That proud looking Roo

So our Rooster came to us as a surprise.  He was in a batch that could have been either hens or roosters and we were lucky.  We also chose 4 bantam chicks about the same time, they are the small sized chickens, about 1/3 the size of a regular chicken.  They tend to be fancier and ours has feathers on her feet.  Many, I have read, keep them for show chickens. 



Our roo next to the bantam hen, she is the size the other three roos were. 

With our bantam batch we found that 3 out of 4 were roos.  This did not follow the rule of 20% roo, 80% hen, when you get a straight run batch.  That means they are not sexed and are not called pullets, which would be all hen.  These roos were nasty!  They were very aggressive towards all the hens, and were fighting all the time, even though they were just about 6 months old.  We did what we had to do, and they became chicken noodle soup :(  But, good for us because who would have ever thought that I would be helping to butcher a chicken!  And they did make delicious soup.  More on that process later......






Onto our number one ROO! 
He is truly great!  Beautiful, cocky(I know its a pun), protective, aggressive, and LOUD!  It is a falsehood that roosters only crow in the morning.  It can be 3 pm, or even 11 pm, and he is crowing in the hen house. 

A #1 rule when around a rooster.....never turn your back on them, they will attack!  Also, never bend down to empty a bucket or pick up eggs because he is watching!  He is so good at protecting his hens, really, it is true.  Yesterday I was transferring our newest 18 Buff Orpingtons to the large hen house and run.  I didn't have a large box, and they are pretty big now for chicks, so I carried about 3 at a time in a bucket.  I had two buckets, so upon entering the run my hands were full.  I bent down to lift them out, and who was there pecking and spurring my hand.......The main man!  He was even protecting hens he hadn't met yet, very impressive!  He seems fine with everyone in the coop.  It is one of the black Essex that is the leader of the pecking order, who seems to put everyone in place. 

 

It is also untrue that you need a rooster to have eggs.  A hen has all the ovum she needs in her life when she is born, and will lay no matter if he is there or not.  You just won't always have a fertilized egg.

 

Our first baby, Rockstar. 

We are very thankful to have this gent in our brood.  He is quite the ladies man.  We have had about an 80% fertilization rate every time we add eggs to the incubator.  Our first two chicks will be some sort of black and white like their papa.  I did not enjoy watching him go after a hen. I thought, wow that is almost like a scene from 50 shades of grey, especially when you have raised the ladies since they were baby chicks.  Now I get it of course, and we thank him for his attention to all the ladies, he is not particular :)  The girls have noticed that he jumps on the hens, but haven't asked anything in detail.......yet......

 





The farm girl holding a Rhode Island Red
 

I include this picture of our middle girly, simply to show when we let the kids help with chicken chores.  She loves to help, but with Mr. Roo around we have to watch closely.  Now that order has been established, he is mostly afraid of me, but the kids......not so much.  Since they are predator size he follows them from inside the fence when they are around,  circling till someone comes in.  Monday when the group was out for their daily foraging in the yard, he was on guard of course.  T-girl came out to help and he chased her across the property, and all the way into the coop near me.  I never thought he would dislike children so much!  They are so cute!  :)  We always supervise, and have Duncan, our dog, out when the kids are playing in the yard.  Wait for a post honoring him, the best dog we could have ever asked for.