Meganblairbare
Chirping
- Jun 10, 2020
- 41
- 54
- 89
Hi. My name is Megan and my other half is Christian. We were living on the water for 2 years and lost 2 boats plus everything we owned twice over and we have been living in a tent on the side of a bridge that goes to an island that's before the beach where we live. I'm just mentioning this because of the circumstances in which we.. acquired our funny boy, Bruce, the sweet big grumpy bossy spoiled rotten baby black copper marans (identified his breed through google.. I will add a photo of him in case someone can correct our ID) that just showed up one day on an island surrounded by salt water that you can only get to by crossing multiple bridges on a stretch of highway that has a 60 mph speed limit.. the mystery still remains.. how the heck did he get here?
So, we started hearing a rooster crowing in the mornings. Figured it was from across the river. I hated it at first. Then one morning my boyfriend came to me and said "You have to come see this. There's a rooster out there. He has been watching me work all morning. If I catch him looking at me he will start doing something to pretend like he wasn't. It's the funniest thing. I threw him some dog food and he would act like he didn't want anything to do with it then pecked at a couple blades of grass and then I turn around and he starts scarfing it down making pigeon noises. Come look.". So, first I got a bowl of water for him and brought it outside and the little guy ran and hid behind some trees so I just sat the bowl down and went and grabbed a handful of dog food and some crackers threw it around where I set the bowl then stepped back some and watched him come out and eat going "woo! Woo!" Then stick his whole face in the water and get mad and do the diva head thing that we now understand can mean just "ugh!".. then he promptly took a step forward and dumped the whole bowl of water then tried to drink the couple drops that were left in the bowl and then wiped his beak on some roots in the ground and he ended up walking off while I was looking for a bowl that wouldn't spill so easy.. throughout the day we heard him crowing and we would catch him spying on us from his little hiding spots.. the next morning.. approximately 3 am to be exact.. there was a crow that was much louder than we had heard it before.. (mind you, we are in a tent on a piece of land that's about the size of a football field with a highway going through it and some pretty dense wooded areas.. we didnt even know he was on the island until we saw him so the real volume of his crowing had been muffled by trees and stuff or covered up by the sound of cars normally. We were both a little surprised when it was actually loud enough to wake us up. He only crowed a few times then it was silent again until sun up. Then it was non stop. We stumbled out of the tent to look for where the little dude was and find out why he was making such a racket.. (didnt know it was normal for there to be more than just the one "aight the suns up people, let's get it in gear!" crow yet). He was right up in our koolaid perched in a Brazilian pepper tree crowing his little heart out. I had got him some kibbles and filled up his new water dish ( one of our dog's bowls) and then he stopped and started his new routine of spying on us in between his cute way of drinking water and sucking down more kibbles than our 90 lb. pitbull.
As time passed he started to trust us a little more. His favorite thing to do was watch whatever my bf was doing. I was the food lady though so whenever I would pop out or something i had to have snack for him. He looked like a mean little dude so I was kinda nervous around him still.. lol it makes me laugh now but I was sort of afraid of him. My boyfriend came to me and was so excited because he was able to catch him and pick him up one day. He said he really liked him and all the jokes about eating him were only jokes and I told him not to be chasing him around because he was just getting used to us and I didnt want him running out to the road or anything and at that moment my bf was just totally in the moment and was totally reminding me of one of those kids who hugs animals too tight lol.. (and all this time I had checked cl and other places for anyone missing a rooster and I put ads out of my own and all but nobody claimed him) so we decided to call him Bruce and when my bf wasn't playing catch Bruce and pet him until he growls (or "purrs" as my bf would call it lol) I would try and apologize for the misunderstandings with goodies and waiting on him hand and foot and ended up being the one he would run to when my bf was hot on his tail.
The rainy season started last year and I remember the first night we woke up to a storm and ran out to find Bruce getting just tossed around on that branch he would sleep on.. he was soaked and scared but he was going to just stay right in that tree. This time I was in on the chase and we didnt know yet how bad his night vision was so we went about it all wrong really. My bf just chased him around and I was on road patrol to make sure he didn't clear the tree line and go into the road. We finally caught him and got a cart all packed with towels and blankets and brought him inside and stuck him in that. He just stood there in the cart inside our tent and growled sopping wet. We just let him be and went to sleep. His 3:30 crow was a jolt. It had stopped raining so I opened the tent up and fell back asleep. In the morning he woke us up walking circles around the tent crowing until we were all out of bed and I was tending to him while my bf showed him how to fix whatever it was he was working on.. he would explain everything to him. Show him pieces of things and tools and it was just so funny how bruce would inspect every little thing he was doing. If he would crow my bf thought it was a sign of approval. Lol..
Eventually bruce would invite himself in if the weather got bad in the day. We would always have to go on the chase for him at night though when the wind would get too bad or if it was raining.. my bf decided to make him a roost. Little did I know it would be for inside of our tent and from that point on I would be sleeping in a tent with a rooster.
To make things sort of cut and dry, my bf cut down the branch that bruce would perch on (poor bird.. lol.) He was a little confused as he watched all of this happen. But he was interested. It's almost like he knew it was for him and he was excited. He waited and waited while christian put his little roost together. It was way after his bed time but he just hung out right there with us almost to kinda put the fire under his butt to finish. Christian wanted it to be perfect though. He built it all by hand. Cut the wood and everything. And when he was done bruce walked right on up his little steps and perched on that thing.. did a couple turn arounds.. realized there was a spot for a treat dish and a drink of water and got his snack before bed then I picked him up while christian put the thing inside the tent and then brought him inside and he hopped right up in there and was asleep all fluffed up with his little head tucked in in like 5 seconds flat. The more research I did on chickens put my bf through an awful lot. He had to rebuild a roost because I found some literature about how the Brazilian peppers were bad for chickens.. bruce was itching a lot and he didnt have mites or anything else.. all I can guess to this day is it was the pepper tree.. christian built a new roost out of bamboo. Same thing as before, bruce watched and waited till way after bedtime and when it was done he tried it out.. christian had to change one thing bruce didnt like I remember and then we stuck it inside and he hopped up again and that time he puffed up and sunk himself down to sleep..
He wouldn't hang out too close with us for no reason then still. Like, he wouldn't come and just stare at me or talk to me until I would pet him then. Back then he wouldn't come and walk all over us pecking(gently) us until we would get up and yell at the crows to go away so that he could go outside and not have to worry about them squaking and their shadows freaking him out (he hates the crows).. he didnt act grumpy at me back then if I didnt dig him a hole and look for worms or move brush around so he could eat the palmetto bugs or catch him live minnows to kill and eat or stun the lizards for him so he could gruesomely peck them to death and then swallow them whole "woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!".. back then he would do his dirt baths in private. Now he likes someone to tell him how good his pants are looking while he gets them nice and fluffy and dusty.. I remember the first time we had a campfire with him around. Jeez he was so fascinated with it because I was so afraid of him getting near it. He would try to go face first into the fire and I would yell "no bruce!" And he would pause but not move a muscle then get right back to it. I would have to shoo his little butt or sometimes pick him up and move him. Then I'd see his waddle coming out from behind some tree or something and there he was trying to bee line it for the fire again. Lol.. and he would do that until it was out and after it was all cooled off or whatever the next day he would still have to go sneak into it and I would know because his waddle and his chest would have black soot all over them.. lol.. and that reminds me of when he got into the sour cream once.. I hear "woo woo!" I go into the tent and he is covered in sour cream from his feet to the top of his Crest and everywhere in between. And he was wiping his face on everything.. lol.
I had no idea how special he was going to be. I had no idea how in tune he would be with us and what we are going through. I had no idea I would ever love him this much and I just want to do anything I can to make sure he's happy and healthy and I want to be a good chicken mom. I have so many questions and I want any advice I can get. This last year has gone by so fast and I want to make sure if I'm doing anything wrong that I correct it so that we can keep bruce around for as long as possible. We just lost our dog sam and it was devastating. Bruce helped us through that so much and he's just the coolest and silliest little guy. I am so in awe of how smart he is and how much personality he has.. now I know what my bf was so excited about. He is our best friend. He loves us and we can depend on him. He knows he can depend on us too. He's an amazing watch rooster btw. And he will guard me. It's so freaking amazing.I'msorry. I dont even know if I should post this here or what but I just want everyone who knows anything about roosters as pets or whatever to please just give me any advice you can on how to make sure he stays with us for a long long time.
So, we started hearing a rooster crowing in the mornings. Figured it was from across the river. I hated it at first. Then one morning my boyfriend came to me and said "You have to come see this. There's a rooster out there. He has been watching me work all morning. If I catch him looking at me he will start doing something to pretend like he wasn't. It's the funniest thing. I threw him some dog food and he would act like he didn't want anything to do with it then pecked at a couple blades of grass and then I turn around and he starts scarfing it down making pigeon noises. Come look.". So, first I got a bowl of water for him and brought it outside and the little guy ran and hid behind some trees so I just sat the bowl down and went and grabbed a handful of dog food and some crackers threw it around where I set the bowl then stepped back some and watched him come out and eat going "woo! Woo!" Then stick his whole face in the water and get mad and do the diva head thing that we now understand can mean just "ugh!".. then he promptly took a step forward and dumped the whole bowl of water then tried to drink the couple drops that were left in the bowl and then wiped his beak on some roots in the ground and he ended up walking off while I was looking for a bowl that wouldn't spill so easy.. throughout the day we heard him crowing and we would catch him spying on us from his little hiding spots.. the next morning.. approximately 3 am to be exact.. there was a crow that was much louder than we had heard it before.. (mind you, we are in a tent on a piece of land that's about the size of a football field with a highway going through it and some pretty dense wooded areas.. we didnt even know he was on the island until we saw him so the real volume of his crowing had been muffled by trees and stuff or covered up by the sound of cars normally. We were both a little surprised when it was actually loud enough to wake us up. He only crowed a few times then it was silent again until sun up. Then it was non stop. We stumbled out of the tent to look for where the little dude was and find out why he was making such a racket.. (didnt know it was normal for there to be more than just the one "aight the suns up people, let's get it in gear!" crow yet). He was right up in our koolaid perched in a Brazilian pepper tree crowing his little heart out. I had got him some kibbles and filled up his new water dish ( one of our dog's bowls) and then he stopped and started his new routine of spying on us in between his cute way of drinking water and sucking down more kibbles than our 90 lb. pitbull.
As time passed he started to trust us a little more. His favorite thing to do was watch whatever my bf was doing. I was the food lady though so whenever I would pop out or something i had to have snack for him. He looked like a mean little dude so I was kinda nervous around him still.. lol it makes me laugh now but I was sort of afraid of him. My boyfriend came to me and was so excited because he was able to catch him and pick him up one day. He said he really liked him and all the jokes about eating him were only jokes and I told him not to be chasing him around because he was just getting used to us and I didnt want him running out to the road or anything and at that moment my bf was just totally in the moment and was totally reminding me of one of those kids who hugs animals too tight lol.. (and all this time I had checked cl and other places for anyone missing a rooster and I put ads out of my own and all but nobody claimed him) so we decided to call him Bruce and when my bf wasn't playing catch Bruce and pet him until he growls (or "purrs" as my bf would call it lol) I would try and apologize for the misunderstandings with goodies and waiting on him hand and foot and ended up being the one he would run to when my bf was hot on his tail.
The rainy season started last year and I remember the first night we woke up to a storm and ran out to find Bruce getting just tossed around on that branch he would sleep on.. he was soaked and scared but he was going to just stay right in that tree. This time I was in on the chase and we didnt know yet how bad his night vision was so we went about it all wrong really. My bf just chased him around and I was on road patrol to make sure he didn't clear the tree line and go into the road. We finally caught him and got a cart all packed with towels and blankets and brought him inside and stuck him in that. He just stood there in the cart inside our tent and growled sopping wet. We just let him be and went to sleep. His 3:30 crow was a jolt. It had stopped raining so I opened the tent up and fell back asleep. In the morning he woke us up walking circles around the tent crowing until we were all out of bed and I was tending to him while my bf showed him how to fix whatever it was he was working on.. he would explain everything to him. Show him pieces of things and tools and it was just so funny how bruce would inspect every little thing he was doing. If he would crow my bf thought it was a sign of approval. Lol..
Eventually bruce would invite himself in if the weather got bad in the day. We would always have to go on the chase for him at night though when the wind would get too bad or if it was raining.. my bf decided to make him a roost. Little did I know it would be for inside of our tent and from that point on I would be sleeping in a tent with a rooster.
To make things sort of cut and dry, my bf cut down the branch that bruce would perch on (poor bird.. lol.) He was a little confused as he watched all of this happen. But he was interested. It's almost like he knew it was for him and he was excited. He waited and waited while christian put his little roost together. It was way after his bed time but he just hung out right there with us almost to kinda put the fire under his butt to finish. Christian wanted it to be perfect though. He built it all by hand. Cut the wood and everything. And when he was done bruce walked right on up his little steps and perched on that thing.. did a couple turn arounds.. realized there was a spot for a treat dish and a drink of water and got his snack before bed then I picked him up while christian put the thing inside the tent and then brought him inside and he hopped right up in there and was asleep all fluffed up with his little head tucked in in like 5 seconds flat. The more research I did on chickens put my bf through an awful lot. He had to rebuild a roost because I found some literature about how the Brazilian peppers were bad for chickens.. bruce was itching a lot and he didnt have mites or anything else.. all I can guess to this day is it was the pepper tree.. christian built a new roost out of bamboo. Same thing as before, bruce watched and waited till way after bedtime and when it was done he tried it out.. christian had to change one thing bruce didnt like I remember and then we stuck it inside and he hopped up again and that time he puffed up and sunk himself down to sleep..
He wouldn't hang out too close with us for no reason then still. Like, he wouldn't come and just stare at me or talk to me until I would pet him then. Back then he wouldn't come and walk all over us pecking(gently) us until we would get up and yell at the crows to go away so that he could go outside and not have to worry about them squaking and their shadows freaking him out (he hates the crows).. he didnt act grumpy at me back then if I didnt dig him a hole and look for worms or move brush around so he could eat the palmetto bugs or catch him live minnows to kill and eat or stun the lizards for him so he could gruesomely peck them to death and then swallow them whole "woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!".. back then he would do his dirt baths in private. Now he likes someone to tell him how good his pants are looking while he gets them nice and fluffy and dusty.. I remember the first time we had a campfire with him around. Jeez he was so fascinated with it because I was so afraid of him getting near it. He would try to go face first into the fire and I would yell "no bruce!" And he would pause but not move a muscle then get right back to it. I would have to shoo his little butt or sometimes pick him up and move him. Then I'd see his waddle coming out from behind some tree or something and there he was trying to bee line it for the fire again. Lol.. and he would do that until it was out and after it was all cooled off or whatever the next day he would still have to go sneak into it and I would know because his waddle and his chest would have black soot all over them.. lol.. and that reminds me of when he got into the sour cream once.. I hear "woo woo!" I go into the tent and he is covered in sour cream from his feet to the top of his Crest and everywhere in between. And he was wiping his face on everything.. lol.
I had no idea how special he was going to be. I had no idea how in tune he would be with us and what we are going through. I had no idea I would ever love him this much and I just want to do anything I can to make sure he's happy and healthy and I want to be a good chicken mom. I have so many questions and I want any advice I can get. This last year has gone by so fast and I want to make sure if I'm doing anything wrong that I correct it so that we can keep bruce around for as long as possible. We just lost our dog sam and it was devastating. Bruce helped us through that so much and he's just the coolest and silliest little guy. I am so in awe of how smart he is and how much personality he has.. now I know what my bf was so excited about. He is our best friend. He loves us and we can depend on him. He knows he can depend on us too. He's an amazing watch rooster btw. And he will guard me. It's so freaking amazing.I'msorry. I dont even know if I should post this here or what but I just want everyone who knows anything about roosters as pets or whatever to please just give me any advice you can on how to make sure he stays with us for a long long time.
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