Got home later than usual last night and went to count chickens and Rusty the rooster was missing! It was pitch black outside but we went out with flashlights and combed the whole area for him. Didn't see any feathers, so that was good, but where oh where could he be? Did someone steal him? I saw the postman eye balling him the other day.
Did he go off and fight for the girls, did an owl get him, oh gosh, was he stuck in the fencing somewhere? I went to bed with worry and woke at 2am thinking, well, maybe he will crow when it gets light out, he has been crowing a LOT lately. He is 26 weeks old and just now understanding and, ahem, "performing" as a man Rooster.
Well, Glory be, at first light I heard it, Rusty crowed.
I leapt out of bed and rushed outside to the chicken yard. Nothing... c'mon do it again, rooster. So, I did what any chicken mom would do: I crowed.
He did answer back and I finally found him: in a tree on the OTHER side of my fence.
I decided I'd better get dressed if I was going to go tromping around in the muddy rain in my neighbor's yard. By the time I ran back, Rusty had jumped out of the tree and was pacing the fence line. At first, we tried giving him some bread but all he would do is call his girls. We let his girls out on my side of the fence hoping that he would fly back over. We did make one lunge for him and he growled and I'm pretty sure he said some things that a lady doesn't repeat on a public forum.
The neighbor came out with a big fish net and a club... wait a minute, was he actually going to club my baby boy? Yikes! Nope, it was a big scooper with grain in it. Well, I was going to grab the net and run around trying to nail him but my neighbor had obviously done this before and was way ahead of my non nimble morning brain. He set the thing on the ground and put the grain in the middle. Rusty stepped in slowly of course, not wanting to make this easy.
Then the neighbor scooped him up and netted the big rooster and handed him over the fence. Rusty was struggling in that big net and when he was laid down, he just went out cold. I mean, eyes closed, not moving, just laying there. Oh my Gosh, did he just kill my rooster?
There was 'dead' silence for a few seconds as we three adults looked down on the "dead" rooster. Well, nothing to do but get him untangled from the net.
With heavy heart his limp rag doll body was lifted up and out of the net when he suddenly "came to". Rusty the Rooster had fainted!!
He got up, shook himself off and went over toward his girls.
Now I know that if a rooster is upside down (though technically he wasn't) that they get quieted down and still. This boy was out cold. Sorry this is so long, but I had to share this with you...
Edited to add pics of Rusty.
Well, Glory be, at first light I heard it, Rusty crowed.
I decided I'd better get dressed if I was going to go tromping around in the muddy rain in my neighbor's yard. By the time I ran back, Rusty had jumped out of the tree and was pacing the fence line. At first, we tried giving him some bread but all he would do is call his girls. We let his girls out on my side of the fence hoping that he would fly back over. We did make one lunge for him and he growled and I'm pretty sure he said some things that a lady doesn't repeat on a public forum.
The neighbor came out with a big fish net and a club... wait a minute, was he actually going to club my baby boy? Yikes! Nope, it was a big scooper with grain in it. Well, I was going to grab the net and run around trying to nail him but my neighbor had obviously done this before and was way ahead of my non nimble morning brain. He set the thing on the ground and put the grain in the middle. Rusty stepped in slowly of course, not wanting to make this easy.
Then the neighbor scooped him up and netted the big rooster and handed him over the fence. Rusty was struggling in that big net and when he was laid down, he just went out cold. I mean, eyes closed, not moving, just laying there. Oh my Gosh, did he just kill my rooster?
With heavy heart his limp rag doll body was lifted up and out of the net when he suddenly "came to". Rusty the Rooster had fainted!!
Now I know that if a rooster is upside down (though technically he wasn't) that they get quieted down and still. This boy was out cold. Sorry this is so long, but I had to share this with you...
Edited to add pics of Rusty.
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