For the Folks at the Day Job

I'm taking some time away from the "day job" this week and part of next.  A vacation policy change meant that a number of us 'old timers' can no longer carry over vacation so we're all on a mad scramble to 'burn it'.  I've gotten far less outside work done than I had hoped, but have done pretty well on catching up on inside chores.  I have high hopes it will be the other way around next week.

I have a few friends at work that have been trading vacation pictures as we're off visiting family and friends and just getting away.  There were pictures of the Smokey Mountains and the ocean off Myrtle Beach.  There were pictures of sunrises over the water in Vermont with mountains in the background and picturesque docks and piers.  Not me.  Most of this year has been work-at-home vacations.  This is not a bad thing by any means, but the opportunities for scenes from far away places are pretty thin.  

Lucky for me, most of these friends have very limited experience with gardens larger than large patio pots and no experience with livestock of any kind.  That makes the chickens fascinating.  When I threatened to post a picture of my rooster instead of the ocean or mountains they were all in.  Below is what I emailed out, with references to the company deleted.  (After retirement day comes I'll spill the beans on what I do for a living.  Until then it'll just be "The day job".  Nothing "James Bond" or anything, but still best not shared with the broader audience.)

_______________________________________________________________________________

Ok,  Here are a few of shots of Ivan Crossbeak the new "Roo" in the family.

 

Seen from a distance with some of his "girls", he's a pretty handsome looking bird.  Really!  As birds go he's a 'looker' (from afar).

Up close: Not so much. Crossbeak!! Crossbeak!!

 

The closer you get, the worse it becomes.  I think its the "buttercup" comb combined with the crossbeak.  Ugh!  Still, he does have beautiful coloring.

 

As you recall, Ivan took over as the flock "Roo" for Fred, his "Daddy".  His "Mama" was one of the buff colored birds in the first picture.  Fred was a really pretty bird who would be around today if he hadn't decided it was ok to bully (meaning 'leave scars on the legs of') De and the daughters.  Not Cool!

 

Here's Fred in is heyday.

 

This is Fred today.  A far less colorful, but much cooler bird!  He's pretty laid back these days, and is just chillin' out waiting for his turn in the "hot tub".  There's probably an object lesson there, but I think I'll leave it alone.

De and I will be in Indy tomorrow.  But I may put together some more shots this evening.  For some reason I've got a couple of birds that like to lay in the barn behind where I keep my chainsaw.  I heard a couple of them in there as I came inside that were singing the "guess what I did" egg song, so now I gotta craw back there and go find the eggs.  I got one pic and will see if I can get some more while I'm digging around.

  __________________________________________________________________________

 So that's what I sent.  They seemed pleased with the submission, and so for no one has howled about sending beautiful Fred to 'freezer camp'.  I suppose that means I'll have to do better next time.  :-)

I do work with a great group of folks, and the ones I share pics with are especially wonderful.  One more way that I've been blessed.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Yep, It was time!

Fred the Rooster has been sent off to freezer camp.  In my last post I mentioned the final straw was that he was getting to be a bit of a bully with De, the kids and the grandkids, so we set the date and off he went.  But not before K, our neighbor who loves all our animals to a fault, told me yesterday that Fred got into her a couple of days ago as she was helping a couple of our hens out of her yard.  And M, my sister-in-law who lives a 1/2 mile down the road, told us Tuesday that Fred chased one of her friends who was out running as she ran by our property while the hens were down next to the road.  Yep - It was time. 

My brother-in-law, who has butchered out chickens fairly regularly, walked my son (who had come home for the learning experience) and I through the whole thing.  We skinned rather than plucked and ended up with more meat than we expected.  He was something like 16 months old, so we don't expect the meat to be really tough, but just to be sure when the opportunity presents itself he'll go into the slow cooker with some homegrown potatoes, onions, and spices out of the herb garden.
 

Aug 2014

Sept 2015 - Yep, It was time.

As I mentioned in my last post, Fred was never able to 'Rooster Up' and get the top spot in the pecking order, so he was always picked on: Hen-pecked as the saying goes.  As a result, he had lost all of his beautiful tail feathers and a big part of the feathers on the very top of his head.  Yep - It was definitely time.

Lessons Learned:

1. While Fred was, in his prime, a beautiful bird, that crown made it difficult for him to see.  Since he couldn't see the hens or people coming he startled easily and that may have contributed to his tendency to be picked on and to attack.  No more birds selected 'just for looks'.
2. When we grow and process our own meat birds in the next year or so, we need to gear up a little better.  A killing cone would make that process easier, especially if we are doing several at time.  I also need a couple of good knives more suited to processing poultry.

