So I've been spending a lot of time on fall butchering. In the spring I purchased 50 baby chicks, most of which were roosters. I ended up with about 8-10 hens out of the lot. I have been harvesting them for quite awhile, and I am currently butchering the last of the roosters that I will not be keeping.
    In August, I purchased another batch of 25 chicks that were all pullets. These have been being raised in a chicken tractor, and will soon be moved into the regular henhouse, once the excess roosters are gone. They are so lovely, a mix of Easter Eggers, Barred Rocks, and I think some regular White Rocks as well, though as they came as a mix I could be wrong. I am sure they will go on to be a fine laying flock.
    As I have been butchering my mix of roosters, I have been reminded of why for some years Buff Orpingtons have been my go to chicken breed. They lay well, and do so even in winter. They are quiet and generally gentle. They also make a nicely weighted carcass upon butcher, and pick out clean. They will also brood their own eggs sometimes. Over all, they are excellent chicken, and after I butcher these roosters, I won't have many of them.
    One thing I can say, my home raised, natural, dual purpose chickens far outperform store bought chicken in nearly every respect. Their bones are strong. It takes all my strength to break one of my chicken's leg bones. When I cook them, the bones do not all fall apart, though the meat comes off the bones. My kids have remarked that the meat is a little tougher than store chicken, but to my pallet it is simply meatier, chewing like good steak, with body, rather than turning to mush when boiled. Most of all the flavor is simply so much more chickeny than store chicken. The stock is just to die for!
    One thing I am really looking forward to is a time when my chickens are reproducing themselves. I do not want to have to buy large amounts of chicks, because I do not want to have to butcher this many all at once. I'd like to get to a point where I can walk to the chicken house at any given point and grab dinner. Now that is a proper chicken system, very little storage space needed.