Monday, August 11, 2014

Too many roosters...a chicken update

It is becoming apparent that we have too many roosters. There was a chance this would happen since we chose "straight run" chicks. Out of 14 chickens it looks like 7 may be roosters. From what I have heard 1 rooster per 6 or 7 hens is all you need. I know which rooster I want to keep, he is the only one of his kind that we have. He is a Partridge Plymouth Rock and his name is Survivor (as he was the only one of his siblings to survive the dog attack that killed the rest of them). 
I might keep one of the other roosters too. Just because they are so pretty! However, all of the extras need to be eaten. I plan to wait another couple of weeks to make certain which are roosters but we will have to have a butchering day where we kill and clean the extra roosters. I want the boys to know how to do this. I have never done it before but I have been doing research the last week, mostly watching youtube videos on how to kill and clean a chicken. It does not look like fun but I think I can do it. Especially if we make it a family event and all help out. I already know Archie doesn't want to participate in the killing part and I am pretty sure Jason won't want to either, but they will probably both be OK with the cleaning and eating part.

 They are all turning out so pretty. I am really pleased. I should have some eggs any day now. I am starting to wonder if they have laid some eggs but we haven't found them yet. Since the chickens free range all day and only go in the coop at night, they really could be laying anywhere. I am hoping to get them to lay in the coop though. We need to get the laying boxes put in there. I have heard that if the chickens are kept in the coop for a few hours in the morning they are more likely to lay in there all the time. We'll see. If they aren't laying yet, they should be soon! I have heard of chickens laying as early as 18 weeks and as late as 26 weeks. Our chickens range from 18-22 weeks right now.