Killing a Rooster

Well last weekend I killed my first rooster.

I am proud of myself for doing it and I'm glad I know how to do it but I didn't enjoy it :(

The first thing I did was the night before I went up to the chook house and picked up the rooster from the perch. They are much easier to catch at night. I had a small enclosure set up with some food and water to make it easier to catch him in the morning.

Then in the morning I gathered everything I would need so I wouldn't have to run around later. I was going to use my axe but a guy at work suggested that with my par-chant for accidents perhaps I should borrow his dispatcher ( homemade short handled cleaver) as its easier to wield. So I had a chopping block, dispatcher and a bucket full of hot water.Then I gathered my courage and picked up the rooster, gently lay his head on the chopping block and did what needed to be done. I then rang mum and cried. Mum gave me some words of support and suggested I get back out side and start plucking.

I dunked the rooster in the hot water and swooshed him around quickly to wet all his feathers. If he stayed in the water to long he may start to cook. The hot water helps his feathers come out. If the feathers start to get a bit hard to pull out just dunk him quickly again.

Then I took him inside to pluck the last of the feathers and do the gutting. Once he was featherless I used an old pair of scissors to cut of his feet. As part of my day job I cut the feet off and gut ducks so I was sure I could handle the rest. If you have a feel of his 'knees' you can tell where to cut and if you have the right spot the scissors will just take the feet off in one go.

The next step is to put the scissors into his vent (the opening under his tail). There is a lot of talk about carefully cutting around his bowel chute but as long as you clean the cavity really well there is no need to do this. Just cut from his vent to the chest bone ( you will feel it). Reach in and carefully pull out his entrails. Make sure you get as much as you can out. You can use the offal. Giblets make nice stock and gravy and can even be smoked. Chicken liver pate etc.

I haven't eaten him yet, he is in the freezer. I will though when its not so fresh.

Love is in the air

Recently my 4 sebright hens fell in love with my Plymouth rock rooster. Apparently size does matter. They now live with him and his other concubines in the large chook run up the back. Which has left my poor little sebright rooster all alone. He just wanders aimlessly around the yard, that was until he turned his attention to my cat. Now they are inseparable, they just spend all day staring at each other through the window. Might I add that I didn't notice how dirty the window was until after I took the photo lol.

Happy New Year

Well 2008 is here all ready. I still haven't finished all the things I had planned to do in 2007. AArrrggghhh.

I had a wonderful time over the Christmas break, spending time with my family. I know that this time isn't just about gifts but.... I got some gooduns'. Jamie bought me 50m of 6' chicken wire! I can't even think of all the things that will enable me to do, oh and a bag trolley. I hadn't heard them called this before, I'm not sure what I would have called them but probably "You know, those things you use to lift and move fridges with a handle and two wheels!"

This will be so handy as I have to leave the big bags of layers pellets in the boot of my car where the bloke from the shop puts them cause they are to heavy for me to lift!

He also gave me a flash sharp kitchen knife with a note attached that said "Not to be used to cut soap or in the garden!" Which was probably a good thing as the first thought into my head was 'Wow just what I need to divide those clumps of perennials'

I wasn't the only one to get a gift here on Gobbler's Run. Paul and Kelly, my beautiful sheep had been really good this year so Santa (cunningly disguised as Shane from up the road) bought them a huge round bale of pea straw. Thanks Santa (and Shane!)

I just thought I would enter the new year with a bit of a run down of whats going on here at the minute.

I have 3 chickens ready to go to there new home.

3 chickens that aren't to far from being ready to leave home.

1 chook sitting on 6 sebright eggs.

2 Sebrights sitting on about 20 eggs together ( I've tried to get in and thin out the eggs but boy for little chooks they are angry so I haven't been able to get near!)

2 turkeys sitting on fertile turkey eggs and

1 turkey sitting on non-fertile eggs (I will take her eggs away today but she cries when I have to do this and it breaks my heart)

I haven't worked out my new years resolutions yet but I'll post them when I do !

Crazy Chickens!

