Roosters & Bullying Injuries

[kynewbchickie]

How did the processing go? Is the flock dynamic improving?

The kill cone didn't get here until yesterday, and my husband is insisting on learning with me. We'll be dispatching of them today. I've kept the boys cooped with the exception of the Fayoumi, who keeps to himself and doesn't bother the ladies at all. I don't think he even knows he's a boy. The hens have been much happier with the boys rounded up.

I went to visit a friend here in the county yesterday afternoon who has a small hatchery for heritage breeds. He showed me some pointers in sexing chicks by feathers at an early age, so that stores, etc. are less able to take advantage of me in the future in not knowing how to tell them apart. That will be a big help. I'm not one of these people that can go into a farm/hardware store where they have chicks nearly dead from pasty-butt and just turn a blind eye. I've never understood why they'd spend the money to order in chicks to sell, and then not take care of them when they start pasting up - just to let them die. That would be a waste of money IMHO. But at least now I've got a decent understanding of sexing by feathers so I can be sure I'm "saving" hens and not wind up in the same boat again.

 

[iheartnh]

The kill cone didn't get here until yesterday, and my husband is insisting on learning with me. We'll be dispatching of them today. I've kept the boys cooped with the exception of the Fayoumi, who keeps to himself and doesn't bother the ladies at all. I don't think he even knows he's a boy. The hens have been much happier with the boys rounded up.

I went to visit a friend here in the county yesterday afternoon who has a small hatchery for heritage breeds. He showed me some pointers in sexing chicks by feathers at an early age, so that stores, etc. are less able to take advantage of me in the future in not knowing how to tell them apart. That will be a big help. I'm not one of these people that can go into a farm/hardware store where they have chicks nearly dead from pasty-butt and just turn a blind eye. I've never understood why they'd spend the money to order in chicks to sell, and then not take care of them when they start pasting up - just to let them die. That would be a waste of money IMHO. But at least now I've got a decent understanding of sexing by feathers so I can be sure I'm "saving" hens and not wind up in the same boat again.

Wow - great info from your friend - I'm jealous! Good luck with the processing - very cool that your husband wants to be involved, and I'm sure it'll be easier/faster with both of you working.

 

[kynewbchickie]

Wow - great info from your friend - I'm jealous! Good luck with the processing - very cool that your husband wants to be involved, and I'm sure it'll be easier/faster with both of you working.

Check around your area - you might have your own local "chicken guru" that can show you what you want/need to know. I met this guy through my father-in-law one morning at McDonald's. We were having coffee with him, and the guy works there part-time, so he introduced us to him. I've learned quite a bit from him over the time we've lived here, both before and after getting our flock started. Our guy is affectionately known in our area as "Chicken Man." ;-)

 

[DeesChicks]

I had the SAME problem you were having! With this group of roosters we raised since chicks, and everyone was getting along just great. Then this last week, all heck broke loose! Like you, I was waiting for my processing equipment to arrive, because my last batch of 20 birds, we did by hand. I did NOT want to hand pluck EVER AGAIN IN MY LIFE. Don't know if they smelled it coming, or what - but they were gang raping all my hens! 5 or more of them at one time attacking one bird. My 2 poor adult roosters were going from one side of the large yard to another fighting these guys off the girls! One of my girls was so hacked up by them, we were worried she wouldn't survive!

So - we processed them all yesterday. (Don't think I didn't think of throwing them straight into the scalder!) Don't worry! I didn't! But I noticed when processing those nasty boogers, their testicles as big as (and some were bigger than) their hearts. To me ~ THAT said something! The other roosters of the same age, they weren't as big! Wondered if that meant something? Was there something wrong with them??? Anyone have any idea?

 

[kynewbchickie]

I had the SAME problem you were having! With this group of roosters we raised since chicks, and everyone was getting along just great. Then this last week, all heck broke loose! Like you, I was waiting for my processing equipment to arrive, because my last batch of 20 birds, we did by hand. I did NOT want to hand pluck EVER AGAIN IN MY LIFE. Don't know if they smelled it coming, or what - but they were gang raping all my hens! 5 or more of them at one time attacking one bird. My 2 poor adult roosters were going from one side of the large yard to another fighting these guys off the girls! One of my girls was so hacked up by them, we were worried she wouldn't survive!

So - we processed them all yesterday. (Don't think I didn't think of throwing them straight into the scalder!) Don't worry! I didn't! But I noticed when processing those nasty boogers, their testicles as big as (and some were bigger than) their hearts. To me ~ THAT said something! The other roosters of the same age, they weren't as big! Wondered if that meant something? Was there something wrong with them??? Anyone have any idea?

