Ok, "Groundhog Day" on the Distelfink Farm blog cracked me up. Real farmers don't dally with problems , they just fix them. Well, some of us are not as good at fixing some problems.
Problem: Goose Liver, The Rooster Who Won't Go Away. The problem started out because he was too pretty. I didn't want him to end up in a stew pot, but I didn't want him breeding our hens because I want my Rhode Island Red breeding them . Well, the hens love all that flash, and my RIR roo can't get near them. Poor fellow breeds the ducks!(they don't much care for him, either).
I tried to sell him; I tried to give him away; I've run adds in the locals shopper. No one wants this Rooster except my hens. ( When I was in San Diego someone tried to buy him. Bud and Dee spent two days trying to catch him..no luck).
The second problem with this rooster is that he got mean. At first, he was just attacking Dee, which is bad, but she seldom goes into the compound so it wasn't that big of a problem. He attacked Bud once and Bud gave him a flying lesson. End of Bud's problem.
Then one day he turned on me. I beat him off with a stick and at first, that seemed to work for awhile. About a week before I went on vacation, Goose spent the whole day crowing, every few minutes for hours. It was nerve wracking. I needed to get some work done in the animal compound, and between him crowing and attacking me five times I had enough.
Now I'm considered by my peers as a good shot (with a shotgun). I hunt and never fail to bring down my prey with one shot. I don't own a shotgun right now (sold it when I moved south). I do own a hand gun-- 9mm.
Goose was going down.
I went in the house, got the gun, went back out to the compound and just stood still until Goose came over close to me, eyeing me up for the attack.
When he got about three feet from me, I aimed for the middle of his back, knowing that the shot would take out his heart and lungs. I wasn't planning on eating him, and his head is too small for me to try to hit..I know I'm not so good with a hand gun.
Just a little closer..Bam! Up in the air he goes, feather flying every which way, he lands on the ground with a thud....YOOHOO you little prick....Then he gets up a runs away. I shot right through his feathers, never even grazed his skin.
I think the problem started when I named him Gooseliver. Bud said, " We don't eat gooseliver." I said, "Exactly why the name, he's not meant to be eaten."
We still have him. I can't kill him..(that whole Fate thingy is going now)... and I still can't give him away--I have to tell people he's mean, so no one wants him.
I hope roosters don't live long...
ES
8 comments:
OMG ROFLMAO!! That is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. Sounds like he's gotten cocky! No pun intended!!
I was cracking up with you getting all 'Dirty Harry' on him! I can't believe he made it! I can see why you don't want to tempt fate now. Perhaps Gooseliver just needs a happy accident....sleeping pills in his feed??? LOL!
I've thought about it.
I think I'm going to keep a running track on trying to get rid of him.
Considering that Gooseliver is just a rooster (and, therefore, not all that bright), I imagine that he is still behaving aggressively.
It is, of course, too much for his tiny brain to connect the loss of some feathers following a very loud BANG and the smoking pistol in your hand with his behaviour.
He probably considers himself a very admirable rooster anyway. Consider the bravery involved in protecting one's hens from creatures so very much larger than oneself ... But that you provide food and shelter and hens ... well, he is just a rooster ...
:-)
Roosters are smarter than we think.
He got the picture. He no longer attacks me un provoked. ;-)
Wow, I have officially been bested. ;) Leaning out of a bedroom window is one thing; shooting a rooster point-blank is another. LOL.
I never knew I had this stuff in me, but honestly, this war with the groundhogs (yeah, it's plural now) has stirred this sort of primitive bloodlust. Maybe it's the soaring price of food, maybe it's the tantalizing expectation of those fresh, perfectly textured home-grown vegetables...but I don't even walk to the garden unarmed anymore. That sucker's going down.
Living proof that you *can* take the city out of the girl...
Groundhogs are no friend of mine..They will tear up a garden. I often employ a two fold method of ridding my garden of them. Leg hold traps and a 22 rifle.
You can find leg hold traps online pretty cheap.. They are not hard to use. Set the trap across the path of the critter lightly toss a little dry grass on the trap to hid it.. The trap holds him until you can get there and shoot him.
Please don't even think about transplanting him..Your neighbors will not like you for it. lol
BTW if it's young enough..they can be mighty tasty....
City/Country girls Unite....lol
LOL. I'm in total agreement; I have just acquired a have-a-heart trap, and I'm going to use it to hold him in place while I get my gun. ;)
Though we are making light of it.
The problem of critters eating up a garden must be solved.
With food prices going through the roof, some of us may have a hard time putting a good meal on the table this winter.
For those of us who can't go out and make an extra income, saving money is the only way to help.
Growing a garden is a wonderful way to save money. I'm not about to let some critter eat up all my hard work or my families food.
As I said if the critter is young enough he'll become supper. BBQ groundhog is good eating.
ES
Post a Comment