An Unexpected Twist

They arrived as tiny puffballs just last November, but they are already more than half-grown.  225 pullets--or, at least, that was the plan.  When the little chicks were a week or two old and beginning to feather out we noticed that a few of the Anconas had larger combs than the other chicks.  Uh oh.  Sure enough, as the chicks continued to grow we became more certain that there were ten Ancona cockerel chicks among them.  

A curious Ancona Pullet

Now, the reason we had ordered only pullets is that pullets grow into hens and hens lay the eggs.  Since one of our goals is profitability, eggs are a good thing.  Cockerels grow into roosters--admittedly more showy than the hens, plus they make that amazing crowing sound.  But can they earn their keep?  You don't need a rooster in order to get eggs.  You only need a rooster in order to get fertile eggs.  There are many in the natural foods movement who believe that there is something better about fertile eggs.  More complete.  More the way it was meant to be.
  

An Ancona Cockerel surrounded by Black Australorp Pullets

I haven't seen the nutritional information of one versus the other, and maybe it would be an intangible improvement anyway, but I follow where they are going with this.  So, while it wasn't our intention to have roosters among our laying hens, maybe it will all work out for the best in the end.  Either way, there still is nothing like the beauty of a strutting rooster with his stunning crow--and that's worth the price of admission any day.