Our Beloved Suede Is Gone: January 2007-September 2012

[speckledhen]

I know. Scott was devastated. Rex was doing so well there and they really liked him, too.


I did a recount. I now have 33 hens and 2 roosters total. 23 of those hens are with Isaac, Suede's four are still in the same coop, but I may move them into the bantam coop since I have only one little rooster in there now, but that remains to be seen. And there are only 6 hens in the bantam coop after my sale of 7 pullets today.

 

[aoxa]

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.

Those roosters have amazing hearing, don't they? My LGD Clementine barks every hour on the hour, and Jagger follows suite with a crow. Good thing my neighbours don't mind - though it really wouldn't matter if they did

 

[Cetawin]

Oh lordy I wished my rooster brigade waited till dawn. They start around 5. The big boys first then the bantams and then the teenagers. Let me see...Cyn how many are there now? Let us count

Lancelot, Hector, five young sons, Zilla, Storm, Rocker, Loki, Rufus, Luke, Bob, Bud, Raven, Beau, Sam, Batman, Bert, Mongo, Jack, and three possibly four unnamed youngsters.

So 25 give or take. HOLY CRAP!!!!

 

[aoxa]

Oh lordy I wished my rooster brigade waited till dawn. They start around 5. The big boys first then the bantams and then the teenagers. Let me see...Cyn how many are there now? Let us count
Lancelot, Hector, five young sons, Zilla, Storm, Rocker, Loki, Rufus, Luke, Bob, Bud, Raven, Beau, Sam, Batman, Bert, Mongo, Jack, and three possibly four unnamed youngsters.
So 25 give or take. HOLY CRAP!!!!

You are a rooster hoarder like me!

I have (for keeps) 13 at the moment. Some are being grown out for meat (not in that 13) and a few houdans are not yet counted because I'm not quite sure how many boys I have out of those 6... I hope at least 1 or 2!

 

[speckledhen]

Remember when we were going to try to remove Suede's testes upon his death and inseminate his hens? Before his death, due to so many factors weighing against our favor, we decided that success would be in the less than 10% range, so we nixed the idea of cutting him open. It also spared us the agony of doing that to him through tears, of course. Something just told me it was not a viable idea at the time and DH agreed with me, though it was originally his idea. I guess it was a good hunch.

Dusty, Suede's only remaining blue hen in the group, who was laying 3 eggs per week and had done so in the week prior to Suede's demise, has not laid on egg in the 13 days since his death; in addition, she has suddenly been thrown into her second molt of the year-she molted in early spring. Her blue feathers were everywhere this morning. Could it be that the stress and shock of his death, the only rooster she has ever known and with whom she has lived since she was about 14 weeks old, have sent her body into this second molt? Even if we had inseminated her, fertility would already be gone, most likely, especially with the marginal viability of sperm from an aging and ailing rooster, so even if she laid an egg tomorrow, it probably would not have been fertile.

 

[Peepsicle]

That is so sad, and it makes me want to cry (

), but at least he died with you. (

) You should get another rooster just like him.

 

[speckledhen]

There will never be another one like the Suedenator, I'm afraid, Peepsicle. Thank you for posting your condolences. I decided that I wouldn't have another blue Orpington rooster after Suede-my big man broke the mold for me.

 

[Dahlisgrams]

Remember when we were going to try to remove Suede's testes upon his death and inseminate his hens? Before his death, due to so many factors weighing against our favor, we decided that success would be in the less than 10% range, so we nixed the idea of cutting him open. It also spared us the agony of doing that to him through tears, of course. Something just told me it was not a viable idea at the time and DH agreed with me, though it was originally his idea. I guess it was a good hunch.

Dusty, Suede's only remaining blue hen in the group, who was laying 3 eggs per week and had done so in the week prior to Suede's demise, has not laid on egg in the 13 days since his death; in addition, she has suddenly been thrown into her second molt of the year-she molted in early spring. Her blue feathers were everywhere this morning. Could it be that the stress and shock of his death, the only rooster she has ever known and with whom she has lived since she was about 14 weeks old, have sent her body into this second molt? Even if we had inseminated her, fertility would already be gone, most likely, especially with the marginal viability of sperm from an aging and ailing rooster, so even if she laid an egg tomorrow, it probably would not have been fertile.

I remember reading about the AI idea.. I'm so sorry about Suede, Speckledhen.. He sounds like he was incredibly special and irreplacable.

 

[speckledhen]

I remember reading about the AI idea.. I'm so sorry about Suede, Speckledhen.. He sounds like he was incredibly special and irreplacable.

He sure was that, Dahlisgrams. Thank you.

 

[Mac14]

How are your other chickens doing speckledhen?