Winner Winner
24 Mar 2012 6 Comments
Chicken dinner. Those chickens we got last Fall ended up being mostly roosters. We’ve been enjoying wobbly adolescent crowing noises until I discovered our tiny banty chicken Nugget cowering in one of the nests. She had been almost pecked to death by one of the roos. That meant it was time to bust out the scalder… The last time we had roosters, we just kicked them out of the henhouse. With the run of our entire farm, they managed to wander into the big pasture and got eaten off by our guardian dogs. We decided we’d rather eat them ourselves. Processing day is Jenna’s favorite day on the farm. She gets to stare at birds all morning, and receives the occasional liver treat. I love watching Jenna watch the birds. Thankfully Nugget is healing, and we’re having fried chicken for dinner tonight.
Missing Willow Farm 
Mar 24, 2012 @ 08:04:56
Nugget’s revenge!
Mar 24, 2012 @ 10:02:19
I didn’t know you can eat roosters! I always learn something from this blog. 🙂
Mar 24, 2012 @ 10:12:06
Thanks Nessa. 🙂 When you get chicks at some place like Tractor Supply to raise for eggs, they are usually sold as ‘straight run’ which means a mixture of males and females. It’s evidently really difficult to tell the sex of day old chicks so you get some of each. Last year we paid a little bit extra per bird for ten female chicks and ended up with two roosters anyways. Most folks who get chicks to raise for eggs keep the hens and eat the roosters. We’ll never raise our own chicks from eggs by getting rid of our roosters but that’s OK. We don’t want our hens harmed.
Mar 24, 2012 @ 11:21:05
The life that goes on! Imagine that. Odd to imagine that one day the chicken will not be Trader Joe’s Organic but mine. Do you fry your chicken in lard? My grandmother did & that’s the best taste I recall. Thanks also to Connie for the tip on how to get more gals than guys.
Mar 24, 2012 @ 13:18:32
Thanks Diane! I use canola oil and a Fry Daddy. I’ll post my recipe one of these days. I’ve got a new one.
Mar 24, 2012 @ 20:46:25
Poor little Nugget – if those roosters had only known what they were getting themselves into. Bon appetit! 😉