At Pie Ranch, we have several flocks of chickens that fertilize our fields and give us eggs to boot. When the 1-day old baby chicks arrived by mail, we knew there would be a few roosters that sneaked through the sexing process at the hatchery. While the skilled eye can determine chicken gender by looking at the wing feathers, there are usually a number of cockerels (young roosters) that go through undetected. About 3-5 weeks into their growth, defining characteristics of the males become evident: the larger comb, the taller height, and the telltale rooster crow. We ended up having ten roosters in our newest flock of 175 chickens.

Having some roosters in a flock of egg-laying hens can be beneficial; some people believe fertile eggs contain more nutrients & vitality. Others want to be able to hatch out their own chicks. In either case, assuring fertilization requires about 1 rooster for every 8 hens. Roosters have other useful qualities; they alert the hens to predators & protect them too. So you see, their “cockadoodledoo” isn’t just a pastoral alarm clock for farmers.

However, too many roosters in a flock can be troublesome. Roosters can be aggressive, especially certain breeds, and will attack even strollers-by. Being an educational farm, we want to create an enjoyable, not frightening, experience for youth as they collect the multi-colored eggs, and are therefore very particular about the roosters we keep. Another argument for not raising excessive roosters comes down to farm economics: it just isn’t viable to keep feeding lots of roosters who don’t produce eggs. Recently, the time came at Pie Ranch to cull our flock and slaughter some roosters.

The idea of involving the youth from Mission High in this process felt a little daunting at first. However, we wanted to share this very important and meaningful process with them, to help them really connect to their food. We wondered how we could make this happen in a way that was reverent, meaningful, informative, and acceptable, given the sensitivity of the issue. Luckily, our friend “Chicken” (yes, he really goes by that – he studied chickens in college) agreed to be a mentor in the process.

It was important to all of us throughout this procedure to be very open and respectful of the significance of taking the lives of these animals and the emotions that might arise from that. We discussed with the Mission High students the difference between how animals are raised at Pie Ranch and how they are raised at most industrial meat/egg operations, and how important the quality of their lives is, as well of the quality of their deaths. We made sure the students knew that they didn’t have to be part of the process and were free to change their minds at any time. They all chose to be present for the slaughter, and there was an air of intense attention and focus throughout the day.

The Pie Ranch apprentices — Caleb, Sky, and Dede — were joined by several high school students from Bishop O’Dowd in Oakland to assist Chicken. Caleb and Dede caught five roosters and brought them down to the Lower Slice, where the slaughter would take place. Chicken explained to the students exactly what would happen: The roosters would be tied at the legs and hung upside down, which would calm them. Chicken and the assistants would then slit their throats with a sharp knife, and the roosters would bleed to death quickly. The birds would then be dunked in hot water, plucked, and eviscerated.

Before the actual killing, Sky invoked a moment of respect, thanking the roosters for their lives. The intense focus of the students, staff, and visitors attested to the significance of the event. The roosters did indeed become calm when hung upside down, and it was much less dramatic than some of us might have imagined. Once the roosters’ throats were slit, death happened quickly. The assistants promptly put the birds in hot water to loosen their feathers. Many of the students helped to pluck and eviscerate the birds and were amazed at how quickly the animals transformed into something that looked very familiar: meat.

An intention of every day at Pie Ranch is to connect people with their food. This day was no different, and we, along with our nutrition educator Megan, decided to cook rooster stew for lunch that day. We often cook and eat chicken with the Mission High students, in tacos, soup, or grilled. This experience was an important and very real way for the students to think about and see first hand what it means to eat; that each bite we ingest was a living thing, be it an animal, vegetable, fruit, fungus, grain or legume. Megan and our Mission-High-graduate-turned-assistant-chef Andy prepared a stew made from roosters killed the day before.

As always, we circled before lunch to discuss the day’s activities, what we learned and experienced, and what we would be eating for lunch. One of the students was inspired to share a sentiment that seemed particularly poignant: “I think that these roosters will be a part of us all forever,” Saul said. We all knew what he meant, and it’s true. For many of us, that day was probably the first and last time we would be present at a death, let alone be responsible for it. As we sat down together, everyone opted to eat the rooster stew, except Chicken who is, ironically, a vegetarian.

- by Nancy Vail, Pie Ranch Farmer Educator, & Sky DeMuro, Farm Apprentice