 
On the plus side - No more worrying about Fred bullying family, friends, neighbors, visitors, and passers-by. (Yep, it was time!)

Also, the one thing I expected to miss most with Fred gone was hearing him crowing on a clear, cool morning.  That always evoked wonderful childhood memories of growing up on a working 1960s family farm with all the livestalk that came with small farms of that era.   Just in the last couple of days Ivan Crossbeak, who is about four months old and is now the rooster of the flock, has started belting out (well - squeaking out) his own call.  He's far from full-voiced but it is good enough for now.  I see that as a blessing and am very thankful for the privilege of enjoying it!  For now, we've decided to keep Ivan through one batch of chicks and see how he does.

Ivan Crossbeak - The new 'Roo' of the flock

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Uh oh!! (x2)

Regular readers may remember that our Golden Polish rooster 'Fred' has spent most of his life being somewhat hen-pecked. Recently the poor ol' boy lost the last of tail feathers so now he's strutting around with his bare-nekked, hen-packed, back-side hanging out. (Uh oh! #1)  He is still doing his rooster thing, but it is just not a good situation.

Poor Fred looks a little odd from the side...

... and kinda sad from the back.

To make matters worse (for Fred) , whether it's his less-than-exalted position in the flock or just from being a rooster, he's also become a bit of a bully lately.  I have no problems with the boy unless he thinks I'm mistreating a hen but De, the daughters, and pretty much everyone else have to watch him  close or he'll come up and attack from behind.  It doesn't happen every time someone is out, but it does happen often enough that he's made himself "poultry non grata". We've gone to keeping a "Fred Stick" next to the door so folks venturing to the coop can, if they desire, tote a bit of defensive armament along.  With Ivan, the Polish-Buff Orp cross cockerel coming into his own (more on that later) we've decided it's time to send Fred to "Freezer Camp".  Since it's been something like 45 years since I've done that, I'm recruiting my sister and/or brother-in-law to tutor me.  I'm hoping this will be the week since I'm taking a week of 'vacation' away from the day job.


When Fred has made his way to land of the popsicle, Ivan will be THE GUY in the flock - maybe.  While we had big plans for Ivan to take over the roosterin' duties we discovered what may be a deal-breaker.  We were looking everyone over the other day and thought the young Ivan just didn't look right.  A closer look revealed that Ivan has a cross-beak! (Uh oh #2).

Pretty feathering and a buttercup comb.  A nice looking bird!

It's not awful, but it's sure not right.

 We're doing our homework (backyardchickens.com among other places - we're open to other sources), but if we find that cross beak is something he's likely to pass on to his offspring it's probably a deal breaker for Ivan.  Right now the "experts" seem to be split about 50/50.  We'll keep getting opinions from 'been there - done that' folks, and decide if Ivan will eventually be joining Fred.

On a slightly different topic, I'm taking time off from the day job this week and am making big plans for work around the homestead.  I'll share what I get done as well as what I don't, so I hope get several posts out this week.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Dealing with the Pecking Order

When we first got our chickens, being somewhat naive, new chicken owners, we had generally assumed that the dominate (or only) rooster would "rule the roost" and be at the top of the pecking order.  We have since learned better, and see the contrary in our own flock. 

It seems Fred the Golden Polish rooster is not at the top of our order and has been suffering a bit for it.  We've known for some time that there was some pecking going on, but as winter came on and they started hanging out most of the day in the coop, the crown of his poor head has had most of the feathers pecked out and was bleeding in places. 

A little research on De's part came up with a suggested solution of a product called Blu-Kote.  It's a blue spray-on germicidal, fungicidal, wound protection antiseptic.  We treated him and Wilma (our one Golden Polish hen who getting the same treatment) once, a couple of weeks ago but didn't get pics.  Wilma is doing much better.  Fred is doing some better, but still shows signs of being pecked.  We re-treated Fred today and did take time for pictures.

The Blu-Kote not only protects the wound, but also puts a bad taste in the mouths of the offenders.  Since we treated Fred's head he's been getting pecked at the base of his tail feathers so we treated that too.  The treatment for that is under the feathers, so with nothing to see we chose not to take pics of a chicken's backside. After we treated Fred did see a Red Star shortly after with a blue beak.

The crown of Fred's head with some signs of recent injury.

Fred's head treated with Blu-Kote.

The stuff will come off of my hand in a few days, and we've been pretty happy with the results from the first treatment.  We'll keep everyone up on the results.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark