Oh dear - roosters - so much testosterone - but I love them - they are beautiful. The May roosters are now 3 months old, and I have them separated from the hens for the past 3 days with a couple of mild behaving roosters staying with the hens without any issues. In the meantime, their foraging areas have grown pretty big, about 1/4 acre if they wanted to. I have the (not so secret) hope that I will be able to keep 4 or 5 roosters even through the mating season next year. Compared to the hen group, the roosters are starting to forage a bit more and further out in the orchard during the day. I would have thought they would be all over the place, but no - they are very careful and seem to be staying close to "home". Maybe I spoiled them too much? It looks soo good to see the birds foraging in the garden.
There is a crowing "concert" a few times a day, I don't mind it, just a little worried about the neighbors, though this IS zoned agricultural. I had to separate the Golden Polish chicks from the Blue Andalusian roosters as they were just being chased all over the place. It seems though that the lowest chick in the pecking order will end up getting chased, now it is a splash blue Andalusian that has that honor.
It is quite a challenge to get them into and out of the chicken coop into their separate day ranging areas. It takes me about an hour or 2 each time, and I am hoping things will get a lot easier when i have built a roo hatch box/coop and they have accepted it. I have modified the hen-coop section again so maybe the Golden Polish will be content to stay there at night - and not insist to roost in the old spot - with all the roosters .....
Ok, back from tonight's cooping up:
As much as the females run from the roosters in the day - at night, they all want to roost together given the option. I just tested that, after 3 nights of keeping them separate. So until I actually have a separate rooster hutch, I let them roost together again, starting tonight - and see how that goes. For daytime tomorrow, since there are there are so many different run areas now ...the females might have enough space to hide. I'll see tomorrow.
Long story short: if you are getting a straight run and plan to not kill your roosters (either yourself or by giving them away) - have 2 coops and forage areas far enough away
before you get them. And remember, straight run NOT 50/50.
From a farming and economical perspective - keeping all the roosters makes little sense, especially as the 50/50 is not the case ...it is more 70/30, and talking to my chicken keeping neighbor - that seems to be the case for those he knows who have gotten straight runs. Also
organic soy free feed is incredibly expensive.
Getting a sexed run means: you get the females and the males have been gotten rid of some other way.
You can argue: getting a straight run means all of them have had a chance of life on earth - and now their time is up. Would it have been better not having a chance at life at all?
I can hear the more militant vegans already - but what they maybe have not faced are the thousands of animals killed during commercial vegan food harvesting - AND - in case you are not aware - plants are conscious too. You might be able to feel it yourself, or, do a search on the latest about how trees communicate with each other and transfer nutrients.
In my own sensing, and feeling - we all - every being and thing - are expressions of the ONE - the one Consciousness that IS. In that sense, EVERYTHING that you do matters. Everything you do affects the whole. Everything is an outpicturing of divine mind. Life IS a circle - and life force expresses in constant birthing and dieing, and all you (and that is for those who are at all interested in that side of Being) can ever hope to do is not to have contributed to the suffering of WHAT IS - and maybe,
to have relieved some suffering in some way on some level. It too makes sense, that if it is within your means, to prevent others from doing harm - for they own sake and for the sake of BEING. It makes sense to not allow dogs to do harm to people or other animals, to not allow people to do harm, if it is within your power to recognize it and prevent it.
I have cried over plants being mutilated by unconscious actions of others - like mowing over baby trees and bushes. I can't even clear blackberries before their "babies" have not matured ..... but I did tell them that after that, and accepting the berries gratefully, that they will have to go. And I do tell them that I love them and their beingness - same as the roosters - acting out their hormones. Some day, unless I get 100 acres and natural wildlife population control, the roosters will likely have to go. The few hens just can't deal with that many.
But there is 1 thing: those birds have been loved. In my world and mind - that means something, that is worthwhile - and it is more than can be said about many peoeple, animals and things. Those chickens are loved, seen, appreciated, admired and cared for. I spend time with them just in awe of how they move, sound and what they do and try to give them what they need within the means I have.
May they be blessed, and with them, the divine beingness itself.
Oh - do you think there are dogs who would give their lives for their owners -- not thinking - just doing? Let us not take away from the divine mind that has some animals and plants being in service of love, awakening and helping humans to grow - physically and otherwise. On the task of : what I learned from keeping chickens: it is way beyond
the practical chicken keeping. This project, the endeavor, is deepening
my feeling for life, the deepening realization for the sanctity of life
and the mutuality we have with everything in it, absolutely everything and everyone. For the most part, I do not actually have access/skill/experience to LOVE through people, - adult humans (children are a different story), like some of you might have - I nonetheless am beginning to get that this, the working with animals & giving over the top of 100% to what I am capable of, is a path with which to access love of humans (who hurt life and beings so much everywhere). With the realization of the ONENESS and its expression through all beings and things - it would include humans. I do know that I am not there yet. There may be compassion, or pity, but LOVE for all humans, even if they are expressions of the divine oneness - I am not there.
Tonight, I am exhausted from the work and trying to manage "them chicks" and do right by them. I wish there were someone really in on this project with me. We'll see how tomorrow goes.
I still think the roosters could roam in a separate area and live longer ....that too we'll see.
Some say creation is like a giant video game. It is a game in which beings feel. - A 3d manifestation of G-D.
