Hugs, I had to put my beautiful Black Beauty down last night. I tried for two months or more, and even began calling him Conan the Barbarian on this site, recently. His only fault and really, it was his ONLY fault: He was too big for any of my hens. I needed acouple Jersy Giant hens for him, if they would be big enough for his size. I hatched out four of his sons and ended up having to send two of his son's w/him. They will be a dinner tomorrow night. And, its gonna have to be an awesome dinner because my adult kids won't eat any of my birds I've named. I saved back one half grown son that is a replicate of him and am going to look for some JG eggs to hatch hens for that one, he's not alone, he's got a sister/pullet and they are in w/their mom & aunts. The other younger son is out of a BLRW hen and he'll be the main roo once he's grown, for the BLRW hens, they are pretty good sized. I've got a very soft spot for roosters...its very hard for me. The thing that finally makes me able to do what must be done, is I tell myself its no kind of life if they aren't is the circumstance they need to be in. Living w/ducks, that was a lonely life, so I constantly put Black Beauty (he looked just like a black Ameraucana but the size of a turkey) back in w/his hens and now in winter, their backs are bare. At least they have a heated coop but I shouldn't have left him in w/those hens that long. Yes, its hard at times...
(I had no idea he'd get that big, I got him as a "Black Ameraucana" but he was actually an EE from a hatchery so he must've been crossed w/a JG - its a big loss to me and his coop is very quiet without his big presence. He wouldn't even fit in the biggest pot of hot water to defeather him, I had to do one half and then turn him upside down and do the other half. Dressed out very beautiful, too. I loved that boy, he was okay with whatever I did, he'd talk to me and I didn't mind him mating his girls in front of me, he was always good to me. Thank God I'll have his son's strutting around the yard in the future, a part of him still lives on...)