Re: [AlpacaTalk] RE: Severe Eye Injury
Hehe, wow! Great story, Allison! I'm very glad your grandpa's hat saved
your eye!
Our rooster, while generally very sweet, went after a guy doing some
work on the farm. Luckily, the man was wearing leather boots, and I'm
not sure what happened exactly, but our rooster "Margaret," ripped off
one of his spurs while attacking Joe. As I said, it looked like lots of
blood, but a small amount always looks like a lot. Margaret still had
the other spur, but he was much calmer after that. Never went after Joe
again. And he was always very friendly to everyone who lived at the
farm.
But eventually Margaret became raccoon dinner while defending his
lovely hens. Those darned raccoons! They're the ones to watch! I don't
think they'd go after adult alpacas, but they're not to be trusted.
Good thing they can't read or write, we'd all be in trouble. :)
We prefer to get pullets from the feed store when we are in need of new
hens. We don't eat enough eggs to need more than a few girls around at
any time, and while the roosters do defend them, they're just one more
mouth to feed and clean up after! I guess if we didn't mind butchering
our own chickens, we probably would have a couple of roosters and have
an ongoing supply of new capons...
Heather
On Aug 24, 2008, at 6:50 PM, Allison Moss-Fritch wrote:
> Hi Heather,
>
> As a small child, my visits to grandfather'
> where
> the chickens were in the barnyard. One day our large rooster turned
> himself
> into 'coq au vin' .
>
> He ran up to me, I was five, and spurred my left cheek right below my
> eye..I
> still have a faint 1 inch vertical scar where that lovely supper with
> feathers tried to spur me. He almost made it..and that is why he
> became the
> Sunday dinner that week. My grandfather saw that rooster launch
> himself at
> my face.and it was grandfather'
>
> Otherwise, I'd have been a one eyed lawyer all these years. Chickens
> can
> and do hurt humans, dogs, cats, and other livestock on occasion. A big
> rooster can weigh 15 lbs if from one of the larger breeds. This was a
> big
> red rooster from a large breed. I don't remember the name, but it is a
> rather common farm type breed. The hens laid lovely eggs so we always
> kept
> at least two clutches each year for replacement pullets the next
> spring.
>
> It is possible to remove those spurs and some farms do it routinely
> on all
> hatchling cockerels to avoid such harm. I would recommend that
> approach to
> all farms keeping a small flock for eggs, capons, and stew hens. A
> good vet
> can show you how to do it without great pain or harm to the chicks;
> and it
> should only be done after you know how it is properly done. If you
> have
> kids or pets, I think it should be a standard procedure. Castrating
> the
> extra roosters early in life is also easily done and a very good
> idea..
> Better eating, stops your hens from being bothered by too much
> "treading"
> (breeding) behavior from too many roosters. All around, more
> peaceable in
> the barnyard.
>
> Allison Moss-Fritch
>
> New Moon Alpacas
>
> Santa Clara, CA
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posted by Chaddo at 7:09 PM
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