Dumbest Things People Have Said About Your Chickens/Eggs/Meat - Part 2 : Chicken Boogaloo.

[RooChick]

Doesn't he know how the circle of life starts>!?!?

I thought that too !!

 

[ChickenGoesRuff]

I didn't actually say anything about the roosters. In fact I rather agree with that the most important thing as to how many can be safely kept in a flock is temperament. We have grown out all of our cockerals this year from our hatches and some hatches of some friends.
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Do I think many people keep too many cockerals and roosters and don't care or don't see the suffering of their hens and pullets? Absolutely. We pride ourselves on keeping our flock in great health and beautiful feather. A big part of this is monitoring the flock to be sure there aren't too many cockerals and that the hens aren't being bullied.

Beautifully said. In hindsight, I didn't phrase my post quite how I thought I had. I also believe I misread and misinterpreted the following posts. Oops. My bad, but kudos to you for doing all of that(above) and keeping me honest!

 

[chickendreams24]

I didn't actually say anything about the roosters. In fact I rather agree with that the most important thing as to how many can be safely kept in a flock is temperament. We have grown out all of our cockerals this year from our hatches and some hatches of some friends. While not economical in this day there is something to be said for the meat of a non-cornish cross bird. The boys all get to live good lives and if they get to be too much they are placed into a large grow out pen to finish out until they're processed. Our boys don't fight and rarely are there any skirmishes. They rarely even raise their hackles at one another. Our hens are not bare backed and aren't tormented, any cockerals that seem too rough are banded for processing and if necessary moved to the grow out run to protect the girls. Only the gentlest cockerals with the hens make it into our breeding programs. We have about 50 pullets and hens and have had more that 20 cockerals roaming the farm with them daily as they free range. We are down to a much fewer number and are continuing to raise up cockerals. This is a way for us to be self-sustaining and give these boys good lives followed by a quick and gentle end each cockeral we process is soothed beforehand as it not only makes for better meat but is also the humane thing to do.

There is a resurgence in the desire for heritage bred meat birds and I only hope that this might mean less chicks getting killed for lack of being wanted/worth raising. I have been informed from a friend from a foreign country that they do not dispose of unwanted chicks but that they are taken and grown out for the meat industry. We should be so lucky to achieve such a system.

By the end of growing out the cockerals from this entire years hatches we will have about 50-60 cockerals in the freezer. Their taste is incredible when compared to a Cornish cross and although they don't have as much meat on their bones they also don't have the leg problems, free range readily, don't need feed restriction, can breed and act normally like chickens, and they don't randomly die of heart failure. They're not worn and ragged when we go to process them. They don't have breast blisters from laying too much they're fully feathered and they are not peeping when we go to process them. I would take that trade any day. They live much happier healthier lives their bodies have time to grow naturally and they develop flavor.

So often I've had the discussion about raising our own birds and how it's horrible and murderous. I mention what the commercial birds face as a life. I speak of the horror. Often the response I hear is, "Yeah, but I don't see it."

It pains me knowing that there are people out there that know of the horrors I mention and are unfazed by them. Simply because they don't have to look at them. We hatch chicks and sell them as straight run or hold them until they're sexable and we keep the boys back. We order straight run when we order from hatcheries. We have thought about ordering one of the large discount batches of cockerals but we don't yet have enough large enough grow out pens to accommodate a 50 cockerals order.

Do I think many people keep too many cockerals and roosters and don't care or don't see the suffering of their hens and pullets? Absolutely. We pride ourselves on keeping our flock in great health and beautiful feather. A big part of this is monitoring the flock to be sure there aren't too many cockerals and that the hens aren't being bullied.

Beautifully said. In hindsight, I didn't phrase my post quite how I thought I had. I also believe I misread and misinterpreted the following posts. Oops. My bad, but kudos to you for doing all of that(above) and keeping me honest!

Thank you I appreciate your honesty and rereading the original post I also appreciate the compliment and the kudos. It's isn't always easy we have one girl one of my very favorite hens that is just getting pin feathers all over her back from her molt and she is our only bird that is naked at all that isn't in the fridge or freezer lol

The birds have been a blessing and I'm grateful to all of them for everything they give us all of the cockerals we process included. They're all treated with kindness and respect and any time we find anything off we immediately assess and then begin treatment if needed. We have had some bumble foot issues this year in our large English and partially English Orpingtons. Last year we had a pullet break a soft shelled egg inside her leaving the shell in her and out of reach for several days. When her body tried to expel it it dried in her vent and would have I'm sure killed her if I hadn't noticed she was acting off. She got a couple nice soaks and promptly dropped the shell crumpled into a ball on the floor of our porch. She made a complete recovery and is actually the hen I spoke of with a naked back. In spite of tons of protein she is taking a long time to molt because she hasn't stopped laying.

We also had a probable hawk injury that went unseen and became infected. She was tough and fighting, so we debrided the wound put her in with babies and her sister for company and gave her antibiotics. She made a complete recovery and is now a beautiful chocolate English Orpington.

Our flock care also allowed me to discover very early this last spring when a pullet got an impacted crop. We assessed her for a day and a half while doing crop massages and I started her treatment after researching on BYC. It took nearly two weeks before she could eat normally again and she lost a lot of weight but she never gave up and so we didn't either. Eventually the mass in her crop and her slightly doughy crop issues disappeared. She's laying massive eggs and is an amazing forager.

The cockerals we have that we are growing out forage for most of their feed as we pick up feed during the day for them most days. We have specifically aimed for and targeted calm gentle breeds and we keep only the calmest and gentlest of them.

 

[ChickenGoesRuff]

I need to print that 4th to last paragragh and put it in my coop. Of 8 hens (2 are raising chicks) one chicken(one of the oldest ones, too) lays an egg. Thankfully another one is starting to lay again. Lol slackers.

 

[allosaurusrock]

18 birds- no eggs.

 

[junebuggena]

My husband just cracked an egg with a meat spot in it. "Gotta love a little placenta in my breakfast."
We've had chickens for years and he is still clueless.

 

[ShrekDawg]

To me it sounds like a joke? Though you know him better and i guess its not remotely the same haha

 

[ShrekDawg]

18 birds- no eggs. 

Hm?

 

[junebuggena]

To me it sounds like a joke? Though you know him better and i guess its not remotely the same haha

He was not joking. He seriously thought it was a bit of placenta.

 

[ShrekDawg]

He was not joking. He seriously thought it was a bit of placenta.

I guess the way it was said made me think of a joking manner but oh wow..