When I introduced you to our chickens-we had Rex the Rooster, 2 unnamed roosters, Polly, Gertrude, Nesta, and Missy.
Since then our flock has shrunk.
The 2 unnamed roosters were given to a friend, leaving us with one rooster-or so we thought. The ugliest chicken-Missy-turned out to be a Mister. Who knew it took so long to figure out if a chicken was a hen or a rooster? Well it probably doesn’t for more experienced chicken wranglers than us.
As soon as we discovered Missy was really a Mister I wanted to give him away too-I kept saying Rex is more than enough rooster for our little flock. But Chatter had grown attached to Missy. I tried to reason with her-but she was having none of that.
Finally as I was grasping at straws, I tried to make her feel guilty-telling her she’d have to help pay for it’s feed. Chatter said “You are not going to give this chicken away like you did my coon dog so just hush. I could be asking you to buy me a car-I could be asking you to take me here and there-I could be asking you for all the things other teenage girls ask for and all I’m asking you for is to let me keep a chicken I’ve already got!” Who could argue with that? So I said “Oh keep your stinking chicken!”
Missy turned out to not only be a Mister-but a Mean Mister as well. Every time we went in the coop Missy Mister started dragging his wing and prancing circles around our feet. Chatter had the misfortune of letting the chickens out on the morning Missy Mister decided to do more than his broken wing dance. He flogged Chatter good-even left peck bruises on her shins (if you were here she’d show you-she’s shown them to every person who’d look and some who wouldn’t).
Needless to say that little incident changed Chatter’s mind and Missy Mister has now went the way of the 2 unnamed roosters. So we’re left with:
Rex the Rooster-who I swear is big enough for a small child to ride-he is huge! Rex always has an oily looking sheen to his feathers. The Deer Hunter said maybe he’s using Dapper Dan to stay spiffy for his ladies.
Nesta-the only Silver Laced Wyandotte hen. Nesta is still scared of us-she won’t let anyone get close to her-but she lays a beautiful brown egg every day.
Sisters-Polly and Gertrude who are very friendly hens. The sisters both lay eggs in lovely shades of green-from a deep olive color to a lighter mint green.
I’ve known chickens could lay green/blue eggs for a good long while, but I tried to research the phenomenon for those of you who commented you’d never heard of hens laying colored eggs.
The information I found was slightly confusing-so all you chicken folks feel free to correct me if I get it wrong.
The Araucana breed of chicken is from Chili and is famous for laying blue eggs. The Araucana is recognized by the American Poultry Association. The Arucana breed in not only known for it’s blue eggs-but also for the tufts of feathers that protrude from their ear area.
Another breed of blue egg layers recognized by the American Poultry Association is the Ameraucana.
Then there are Easter Eggers-which are not recognized as a true breed. Easter Eggers do have the blue egg gene-but may or may not have the strict descriptive characteristics required by the association to be considered an Ameraucana or an Araucana. In other words-Easter Eggers are mutts. Easter Eggers may lay blue, green, brown, white, or even pink eggs.
The friend who gave us our Easter Eggers said they were a mix of Rhode Island Reds and Araucanas. According to my research that ‘mixture’ would make them Easter Eggers aka mutt chickens who lay beautiful yummy green eggs. You can see Polly’s side burn looking tufts in the photo above. Her, Rex, and Gertrude all have them. And Polly has green feet too.
The only person who was sad to see Missy Mister go-was The Deer Hunter. Missy Mister had crowing down pat. Rex-not so much. He starts out good then sorta forgets how to end it.
Want to know more about the blue-green-pink-brown Easter Eggers? Go here: Ameraucana Breeder’s Club.
Tipper
My Grandparents had chickens when I was a child and I feel Chatter’s pain. They had the prettiest red/white/blue rooster until the day he chased me across the chicken yard, flogging all the way.
When I was a kid a friend of mine had a rooster named Preacher, he thought he was a guard dog, he’d attack anyone who came on the property, one day a fellow friend of his dads came by, ( he was bad to drink ) and this day was one of them, he started up the steps and old preacher came in from behind and started letting him have it. Well, the feller was to drunk to kick him with any good aim and the rooster was working him over good, so they heard him hollering and look out and he had finally grabbed the rooster and sat on him out in the yard. Old preacher was a goodin..
