Chicken and Dumplings

  A few days ago I was working in the garden prior to going to work at the bee store.  I had let the chickens out so I could clean out the chicken tractor. Our black copper marans rooster has always been a bit aggressive, but had seemed to have calmed down lately.  As I was minding my own business trying to finish pruning the grapes on the duck pen, that rascal rooster came running halfway across the yard to try to attack me.  In the past I've simply taken a stick to him until he would run away and leave me alone.  He didn't want to give it up this time so I finally just grabbed him by the neck and finished him on the spot.  I'd been meaning to do him in before he spurred one of the grandkids but I've been so busy until recently that I kept postponing the job. The rooster picked the wrong day to come after me.

    I butchered him in our apple orchard.  I hadn't intended to go to the trouble of plucking him, but I decided I wanted to save some of his feathers.  While he was mostly black, his wing feathers were black and white similar to eagle feathers.  I think we can find a good use for those when we do cousin camp this year.  We had already decided to do an indian theme.  The rooster also had really good neck and saddle hackles suitable for fly tying.  I was late getting to work, but the rooster was in the crock pot by the time I left.  The cooked and deboned rooster is now waiting patiently in the fridge for me to pick another chicken and dumpling recipe to try out.