Chickens…Male and Female

It’s been ages since I’ve talked about our chickens.  We have 18 in all still.  9 from last year, and 9 from this year.  All of the new ones are black, with variations.  Some have more color in their feathers, and there are differences in their heads and feet as well.  One of the new ones has feathered feet.  We call her Samwise even though she’s a girl.  She had hobbit feet and we couldn’t help it.

Lena has been able to keep away the predators lately, which is fortunate.  This fall, though, our numbers will again be decreased, and that’s because of a predator living within our house.  His name is Knut, and he has a hatchet.

Fall brings many things:

fields changing colors, and the harvest that will follow,

sending the kids out to the yard with empty ice cream buckets, and having them come back with their bucket full of apples that will bring the fall smells into the kitchen in the form of apple pie,

 and the sun setting in time for the kids to see it while they are still awake again.  The days are getting shorter…and cozier.

Last year’s mild winter has left our wood pile in decent shape this year.  Knut will only have to round it out with another row or two, but we have over half of last year’s wood left for the fireplace this year.  That will make this fall a bit easier on us both.

The chicken coop is about to get a bit roomier, and that’s not because of an expansion, though.  The black chicks are now teenagers, and with that comes the potential for eggs…and with our boy chicks, that means the potential for eggs with chicks in them.

Although I haven’t started candling the eggs yet, I think I may start soon.  Knut said he won’t have time to butcher the roosters until after harvest, and I’m worried that may be too late.  Neither do I want chicks this time of year.  I’m not quite sure what to do about that.  If they come, they come, I guess.  The mother hens will just have to look after them.  I keep thinking that maybe the roosters won’t be able to fertilize those eggs for still some months.

However, they’ve started crowing.  They practice all day long.  They’re starting to get very aggressive towards the hens.  I see them constantly on top of the hens, pecking the hens and making attempts to push the hens into submission.  I know that’s just the natural order of things, but I hate seeing my girls treated that way.

We know that 4 of the black ones are roosters.  There’s 1 more that we can’t seem to figure out it its a rooster or not.  It may be butchered just in case.  We’ll see.  I haven’t decided.

Here’s one of the roosters.  Most of the boys have multi-colored tail feathers growing in the most beautiful bright blues and greens.  It’s really stunning close up.  They’re really mean, though.