I left the back door open on Tuesday while Jamie and I searched for my cat which had gotten out. We searched and searched and finally found her under the house. As we went back inside we heard a commotion in the kitchen. Jamie stood in the kitchen door and started to laugh, laugh so much I thought he was going to fall over!
While we were out side my little Golden Sebrights had decided to investigate the kitchen! Seven tiny chooks running around the kitchen slipping on the vinyl floor, flying up and landing on my clean dishes draining by the sink. Poor little things! We backed away to where they couldn't see us and let them calm down. Slowly, one by one they crept out of the kitchen and quickly out the back door. Once the kitchen was empty we ventured in to see if any thing was broken. What did we find?..........Poo! Yes the little darlings had pooped all over the floor and my sink and my benches, everywhere!
But they are just so adorable I couldn't stay mad at them for long! Just like I was able to stay mad at Paul and Kelly, the sheep. They both have collars now, Paul has a blue one and Kelly has a pink one. I was worried they may get out and I thought if they have collars then if they are found someone will know they are pets. I had to go to a meeting in the local hall on Monday and I thought I would let the farmers know about the collars and if they do ever get out that they live with me. But Paul and Kelly were already the topic of conversation as all of the local farmers had seen them parading around in their flash collars! The farmers thought it was a great laugh! I'm not sure what they will think when I start taking them for walks on the leads that I have bought them! I'm not worried as I'm pretty sure they all think I'm a bit crazy anyway

Kindness and the rabbit proof fence.

My big chooks aren't allowed in my veggie garden! My Golden Sebrights are, this is because they are tiny and cute! I was under the belief that because they are so small they couldn't do much damage.......I was wrong! Over the weekend they devoured all my broccoli! I love broccoli so I had to put an end to their feasting. Awhile ago we managed to lug home a huge roll of old chicken wire from the tip. I unrolled a long piece to run around one of the veggie garden and dropped in some star pickets. I'm really hoping that this will keep them out. So far so good!

The little darling also had a pretty good go at my Brussel Sprouts! So I needed to enclose that bed too. About a year ago I tried (unsuccessfully) to build a chook tractor out of very thin poly pipe, I was way to floppy to use and since its creation it's just been sitting up the back of the yard. I thought this may fit as the sprouts are in a round bed.................Ta Dah! I just need to get a bit of bird netting to put across the top and job done! This will keep those chookies out.
The strange thing you can see in the background that looks like a two headed ghost is my 'hot house'. When I bought my new oven it came in a huge plastic bag, I put it away because I thought I might come up with a use for it one day. I t keeps the frosts at bay and folds up when I don't need it! How cool is that!



I've found that seeds planted in this micro environment sprout much faster than seeds sown in the open.At the moment I have Sage, Coriander, Chives and Lucerne all in the 'Hot house'.

An up date on the sheep!!!! My beautiful gobbler Troy, who delights in nothing more than to terrorise me buy chasing me at full pace has developed a fear of sheep! In this photo you can see three turkeys. The one to the right of the photo is Troy fleeing! The second is Brownie1 and the white one is Helen. None of them are at all impressed with Paul and Kelly the sheep.

*How Kind*

I received a beautiful note in the mail today. It was a piece of comfrey carefully packed in damp newspaper in a zip lock bag. Ali from Our Patch had sent it to me as I had mentioned over at ALS that I was having trouble getting any down here. Thank you so much Ali I really appreciate your kindness and I hope one day to find a way to repay you! Thank you

What a day!

I just love days like today! I had a great day at work and got heaps of shopping done after work. Usually I hate shopping but for some reason I really enjoyed myself this afternoon. I think that because I was shopping for my chooks it wasn't so bad.
I bought them a big bag of their favorite layers pellets, the one with corn and sunflower seeds and puffed rice. They just love it!

I got the big chooks a huge bale of pea straw to scratch in and the sebrights got a bale of compressed wheat straw to play in ( I also got them some Chinese greens but don't tell the big chooks)
And just to hand some late breaking news. I'M GETTING SOME SHEEP! I'm adopting two beautiful coloured lambs. They are coming to live here in two weeks time. I just can't wait. I will need to work out some way to protect the fruit trees but I'm pretty sure it will involve old tanks in some form LOL. The latest challenge......what will I call them????? My mum spins so she is always on the look out for coloured fleeces so now I will be able to help her out! And I get the bonus of heaps and heaps of free fertilizer! What a bonus!