Lucky for me, the woman who we bought the classroom eggs from was willing to take back any of the chickens we didn't want, so we had a plan in case one of them turned out to be a rooster. This summer I found myself spending lots of time just watching the chickens do their thing, I find it sort of hypnotic and very relaxing. I watched all of their behaviors for tell tale signs of roosters. Roosters tend to be dominate and aggressive. Well, most of the classroom chickens seemed a little aggressive, I just figured they were sorting out the pecking order within the flock or dealing with PTSD from being born into a classroom with 23 not so quiet first graders. Our flock was at 9 and we were really happy with this number figuring we would have plenty of eggs for the family and then some to give away to friends.
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| The crew of 9 on the roosting bars before bed |
As the chickens grew I noticed Autumn seemed a lot bigger than the rest and he started getting a bushier tail and looked like a classic rooster with a huge red comb and cheek pouches; he looked a lot like Cornelius you know, the one on the Cornflakes box! Sure enough, he went from Autumn to Adam. I figured I would wait until he started crowing just incase my assumption was wrong. I had seen hens with combs and bushy tails so I was staying positive and not sending him to the farm quite yet. Chicken Little, Peep and Maybelle were starting to develop combs and cheek pouches and feather out much like Adam and I noticed them fighting with each other more often. The OGs just seemed to steer clear and poor midnight was at the bottom of the pecking order hiding under the coop most of the time.
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| The boys, UGH! |
Then, early one morning, I heard it; our first official rooster crow and wow is it loud and annoying! I jumped out of bed and ran to the coop as if I could tell him to shut his beak or something. Sure Autumn ahem, Adam was crowing his little heart out. Little did I know, roosters crow all day, this isn't like some cute farm movie where the rooster hops up on the top rail of the fence and crows a few times to wake the farmer as the sun is rising. No, this was constant crowing! So much so that we felt a bit sheepish making eye contact with the neighbors or even really anyone in the 'hood; who knew how far this crowing could travel! Time to go! While I was at it, I figured I may as well take the other 3 too.
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| This is Maybelle; gorgeous, for a rooster! |
I texted the farmer a picture and she confirmed that the 4 of them were, in fact, all boys. Three days later, our flock went from 9 to 5. It was a scene from a movie watching us try and corral these skittish roosters into our dog crate so that I could transport them to the farm in Berthoud, Colorado. Lots of squawking, flying feathers and assaults with beaks and wings. Slightly bruised, I set out to return the boys to the farm.
The next morning, what did we hear?! More crowing! Shocked, I ran to the coop to see who it was this time and sure enough, there was Daisy crowing like a pro! She was not on our original rooster suspect list because she did not have the telltale cheek pouches, comb or tail feathers, what was going on?! What now?! School was starting and neither of us had 3 hours to spare with another run to the farm. Enter our good friend Craigslist. We listed Daisy as a "free rooster, perfect for your flock or stew pot but needs a home immediately." That afternoon the quintessential backwoods farmer, complete with rubber wellies, straw hat and shirtless under his Carhartt overalls, came to get him. There was no struggle as he entered the coop, grabbed Daisy, tucked him under his arm, introduced him to his dog, threw him into the back of his truck and drove away.Problem solved!
The flock is now down to a peaceful 4 and I think we are all OK with it for now. They should start laying any day now....
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