Zos Chikins Are Crazee!

Some of you may know that we keep chickens. Well allow me to introduce them to you (before they end up in the pot). I can't introduce them all, they don't all have names, but here are a few of the prominent characters:

Captain Hastings

Captain Hastings is our rooster. Named after the character from Poirot, on account of his demeanour and general ineptitude when he first arrived, Hastings has come on in leaps and bounds and now really rules the roost. Funny how they figure it all out without any training.

Fortunata

Fortunata is one of our few remaining original hens. Apart from Hastings it is Fortunata that is in charge. She often has to be chastised for her treatment of the younger hens, but seems a lot better these days. Her superiority is well deserved however as she is by far the most inquisitive and intelligent of the entire lot (even Hastings - but no suprises there). If a hen is going to escape this is the one to keep your eye on. She is first to the food especially the special treats, like black berries, when she will easily manage to get three times as many as any of the others just by being quick. Her self interest in this regard means she will probably live a long time. As a mother she is excellent and uses her higher chicken intellect to the advantage of her brood - until the become adolescent, when the competition is back on.

The Weird Sisters

The Weird Sisters are a pair of black hens, named after the pop group in Harry Potter, these hens are psychotic egg sitters if ever there were any. Happy, or miserable, they will sit for weeks on unfertile eggs and literally have a fit if you oust them and take the eggs from under them.

This Weird Sister eyes the camera warily, she is wondering whether this is the same fellow that takes her eggs.

Random Hen

This is one of the newest arrivals. Bred here in the coop, this girl has not been given a name, though I am toying with the idea of calling her "office girl". We had 3 hens with this colouring a while ago all with crazy hair-do's that we called the Office Girls. We gave them away to a friend and it would be nice to have another set of office girls back again.

Lunch Break

Here you see a few hens milling around under the ever watchful eye of Captain Hastings, our rooster.

So there we have it. I can't say that chicken keeping is always easy. Especially when mucking out, though the droppings make great compost activator if your compost bin isn't doing it's job very well. But in summer when they are laying eggs like mad there is something satisfying about collecting your own fresh eggs.

The King is Dead... Long Live the King

It is with a certain amount of sadness that we report the passing of 4 of our roosters. Not by freak accident or passing predator - Dad stretched their necks.

While Dad is able to perform the execution, it is with sadness rather than glee. The thing is, we had 3 of our 8 surviving hatchlings turn out to be male, plus we were given one, resulting in 5 roosters in 1 coop. This is a bad situation for any chicken population. We waited until they were big enough to eat (by which time they had all started crowing together first thing - and I mean 5am - in the morning). Culling was therefore necessary.

Dad had not bothered to name or build a relationship with the new hatchlings knowing their fate would be the dinner table, however, regretably the decision was taken that the King rooster for the last 3 years should go, to make way for new genes in the gene pool. Dad felt genuinely sad about this one - but he had a good innings, and sired a fair few hens and competing young roosters. He is now crowing in the chicken afterlife.

You certainly have more respect for the meat you eat when you have to kill it yourself.

The carcasses were taken to a YM activity where Steve P showed us how to skin (because it is tidier than plucking) and gut them. Dad let someone else prepare the "King" and someone else will be eating it. We did however keep 2 of the un-named birds ourselves and will report back on the comparison between home grown and shop bought in a later post.