Feathered Friend Friday: Rooster Antics

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.   

I mentioned in a previous FFF post here that we ended up with four roosters when we let our hen, Ellie, hatch out some eggs this May. We had been keeping them all in a separate coop and run area, but the run was a little too small for them and they started to fight. We decided it was best if we let them out to free range each day instead of keeping them in an enclosed area together.

There is always the risk of a predator attack when you allow chickens to free range, and that is something that we understand and have come to terms with. However, we feel it's in their best interest to have more room to roam and free ranging gives them the happiest lives possible. And so far, it has been working out great. At first they stayed close to their coop, but recently they have been ranging out across the yard and up to our back porch and picnic table!

It cracks me up when I look out the kitchen door and see them on the back porch, stealing any leftover cat food they can find. They have so much personality and are really fun to watch. They tend to follow me around everywhere I go, begging for treats. And I usually indulge them, so I'm sure that's why they keep following me around. When I go down to the chicken coop in the evening, I usually have a train of roosters and cats following me down there. It's like my own little animal parade!

With all these roosters (our current count is six!) of course there is some crowing going on. It's pretty much constant crowing around here, but you know what, I really like it. The crows aren't so loud to be unbearable, and they sort of blend into the overall symphony of the homestead. It's music to my ears.

Do you have any roosters in your flock?

~Tammy

Shared with Tuesday Muse