Posts Tagged ‘buff orpington’

As the rooster crows…

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

I wouldn’t suggest that you get used to me writing every day because with a farm & family this size, there isn’t a whole heck of a lot of free time!  But I just had to write, the feelings moved me.

I’m sitting here at my computer, listening to the 7 Roosters crow, over and over they compete with eachother, sometimes taking turns and others in unison.  All I can think is HOW GREAT IT IS that we found a home & a flock for 2 of them!  I was scrolling through the Asheville, NC Craigslist the other day and saw someone wanted a Buff Orpington rooster.  Lucky me because I have at least 3 extra and would love to find them homes instead of moving them into the freezer. Two are moving to North Carolina, only about an hour away from home really so it will be a short drive. There is a flock of lovely girls waiting to meet them all around the same age, and the’re move date is on our calendar. We’re excited to see them off and have 2 less crowers on the property! The downside is that I think the rooster that lives with those two must’ve heard the news because he started to turn on them yesterday, attacking one of them! Thankfully I was out there and witnessed the brutality and promplty scooped the offender up and moved him into our single rooster house.   He can stay there until I get his coop cleaned up for spring & the two leftover guys moved out. Then I’ll introduce him & the girls to the new place all at once.

The weather is AMAZING today.. the hen house thermometer reads 75.4F and the sun is shining and there is a slightly warm breeze every so often. It’s just honestly the most beautiful day we’ve had in a long time.  I have one of those remote readout thermometers that sits in my windowsill and the temperature probe is in a shady place inside the coop. It helps me keep an eye on the conditions in there even when I’m inside working.  Before we built the addition onto the hen house, what we call the “aviary”, it was important to keep track of the heat because the chickens had no escape from the brutal heat of summer. Now that the aviary is out there I know they can get outside at least and don’t have to worry about them being too hot unless it’s just BAKING outside.  Well.. it’s back to work for me, I’m doing some more reading on Turkeys.. a very new but good friend Steve from S and S Poultry in North Carolina has pointed me toward an old but very informative book on turkey raising.  There is always more to learn, and oddly the older materials seem to be the most informative and well written.