Roosters | Gardening in My Rubber Boots

Nov 26

Saying Goodbye to Brownie

Well, since Brownie has decided to crow and crow and crow at all hours of the night, it’s time for him to move back to my mom’s farm in Omak. There he can crow his little heart out and not worry about waking up our neighbors. Nobody has complained or called the police. We just want to respect our neighbors and not give anyone an excuse to “ban” chickens or roosters in our town.

This was a very hard decision. We love this little guy and will miss him dearly. At least we can visit him at my mom’s.

We also felt we needed to get rid of one of our roosters since we currently have two hens and two roosters. This is hard on the hens. We really should have a better rooster to hen ratio. Since Brownie is crowing loudly and a lot, he helped us decide. Buttercup stays.

Tomorrow morning we’re putting Brownie in a pet carrier and driving him the four hours to my mom’s. There he’ll start his new life. My mom has promised that Brownie will get his own pen and two hens of his own – sounds like a good deal.

I bet he’s going to miss his buddy Buttercup – they grew up together and have been inseparable. Sad.

Nov 15

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What’s Blooming November 15

Here is what’s blooming, looks like a bloom or simply has a little color in my garden this month.

Nov 11

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Rooster Fun

Here’s a quick video of my roosters crowing. It appears the volume on this crazy camera isn’t working so you can’t actually hear them crow (Grrr). I thought you may enjoy seeing how big they’ve gotten anyway. To better visualize, just picture Brownie’s crow as your typical rooster crow. Then picture Buttercup’s crow as quiet and deep — not typical at all.

Eventually, I’ll figure out how to take a good video.

Nov 9

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Crowing Woes

Just recently my two roosters started to crow regularly, often and at all hours of the night. Yes, I have two roosters and I live in town! Earlier this spring I started out with two hens and two baby chicks (all Silkies). I’ve always secretly known the chicks would turn into roosters since they’ve been battling head to head since we got them at a couple weeks old.

Since they’re our babies and we raised them from little fuzz balls, we don’t plan to get rid of them. Fortunatly we don’t have rules against roosters in our town. I’ve also talked to our immediate neighbors and they’re fine with the crowing. They even like it.

I still can’t help waking up every time I hear them crow — with anxiety. I really do love these little darlings and couldn’t bear sending them back to the farm (my mom’s).

Just this past Saturday morning I let them out early, since it wasn’t raining, and they just crowed and crowed and crowed their little hearts out — at 6:30 a.m.! I kept shooing them (in my PJ’s) farther away from the house, but sure enough, they’d just come right back to crow some more.

At least my neighbors both have dogs that bark at all hours of the night and they either want chickens or they already have them. I am very lucky and so are Brownie and Buttercup. I guess this means if we ever move, I’ll have to find a rooster friendly neighborhood — and you know I will.

So starting today, I’ve decided I will no longer anguish over the crowing. I will let them crow and hope for the best. I just wish they weren’t so exuberant.

Sep 27

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Buttercup the Cockerel

My chicks have grown up.

Until yesterday, I thought they were both pullets. It all started a couple days ago when I thought Hazel (our hen) was sick since she wouldn’t leave the nesting box. I went into the coop to check on her only to find she was laying on eggs; we assumed she was confused since she wasn’t laying on fertilized eggs.

Hazel wasn’t confused I was.

Yesterday morning, I watched as Hazel and Buttercup did a little dance under my hydrangea and it was then I realized we had a cockerel.

Buttercup the Cockerel

Well, nothing appears to have changed with the flock dynamic. I must say this is the only part of having chickens I don’t like – taking fertilized eggs away from a hen that wants to hatch them. Hazel now freaks out daily when we take away the eggs she’s trying to hatch. Before, she just left them for us to pick up. She can’t have chicks right now anyway since it’s almost winter. I may let her have a chick this spring.