When I first started my mixed flock last July I ordered 14 birds, including two roosters, with an eye to possibly having a broody hatch a few down the road. What I got was three roosters (surprise!) and I naively thought that maybe it'd be ok. Of the three the Welsummer is the alpha and the smaller Blue Copper marans is placid and agreeable. Big Blue, the larger marans, was not. He wanted to be the alpha, hounding the hens and challenging the welsummer. I gave it time, then more time and all the time the poor hens were feeling like they had to watch their own backs and Big Blue kept getting his butt kicked by my welsummer. It was bad all around. The hens were looking ragged and Blue was too. The worst of it is that Blue is a good rooster. He wanted to do a good job, he could do a good job, but the welsummer was the dominant bird. Big Blue has a great personality, he's alert and protective of the hens, and he's actually pretty friendly to the family. So...in the end I found him a new home. He has moved near a friend of mine who says he'll look in on him, but I feel terrible. Oh, I know I did the right thing. My flock is happier; the drama has stopped. I am hopeful Blue will be happier too. But I can't help but feel I've let him down.
I hardly ever post. I read, but I'm a shy type and I don't post, so I suppose this is my penance, a testimony to a bird whose only fault was to try to be a good rooster and yet have that be what caused him to wake up this morning in a strange place, with strange hens.
I guess I also wanted to share the sadness that probably many of us feel when we lose a bird, for whatever reason. Thanks for listening.
