Our Beloved Suede Is Gone: January 2007-September 2012

[Hinotori]

I just saw this. I'm so sorry. I know he was very beloved.

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you for posting. It's so quiet here now. A year ago, I had 8 roosters, 4 large fowl ones and 4 bantams. Of those, two large fowl and one bantam have passed away and I've sold/rehomed one standard and two bantams. All that are left are my Delaware, Isaac, and my porcelain D'Anver rooster, Aubrey. It's like a rooster ghost town. Even my long time customer/friend, Amy, who bought a bunch of pullets and one of the roosters from me today, remarked on how deserted it seemed compared to years past.

 

[Mac14]

I think this calls for more roosters!
I am not rejoicing, by any means.
Unless you don't really want anymore.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, I need more roosters for the free ranging flock. One cockerel I just rehomed yesterday would have stayed here if not for his daddy not allowing him any hens and him not really having any acceptance in there. There are at present 23 hens in that flock, though almost half of those are well over 4 years of age. I have never had a predator loss, even living on wooded mountain property, and I credit my marvelous roosters for that.

 

[Mac14]

Wow, I would live to have roosters like that, but the rest of my family don't want to wake up at the crack of dawn. lol

 

[speckledhen]

Crack of dawn? Funny! Never had one wait until then to crow. If you're in the house, you can't really hear it with the windows closed, though. I have a baby monitor in the coop with the receiver in my bedroom so I hear it whenever Isaac crows, loud and clear, whether at 3 a.m. or 5 a.m. And if something is lurking around the coops or some light flashes in his coop window, he may crow at midnight.

 

[Mac14]

Nice

 

[Happy Chooks]

How about asking Scott for a baby cockerel from Rex? I know how much you love BR's.

I really hope your hens get over their loss of Suede. You have lost so many this year.

 

[speckledhen]

How about asking Scott for a baby cockerel from Rex? I know how much you love BR's.

I really hope your hens get over their loss of Suede. You have lost so many this year.

Well, Rex is no longer with us, either. Sadly, he was killed by a poisonous snake bite, in spite of the vet's efforts to save him. So, Scott doesn't have any way to get me one, either. I have PM'd William Bennett (our Pine Grove) to give him a heads-up that I may want more hatching eggs from his Stukel Rocks and maybe his heritage RIRs as well in the spring, depending on what happens with my flock over the winter.

I will be replacing my old hens who leave us with good depression era homestead breeds, ones that forage well. I think, much as I adore my BBS Ameraucanas, I won't be replacing those. They hang around the house when the Delawares and the Rocks are all over the property, scrounging for food. My #3 breed may be Brahmas, based on my experience with Caroline and Miranda.

I've lost many, but that's what happens when you keep them until they are ready for retirement. Almost half my hens are 4- 6 years of age now.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Poor Rex. He was stunning.