The New Jersey Giants are beautiful birds. The have a green sheen on their feathers and beautful brown eyes. I actually liked the hens a lot. They were very sweet.
Not only do these chickens eat a TON.....they are huge. I had 25 of them and was buying at least one 50 bag of feed each week. (Probably more like 1.5 bags.)
They eat so much. The eggs are actually really small. I was really surprised considering how big these chickens are. Anyway, I noticed that after I started putting them outside that the rooster was awesome at protecting them. It was cool to watch. At night he would corral all his lady hens in, and he would stand guard. Nothing....and I mean...NOTHING...scrared that rooster. Not even Sophie. His lady hens were very safe under his watchful eye.
Soon, the rooster got bigger...and bigger....in fact, we named him, "The Black Knight". We called his brood, "The Harem of Hens". The ladies were big, but he was twice as big. He always stood guard like a junkyard dog.
...and then he got mean. I am not kidding when I say that I feared for my life with that bad boy. I kept trying to remind him, that I was his friend and that I took care of him and his lovely harem....but he didn't care. He wanted no part of my nice-ness.
He wanted to kill me.
Once, when I went out to feed, he came after me....I realized that I was wearing a bright red shirt. Duh. He must have thought I was trying to be a matador..and he was the raging bull.
Man, I ran. I probably screamed like a girl. I barely escaped.
I started to rethink these chickens. They weren't worth having a mean rooster around. Do I butcher him and keep his lovely hens?..It didn't seem right. I think we had the chickens for almost 2 years before I had enough of his mean-ness.
So, the meaner he got by the day, the more determined I was to have him gone. My kids wouldn't even go near him. We would walk friends out and stand by the fence to prove that he was a maniac killer rooster. And yes, it only took a second for them to believe me.
Its funny, cuz I have had lots of roosters, but never had one this crazy. And it didn't matter that I was so dang nice to that basta...I mean fellow. Once, we had a Red rooster that got mean. He jumped up on my son's shirt, clawed into his chest and kept his claws dug in while he grabbed his face and was pecking him. I immediatleg grabbed that pecker neck by his scrawny neck and walked him over to a cardboard box. That was the last we saw of him. I took him out to an old field and let him go. I let the foxes take care of him.
When Black Knight's spurs reached about 4 inches, I knew his time had come. He was either dinner, or he was going to terrorize someone elses backyard. I actually found a farmer, who wanted the whole bunch. I warned him over and over that his life was at stake, but he still wanted that mean ol' rooster and his harem of hens.....so I gave them to him. We had to use a fishing net (fabric net..not plastic netting) to catch him...We were scared to death.
I knew I could't miss.
I shoulda got it on film. It was epic.
Someone was looking out for me cuz I got him at my first try.
We were in awe as we studied up close those deadly spurs. Ooooooooooo.
They would look awesome mounted on the wall next to some deer antlers.
So, that was the end of The Black Knight and His Harem Of Hens. We'll surely never forget them.
That same week, I went out and got some sebrights (those roosters are pretty mean for a small bird too), and I got a few Leghorns. They are as sweet as can be.
yee haw.
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