You are blessed to have Chatter with her feet planted squarely on the ground then extra lucky to double your blessings with Chitter. Indeed. I grew up with a mean rooster named Corky. He was the only chick to hatch from an elementary school incubator load. My sister had brought her permission slip in first so she became the lucky recipient of the little yellow fuzz ball. My sweet hens Blacky and Angel were in for trouble. Corky became so mean we couldn’t walk into the back yard without a broom in our hand. At the time we had one phone in the house and to get any privacy you had to stretch the cord out the door and stand out back to talk. Nothing like fighting off a rooster while you talk to your boyfriend! Corky went to live at a local farm and eventually found his way into the pot. Guess being mean is nothing to crow about.
Took me all day to figure out how to download a rooster crowing. He sounds just like my teenage son. I think he will outgrow it and have a deep bass voice. Maybe Rex will too. At least you have the option to turn Rex into fricassee if he don’t perform.
Hey, Hey, Hey,
The music player is working…Old Tom Dooley just jumped right in when I logged on to the Blind Pig…Yea, Yea and Yea!
Thanks Tipper,
Yeeeeeeeeeeees! We’ve got music!
Thank you, Tipper! You’ve outsmarted them Apple people! I Hope!
I hope Chatter is feeling better about things, it’s shocking when something you love attacks you!
Your chickens look gorgeous! They’re all so nice and plump and Rex is very handsome. I think I would enjoy his attempts at crowing, some of them must be pretty funny, plus it would be fun to root for him every morning!
That crow is too funny!
When I was young my parents raised thousands of hens for hatching eggs. The eggs had to be fertile so we had to have one rooster for every ten hens. Mostly the roosters were more concerned with fighting each other than the humans in there with them. But every now and then we would be attacked. We always wore long pants and sleeves that were too long so we could pull our hands back up in them. If the attacks persisted then Daddy has an axe that solved the rooster problem and decided what we would have for supper. The other roosters probably appreciated the extra wives they got to add to their harem. The hens could be vicious too but we couldn’t solve that problem the same way. They were the “geese” that laid the golden eggs so to speak.
All the hatching eggs had to be clean and white. We had to grade them into small, medium and large. We couldn’t sell them for hatching eggs if they were too big or too small or double yolked or cracked or misshapened. We ate a lot of eggs and sold a lot to people in the community. I remember one man that had a drinking problem and stomach problems that would eat raw eggs. He cracked them open and swallowed them whole.
I have seldom been without at least a few chickens for the last fifty years. I love to watch them interact with each other. I especially like to hear the hens sing. I’m going to have to disagree with Karen Larsen though, a flock of chickens really needs a rooster. Yes, they can lay without ever seeing a rooster but the “personality” of the flock is completely different with a rooster. A good friend of mine used to say “it just ain’t a farm without a bull in the pasture” and I have to agree. I believe the same is true of chickens also.
There are many home remedies in the mountains for the croup. I believe Rex might do well to try one of them. Clearly his effort is full of heart but short on lungs.
I have 25 chickens and 7 or them are roosters and I love their antics —most people have trouble with them fighting but my seem to not have any issues—I did a few yrs. back have one came after me and he lived about 6 hrs after that—but I love my fresh eggs and all that goes with owing chickens.
Tipper,
Congradulations to Beverly on her
winning Charles Fletcher’s book,
Little Sam Mountain.
Since we’re on chickens today I’d
like to share a story by Jerry
Clower. Goes like this: One of our
Prize Roosters was named Ole Skeets and he was always looking out for the chickens. One day a
mean ole hawk flew down and caught
Ole Skeets from behind, while he
wasn’t lookin’, flew him way off
on a mountain and set Skeets down
in his nest. Ole Skeets was one to
not give up easy and never been whopped. He whopped that mean ole
hawk real good, and just to show
him he was boss, made that hawk
fly him back down and set him in
the yard…Ken
My sympathy goes out to Chatter…I know how she feels. I have had several pets turn on me and they range from cats & dogs to a miniature pony. Those are beautiful chickens!
Tipper,
I like those chickens with the side burns, that’s neat. When we
got too many roosters, we ate them
boogers before they got too big.
As a kid I was use to all those
chickens and roosters at out house, never did get flogged. One
time a young rooster made it through puberty, was just learning
how to crow, topped a hen, then
fell over dead as a doornail…Ken
I have 23 hens and not a rooster in sight! A rooster is not needed for hens to lay eggs. Besides being just plain nasty, roosters are constantly “at” the hens and can break their feathers and leave them ugly an naked on their backs. Not worth it, in my book.
