Last Rooster Standing

As of yesterday morning, we had four roosters—Dave, Baby, and two juveniles that showed up in the batch of White Rock chicks that I got from the farm store in April.

As of last night, we have three roosters—Dave, Baby, and one juvenile. I went out to check on the chickens just before dinner, and as I opened the door to the chicken yard, I noticed a dead juvenile rooster surrounded by a bunch of white feathers.

I am pretty sure Dave took him out. He was standing next to the body. I looked at Dave. He looked back at me with one eye, then the other eye, then turned around and sauntered off.

This is a problem and I am not sure how to solve it. I thought I had a plan, but this latest homicide shifts the equation a bit. I was going to let Baby out of solitary, but it appears I am going to have to keep Baby and Dave separated indefinitely. Baby was pretty beaten up last time. After a week by himself, he looks better—bored, but better. I posted on the local poultry Facebook group to see if anyone would like a gentle rooster for their girls. Baby would do fine with just a couple of hens, and he’d love some place where he could be spoiled. Roosters are difficult to re-home, however.

We’ll probably butcher in the fall. I had already planned to include the two White Rock roosters. The one that is left may not make it until then if Dave decides he needs to get taken out. That leaves Dave and Baby. Some people would think this an easy decision: cull the problem rooster. I like Dave, though. He’s a bad boy, but I’ve never seen a rooster as devoted to the hens as he is. Maybe too devoted.

I go back and forth. I probably should cull Dave and keep Baby. My chickens don’t free range, so it’s not like Baby would have to fight off threats from predators.

I will try to figure out how to keep peace in the coop until the fall. I did say to the husband, however, that I think I am done with roosters. Men are a lot of work.

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I was going to spend yesterday morning weeding and cleaning up the garden, but I spent three hours re-doing the watering system, instead. We’ve been using oscillating sprinkler heads set on top of T-posts. They work, sort of, sometimes, but they malfunction more often than not. I started one the other morning and watched it for a bit to make sure it was working properly, but when I came back a few hours later, I discovered that it had gotten stuck in a position where it watered the top of the greenhouse and nothing else.

It has been so dry, too, that even if we water early in the morning, a lot of the water just evaporates. The plant roots aren’t getting a good, deep soaking. I dug out all the old soaker hose to see if I could make that work. The reason it took so long was because there were three different kinds of hose, some had male fittings at both ends (why?), some had female fittings at both ends (also why?), and I needed hose in two different places in the garden. And soaker hose is harder to put down around plants that are already in the ground. After some monkeying around, I came up with a system of hoses and manifolds that will let me get the water to the places it is needed. It will work for the rest of this season. Next year, though, I need a plan. Someone on the homesteading chat group suggested a system of hoses with spike watering heads that can be placed in the ground next to each plant. That looks like it would work well for the tomatoes.

Hopefully, I can get the weeding done this morning. I think I’m also going to plant peas again today to see if I can get a fall crop.

The bee balm is blooming in the herb garden: