GtheCajun
Chirping
- Mar 5, 2017
- 28
- 32
- 64
Good morning everyone!
It has been a while since I logged in to the forum or posted anything, but I had to tell you the story of my little rooster. He was born and raised right here on the farm. Besides him, I have 16 other hens and two pullets his age.
I had an older rooster, but unfortunately he just kept getting more and more aggressive. It got to the point that we couldn’t go out in the yard without carrying a stick for defense. He was also good at sneaking up behind you. Two weeks ago he snuck up behind me and attacked me while I was cleaning out the chicken coop. He ripped a hole in my jeans and put 2 big scratches on my leg. I’d had enough. Last weekend I made chicken and sausage gumbo out of him.
But anyway, back to my little rooster Charlie. He used to be on the bottom of the pecking order. All the other hens would pick on him. So in the evenings when I would let them out, I would bring Charlie in the barn with me, and give him food and water to his content. Soon, he got to knowing this and as soon as I would let them out, he would follow me to the barn on his own.
I have a wood stove in the barn, and I like to hang out there in the evenings sometimes; have a beer or two and maybe do a little wood working. So yesterday afternoon I let the chickens out. I am walking to the barn with Charlie at my heels. I give him food and water, then start a fire, then have a seat and relax a bit. Pretty soon, Charlie loses interest in his food, and comes over by me. He is acting like he wants to jump up in my lap, but he is kind of unsure, so I reach down and pick him up and let him perch on my leg.
He is just standing there looking at me, so I start talking to him; telling him he is the leader of the flock now, and other goofy things, and he is looking at me like he understands. So after a while I ask him, “When are you going to start crowing?” I say, “come on, you can do it, crow.” And he is looking at me, making chicken noises, kind of like he understands.
So, pretty soon I flap my arms like a rooster would flap his wings, and I mimic the best crow I can manage. I say, “like that, crow.” And, no kidding, he flaps his wings a few times, stretches out his neck like he was going to crow, but nothing comes out. So, I mimic crowing again, then Charlie repeats the process again, this time opening his beak a little, but still nothing comes out. So, I do it a third time, Charlie follows suite, and he actually gets his first crow out.
I was so excited I carry him into the house and tell my wife the story, just knowing that she probably wouldn’t believe me. So she starts mimicking a rooster crow, and he actually crowed for her as well.
He spent the rest of the evening lounging around the wood stove with me.
