Tag: rooster

How Long Does a Chicken Live?

It depends whether or not they are LUCKY.  Hens on a mass production egg farm can expect an unpleasant one or two year lifespan before they are brutally slaughtered.  Not a rosy picture, but wait, it’s even worse if a chicken hatches as a rooster. He will often be granted only five or six months before his life also comes to a screeching halt.  One may be somewhat luckier than the other… but quite frankly I’m not sure which one.

Backyard chickens can live eight to ten years in an ideal situation. Meaning, quality grub, green fixin’s, fresh water, shelter, and space to exercise their instinctual behaviors. Of course there are always chickens with that special  gusto for life who continue scratching in the dirt far beyond the norm.

The older a hen gets the less eggs she lays. Her production cycle may even cease altogether. But this is just a part of their change of life, same as ours. Chickens grow old, but  but let’s not overlook their other valuable ageless contributions. They provide an endless amount of fertilizer for your garden, eat ticks, flies, mosquitoes, and the creepy crawlers that destroy the foliage in your yard. Chickens are hard workin’ bug eating machines that are quite happy to earn their keep…  at every stage of their life.

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Dominique

The Dominique, also known as Dominicker,  originated  in the United States. They are considered America’s oldest breed of chicken, probably descending from chickens brought to New England from southern England during the Colonial Era.  However, most modern Dominiques may be traced to stock developed by A. Q. Carter after 1900.
By the 19th century, they were widely popular and were raised in many parts of the country. The Dominique is a dual purpose breed, being valued for meat and their brown eggs. They weigh 5 to 7 pounds at maturity, are considered cold hardy, good mothers, and adapt well to confinement or free range. They are early to mature, and although sometimes considered flighty, I personally find then extremely calm. The birds’ plumage pattern, also known as “hawk coloring”, offers some protection against some aerial predators.

Egg Production

Although categorized as a dual-purpose breed, these birds are first and foremost egg producers with hens averaging 230-275  medium-sized brown eggs.

Sexing Dominique Chicks

Sexing the Dominique is really pretty simple, with about a 95% accuracy.  The cockerels have yellow shanks and toes, the pullets have a grayish black coloration on the front of their shanks and also on the top of their toes.  The color differences become less apparent as the chicks mature.

Popularity Concerns

Since the 1920′s the Dominique’s popularity was on a steady decline, by 1970 only four known flocks remained.  Dedicated breeders participated in a breed rescue and their numbers showed a rise in numbers from 1983 to 2006.  By 2007, once again a decline was observed.  Presently,the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) has put the Dominique on the ‘Watch’ list.

Of all the breeds of chickens I’ve kept here on the farm, the Dominique is by far my favorite.  They are very sweet, hardy, and most important in these parts, tolerant to our hot summer temperatures that climb above 110.

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Feed Store Chicken Lottery

The Pullet is a Rooster? Options and Solutions

They’re pullets, all female, and that’s why you bought those cute little chicks from the feed store. You certainly didn’t expect to get stuck with a rooster, but now you’re the unlucky one who has fallen into that teeny tiny margin of error and have an unwanted cockerel.

Considering your Options

Check your city ordinances, roosters are often banned in suburban areas, so considering the impossibility of hiding him, an eviction notice is definitely in order. I know this is a hard decision, but it only takes one neighbor to complain and the law will be snooping and sniffing around your property.

If you are allowed to have a rooster you still may have a problem if you already have one. Rule of thumb… more than one rooster to a flock is a no-no.  Another thing to consider is your hen’s eggs are going to be fertile, not exactly an ideal situation if you’re selling eggs.

Not all chicken keepers raise meat birds, so us folks who keep only layers have completely ruled out killing and cooking one of our own birds for dinner. That’s an art in itself, and if you’re like me, one better left to somebody else.

Check with the feed store you bought the bird from, sometimes they’ll take it back.  But realistically, most unwanted cockerels share the same fate, a dinner plate.

If the feed store idea is a bust, it’s time to re-home the roo. Ask friends who might live in a more rural area. The almighty Craig’s List has come through for me time and time again. Last year I had six roosters to re-home, and they all sold for $5 bucks each.  Just keep in mind, cock fighting does exist, so weed out the riff-raff and dust off your good judge of character skills.

Beat the Odds of the Chicken Lottery

There is a solution to that 1% margin of error when buying sexed chicks.  If you want to be assured you’ll never get stuck with a rooster again, buy sex-linked chicks.  They’re idiot-proof in the sexing department because the hens hatch one color and the roosters another.  They’re hardy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they wrote the book on egg laying.

Sex Link Chickens

Two common varieties are the black sex-link (also called Black Stars) and the red sex-link (also called Red Stars).

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