All our boys had jewels as large as a human male's. We couldn't get over how big they were. I don't know if there was something wrong or if that's "standard" size for roosters that are sexually mature - but all ours were the same way. Australorp, JG, EE, BO - all of them were like that. The only ones to make it out of the processing parties were the Fayoumi (he's a sweetheart and gentlemanly towards the girls) and my Lav & Split Lav Ameraucana - those two are still juvies and not sexually mature yet. The rest of them were toast. I'm pregnant and I was the only one in the household "man" enough to kill and process them all by hand. We did a few per weekend until we were whittled down to where we wanted/needed to be. They made a LOT of good canned chicken stock, and a few tougher-than-store-bought dinners...but the nuisance is handled and I'm all the wiser now for the experience.

 

[DeesChicks]

Good for you being "man" enough to get the job done! We had the butchering party yesterday, and got 26 of them done at once. (Actually butchered 27, but the last one we just killed and didn't process, was one of the other ROOSTERS at the bottom of the gang rape chain. Yeah - they went after each other!) All but 4 of them were the same age - those 4 were ones we hatched out that were only 3 weeks younger - It was only the nastiest ones who had the big ones. Like I said, the smallest of the big ones was bigger than his heart. The nasty ones were White Rocks. We also had Golden Polish (bought a batch cuz we thought they looked cool - only want one rooster of those), and our Barred Rock/EE boys we hatched out from our BR girls and loving EE boy. We also kept a Silver Spangled Hamburg who was really the yard hero, and that little guy was going up against all 5 at a time and winning, but literally having to go from one to another. So glad it's all over, and the yard is once again feeling so peaceful! Looking forward to the backs of my girls healing, and the one they almost killed is doing well. And, as we were processing the meanies on the outside of my yard, we threw pieces of those nasty boys over the fence and let the girls have their revenge. They seemed to enjoy that! OK - maybe it was just me.

As far as the tougher-than-store-bought dinners - did you let the meat sit in the fridge for 48 hours to go through the rigor process? The meat is really tough if you eat it right away, but should have been just like store bought a couple days later!

 

[kynewbchickie]

Good for you being "man" enough to get the job done! We had the butchering party yesterday, and got 26 of them done at once. (Actually butchered 27, but the last one we just killed and didn't process, was one of the other ROOSTERS at the bottom of the gang rape chain. Yeah - they went after each other!) All but 4 of them were the same age - those 4 were ones we hatched out that were only 3 weeks younger - It was only the nastiest ones who had the big ones. Like I said, the smallest of the big ones was bigger than his heart. The nasty ones were White Rocks. We also had Golden Polish (bought a batch cuz we thought they looked cool - only want one rooster of those), and our Barred Rock/EE boys we hatched out from our BR girls and loving EE boy. We also kept a Silver Spangled Hamburg who was really the yard hero, and that little guy was going up against all 5 at a time and winning, but literally having to go from one to another. So glad it's all over, and the yard is once again feeling so peaceful! Looking forward to the backs of my girls healing, and the one they almost killed is doing well. And, as we were processing the meanies on the outside of my yard, we threw pieces of those nasty boys over the fence and let the girls have their revenge. They seemed to enjoy that! OK - maybe it was just me.

As far as the tougher-than-store-bought dinners - did you let the meat sit in the fridge for 48 hours to go through the rigor process? The meat is really tough if you eat it right away, but should have been just like store bought a couple days later!

From what I've gathered both from these forums and from our local Chicken Man (guru) - once egg-layers are over 12-14 weeks old and begin sexually-maturing/mating, you could let the meat sit in the fridge for over a week and it still wouldn't matter. About the only way to "tenderize" their meat after that age is to slow-cook for about 8-12 hours in a crock pot with liquid, or cook them in a pressure cooker. Meat birds are different; but they still recommend that you butcher at 8-9 weeks of age due to their genetic health problems from the way they grow so fast in such a short time. I've let the egg-layer rooster meat sit in the fridge in brine for 2 days, 3 days, and even a week and it still makes no difference in the toughness, which prompted me to post in another thread on here about maybe processing them incorrectly...to which I had many responses about the age of the bird making the difference. Even with rigor gone, it's still tough and chewy, and it's due to them being allowed to sexually mature and begin mating activity from what I've been told. At least I'm the wiser now for next year!