The bad news: A predator took out our good rooster leaving us with two lonely hens putting out a fifth of our regular egg consumption (Missy loves to include lots of eggs in our diet … fresh are particularly welcome).
Though I don’t remember ever enjoying the crowing of our rooster, we surprisingly missed it right away.
I patched a hole in the fence that had a trail of now deceased rooster feathers, reviewed the heck out of our game camera, but still do not know who or what took him out.
I was amazed to run across an advertisement listing 9-month-old chickens, at the very beginning of their egg productive phase for only six dollars each. The going rate is more like $20.
I snapped up two Leghorns who I have experienced as reliable, but skittish white-egg machines always a welcome part of any flock, two really unusual Ayam Cemani Chickens of Indonesia and a free rooster of the same variety (originally purchased for $80, now almost unobtainable in the USofA) perfect for breeding with these girls… assuming I want to produce the unique black birds and hybrids thereof.
As I described in my post Kill The Old Red Rooster, roosters play important, but frequently overlooked, roles in a flock.
While The Snowflake Generation is not only clueless about male roles in balanced societies, they are antagonistic towards them.
Meanwhile, even moderately acute observers can find how significant real males are. Chicken flocks are just one example.
We are happily up to six laying hens and a rooster all in their prime.
The Easter Egg Chicken Ranch is nearly in balance. I am two hens short of ideal. The leghorn white eggs, and brown eggs from the others are just missing the blue and green eggs of the Ameraucana or Araucana chickens.
Silly perhaps, but I will complete this flock in a symmetrical fashion someday.
I also have some chicken yard rearranging and a new, proper chicken coop to build before I can relax on this project.
Apropos of nothing whatsoever, but interesting nonetheless, the new white birds (Leghorns) have established themselves as part of the existing mostly-white bird flock. The new black hens are keeping to themselves.
In the pecking order, the black birds let the white ones know who is supreme regardless of their smaller size.
The black rooster, on the other hand, seems quite fond of the big white chicks that are new to him as of today.
It don’t mean a thing.
