One of the biggest problems on the farm is having too many boys. My apologies to the guys reading this, but I’m afraid it’s true. Too much testosterone on the farm leads to trouble.
Take for instance our chickens. Last year I let a couple of broody hens raise some chicks, and what did I end up with? A whole lot of roosters, that’s what. More roosters than hens, that’s what. TOO MANY ROOSTERS, that’s what!
They seemed to get along all right until this spring. Ahhh yes, spring, when love (lust?) is in the air, and all of a sudden, it’s every rooster for himself! Every single rooster wanted his own harem, and that meant ALL the hens, no sharing.
The hens got rather tired of never being left alone and would hide under things to keep the roosters, quite literally, off their backs.
Look close: see how ragged the poor hens backs look because most of the feathers have been torn off!
The young roosters were far too aggressive, bothering the hens constantly, fighting each other, and as the final straw, exiling the patriarch rooster to wander around alone. Even at feeding time, they wouldn’t let him near.
Never mind these chickens have about 12 acres to roam over during the day. Never mind that they have no less than 4 different roosting places to settle in at night. Oh no, that wasn’t enough, they each one wanted it ALL to themselves.
I figured enough was enough. I was steamed. If the roosters wouldn’t behave, the roosters were gone. So one night while the roosters were roosting, The Farmer and I went out and while I shone a light in their eyes, he grabbed them. One by one we captured those rotten roosters and chunked them in a pen by themselves.
You won’t behave? So there! Let’s see how you like being cooped up!
These are the five I selected for exile. I put an ad in the local Freecycle and on Craigs List for FREE ROOSTERS.
The first to go were the Sicilian Buttercup roosters. The 4 white ones left the farm soon after.
I kept one Sicilian Buttercup that had been low man on the totem pole, constantly being chased and his tail feathers picked out. And I kept the patriarch of the clan, cause I figured he deserved to have his girls back.
Look Ma, NO tail feathers!
Now, you would think since the thugs were gone that these two lowly roosters would be happy to share the farm space and the hens, right? Of course not. Things are never that easy. One morning I looked out and they were having a huge FIGHT.
Now most of the time the roosters fuss a little, but it’s quickly over. Not this time! They were in rooster-to-rooster combat, determined to have ONE winner, one rooster to rule the roost!
I went out to do the morning chores and break up the fight. I thought maybe a little cracked corn would take their mind off fighting. Ha!
They got into it again.
I’d break it up, and it wouldn’t be but a minute or two until they were having another showdown.
They were determined that ONE of them was going to be King of the Roost.
It didn’t matter how many times I interfered, they were going to FINISH that fight!
It seemed like the young upstart would win, but the old boy hung in there, determined he was going to be at the TOP of the pecking order again!
In the end, he got to crow in victory. Age, treachery and experience won out. The patriarch is once again King.
It was a hard fight.
The combat was lengthy.
But!
He is once again King of The Roost,
bloody but unbowed.
..
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Roosters! UGH! I’ve come to the determination that my hens and I are happiest with zero roosters. They just don’t want to get along with anybody!
Hah! What a cool picture story! You took some awesome action shots, too! Wow!
They were really going at it. whoeee!
So far my two roos, a year old now, get along well. The Japanese Silky roo seems to know he’s the second on the totem pole and doesn’t get in the Golden-laced Polish roo’s way. The poor hens, though.
You can tell which are the roo’s favorites. gah!
There are several hens that fight back and chase away the roos when they try to be their boyfriends. It’s so funny! The roos run for their lives….and the hens keep their pretty feathers. lol!
~Lisa
Amy, the old boy is actually kind of sweet. He digs around and finds goodies, then calls to his hens to come share the food.
But once the gang of rooster rowdies were gone, he WAS determined to be the boss again!
Glad you liked the pics Lisa. That’s pretty funny with some of your hens chasing off the boys.
oh. my. goodness.
Those are some amazing rooster-fightin’ shots.
I can barely manage my ONE, I can’t imagine having as many as you did! lol
And I should really hold my tongue and not ask whether that last fight was truly a fight to the death, right?
Oh dear no! Definitely NOT a fight to the death. They may look pretty nasty, but all that blood is from biting and tearing at each other combs. They bleed a lot when nicked! No, if they had really been doing some serious damage, I’d have got out my net, caught one, then penned it up until I could give it away.
As I hoped, once they finally settled their differences, I haven’t seen them fuss any more. In fact, the Sicilian buttercup rooster now seems to have his own little harem of 5 of the younger hens, and the old boy looks after the rest.