My first excuse was that thunderstorms were on their way. I didn't want our roosters to be in a new environment and have a horrible thunderstorm hit. I didn't want them to be lost and searching for cover in an unfamiliar area. Heaven forbid they end up like chickens running around with their head cut off!
Then, we were shocked and distressed to find the thunderstorms skirting our area. We desperately need rain! After getting Emergency Broadcast Announcements with high pitched warning sounds every few minutes off and on, for two days, we didn't get one drop of rain in our area. The city next to us got a bit of rain, but we sat here dry and shriveled. We are in a terrible drought and our surrounding areas received nice rainfall, but we didn't. So, the roosters have still yet to have seen a rainstorm and they are over three months old. But, the chance of our area having heavy rains gave the roosters a lucky break, yet again.
Another excuse to keep the roosters a bit longer came after the night we found the hideous mouse running all over the chicken coop. I wanted the roosters to kick the mouse to the curb! Or, they could've pecked the mouse to death. I'm NOT a mice or rat lover. Sorry. So...how could I get rid of the roosters when there were mice to battle?
Finally, after personally witnessing the awesome instinct of a rooster as it goes into protection-mode, I became more attached to them, especially after Big Rooster began to show his powers of charging like a raging bull. Their fearless nature impressed me to no end. After all, these are BIRDS!
Then, me and my blog friends began to write back and forth about the importance of having a rooster in the hen house. I agreed with them fully, and my delay to send off the roosters to their new home became further delayed.
The ugly reality is that I must give up the roosters and take them to their new home nearby. We did not intend to buy roosters, they were accidentally mixed in with the pullets at Tractor Supply, which does not conduct official "sexing" techniques to determine whether or not a chicken is a chicken, not a rooster.
And, the Big Rooster was becoming more brazen. My husband walked out to the backyard a couple of days ago to find Big Rooster sitting on top of the cedar fence-line, ready to fly into the next door neighbor's yard. Since we're technically not supposed to be "backyard farmers," I don't think this would have been a great occurrence. Even if my neighbors love to come visit the chickens, I'm sure they don't want the chickens returning the favor. So, my husband clipped some feathers to keep fly-boy grounded.
This weekend has got to be it. The roosters are getting boisterous. They are making their presence known. I can't conceal a rooster if he insists on shouting from the top of his bird lungs every morning at 6:30 am. I tried to search for reasons to keep both roosters, but since we can't move to the farm just yet, our day of having roosters in the backyard might be a bit too "progressive" for my surrounding neighbors here in the city.
As one funny neighbor said, he really didn't want to hear roosters because he wants to remain far away from irritating sounds. Actually, this neighbor is a good friend and comes over frequently just to visit the chickens and to get his plate full of vine-ripened tomatoes. He is patiently waiting for his batch of weekly eggs.
So, we all laughed at the ironic joke, but I thought about it later. How can a city person tolerate such horrible sounds such as those coming from a rooster? The prospect is horrendous! Clearly, roosters sound too much like the country and we can't have any of that around here because we prefer the never-ending sounds of passing cars, honking horns, police sirens, loud rap music, squealing tires and dogs barking from every angle. No, we can't have an intrusive rooster blaring his grating sound in the city. I mean...city people need their peace! Geesh!!!
4 comments:
Geesh!!!
That was my thought, exactly!
I have read that chickens will kill mice and small snakes, so I'm not sure why yours let one run around. Interesting.
Happy Sunday!
I might be more worried about the dog vs. rooster thing that might happen. Dogs eyes are at a rooster spur level.
And the possibility that you will be turned in for having 'any' chickens and then have to give them ALL up.
Yes, not everyone 'enjoys' the country living sound. sBeth
Linda, I think our roosters, especially the Big Rooster, didn't catch them because of logistics...the mouse was not within good reach of the rooster, but I think they would kill a small mouse.
Beth, the dog, Howdy, has been a fast learner since he's been around them since they were chicks. We have friends who use their Australian Shepherds to help found up their chickens and roosters at night, because the dog is known to have the "softest" herding bite, if every needed. But, Howdy never has. They chickens and roosters seem to be very accustomed to both dogs, even landing on their backs. But, Howdy is super fast, when necessary. He seems to be especially on guard when facing the rooster - ready to make a side-ways, evasive move. I think that if an "intruder" came into the backyard, the dogs and roosters would team up and charge together. I need to post some videos we have of them all together. It is awesome. The kicker is to train the dog to not kill the chickens --- we've had success with that, but it's taken CONSTANT supervision for months and now we're at the point to where they're all happy in the yard together. But, if worse comes to worse, we'll get them to our farm earlier and make different arrangements. I'm glad that all my neighbors are loving the chickens - each coming over to visit regularly. We are blessed!
Don't worry too much about your girls not having a rooster to take care of them. Our girls have killed and eaten mice and snakes, and a couple of the more dominate girls take care of the rest of the flock. Our rooster is a pansy. :)
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