roosters

Early this year, back when it was cool out in the spring, an email came in: "we hatched chicken eggs in an incubator, would you like the chicks?".

We took every one. They were added to another flock of baby chicks: all scheduled to lay eggs about now.

A few have developed larger combs. Deeper voices. Turns out hatching eggs means about half will be roosters. A rooster has a fantastic flavor while sometimes being known for being a tougher bird. So we let it rest and braise it: in chicken stock made with the feet, in tomato stock made with our tomatoes, in apple sauce made from local orchards, in peaches we can, with low sugar, over the summer. If there is time Homer will make chicken and dumplings, the best thing ever.

The roosters begin to crow before they are really large enough for dinner. These white birds with the large combs have now been separated from the flock and are all together in a smaller pen, moving in an area where our neighbors hear them from a distance, not up close. More than a dozen of these can make quite a wake up call early in the morning!