Jul20

Because I know you’ve been losing sleep over this

Posted on by
Standard

I texted the Chicken Lady: We have another rooster. He is a fine looking specimen… If I were a few decades younger and a hen… Anyway, could we just bring him back to you?

CL: Hahaha [laughing crying face] yes of course.

We arrived with roses from our garden to grease the skids, and she seemed delighted with them. When she saw the rooster she said, “Wow, that is a beautiful bird. You sure you don’t want to keep him?”

We didn’t, but I agreed. He truly was magnificent to behold. I honestly stared at him for a while, as his multi-hued plumage shimmered in the sunlight.

And then we gave him the boot.

This picture doesn’t do him justice. I’m not one to fawn over birds, but, this guy…

In addition to the roses and rooster, we brought back one of the new chicks. Thanks to superb chicken sex-identifying advice from Jacqui of Word Dreams, Hubs and I spread the chicks’ wings to try to ID any potential roosters. One was for sure a hen–uneven wings, and one really seemed likely to be a rooster–even wings. The rest were a little unclear, so we decided to leave them for now and hope for the best.

I expected her to give us a new chick to swap out, but instead she gave us two. Not complaining. We’re back to ten birds after starting with seven, four of whom were roosters.

The two new ones are in front. I was told they were born the same day as the ones we got last time, but look how much smaller they are! Whatever!

I woke up this morning to blissful silence.

Until another rooster crowed.

Make that five out of seven roosters. You don’t even want to know how much we’ve spent on chicken feed these past few months raising these useless birds. Sigh.

We had such high hopes for this one being a hen, but alas, ’twas not to be. He was just awaiting his chance to be the alpha bird and reveal his true colors. Will we keep him? Will we return him? The saga continues. Stay tuned!

78 responses »

  1. I can’t believe you are still having roosters! How is Chicken Lady still in business? I loved your line “I woke to blissful silence… until another rooster crowed” Oh I had a chuckle at your expense. What an adventure!!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply ↓

  2. Who knew hens would be so difficult! My sister had her four hens killed by a weasel (I think) and had to replace all at once. She had not a single problem with it. All hens. I’m going to call her darn lucky!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

  4. I know they are hard to sex but that seems a little out of the ordinary to get so many roosters. Btw, I have some friends who used to spend the summer on their “farm” in western New York. They bought some chickens when they first arrived, figuring they’d enjoy the eggs, then have dinner fixings at the end of the summer. When it was time to fly back home, they realized that they couldn’t eat their feathery friends so they returned them to the place where they got them. After doing this several years in a row, they became known as the “chicken renters from California.” (They now live there full time and have lost their reluctance to eat Henny Penny.)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

  5. I’m mesmerized by this tale of chicken-ness. What will happen next? Is the rooster going to stay or go? Will Betsy get rid of the whole mess of them? Stay tuned for the next installment of Days of Our Chicken.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply ↓

    • LOL! 😛
      That last rooster would have all the lady hens swooning. The other rooster would get jealous and stage a coup (or coop). There’d be some huge scandal over who the real father was of those chicks. Etc. 🙂 Should I mount cameras and start a documentary series? Real Househens of the Coop!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply ↓

  6. I’m glued to this saga. I never would have guessed there would be such–trauma?–chaos?–confusion?–in trying to sort roosters from chickens. I have to say that first bird is a very handsome lad. As is the last one. But I guess handsome isn’t what it’s about.

    It does, however, make for very entertaining blog stories 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

    • Oh. And. My husband is half heartedly trying to talk me into getting guineas (I have no idea if that is spelled right) because we are overrun by ticks. So much so that if I venture outside I come in with no less than 2 ticks on my EVERY SINGLE TIME. He was told guineas eat ticks. Guineas are birds. I was told, like wild chickens. Hence the connection albeit weak, to your story. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

      • I say, get em. Presumably the boy guineas will eat ticks just as well as the girl guineas, so you won’t have my issue. Any wild chicken eggs you get will be a bonus! (Assuming they’re still edible and all. I know nothing.)

        And, honestly, CM. I expect this tick problem to be taken care of before my visit to the cabin!

        Like

      • Oh PIF. Don’t come this year then! The ticks are wicked. I am not exaggerating when I say I cannot go outside without getting at least 2. Never just one, and sometimes 3. I despise them. I am becoming a hermit because I just don’t want to deal with them!

        If I got the guineas then I would have to go outside and take care of them. Vicious cycle. Oh. And the tick spray did not work either.

        Liked by 2 people

      • Well, hopefully taking care of the guineas would be easier because of far fewer ticks. Sounds like you’d hardly need to feed the birds for that reason, too. Happy cycle! 🙂

        Like

      • Hey, CM! Sorry about your tick problem, but yes, guineas are fowl. My dad got us some years ago. We just let them roam the property. They wandered, roosted in trees at night, and we didn’t really do much with them except make sure they had water, and maybe some food. I think they got enough to eat during their wandering in our grove. And yes, the eggs are edible, but really thick shells. They’re kinda cool; they look more like dinosaurs than regular chickens do. And no crowing (that I remember 🙂 )

        Liked by 2 people

      • Thank you Julie! My husband’s friend is still trying to convince him. I will share your response with him. I really appreciate you sharing the info you have. We do have open yards and dogs out and about. If they can protect themselves up in the trees it might be possible.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Still roosters?! That first rooster is quite the looker. Great blog stories, if nothing else 🙂 Ours are almost two years old (I think), so they are slowing down some. Still getting a dozen eggs or so a week, so we’ll let them do their thing 😀

        Liked by 1 person

      • Yes, 5 out of 7 roosters, and of the new younger ones, there’s bound to be a few roosters in there too. We’ll see soon enough, I suppose. I look forward to being at the point you are with all layers!

        Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you for the sympathy, CM. It’s just… It makes me shake my head and try not to think about the expense these fowl creatures are causing me. The hens–when we do finally settle on all hens–better be great layers!

      Like

      Reply ↓

  17. OMG!! You have chickens?! That’s so awesome! Well, apart from the rooster business obviously. 😉 But what a cool thing to do really! I’ve always wanted some chickens – because, you know, fresh eggs 😉 – but don’t have enough space. Also the rooster would be annoying as heck – but who am I talking to? 😉 Looking forward to the saga continuing!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

    • Honestly, the rooster crowing is only annoying because it’s a reminder that he’s a rooster when I wanted a hen. Otherwise, it’s not very loud, and makes me feel like I’m more in the country than I actually am. So, some small perk. But still, he gots to go!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  22. Pingback: Sure enough, more crowing | parentingisfunny

Leave a reply to ParentingIsFunny Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.