To rooster or not to rooster?

In contemplating the addition of laying hens to our budding chicken enterprise, one question that keeps coming up is whether to include a rooster in our little flock.  Until recently, I've come down pretty much in the no rooster camp, being as the males are not required for eating egg production.  Plus they're noisy and eat a lot, and in my previously uninformed opinion, are a lot of work for a chicken who's only contribution is to eat too much, look good, and be loud.

Rhode Island Red Roo

Admittedly, my experience with roosters is extremely limited.  With our Cornish Rock Cross meat birds, the roosters meet their maker before becoming obnoxious early morning alarm clocks.  A neighbor down the road owns a flock of stunning Rhode Island Reds (probably, I'm a newb when it comes to identifying breeds) that contains three fabulous roosters.  Seriously, these boys are handsome and they know it.  One of these roosters is quite the character and often will wander far afield, leading his little harem of ladies behind him.  Last summer, he took to visiting several of the nearby homes with the express goal of giving everyone early morning wake-up calls.  Quite thoughtful of him, really.  Thankfully, we were a way down his list so by the time he arrived under our bedroom window to crow his little heart out, we were usually already awake.  But still, you can see how this contributes to my less-than-favorable impression of rooster ownership.

In talking with our friend Jon* about laying hens, he suggested that maybe a rooster might not be such a bad idea.  Since we live in a rural area, keeping a rooster is a possibility (many municipalities prohibit roosters since they're, well, noisy).   Here are a few pros and cons for having a rooster in your backyard flock:

Rooster Pros

• it is believed roosters help diminish or even eliminate pecking order among hens; this is supposedly helpful when introducing new hens in the flock or if you have a mixed breed flock
• roosters will protect the flock from perceived threats by rounding up the flock into a safe place, sounding a warning, and even attacking predators
• if you want to build your flock the old fashioned way, you need a rooster for egg fertilization
• in the absence of a rooster, sometimes one of the hens will take on the role of head chicken which may even lead to decreased egg production because she quits laying eggs so to keep the girls in top laying form owning a rooster may be helpful
• rumor (or old wives' tales) claims that fertilized eggs taste better
• roosters can be highly entertaining - who doesn't look a chicken with a 'tude strutting around the yard?

Rooster Cons

• roosters can, well, wear the hens out which can lead to loss of feathers on hens' backs and even to injuries and infection from over-enthusiastic mounting - this can especially be an issue if you have a small flock
• roosters can take their protection role too seriously and become aggressive with their keepers, especially with children
• they can be loud, often at many times during the day (and sometimes night), not just morning
• low food value sine most roosters of hen-laying breeds do not make good meat birds
• increased feed consumption

So we're still considering the addition of a roo or not.  Being as it's never a guarantee when purchasing chicks that they'll all be girls, it may become more of an issue of what we end up with.  

*See Jon's new farming adventures at his new site/blog Skookum Farmstead.  He and a buddy are taking a piece of land from neglected to productive farm; current adventures including foraging, orchard maintenance and piggies.

More planning for chickens

Wyandotte hen

For some reason this blog has been getting a lot of traffic from Germany, Latvia & Russia lately.  Go figure.  Assuming there are actual readers on the ends of those hits and not just search bots, I'd like to say a big thank you, danke, paldies and спасибо for reading.  Hopefully nothing is lost in translation.



Oldest has now caught youngest's fevered excitement about raising a backyard flock of egg-layers and wants in on the action.  So in addition to the 40ish Cornish Rock Cross we'll be ordering from Jenks Hatchery, I think the boys have argued, bargained and narrowed down their hen choices to Buff Orpington, Wyandotte & Leghorn.  Their choices are based solely on looks and how friendly the birds are reputed to be ~ I, on the other hand, steered them to the more prolific egg layers and "nicer" chickens.  We don't want any fights in the hen house.  We're going to get four hens, probably from the local feed store or maybe from a local-ish farmer.  I'm stalking Craigslist for possibilities.


