My other boys
Roosters. I swore I’d never have one. I promised the neighbors.
But this year I got it in my head to put some fertile eggs under a broody, knowing roosters were a possible outcome. And how.
The final result: twelve ‘fertile’ eggs resulting in three live chicks. Two of whom are cockerels.
The first six were duds. Then I got four more in a close-to-hatching state, of which only two hatched. I may have damaged the other two somehow getting them home, for which I feel rotten. So I got two more newly hatched from the lady I’d bought the eggs from, from the same clutch of eggs.
What I’m going to do with these two handsome boys, I do not know. It all depends on how they act when the testosterone takes hold.
We’ve started to hear faint and feeble cock-a-doodle-doos of a morning.
Posted: September 26th, 2018 under animals, birds.
Comments: 11
Comments
Comment from Mark Matis
Time: September 26, 2018, 9:07 pm
Have you verified their sex? Or are you assuming they are roosters because you hear them crow?
One of my friends inherited a young chicken, which she thought was a hen. Then the chicken started to crow, so she took “him” out to the barn with her horses. After a while, a chicken egg showed up. And others followed. Her vet informed her that hens can indeed sometimes crow. They do not tend to be quite as vocal as roosters, and if you see them doing rooster stuff to your other hens, it’s not likely that they are lesbians. But short of that, you may not have roosters…
Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: September 26, 2018, 9:34 pm
They look like they are on stilts.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: September 26, 2018, 9:35 pm
They have a sister. The difference between her and them is striking. Bigger birds, much bigger combs and wattles.
You’re right, though. Chicken keepers love to tell stories of birds they assumed were one and turned out to be the other. Usually hens that turn out to be roosters.
If these boys behave, they can stay. It’s a big ask, though.
Comment from Mark Matis
Time: September 26, 2018, 10:42 pm
Do let them stay until they would be popping out eggs if they happen to be hens. Unless, of course, they rooster your other hens. Hens will peck the crap out of each other, but they are not Lebanese…
And as far as their conformation, they may just be the Venus and Serena of chickens.
Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: September 26, 2018, 11:58 pm
Too bad, cock’s crow of a morning was something that always made me feel happy.
Now if you were keeping donkeys, well, then it would be understandable no one wanted to hear from them.
or church bells ringing the start of day, I miss, heathen that I am.
Sigh
It will be so much better when the minarets go up and no one has a choice but to listen to Barack’s prettiest sound starting the day every day.
Comment from Arnold the Pig
Time: September 27, 2018, 11:49 am
Try fitting the roosters with rooster collars that you can buy or make yourself. They stop the roosters from getting enough air to really let one rip, but still allow them plenty of air to enjoy their lives.
Comment from Steve Skubinna
Time: September 27, 2018, 3:28 pm
So much for your promise to the neighbors… how’s Uncle B going to handle it when you get deported?
Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: September 27, 2018, 3:44 pm
How would the neighbors feel if you showed up at their door with a full roasting pan shouting:
“Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!”
Comment from beasn
Time: September 27, 2018, 6:07 pm
Just shut them in a dark closet every night and don’t let them out until you get up to feed them.
Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: September 27, 2018, 8:45 pm
Except they’ll even crow at tea time if the mood strikes them.
Comment from technochitlin
Time: September 28, 2018, 8:47 pm
I’m repeating myself, but dinner, preferably fried in a pan, is always an option for noisy chickens.
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