Mean Roo Stew

I make a mean roo stew....

...and by that I mean that I make a dang good stew. And I make it out of mean roos. Mean Roo Stew.  At least thats what my pal "J" calls it.

We've spent the last couple days "inviting" most of our extra roosters to dinner. Too many roos make for a bad barnyard situation. First your hens will be afraid to come in to roost at nite since the gang of thugs will be waiting for them like a bunch of hooligans outside of an all girls school. Next, its loud, annoying, and occasionally dangerous to have too many extra roosters. And last, you're feeding a bunch of  laze-abouts who may or may not be made of the right stuff to justly strut in the yard.

Unless you have small kids you should have a couple roos in your hen yard. Unfortunately roosters can jump kid-eye-height, talons out, kicking and flapping.  And you know how that ends.  Even a good roo has a bad day so it may not be worth the risk to your kids.

A good rooster will take care of the hens and throw the kind of chicks you need. He's call the ladies in at night, show them where all the good eats are, and protect the hens from intruders. That's what makes a good rooster like this one....

... he gets a pass on 'rooster day' and stays.  See how he sticks close to the girls? And he's nice and beefy. We love the Light Brahma roos for the big meaty, yields and how beautifully they dress out for dinner.

Remember that ridiculous group of ill-hatched chicks - the ones that hatched one chick at a time for a couple of weeks?  They had the most interesting collection of colors and patterns you'd ever seen. Finally they were getting big enough to sort themselves out into factions and different groups. Some of the roosters are starting to emerge as leaders - and some were volunteering for our latest Rooster Day.  So we had a nice collection of volunteers and we also dressed a couple of the creepy meats we got in the fall. But don't worry Ginny, your little hen is doing just fine. In fact, she is stunning.

That's Black Jack in the center - he runs a tight ship. I hated his brother but I like Black Jack just fine.

Our current rooster crew includes Black Jack, Red, Mr. Tibbles (my fancy salmon faverolle), and one of the iterations of light brahma roos from the lineage of Big Pansy. I think we are on "Nekkid Pansy" because we finally got a bare legged brahma rooster. We have another group of roosters who will be shown to the pot sometime in the next couple of weeks. Most are the young salmon faverolle roos.. except, you know... um.. not that Occupy one. He chose his own fate when he refused to come in that night.

Not too long ago we sent a salmon faverolle roo to glory in a pot of noodles.  He was extremely mean - but those tend to be the most delicious ones. And for a small bird I have to say the meat yield was amazing.  But the quality of the meat was what sold me. Mr. Tibbles will always have a pass but I can't wait to dress the rest of those salmon roos.

In the meantime I'm gonna cook down this pot of mean roo stew until the stock is rich and thick and the meat is tender and delicious. Should be ready soon. Now I just need to make some biscuits.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Anyone else got a mean roo who needs to go to the pot?