I thought my kids were the only ones to name their chickens. Ours would fly up on the porch rails so they could see into the house better. They were waiting for the kids to bring them “snacks”.
I send Chatter a sympathy hug via you. It is a real bummer when the rooster you become attached to(and save from peril) decides you are his favorite spurring post!
Tipper,
Wow, I woke up to a wonderful surprise…A new book, Little Sam Mountain…by Charles Fletcher..
Wonderful, wonderful…and thanks to the random number generator..
Should I go buy a lottery ticket today and incorporate that number in my number selection? Should I buy a product with that number on it? Should I wish for 32 things of happiness and blessings for everyone? Yes, I think the latter…Happy 32 things of happy blessings to everyone, today so we are all winners….
I love the chicken story. I wish we had lived closer together..I would have given the girls a beautiful Whyandotte rooster! We too ended up with two more roosters than we needed…They were beautiful and mostly friendly. One could crow, the other not so much, but was learning…We have two blue egg layers that are bantams…They are so sweet but not too friendly..My other bantam hens and roosters are very friendly…One rooster flogs my husband…I read that you can’t act like a chicken when going to the coop. WHAT!…but he dosen’t flog me anymore…only once..
I carry feed treats, dry meal worms, and talk in a strong voice. “DON’T YOU DO IT!” and try not to pay attention to him, so he must understand.. ummm, could be the meal worms…LOL I always heard that once a flogger always a flogger, but I believe they can calm down after watching our bantam rooster…
I was “flogged” when I was a child…The rooster was then “slugged” by my Dad, the chicken and dumplin’s was cooked by my Aunt….lol
Thanks Tipper, As you might imagine I loved this post…Now then, when will my book get here!!!
JUST KIDDIN’…B. ruth
Tipper,
My step great-grandmother was a loving, but stern German woman, and she had a ‘flogging?’ problem with a new rooster once. It was a grand rooster,of some type that she had always wanted, and she was not going to give up on him. Her solution was one of my grandfather’s stiff leather belts. She gave him a good flogging with it and from then on looped it onto her apron whenever she went into the chicken yard. No more problems after that! I guess “not sparing the rod” works with leather belts and roosters too! I still have images of her going into the pen and that rooster running to the far side to stay away from her. If anyone thinks it was horrible for her to ‘hurt’ that rooster, they should have seen the scars he gave her on the backs of her legs. Yep, he ripped her up good when her back was turned. Whenever people admired him she would say, “A true coward that one”, and that was the name she gave him, Coward. He was a majestic and beautiful bird with many fine colors. I should probably look him up and see if I can find out what kind he was; but I am like you and I have no desire to own a mean one whether it is a beauty or not!
Do they have rooster doctors? If so, I think you need to take poor ol Rex in for a visit. That crowing sound…well, it just sounds fake. Kind of like when the kids do the fake cough while trying to find an excuse to stay home from school.
Way to go Rex, tis good to be the only rooster in the hen house!
Oh, now I know about the eggs we are eating. We get ours from a friend and they are brown, pale blue, green – really pretty. I was wondering about the colors. I’ll tell you what is most important though – those beyond plump, orange, delicious yolks! Oh, so good!
I found this information very interesting. If you visit the farm area at the Biltmore House, they also have various chickens that lay colored eggs. At least these types of eggs save some dying time and stained fingers for the Easter Egg hunts. Thanks for my morning education.
I think Chatter gave up too easy. A pair of her Dad’s Carhartts, long sleeves and gloves and she could have broken him. He sounds like he might have been the better guardian of your hen house. If he would attack his master, wouldn’t he attack an intruder as well. I just hope Rex’s roostosterone isn’t too high causing him to preen himself while Mr. Fox steals his harem.
Up until this year, I had some aracuana cross bred chickens, “Easter – eggers” and was getting blue, pink and green eggs. Now have a new flock of hens starting to lay, all nice brown eggs.
Great eggs, but I do miss the colored ones.
A couple of years ago one of the grandkids cracked about a dozen of the colored ones thinking they were really Easter eggs. 🙂
Some of my cousin’s chickens must be mutts because we get beautiful colored eggs from her all the time.
Great post, Tipper.
I have to say that if I heard that crowing in the morning, I’d wake up laughing every day 😉
Well, I was just about to post that logic and “teenagerism” doesn’t go together when I read how she convinced you! That’s just about as logical as it gets. You are not really up and posting at 4am, are you?