What a great addition the chickens have been. Not only are they providing food, the best eggs we’ve ever eaten, and meat, they are a great source of entertainment. Shortly after we got the 10 hens we got 13 roosters. The 10 hens are thriving and giving us plenty of eggs. We have 3 roosters left which is really one more than we need but Johnny is so ugly and goofy that… well he’s still around.

Rocky is our oldest and best rooster. He’s a tad on the small side but typical of most red heads he’s pretty cool unless you get him riled up, then he’s as feisty as any redhead I’ve ever known. He has been a good rooster since the day ee got him. He is very protective of the hens and oh what a charmer he is. He woos and dances for them anytime he gets a chance. Any time he finds food he calls to the hens and they come running. He always lets them eat first often picking a piece of food up in his beak and letting a hen take it from him, a real gentleman and the girls love him, and why not he’s handsome too.

But what I really wanted to talk about L.B., he is a black rooster and in the beginning his personality was just as dark. He would chase the other rooster trying to pick a fight, and would try to force himself on the hens. Early on there was definitely a stew pot that had his name on it.

Then one day I noticed that Rocky was no longer chasing him off when he got close to the flock, and L.B. was no longer picking fights, but he was still trying to force himself on the hens and whenever he got too close, they would run over to Rocky.

As time went on he calmed down, learned to dance, and some of the hens were actually letting him court them. It was about this time that I began to think that maybe, he would be a good rooster after all. After our thanksgiving feast I took some leftovers down to the chickens, they love leftovers. This was when that I realized that L.B. had grown up and indeed was going to be a fine rooster to help Rocky protect the flock.

Whenever we throw out food like this, treats, the hens will peck, peck, peck, till it’s gone. The roosters will usually grab and dash and run off and eat their bounty then return for more. I watched as L.B. grabbed a nice big morsel and dashed off towards the woodpile where he dropped the food and began to call, kur, kur, kur. Our hen Barbie came running over and gobbled up the food. L.B. did his little dance for her then ran back to the food for another grab and dash. He repeated this several times, each time more hens would come over. L.B. finally learned how to protect, and woo the hens, and found himself a permanent place in the flock.