She was screaming like she was being murdered. I knew for sure that he had injured her and that was unacceptable as she and her sister, Alphie, were the best egg-layers. Sure enough Bettie started drooping and looking sick.
So we executed Cecil last Friday and Bettie died on Saturday morning. The autopsy on Bettie revealed that Cecil had crushed an egg in her oviduct which had pierced it and caused peritonitis. She died of septic shock three days after her injury. The fact that the dogs would not eat her cadaver confirmed that she had died of sepsis or blood-poisoning. We moved Alphie in with the rest of the flock where Bertie, the bantam rooster keeps a wary eye on her lest she harm any of his harem - below.
Recently we discovered that two of the barred Plymouth Rock "pullets" were really roosters. I named them Dumb and Dumber and removed them from the flock because they were attacking the hens. They are now on Death Row awaiting execution - below.
Meanwhile not all is death and destruction at Robin's Wood. There have also been a lot of births. The bantam hens have hatched 42 bantam chicks. We did not plan for this but, unbeknown to us, the bantam hens were hiding their eggs and brooding in secret. Most of them have hatched successfully and Turandot, the best brood hen, is sitting on the last 8 eggs. The chicks have arrived in waves of about ten a week. First they go into the incubator in the guest bedroom and then, when they fledge, they're put in the hamster cage - below.
Once they are fully fledged, they are put in a specially sectioned off area of the chicken coop which they share with Turandot and Maria Callas, the singing black hen who is a replacement for the two "pullets" that turned out to be roosters and is too small to intergrate with the main flock as they attack her. Here she is with the first batch of bantam fledglings - below.
Before the fledglings were moved from the hamster cage to the chicken coop, I used to bring Buntie, the runt of the Buff Rock pullets, in to sleep with Maria at night so she had someone to cuddle with. (Chickens like to cuddle at night to keep warm.) Maria and Buntie - below.
But Buntie started attacking the bantam fledglings so, last night, Maria had to cuddle with Bertie Junior - below.
Bertie Jr takes after his father, Bertie Wooster the bantam rooster, and his mother Goldie Hawn, who is a vicious bitch of the first order. Obviously Bertie Jr will have to be eaten when he is about 6 weeks old - as will all of the bantam roosters. About half the fledglings are cockerels so we will have to eat nearly two dozen bantam roosters. They will be too young to pluck and will have to be skinned so I am looking for recipes for roasting skinless chicken as I don't like fried chicken. The only one that I know of is to wrap small skinless game-fowl in bacon strips to keep in the moisture - but my Jew genes make me not like eating pig - chaza.
I stole these pics from Chas. You can read his Farm Report here.
So we executed Cecil last Friday and Bettie died on Saturday morning. The autopsy on Bettie revealed that Cecil had crushed an egg in her oviduct which had pierced it and caused peritonitis. She died of septic shock three days after her injury. The fact that the dogs would not eat her cadaver confirmed that she had died of sepsis or blood-poisoning. We moved Alphie in with the rest of the flock where Bertie, the bantam rooster keeps a wary eye on her lest she harm any of his harem - below.
Recently we discovered that two of the barred Plymouth Rock "pullets" were really roosters. I named them Dumb and Dumber and removed them from the flock because they were attacking the hens. They are now on Death Row awaiting execution - below.
Meanwhile not all is death and destruction at Robin's Wood. There have also been a lot of births. The bantam hens have hatched 42 bantam chicks. We did not plan for this but, unbeknown to us, the bantam hens were hiding their eggs and brooding in secret. Most of them have hatched successfully and Turandot, the best brood hen, is sitting on the last 8 eggs. The chicks have arrived in waves of about ten a week. First they go into the incubator in the guest bedroom and then, when they fledge, they're put in the hamster cage - below.
Once they are fully fledged, they are put in a specially sectioned off area of the chicken coop which they share with Turandot and Maria Callas, the singing black hen who is a replacement for the two "pullets" that turned out to be roosters and is too small to intergrate with the main flock as they attack her. Here she is with the first batch of bantam fledglings - below.
Before the fledglings were moved from the hamster cage to the chicken coop, I used to bring Buntie, the runt of the Buff Rock pullets, in to sleep with Maria at night so she had someone to cuddle with. (Chickens like to cuddle at night to keep warm.) Maria and Buntie - below.
But Buntie started attacking the bantam fledglings so, last night, Maria had to cuddle with Bertie Junior - below.
Bertie Jr takes after his father, Bertie Wooster the bantam rooster, and his mother Goldie Hawn, who is a vicious bitch of the first order. Obviously Bertie Jr will have to be eaten when he is about 6 weeks old - as will all of the bantam roosters. About half the fledglings are cockerels so we will have to eat nearly two dozen bantam roosters. They will be too young to pluck and will have to be skinned so I am looking for recipes for roasting skinless chicken as I don't like fried chicken. The only one that I know of is to wrap small skinless game-fowl in bacon strips to keep in the moisture - but my Jew genes make me not like eating pig - chaza.
I stole these pics from Chas. You can read his Farm Report here.
posted by Joubert at 7:14 AM
The Alliance
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