Speaking of hen houses, if we were rolling in money, I'd purchase this set-up from Williams-Sonoma.  Nice, huh?  Plus cedar does well in our drippy Pacific NW weather.  But seeing as we don't have an extra $1500 lying around for a chicken coop, we're thinking of building a knock-off version of this, which in all honesty will be no where near as lovely but hopefully will keep our future hens happy.  We'll see.  I like the compactness and lightness of this coop which will make for easy moving about the yard... though since we'll be building it out of reclaimed wood and seeing how heavy the chicken tractor turned out, this maybe be a debatable point.  I'll keep you updated as we build.

DEAL ALERT: Bountiful Pantry Gluten-free Soup Mixes

Today's Gluten Free Saver deal looks interesting so I thought I'd pass it along.  GFS is offering a 5-Pack of Bountiful Pantry Soup mixes:  black bean, hearty lentil and vegetable, split pea, Italian veggie pasta, and farmhouse chowder.  Cost is $35 and free shipping is included with your order.  We've never tried Bountiful Pantry but if the pictures are any indication, their product looks delicious plus it's gluten free, dairy free and vegan.  If you've tried their soup mixes, leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Not sure what Gluten Free Saver is?  It's basically like Groupon or Living Social for gluten-free products.  Joining is simple, just give them your email and you'll start receiving emails with the deals they are offering - I typically receive one or two a week and as near as I can tell, they don't spam or share your information.




As usual, I'm receiving no compensation of any kind for this post, and I am not affiliated with gluten free saver or Bountiful Pantry.

What CAN I eat? Bread edition

Some gluten-free bread made from Pamela's Bread Mix in our bread machine

When talking to someone first embarking on the gluten-free lifestyle, one of the first questions is invariably, "What about bread???!?" Usually the tone of this question contains a certain amount of trepidation and even out-right fear.  Understandably.  Bread is the basis of so much our cultural eating - regardless of where you are in the world.  We "break bread," talk about our livings as our "bread and butter," and refer to cool inventions as the "greatest thing since sliced bread."  Bread seems to be at the very core of our existence, so taking bread out of the diet equation can seem daunting.

When we discovered youngest's gluten sensitivity, bread and other baked goods became one of our primary concerns.  We ate a lot of sandwiches.  And toast.  And bread or homemade biscuits with dinner.  Youngest LOVED all things bread so just eliminating it completely from his diet was asking for some serious mealtime struggles.  At the time we started our gluten free quest, gf baking options, while available, were a little more limited than they are now.  And most of the gluten free breads on the market were small, expensive loaves that made a pretty fair imitation of cardboard.  Seriously, most were Bad with a capital B.  For the first few years, I mostly made bread from scratch and then would dole it out in paper thin slices to make it last longer.  But in the past few years as gluten free foods have taken off as marketable commodities, more and more GOOD options have come available on the market.  Here are our favorites:

Pamela's Amazing Bread Mix:  this is our hands-down favorite in terms of ease, taste and close proximity to "real" bread.  Both flavor and mouth feel is superior to just about any other gf bread or mix out there.  Plus this mix is super easy to make if you have a bread machine (or even if you don't) - just add eggs, oil and water.  I usually buy this by the case using Amazon's Subscribe and Save program.   We also use it for making pizza crusts, rolls, and hamburger buns.

Bob's Red Mill Wonderful Bread Mix:  this mix comes in as a close second to Pamela's.

Udi's Sandwich Bread:  for a premade, sliced bread, Udi's makes a pretty good product (no cardboard here).  For me personally, I'm not as big a fan for straight up sandwiches, but youngest and oldest like it just fine (and since I don't eat bread my vote doesn't really count).  It makes great toast and also works well in French toast.

There are several other purveyors of gluten free bread products such as Namaste, King Arthur, and Gluten Free Pantry but before trying a case of any product, I would recommend getting just one package and giving it a test run.  In the world of gluten free bread, there are definitely champs vs. a whole bunch of pretenders.

If you would like to make your own gluten free bread from scratch my favorite recipes come from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  They have several gluten free recipes (all of which are good) as well as recipes for other gf baked goods such as cinnamon rolls.  You can also see some of their recipes on their website.




*We received no compensation for the unsolicited recommendations in this blog post.  Some of the links are affiliate links.